About this event
Bread&Net is an annual unconference that brings together activists, technologists, journalists, and policymakers to discuss and reimagine digital rights and social justice in the Arabic-speaking region. Organized by SMEX, Bread&Net offers a collaborative space for learning, strategizing, and building networks of solidarity.
Bread&Net fosters an open, safe, and diverse environment for knowledge exchange, resource sharing, and strategic collaboration. After a two-year hiatus, Bread&Net returns this October with a highly anticipated in-person gathering in Beirut, highlighting the urgent need for face-to-face dialogue.
The unconference will unite civil society groups, journalists, policymakers, technologists, lawyers, judges, scholars, and independent voices to critically examine the growing role of technology in the region. This gathering will be a vital space for sparking new conversations, developing adaptive strategies, and forging strong collaborations to navigate an increasingly complex and challenging landscape.
Organizers – SMEX
SMEX is a leading digital rights organization based in Beirut, dedicated to advancing human rights in the digital age across the WANA region. Each year, SMEX organizes Bread&Net, the region’s leading annual unconference on digital rights. We convene each year to map ongoing and new threats to online freedoms, strategize collective action, and bring the community together. Across three days, attendees will meet to strategize around the possibilities and challenges posed by the expansion of technology in the Arabic-speaking world. This gathering will serve as a crucial space for initiating critical dialogues and forging strong alliances towards a safe, free and open internet in West Asia and North Africa.
Bread&Net is a meeting ground for people rethinking power, technology, and freedom in our region. We meet to confront the political and social impacts of digital technologies—from surveillance and censorship to disinformation and access. The unconference is open for everyone to attend and share their knowledge and visions for the future, setting the groundwork for transformative action and collaboration. Our gathering is born out of urgency, care, and a commitment to defending digital rights as inseparable from all struggles for justice in the region. Through workshops, panel discussions, and community-driven sessions, Bread&Net fosters critical conversations and collaborative solutions to challenges facing the region.
We’d love to hear from you!
Let’s shape Bread&Net together – submit your idea by July 15 and help us co-create the 2025 program.
