Our context

Information technology (Infotech) is increasingly shaping our lives and the Covid pandemic has accelerated the need for online interaction.

This process has the potential to enable greater access to information, openness and transparency, greater freedom of expression, solidarity, as well as stronger and more democratic forms of organising. But the digital age is reproducing the inequality and injustice of the society it is emerging in. We see not only an increasing divide between the power of those who have decent internet access and the majority, but also new forms of domination.

Rising authoritarianism (including surveillance, censorship and propaganda) is transforming our public spaces into open air prisons where we are constantly watched and trained to police ourselves – as well as surveillance capitalism that is transforming our privacy into something to be bought and sold. The right to communicate is emerging as a critical freedom to defend and advance in response to a digital feudalism where governments and a handful of large corporations control networks, platforms, technology and can shape content. Read more about our challenges & opportunites…. 

Our Goal & Purpose

We envision a people’s internet that is user owned and controlled, decommodified, a free/affordable, safe and secure – a communications network that enables a world where all the resources required for life are produced democratically in harmony with the biosphere by each according to their ability and shared according to their needs – a world where everyone enjoys equality and dignity, and are free to contribute their creativity and live in peace.

We aim to:

  1. Support working class community initiatives to establish and maintain secure and affordable networks that build the Internet From Below (learn more about  YETUNET).
  2. Provide progressive civil society organisations – and social movements in particular – with affordable and secure communication technology and capacity development so that they can maximise the benefits of information technologies while mitigating the risks (more about Infotech Solutions and INFOYETU);
  3. Advocate for a communication system that is decommodified and free from commercial and state surveillance and censorship.

Our Values

We are united by a common commitment to gender liberation, anti-racism, solidarity, participatory democracy, and environmental and economic justice.

The Organisational Vehicle

The Yetu Infotech Collective is currently housed at the AIDC Solidarity Centre We are registered as a worker/user/user owned not-for-profit Non Profit Company (NPC# K2022295652, NPO 286-001). See our 2022 audit. See more about the Collective)

Yetu is the Swahili word for ‘ours’ – a declaration of collective democratic ownership and an expression of African internationalism. 

Our logo contains a reference to converging wi-fi signals framing the letter Y in negative space. The wifi bands also form an expanding ripple signifying growth – as well as an enclosed target in negative space signifying focus and security. 

The logo is only black and can be placed in different (primarily white) backgrounds. The choice of colour is a commitment to boldness and simplicity and a nod to a pre-digital time when black & white print dominated. Download logos here.