The Bail Project has already helped at least a dozen people post bail and return to their everyday lives while awaiting trial. Today, we come together to stand in appeal for Justice For Anthony. The Bail Project is a nonprofit organization whose services are free to participants.
Justice For Anthony is one case where Anthony is detained in jail for a crime he never committed and needs justice. With The Bail Project, they determine if the person is eligible for the program. The nonprofit organization posts the person’s bail directly to the court, and they are released.
The Bail Project is a national nonprofit organization built to show that the current bail system is unfair and unnecessary in many ways. Hence, it should be made more accessible for people to attend court dates other than bail by incorporating the Digital Defense Fund.
What is Digital Defense Fund?
Digital Defense Fund is an immediate assistance for defending and protecting digital rights. The Digital Defense Fund responds to the need for fast, punctual, and flexible support that allows organizations and activists to intervene when urgent. The fund manages to receive proposals from numerous states, covering issues from internet access and quality to the challenges of facial recognition in public spaces exercised by local governments.
The last few years have been one of great political and social turmoil in America and great polarization and instability. The historical struggles favoring greater social justice have been correlated with severe reactions in different regions. In parallel, we have witnessed how digital technologies have been integrated into life, moving those struggles to the digital environment. This has become a field of conflict, where technologies are not only tools but also the object of such disputes.
The idea of the Digital Defense Fund in Justice For Anthony’s case is not just about going “digital” as a mere life outside the screens but as a space for exercising rights and a system in constant evolution, which has been installed. And yet, access gaps limit the potential of new technologies for building more just societies. These are multidimensional gaps originating in historical inequities, replicated in this new socio-technical context, and ranging from material issues (infrastructure, equipment, connection availability) to how to use technology, understand its risks, know its risks, know its advantages, and take advantage of them.
The pandemic is the clearest example of this scenario of inequities: accelerated and unceremonious digitization widened the gap between those on either side, with an immediate and apparent effect on issues such as employment, education, health, public participation and even the possibility of interacting with the State. The plurality of affectations to fundamental rights multiplies as vulnerabilities increase; multidimensional breaches facilitated by the use or regulation of technology are becoming commonplace and overwhelming.
Social organizations and activists such as The Bail Project working in favor of the community in America are helping to reduce the gaps, serving groups that are not a priority for companies or governments. The Digital Defense Fund is a tool that supports different initiatives dedicated to the defense and protection of human rights in digital environments, helping them achieve the desired social impact. After its launch, we realize that it has contributed to the region.
A fast and flexible fund
The Digital Defense Fund is open throughout the year to deal with emergency situations that arise. Organizations and activists can apply for fast help through pre-registration and application. The Evaluation Committee immediately analyzes the proposal, made up of specialists in digital rights. So join us in Justice for Anthony!
The purpose of the pre-registration system as a step before the application is to facilitate the eventual approval of funds in an accelerated manner to deal with urgent situations. Applying the Digital Defense Fund means accessing funds at any time of the year without waiting for regular funding allocation cycles, whose approval processes are long and bureaucratic. This allows interventions to be made when and where they are required.
As it is a flexible fund, it allows The Bail Project to adapt to the context as required without burdening the administrative and operational structure. This point is usually invisible in international cooperation, whose primary focus is economic support and, sometimes, accompaniment for impact work. However, the execution work also includes management (rendering of the proposed and executed activities) and the administration of funds according to a budget, requiring the time and dedication of the project team or activist. In addition to dealing with specific emergencies, the Bail Project allows those who execute the projects to create capacities that will enable them to continue their work of defense and protection of rights beyond the Digital Defense Fund.
This is particularly important considering that, for the most part, those who seek support from the fund are local organizations that have not formalized their registration or activists who have a track record of working directly with the community and serving vulnerable groups and who, in many cases have weaknesses in its internal structure to manage projects.
