Within our movement you will encounter various digital tools. We prefer tools that are as safe as possible and rely on renewable energy. That's why we sometimes use different tools than you might be used to.
There are quite a lot of different tools, but as a new rebel you don't have to use them all immediately.
A movement is nothing without good communication. At Extinction Rebellion, the 3 most commonly used means of communication are Mattermost, Signal & Telegram.
Through Mattermost we communicate with rebels from different groups in the Netherlands and beyond. Mattermost gives you a lot of freedom. You can find the groups and people you want to talk by yourself, without needing contact details. That's why we recommend anyone who wants to help behind the scenes to try Mattermost.
Find out how to access Mattermost. After creating an account, you can learn how to use Mattermost on this wiki. We advise you to read this page carefully, because it often takes some time to get used to Mattermost.
Mattermost works very differently than, for example, Whatsapp and that takes some getting used to. That's why many groups also use Signal. This is an alternative to WhatsApp that offers secure communication. For example, we use Signal to quickly share action points or to share information about upcoming activities. For many groups within Extinction Rebellion, Signal is the standard communication app. You can download Signal for your iPhone, for Android (Samsung, Huawei, etc.) and for your computer.
Telegram is useful because it allows us to send an announcement to all interested parties at once. Extinction Rebellion uses 3 national Telegram broadcasting channels:
To receive these updates, add the channels to your Telegram app.
To work well together, we also need to share files. For example, if we work together on action plans or a design for a poster, but also to check calendars or minutes.
Most files within Extinction Rebellion are stored on Nextcloud. To access, you can create an account. Ask your integrator to help you get your account approved. To do this your integrator will post a request in the Mattermost channel "6.1. Nextcloud."
Do you not have an integrator? Please send an email to welcome@extinctionrebellion.nl.
After approving your account you can access public files. You can view the files, but you can't change them yet. If you want to change a group's files or see a group's private files, you need to ask permission from that group.
An alternative to Nextcloud and Google Drive is CryptPad. This is the safest of the available online collaboration tools. That is why we use CryptPad mainly to plan (secret) actions. This reduces the likelihood of our plans leaking. To use CryptPad, you can create an account.
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