Tien - Activist, FNV | Web3Privacy Now - Amsterdam Meetup 2025

[Music] [Applause] Yeah. So, my name is Dean. I'm an activist and right now I work for the Union FA, the biggest union of the Netherlands. Uh, and I think first, um, I'm really happy to be here and be part of like new to this movement. And I would love to learn a lot from you because I think I would like to start with a lot of mistakes or potential mistakes that I made on my privacy in my life and as an activist and I think a lot of people make these mistakes and I hope that maybe I can also get some help from you in uh like not repeating these ones and then in the second part I willh tell a bit more about like uh yeah what I do now what the political strategy is of the work that we do at the union because I think that's also something that I can maybe provide you.

Um, so I think about six years ago I started working uh or like being an activist. I think I think finally got like found some people in Amsterdam that also were worried about the world that were angry about political systems and yeah it's just like finding your people around you and your network and then finally okay there it is you know now you can uh do this job together you don't have to like sit with all these feelings yourself. Um and in the beginning I was very I think very naive also I came from a very privileged position meeting uh a lot of people that had a lot of other challenges in my life in in their life that I'd never challenged in my life. Uh and I think it also um uh yeah caused maybe some of the uh of the mistakes that I made in my privacy uh life. So yeah, when I first did uh some activism, I remember um we uh planned a campaign to take Shell to court, the big climate case.

Maybe some of you heard about this case. Um and when we planned this, we uh were in a secret location and we put all our phones in the freezer. And I thought this was something from like movies, you know, and I thought, okay, whatever, this is maybe part of a show a little bit. Uh so that was the first time I thought like, okay, this is actually a thing. Okay, well we'll see.

I started doing a lot of other act actions like civil disobedience actions and they said like oh you need a nickname like okay yeah well people call me teen so let's go for teen um and then um one day my friends came to my to me and she said like something really happened really strange happened somebody came to my house and they started asking all these questions about like uh potential people in my environment that are doing activism and maybe like um yeah uh if I could give some information about them and they really fake. And in the end, she was really worried that something was going on with a friend of them. Uh, and she really didn't get and she like, yeah, just answered some questions about her and actions that she went to and friends that they work cuz she was just worried. And then around us, a lot of people had this. Uh there were like tens of people that got like uh followed uh after actions to their houses um by sometimes police in for in like uh in clothes but sometimes also undercover and always with these fake stories about like yeah they just wanted to help and understand and better protect us.

Um and then we actually found out that there were entire like files of us at the IV like the security services in the Netherlands. Um, I think one of the mistakes that I made until now, there is a law in the in in um uh in the city of Amsterdam that I can I can access these files, but I never did because I'm just a bit scared. So, I think that's also a bit like okay, I'm also a bit scared of getting to know all these things because what else is there, you know, that they know about me and all the things that I did. Um, yeah. And then a lot of activism happened in between.

And then two years ago, um my partner and I, we were very worried because the sister of my partner, um she was on a move from Sudan to uh to Europe because she fled for the war in Sudan. And we followed her entire trip and we supported her with money as we could. And then she said like, I'm going to go through Russia because I found a possib an option there. And we all thought, okay, this is maybe not not a good idea because there's a war going on and like no, don't do it. but like no no no possibility to get it out of her mind.

So she went there um and she crossed the border from Bellarus to Latia and then she got stuck in um in the middle of like nowhere in a remote farm and people said they were going to help with them. They asked us more money, more money. They didn't give them food, no water and only internet uh to contact us and get more money uh for them to get get away. And after four days, no sleep and worries, we thought, "Okay, we're going to go there and help them, you know, because she was there with four others." Uh so we went there, uh went to car.

Um and then uh in the beginning it went quite well. We were able to get the sister and two other people out of the place and bring them to a safe space. Then we went back uh to get the two other people that were left behind and then we were uh caught by the police. Um and I remember like okay this is Europe you know uh still this is like Europe European laws. So yeah u we didn't like I said yeah just take us to the to the uh police station and we will explain um still very naive that I was and then everything took super long and then I started to worry a lot like oh [ __ ] what is all in my phone?

Um, and uh, yeah, I was there at the police station and they as like, "Yeah, where did you get to know each other?" Like, "Yeah, the demonstration for open migration, open borders." Like, [ __ ] I cannot say these things. Um, what did I learn about my privacy and all these things? So, at some point, like, okay, um, I'll wait until my lawyer, like, [ __ ] how do I get a lawyer?

So, there were a lot of things going on there. Um uh and there was a lot of things in my phone that uh for example photos with my ex-girlfriend in a country where there's no uh gay marriage. Uh so there was a lot of things that weren't in my mind like okay I still don't know a lot of these answers like what can I do with my data that's still on the phone. A lot of groups that I'm in it's even it is signal groups and telegram groups but still there's so many data of uh that is still there with the police. Uh also I'm out in the bill here still a lot of things going on but I think there's in this whole journey a lot of activists are going through not exactly the same but similar things and things that they need better protection for uh their data uh and for the privacy um especially with the current political developments in this country and this this world this um continent.

So yeah, that's a big question that I have for this movement and I'm really glad also to be part of uh of of this group. Um yeah, so maybe a bit more like ending on a more positive note like how we are uh right now uh building uh power in society and uh more yeah trying to build like a revolution here from the ground. Um I've done a lot of activism in mobilization in different groups for like climate justice, migration, general rights, um indigenous rights, um and a lot of mobilization. But then I also realized like over the years, what did I actually build in like long-term uh networks and long-term structures and power that actually can really like Yeah. that we can rely on if [ __ ] really hits the fan.

We have to have each other, you know, and we have to have these communities and networks and power structures to rely on. Um, and I think in the movements that I've been part of, they were all really fast and they were all really like exhausted exhausting and at some point people got burnouts and then the group collapsed again. And um right now I'm working for the union uh the workers union and I think that's a really good start to really like build these networks of people not only in smaller bubbles but really in a bigger broader society on a long term um that really can be like build power um and resistance and resilience and uh right now I'm working in the universities uh tuft for example a lot of smart people in one place uh that's for sure and a lot of different political opinions. Um some people are getting u paid from military budgets their work at the because there's a lot of connections between military um weapon um uh factories like brands and the university and on the other side there's like Palestinian activists who know exactly like how this militarization uh yeah affects their communities back in Palestine and they are fighting against these cuts um with uh like fighting against the ties with the military regimes. So there's a a broad spectrum of people and all in between and this is called like a structure based organizing.

Um so there's self- selecting groups which like okay we all care about the climate. Let's come together and we are a bubble. We're gonna go on the street and show like what democracy is. But there's also structured groups, but there are structures already exist. But there's people from all different opinions, different backgrounds, and they all can be together like are together in a group, but they don't work together and they yeah, they don't know they are not organized yet.

But to organize these groups, that's where the real power is. So we are doing that with a lot of decentralized leadership. Um because uh if you're looking for if you're if you're finding a leader in a group, somebody who also already has like followers uh after them um they can and you have them on your site, they can do so much more than I can do as only one organizer. So we are having long conversations with people like what are the issues that you face in this university? What are the issues that you face in your day-to-day life?

really getting to know the people and like saying okay I also found another person that is also facing the same issue and maybe their political views are completely different but yet still the same issues they face in their university or in their work space and to bring these people together very slowly in a very long-term strategy I think is where the real power is uh where I really believe that yeah change can come from um another example that I find beautiful and another campaign that the union did in the the big airport. Um they uh tried to organize the the people that are working on the luggage bands like the doing a lot of heavy work and they didn't have like good hours. There was a lot of like insecurity in their work. Um they had a lot of back problems because they had to carry all the big weights. Um and but they were really badly organized in their their boss was really good organized.

So they constantly were yeah it was getting worse and worse and worse and then the union was come coming in and they thought okay let's get the people together but already did a lot of anti-UN strategy work. So they said like don't talk to the union they are dangerous they are going to um yeah they're going to radicalize you and they're saying all these things about the union. So we had to start like really really slowly and it all started with a microwave because all of them were really mad that they couldn't warm up their dinner. Um and uh so they thought like okay we make a a nice concare like okay what do you want to change? I'll get a microwave.

Yeah we want a microwave. So the first uh victory of them altogether was a microwave. H and they went with a petition to the boss saying hey we want a microwave. And the boss said no we're not going to do it. And that made them even more angry.

And it was actually really good. Sometimes like a boss can help you a bit by saying something small is not going to happen. So, and then even more people joined like hey we cannot get a microwave let's go for the microwave and of course the microwave came there and only four years later they were able uh to like they were organized enough to strike um so they put their jobs down and they only had to do that for like 15 minutes and everything was so chaotic because if you 15 minutes don't like in the whole system is is stopping like the entire system collapses. So only 15 minutes of strike and uh there they had uh their outcomes were really good like better working conditions, better income, um better holidays, uh all of it. Uh and it started with a microwave and it took a long time but in the end they got organized and there were a lot of different people who came together and worked together and I think that's what real power is.

Uh and that's what we need and I think that's also what we need you for. So thank you [Applause] [Music]