September 11, 2026
Team CommUNITY’s Global Gathering, held September 4-6, 2026 in Estoril, Portugal was more than just another conference. For Progressive Technology Project (PTP), a new Member of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the gathering was an opportunity for us to engage and network with staff and other members from APC. It was a chance for us to come together and strategize with nine of our Rise Against Big Tech (RABT) coalition members from across the Globe. And it was an opportunity to process together in real time the very real risks that movement technology organizations and providers are facing.
Through co-hosting two booth sessions at the gathering, Progressive Technology Project, May First Movement Technology (MFMT), and our Rise Against Big Tech colleagues were able to engage with more than 30 people interested in learning more about our work. We launched our RABT Community Forum in conjunction with the Global Gathering and saw a spike in sign-ups during the three-day conference. Far from a simple statistic, the more people, organizations and hosting providers that join the fight against Big Tech and build the people-powered alternative, the better equipped we’ll be to collectively win the fights to come. To quote Autistici/Inventati, a movement technology provider recently targeted and forced to close their services, “We need 1,000 more infrastructures of dissent to be born”.
On the first day of the gathering, PTP co-hosted a circle entitled Leaving Big Tech: from Common Blockers to Collective Solutions. With over 40 attendees, there were several rich small group discussions to answer the questions:
For hosting providers: What was the most effective strategy for assisting with migration, and why did it work for the people or communities you worked with?
For folx transitioning off Big Tech: What obstacles did you face during migration (technical, organizational, or human)? What did you do to overcome or mitigate them?
The feedback from the small groups led to a robust large group discussion, where some of the following thoughts were lifted up:
Small tech does have an advantage; the developers are much easier to reach than the developers of MS or Google
First impressions are also important. If you have one issue with free-er tools, people bounce off right away. It might really help to make the first pages people encounter feel friendly and welcoming
Our narrative should be a narrative of joy, not fear
People transitioning off Big Tech and the providers helping them should have discussions at the design level about negotiables/non-negotiables
When planning to help someone transition off Big Tech, it’s necessary to start with the why
We don’t want to develop the same easy patterns as big tech
We tend to push each other down if we notice flaws, we have to be perfect compared to Big Tech
These are just a select few of the incredible points people made about the challenges, successes and opportunities when either helping organizations or individuals transition away from Big Tech, or folx who are considering or amid a transition themselves.
The feedback from this session will not only help us as movement hosting providers be better positioned to aid those who want to move away from Big Tech, these discussions will inform those planning to transition about setting more realistic expectations, strategizing for the long-term and redirecting focus away from the technology tools themselves towards the more important issues of cultural change within their organizations or communities.
On Day 2 of the gathering, the Association for Progressive Communications invited Progressive Technology Project, May First Movement Technology and other Rise Against Big Tech representatives to sit for an interview with APC’s Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) Coordinator and Writer Maja Romano. On a bench under the canopy of trees at the Gathering venue, we talked for about an hour about the work of Rise Against Big Tech, our origins, how and why our organizations got involved and the emerging risks—and new opportunities—we are seeing for the current and future fight to return the power of technology back to the people. APC will be publishing the interview in the weeks to come and we’re excited to circulate it to our networks.
We also had the pleasure of volunteering at the APC booth on Gathering Day 2, where PTP’s Director of Resource Mobilization met and talked to many folx who weren’t familiar with APC about PTP’s experience as a new member, the support we’ve received from APC and the connections we’ve been able to make with other members from across the Globe. These connections have helped us gain a better understanding of the challenges and successes that organizations face in their respective regions. These learnings have already positively impacted our work, expanded our knowledge about our collective fight, and will continue to inform our strategy in the months and years to come.
At APC’s beach picnic on Saturday evening, PTP staff had additional opportunities to connect with APC Members and Staff and we were asked to do a short, impromptu verbal interview about PTP’s dreams, goals, concerns and hopes for the future of technology. We’re looking forward to sharing APC’s future posting of this interview as well.
In addition to hosting a second booth on Day 3 of the Gathering, the Rise Against Big Tech coalition requested to add a session entitled “Let’s Talk About What Happened with A/I and Organize Solidarity” to directly address what was happening with Autistici/Inventati, process together and strategize about what solidarity looks like and what our movements can do to prepare for similar attacks.
Though we did not take public notes from this session, the RABT Coalition Coordinating Group has issued the following statement that was informed by our Global Gathering discussion: We remain human! Solidarity with Autistici/Inventati.
Upon hearing hushed conversations throughout the Global Gathering about the somber news that A/I had been targeted as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” (SDGT) on August 26, 2026 by OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) at the US Department of Treasury, and then having to shut down their services as of Sept 3, 2026, our coalition felt it was important to bring people together to talk. As one attendee commented; “A/I may be the first, but they won’t be the last … they are the canary in the coal mine for movement providers.”
Despite this horrible news, the conversations remained oriented towards solidarity and strategies. As one RABT colleague expressed: “solidarity is not illegal”.
Progressive Technology Project is deeply grateful to the Association for Progressive Communications for the network’s support of us—a new APC member—to attend the Global Gathering. Beyond booths and sessions, interviews and meetings, the Gathering was a chance for PTP to deepen our relationships with APC members and other movement providers facing similar challenges, and engage with new people interested in our collective work. Only through growing this movement will we be able to fight and win against the alliance of Big Tech oligarchs and fascist administrations.