JAAKLAC’S IDENTITY & PRINCIPLES

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Identity

JAAKLAC is an acronym composed of words that represent our values in various languages of the Latinx community. We remixed the English word “hack”, establishing it in Castilian as “jak”. “JAAKing" happens when diverse communities come together in solidarity to orchestrate and develop digital technologies for the common good and environment. We give new meaning to the acronym LAC, commonly used for Latin America and the Caribbean, by focusing on solutions centred on free societies.

JAAKLAC’s identity is composed of:

Jallalla (Aymara) “Hurra” or “Long live”;

Aty (Guarani and Kaiowá) “group” or “ensemble”;

Apthapi (Aymara) is a celebration, an offering in which food and knowledge are shared, held in communities from Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile;

Kelluwün (Mapundungun) “to collaborate”;

Livres (Brazilian Portuguese) “Free”;

Alternativa (Castilian) different paths from the dominant or traditional ones;

Community (English), because of the great representation of the Latinx in English speaking countries of the Americas, “Spanglish” being part of their culture.

Principles for Collaboration and Coexistence in Jaaklac

At Jaaklac we research and advocate for Critical Digital Education. We believe that this knowledge must be free, accessible, built from collaboration, care and recognition of our diversities to transform us towards fairer societies.

These principles guide our actions, linking the fields of research in education, digital technologies and Human Rights (HR) from community projects and activism:

1. Digital technologies for social justice We promote access to and use of digital technologies from a perspective of social justice, community autonomy and human rights. We reject data extractivism and prioritise ethical technological models.

2. Free, open and accessible knowledge We encourage the production of open, barrier-free knowledge that recognises the linguistic and cultural diversity of our communities. We raise the value of knowledge from different positions and enunciations.

3. Digital security and co-care We understand digital security as a collective practice and a fundamental human right. We adapt our strategies to the specific contexts in which we operate, confronting digital violence and promoting safe environments that allow us to create, share and enhance knowledge in a free and protected way.

4. Wellbeing and sustainability in digital participation We recognise the right to rest and well-being as indispensable pillars of digital activism. In the face of burnout, we promote sustainable practices that allow us to resist and propose from a broad, conscious and lasting participation.

5. Digital intersectionality Our approaches consider how access to technology and critical digital education are intersected by factors such as race, class, disability and territory. We understand learning as a reciprocal process that raises consciousness and strengthens our struggles across our differences.

6. Feminist governance and horizontality We make decisions in a participatory, transparent and appreciative manner. We value feedback as an essential tool for co-creation and conceive knowledge as a dynamic flow of alliances that improves our societies from our radical differences.

7. Against digital violence and technopolitical control We stand against online gender-based violence, criminalisation of activism, state and corporate surveillance, and environmental extractivism. We defend free and safe digital spaces, inclusive of women, children, youth, LGBTQIA+, Afro-descendants, indigenous, rural and poor people.

8. Memory and digital resistance We safeguard and share struggles and learning from the digital world as forms of resistance. We are committed to popular, ancestral, feminist and territorial knowledge to continue the dialogue and generate synergies with new voices and actors.

9. Radical accessibility We promote inclusive digital environments: from the technical (languages, devices, connectivity) to the symbolic (languages and means to communicate and participate). We discuss digital possibilities and challenges for accessibility.

10. Epistemic justice We recognise situated knowledge and seek to redistribute power in the production of knowledge. We are committed to practices that include other, non-hegemonic voices and experiences.