19:00 Thursday, 16 January 2020

Tech Workers Coalition Berlin - Learning Club

Learning is central to workers’ empowerment. Without knowledge on the complex world we operate in, we are prey to the interests of those who capitalize on exploitation. Tech Worker Coalition organizes regular sessions in the form of reading groups to read and discuss articles, books and pamphlets about a variety of topics that sit on the boundary between technology critique, politics, philosophy and sociology. The role of the Tech Worker, the possible strategies and the history of worker organizations are also targets to our work.

For the first session of the year we want to continue the work that began in our previous session and discuss Workers’ Inquiry as a tool rooted in the present. Mind that participating in the first session is not critical to understand what we are gonna discuss this time. Last month the focus was on the history of the Inquiry, with a very lengthy and over-detailed reading that put off some of us with an excessive dose of labour theory. This time we want to do something different: we want to see how TWC is using this tool in the USA and how they adapted it to the current reality of the Tech Industry.

There are two mandatory readings for this month, one that we already saw last month and will serve as a bridge to an actual formulation of the Inquiry produced by TWC Seattle:

OPTIONALLY, you can read this other piece to get a deeper context on the history of the Workers’ Inquiry. It won’t be discussed again but possibly it will be summarized in the beginning of our session:

How to participate

The easiest way to participate is to just show up at the event having read the material for the given session.

If you want to have a more interactive experience though, we have a Slack group and a Facebook event in which we might publish some additional readings for the more passionate participants.

Venue

Bilgisaray, Oranienstrasse 45, Berlin

Accessibility

Bilgisaray is a smoke-free environment. Children are welcome. Unfortunately, it is not wheelchair accessible. We will try to ensure that future venue spaces are accessible.

Code of Conduct

All meetings and communications are covered under the Berlin Code of Conduct. The privacy and safety of our members is important to us. Sharing the identity of members and or taking/sharing photos are strictly forbidden unless express consent is given.

Get involved! @TechWorkersBER