“Decolonising digital rights. Why it matters and where do we start?”
Our A+T 2020 keynote was Nani Jansen Reventlow. Nani is an international human rights lawyer and Director of the Digital Freedom Fund.
The power structures underlying centuries of exploitation by one group of another are still here. Besides the fact that we, in reality, still have over 60 colonised territories around the world today, maintained by 8 countries (though the UN General Assembly would disagree with that number), colonisation has taken on many different forms, including in and through technology.
What does this mean for our societies? What would things look like if they were different? How do we get there — or: how do you decolonise society? How do you decolonise technology? And how do you decolonise digital rights?
We invited Nani to be our 2020 keynote because AI-driven technology is already being used to make decisions that are having real and serious consequences for people’s human rights. In developing emerging technologies it is important to address algorithmic bias, which reflect and amplify existing social inequalities. Otherwise these technologies will continue to perpetuate inequalities and social injustice. This also means dismantling the systems of racism and colonisation embedded in every aspect of our society.
Read Nani’s keynote in full, with a sketchnote by Gunjan Singh.
Listen to the Nani’s interview on The Human Show.