rabble.coop news…
“You didn’t just help us build a website — you helped us build a movement.”
Its been a busy few months at rabble.coop.
In May Women’s Platform launched the Pillars for Peace-Building learning platform, a toolkit on feminist activism and women’s role in peace building built by rabble.coop. The platform profiles includes workshops, blogs, videos, resources, a timeline and much more - with content organised around the the UNSCR 1325 pillars. You can read about the project on our website.
Following the anti-immigrant protests and riots across the north of Ireland in June 2025, rabble.coop produced a second report for the Equality Coalition entitled ‘Inciting a Pogrom?’ Social Media and the Racist Disorder in Ballymena and beyond during summer 2025. The report tracks how social media was used as a communications platform for building a visible, confident and aggressive movement within local communities. The report was launched in October 2025.
In September Plean Teanga Feirste Thiar (West Belfast Language Planning Network) launched fisanphobail.com at the Oireachtas in Belfast. Fís an Phobail is a bilingual platform promoting Irish language activities, events and organisations across West Belfast. The site will “support the development of a critical mass of speakers to foster and strengthen a sustainable language community in the years ahead.” In November, rabble.coop presented a workshop at the annual general meeting of the European Language Equality Network on how the tech we are building is supporting the Irish language revival.
One last thing! We’re looking for social movements, campaign groups, cooperatives and non-profits to take part in our Liberation Technology 2026 pilot project. We’ll be trialling libre software alternatives to Big Tech services with a small pool of groups. Find out more…
Big Tech news…
“Microsoft wants you to buy a new computer. But what if you could make your current one fast and secure again?”
Microsoft will end support for Windows 10 on 13 October 2026. This means there will be no security upgrades for Windows 10 users after this date, leaving their computers and their data vulnerable to malicious attacks. Microsoft’s goal? Force people to purchase an upgrade to Windows 11 or purchase a new computer with Windows software. But what if your computer is dead on (and if purchased after 2010, it should be) and you don’t want to buy a new one, or hand more money to Microsoft?
The End of 10 Project is a global initiative aimed at supporting people to transition from Microsoft to Linux. So far 780,000 people have downloaded Zorin - a Linux system advertised as “the alternative to Windows and macOS designed to make your computer faster, more powerful, secure, and privacy-respecting.”
If you want to switch from Microsoft Windows to Linux but don’t know how - give us a shout. We’d be happy to help.
Government news…
“Ireland is officially kissing US Big Tech’s backside on the global stage.”
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has filed a complaint against Microsoft with the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) for “unlawful data processing on behalf of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza” which facilitated the killing of civilians in Gaza, enabled mass surveillance of the entire occupied Palestine territory and enabled an illegal occupation and apartheid régime. The Irish DPC is the lead regulator for most of the Big Tech corporations operating in Ireland including Google, Microsoft and Meta.
In 2024 it was revealed that the DPC had issued €3.26bn in fines to Big Tech companies, but only collected €19.9m – or 0.6%. According to EU data privacy specialists at NOYB, this “creates the impression of enforcement, but actually ensures that US Big Tech can operate in the European market without being bothered by strict EU digital laws.” In September the Irish government appointed Niamh Sweeney, a former Meta lobbyist to the DPC. The Phoenix noted that Sweeney was head of public policy between 2015-19, “a timespan that overlaps with the State’s engagement in assorted battles with Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire.”
According to the Austrian privacy lawyer and advocate Max Schrems: “kissing the US’s ass behind the scenes seems to be not enough anymore. Now, Ireland is officially kissing US Big Tech’s backside on the global stage. At least this brings some honesty to the situation we’ve witnessed over the last 15 years.”
All of this does not exactly instil confidence in the DPC’s ability to robustly investigate Microsoft’s complicity in the Israel government’s genocide in Gaza.
Movement news…
“A browser plugin to detect and block more than 19000 Israeli-related websites and their social accounts.”
Some good people associated with Tech for Palestine have produced a browser add-on called The Wall. Think of it as a BDS companion on the web - once installed, anytime you open the website of an Israeli-connected company you will see “the wall” (as in Apartheid Wall) instead. Not only does it block entrance to the site to prevent you doing business with companies complicit in genocide and apartheid, but it provides lists of alternative companies who provide similar services.
Free Software: Pick of the Month…
Alternatives to Microsoft Office
You have many reasons to ditch Microsoft from your daily workflow, and now you have three free software alternatives: OnlyOffice, Collabora Office and LibreOffice. Collabora Office is based on the more established LibreOffice – which is excellent software however we have found that its dated user interface is a real impediment to its adoption.
Both OnlyOffice and Collabora Office have the main software services you would be used to with Microsoft Office (word processing, spreadsheet management and powerpoint presentation), have modern and intuitive interfaces and are fully compatible with Microsoft Office (i.e. you can open, edit and share documents with people still locked in the Microsoft world).
Collabora Office also provides a free app enabling users to view and edit documents on their phone.
Download one of them today and give it a blast. You’ll see how easy the transition is.
That’s us for now. If you haven’t done so already, sign up to our occasional (no more than quarterly) newsletter. As ever, if you have an idea for working with us, tell us about it!