Three ways Web3 can support grassroots and activist movements
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, resulting in the stripping of reproductive rights in the US, the worsening climate crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the persecution of women in Iran, among many other crises, it is a dark time for humanity. These challenging times have also reinforced the urgent need for grassroots and activist movements to emerge, fight back, and help build a better world.
However, it can be challenging for these movements to operate, especially under authoritarian regimes, due to censorship, a lack of access to fundraising tools, and limited tools and infrastructure to organize movements. This is where Web3 comes in.
Protection from censorship
One of the most important qualities of a blockchain is its immutability. What this means is that any transaction on the blockchain is stored on-chain permanently, and cannot be altered or removed by anyone, including authoritarian regimes.
This makes blockchain-based tools a great fit for activists, especially those at risk for censorship. Let’s look at the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2019-2020, for an example of how this technology can benefit activist movements. Amid these protests, the Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, was shut down by the government. In response, cyber activists in Hong Kong started uploading documents and articles from the newspaper to a censorship-proof blockchain, so that the articles from the newspaper could live on forever.
Unfortunately, there have been many media crackdowns recently, including in Turkey, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cracked down on critical media outlets; and in Uganda, where reports emerged of government crackdowns on media outlets critical of the government. There have also been plenty of examples of governments censoring posts on social media outlets or shutting them down all together.
At a time when freedom of press is being challenged all over the world, and where authoritarian forces are emerging in many democratic strongholds, the availability of Web3 technology to combat censorship is vital.
Blockchain-based tools can also be a great way for journalists, photographers, and artists to share important content, and ensure it lives on forever. A human rights activist or journalist investigating war crimes, for example, could use a platform like AnonDrop to safely and securely share documentation related to war crimes. Their platform would allow users to report data to the Filecoin network without revealing their location, by protecting them against IP tracing, metadata surveillance, and preventing anyone from “watching the network”. At the same time, the data would be uploaded to an immutable, censor-proof network, ensuring that those whom the evidence is being gathered against, can not interfere and alter any of the evidence.
A social change artist, on the other hand, could mint their works as NFTs, ensuring they can be accessed and viewed in perpetuity, while also giving them the opportunity to raise funds. One example of this can be found in Chinese dissident artist Badiucao’s NFT Collection, Beijing 2022, which “included five pieces of art depicting the Chinese government’s oppression of the Tibetan people, the Uyghur genocide, the dismantling of democracy in Hong Kong, the regime’s omnipresent surveillance systems, and lack of transparency surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Overall, the immutable, decentralized nature of blockchains make them a unique tool for activists and grassroots causes to advance their movements without fear of censorship.
Fundraising
One of the most obvious ways that Web3 can help activist and grassroots movements is by providing them with an easy and efficient way to raise funds from supporters. One of the biggest challenges these movements face, especially those operating in hard-to-reach areas, places with a lack of financial infrastructure, or where there is a need to protect their identity, is access to fundraising tools.
Traditional fundraising tools can be expensive, require extensive know-your-customer (KYC) authentication, and could be prone to censorship, often making them untenable for grassroots movements. Cryptocurrency on the other hand, can give these movements a way to fundraise without the need for an intermediary who can restrict transactions, who has exorbitant fees, or can cause delays in getting the funds to those in need.
At the moment, there are some challenges that could act as a barrier to these movements receiving cryptocurrency funds, such as a lack of options to off-ramp cryptocurrency to fiat, or the need for internet access, which can be shutdown by governments, as seen during the protests in Iran.
However, new innovations are constantly emerging to address these challenges, including decentralized finance (DeFi) tools, tools for accessing cryptocurrency via mobile technologies like USSD which do not require internet access, and the increased acceptance of cryptocurrency by local vendors who may also be able to convert it to fiat for a small fee. In time, hopefully these solutions will continue to evolve so that cryptocurrency can achieve its true potential as a decentralized tool for grassroots and activist movements to raise funds for their causes.
Community organizing
Finally, Web3 gives activist and grassroots movements new tools to organize community members around their causes. One emerging tool that is already being used by many social impact movements is decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are organizations that have no centralized leadership (hence the word decentralized), a horizontal structure that is governed by community members, and a set of automated rules built in to the protocol which enables it to continue functioning without the need for leadership such as a Board. DAOs are open sourced so that all members can contribute to its development and see the rules (built in to the code) behind the DAO.
Central to all DAOs is the importance of community governance, which makes it a natural fit for the social impact sector. Whereas non-profits have traditionally been more centralized in their decision making, more and more are beginning to see value in the importance of community-based decision making, where beneficiary communities make collective decisions about how funds are spent.
For more information on why DAOs are such a great tool for social impact, check out our article Five ways DAOs will revolutionize social impact.
DAOs present a unique opportunity for movements to engage community members by giving them ownership in the movements, providing them with voting rights for important decisions, and giving them an opportunity to support the organization by donating to the DAOs treasury, or acquiring governance or social tokens in support of the DAO. At the same time, it helps movements shift away from vertical structures to empowering horizontal structures that are more in line with grassroots principles.
DAOs are still in their infancy, and may not be accessible to everyone, but there are some projects that are looking to change this, such as EarthFund, which makes it easier for causes to start a DAO without the need to have extensive knowledge in coding or blockchain. Check out our interview with EarthFund HERE to learn more.
Conclusion
While many Web3 tools are still in their infancy and may not be fully accessible to everyone yet, the potential for these tools to uplift grassroots and activist movements is certainly there. We are in the midst of a challenging time for humanity, and a time when these movements are needed more than ever. Web3 can, and should, be a part of these movements. Web3 builders must keep activists and grassroots movements top-of-mind when building their tools, ensuring they are as low-barrier and inclusive as possible.
Like what you’re reading? Consider contributing to Crypto Altruism so we can continue putting out great content that shines a light on the good being done in the crypto and blockchain community.
