MSC2017: what hides behind our phones?

The Mobile Social Congress spotlights the social and environmental impact of the mobile industry.

 

Setem is an international NGO founded in Barcelona in 1968 that works to raise awareness of the the causes behind the inequalities present in the current social and economic dynamics in order to generate individual and community change actions. This year they organise the second edition of the Social Mobile Congress, an alternative event held in parallel with the MWC that highlights the consequences that result from the mobile industry both on the Global South -linked to the supply chains- and on the Western countries -linked to monopolistic and privative structures-.

The Social Mobile Congress includes round tables, screenings of documentaries, workshops and other activities such as the Restart Party, where a team of volunteers repairs damaged electronic devices brought by the attendees. Some of the main topics that will be exhibited in the expert panels are the extraction of minerals at the Democratic Republic of the Congo, labour rights, planned obsolescence and waste dumps, oligopolies and free software. Entities such as the fair trade phone Fairphone, Amnistia Internacional, Electronics Watch, Ereuse.

How: Free entry. Restart Party is free with previous registration, you can register here.

When: from 28 February to 1 March. See the full program here.

Where: Pati Manning