If once there was a time when the internet, despite its military origins, was considered a utopian space of potential outside the reach of the powers that be, the past decade or so has witnessed its rapid transformation into an increasingly complex battleground. Besides surveillance and more easily recognisable forms of cyber-warfare, supposedly neutral platforms such as forums, social media and chat apps have become powerful instruments of metapolitics, shaping political discourse at both conscious and unconscious levels, with memes and podcasts being important contents of the toolbox.

While the emancipatory left has been using these instruments for a long time, it now appears that it is mainly the right that has a firm grip on them. Around the world, various electoral successes can in part be attributed to the metapolitical internet activism of the new right in conjunction with various forms of algorithmic bias and relations of ownership.

By means of a workshop and a conversation, the scholar and activist Hana Ćurak and the journalist and educator Caren Miesenberger will discuss the possibilities of feminist – and more generally emancipatory – online and offline activism in hostile times. Together we will explore the power of digital practices – including memes – and find out how to both be critical and self-preserving in online-offline environments.

2 to 5 pm: Workshop
Please note: Participation in the workshop is limited. To register and receive more information in advance, please send a short message to mail@diffrakt.space.

7.30 pm: Conversation

The event is part of the series speculative feminisms, feminist speculations and takes place with the generous support of