The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy
In The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, San Francisco journalist Gil Durán traces how Silicon Valley evolved from a self-described liberal enclave into the right-wing tech-authoritarian movement of today.
Disrupting the myth of tech neutrality, Durán exposes Big Tech’s long-standing entanglements with white supremacy, eugenics, mass surveillance, and antidemocratic politics. Tracing the stories of technocratic figures like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, The Nerd Reich reveals how technofascism and the world’s richest men are reshaping politics and building a new world order. But most importantly, The Nerd Reich shows how folks are organizing and resisting!
MODERATOR
Dr. Carmen Rojas is the president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation. Under her leadership, which started in 2020, MCF launched the prestigious Freedom Scholar award and has granted more than $323 million in funding to dozens of organizations doing the hard work of shifting power to those people who have long been excluded from having it. Prior to MCF, Dr. Rojas was the cofounder and CEO of the Workers Lab, an innovation lab that partners with workers to develop new ideas that help them succeed and flourish.
PANELISTS
Gil Durán is the grandson of Mexican immigrant farmworkers. He got his first taste of work in the fields but became interested in journalism after winning the local newspaper’s “My Mom Is the Best” contest in the fifth grade. He graduated from DePauw University in 1998 and started his journalism career at San Jose Mercury News. As the newspaper industry hit turbulence, he pivoted to politics and spent 15 years as an advisor to politicians. In 2018, he returned to journalism as California opinion editor of The Sacramento Bee and then became editorial page editor of the San Francisco Examiner. Now an independent journalist, he publishes two newsletters: The Nerd Reich, focused on extremist tech politics, and FrameLab, focused on political language.
Dr. Safiya U. Noble is the David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Noble is the author of the bestselling book on algorithmic harm in commercial search engines, titled Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (NYU Press). In 2021, she was recognized as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for her groundbreaking work on algorithmic discrimination. Dr. Noble is a board member of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, serving those who are vulnerable to online harassment, and provides expertise to a number of civil and human rights organizations. In 2022, she was recognized as the inaugural NAACP–Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award recipient.
Jacinta González is an organizer and strategist at MediaJustice. Prior, she served as policy director for Mijente, where she held leadership roles since the organization's founding. Through Mijente’s immigration work and groundbreaking #NoTechforICE campaign that she started and led, González organized against the tech and data companies fueling the US detention and deportation system. Previously, she worked at PODER in Mexico, organizing to combat water contamination by the mining industry. She was the lead organizer for the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice Congress of Day Laborers, where she helped establish a base of undocumented families dedicated to building worker power, advancing racial justice, and organizing against deportations. González has received multiple fellowships, including the Galaxy Leadership Fellowship, the Soros Justice Fellowship, and the New Voices Fellowship.
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