BookPeople Presents: JS Tan & Clarissa Redwine - Against Tech Oligarchy

BookPeople welcomes JS Tan & Clarissa Redwine in conversation with David Griscom to celebrate the release of Against Tech Oligarchy.
About this Event

Format:

• This event is free and open to the public.
• Location: The 2nd floor of BookPeople.
• Run time: 45-60 minute discussion, followed by a signing line.

Signing Guidelines:

• To get a book signed, a copy of the event book or an item of equal value must be purchased from BookPeople.
• The authors will be personalizing copies of the book.
• For high volume events, post-talk signing lines can become very long. Signing line placement is determined on a first-come, first-served basis.

General Info:

• Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis and is not guaranteed.
• If you have any accessibility concerns, please contact [email protected]

• If you have any other questions, please visit our Eventbrite FAQ. If your question isn't covered in the FAQ, feel free to email us at [email protected].
• BookPeople reserves the right to cancel or postpone this event if necessary.
• There will not be a live stream or recording available.
• All event guidelines are subject to change.

About the book:

As tech bosses fall in line with the right, tech workers have begun fighting back. This is the rousing inside story of their movement—and the way it spawned an anti-worker backlash now reshaping the industry.

After Donald Trump’s election in 2016, the tech industry sprang into action to oppose his right-wing agenda, with workers staging walkouts against ICE contracts and CEOs joining mass mobilizations against the so-called Muslim ban. But it wasn’t long before the tech bosses started to fall in line with the new administration. Using the autonomy afforded to them by the industry’s progressive and mission-driven culture, tens of thousands of tech workers began speaking out against their own executives. This burgeoning resistance included organizing against military contracts, walkouts to protest sexism, agitation about tech’s role in the climate crisis, and even a wave of union drives. By the early 2020s, tech workers had sparked an exciting movement that seemed to hold the potential to check the industry’s rapid growth and reactionary drift.

But as their struggle grew, so did the employers’ backlash. A new class consciousness took root among the billionaire owners. Hellbent on stamping out any and all dissent, tech executives embraced Trumpism, fired organizers, and began lashing out against the “woke” ideology they blamed for turning their once loyal employees against them.

Drawn from their own experiences—from organizing the first wall-to-wall union at a tech firm, to spearheading the ultimately unsuccessful Twitter organizing drive—and their direct connections with key leaders across the industry, Against Tech Oligarchy offers a balance sheet of this inspiring movement’s successes and failures that will prove crucial for anyone looking to challenge right-wing billionaires anywhere.

About the authors:

JS Tan is getting his PhD at MIT and formerly worked in tech. His work has been featured in The New York Times, MIT Technology Review, Dissent, Jacobin, Foreign Policy, The Baffler, and The Guardian, among other outlets.

Clarissa Redwine helped organize the Kickstarter union and cofounded the tech organizing conference Circuit Breakers. Her organizing work has been featured in The New York Times, the BBC, The Guardian, The Verge, TechCrunch, and elsewhere.

About the moderator:

David Griscom is the author of The Myth of Red Texas. He's a writer and political commentator from Austin, Texas, with deep roots in the working-class experience. His work bridges Southern history and politics with the broader traditions of leftist thought and activism.

As the host of the podcast Left Reckoning and former producer of The Michael Brooks Show, David has become a prominent voice in political commentary. His incisive writing on politics and working-class history has appeared in Jacobin Magazine.

By purchasing a book from BookPeople, you are not only supporting a local, independent business – you’re showing publishers that they should continue sending authors to BookPeople.

Thank you for supporting JS Tan, Clarissa Redwine, David Griscom, and your local independent bookstore!