Bread&Net 2025 brings together digital rights defenders, researchers, and civic actors from across the Arab region to rethink how technology shapes power and freedom. For ARI, this annual gathering is a vital space to engage with regional peers on the intersection of technology, governance, and civic space—issues that directly affect the work of civil society and policy reform in the MENA region.

As the digital sphere becomes increasingly contested—through surveillance, censorship, and disinformation—ARI joins its partners at SMEX, the organizers of Bread&Net, to contribute to collective strategies for a safer, freer, and more equitable internet.

Our participation reflects ARI’s commitment to advancing rights-based digital governance and to linking online freedoms with broader struggles for justice and accountability in the region.

We view our partnership with SMEX and our participation in Bread&Net as a natural flow from our previous work on technology in the MENA region and the influence that has on the lives of people living here. It reflects our commitment to contribute to a homegrown, regionally grounded analysis that captures how technologies are deployed in our societies, how they interact with fragile governance systems and impact political participation, and what they mean for social and environmental justice.

“The intersections between technology and society have always been present in the MENA region and in ARI’s work, be it on the impact of Palestine’s cybercrime legislation on the digital sphere or the digitization of public services in Morocco. As we explore this intersection in more depth, we are excited to be partnering with SMEX and participating in Bread&Net. These spaces are essential for fostering critical thought and coming together to grapple with the monumental changes that are impacting everyone’s day-to-day.” - Andrew Findell-Aghnatios, Senior Programme Coordinator

ARI’s panel at Bread&Net

Warfare today unfolds through dense networks of digital infrastructures, algorithms, surveillance tools, and data systems that extend power far beyond the battlefield. Drawing on new research from Gaza, Lebanon, and Sudan, this panel examines how these technologies shape conflict through predictive targeting, telecom shutdowns, biometric surveillance, corporate complicity, grassroots resistance, and online disinformation. By unpacking the political economy of militarized technologies and surveillance in MENA, the session explores how emerging and established systems of power intersect across warfare, capitalism, and neocolonialism.

Positioning technology as a site of power rather than a neutral tool, the discussion situates digital repression within broader hierarchies of control rooted in colonial legacies, geopolitical dominance, and capitalist extraction. It will also interrogate themes of tech colonialism, algorithmic oppression and resistance, and the shortcomings of existing governance frameworks in safeguarding digital and human rights in conflict zones. Finally, the session highlights human agency and resistance, revealing how communities navigate, subvert, and reimagine these technologies from the margins.

Date: October 30th, 2025

(keep an eye on this space, we will be sharing more details soon!) 

Visit our booth

ARI will be present throughout Bread&Net 2025, hosting a booth where participants can explore our latest publications on political inclusion, social protection, and environmental politics.

Stop by to meet Andrew Findell-Aghnatios, Senior Programme Coordinator, and Yara Al-Chehayed, Communications Specialist, among other members of our team.

We look forward to exchanging ideas, sharing insights, and building new collaborations with those shaping the region’s digital and civic futures.