11 a.m., July 13, 2025
Join us this Sunday, either in person or online, as we watch and discuss a video of Carole Cadwalladr, who is a journalist who probes the nexus of politics and Silicon Valley power. A longtime feature writer for the UK’s Guardian and Observer, she now explores “How to Survive the Broligarchy” in her Substack newsletter. Her reporting has won a Polk Award and the Orwell Prize for political journalism; she was also a Pulitzer finalist for National Reporting in 2019 with the New York Times, investigating Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the misuse of data in the Brexit referendum and the 2016 US presidential election.
“We are watching the collapse of the international order in real time, and this is just the start,” says investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr. In a searing talk, she decries the rise of the powerful tech executives who are using their global digital platforms to amass unprecedented geopolitical power, dismantling democracy and enabling authoritarian control across the world. Her rallying cry: resist data harvesting and mass surveillance, and support others in a groundswell of digital disobedience. “You have more power than you think,” she says.
In April 2019, she gave a TED talk about the links between Facebook and Brexit, entitled “Facebook’s role in Brexit — and the threat to democracy”. British businessman, political donor, Arron Banks objected to her statement that Mr. Banks had told untruths about a secret relationship he had with the Russian government and initiated a libel suite the settlement of which is now to be taken to the European Court of Human Rights.
You can watch this 17-minute talk at: https://www.ted.com/talks/carole_cadwalladr_this_is_what_a_digital_coup_looks_like/a>
Attend in Person:
On the second Sunday of the month, like this Sunday, you can attend our forum in person with fellow humanists in the Orchard Room at the Los Altos Library, 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos, CA 94022. Lunch will be served after the forum. We request a $10 donation.
If you can join us in person, please email vp@humanists.org to help us make sure we have room for you. If you have symptoms that may be COVID, kindly attend on Zoom.
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Also, we will continue to present our forums on Zoom. To join and be able to ask questions and make comments, click here.
No password is needed — our host will admit you from the waiting room. Joining the meeting via the link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer (if it’s not already installed), and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your computer or smartphone, and then enter:
Meeting ID: 816 5389 0712
Passcode: 250634
Join the meeting by phone: +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose)
Find an international number to call: https://zoom.us/u/afYkAuvE6
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This is what a digital coup looks like https://t.co/cmep0eDDZd #Meetup via @Meetup pic.twitter.com/6rboXMF0bx
— Humanist Community (@HumanistCommSV) July 9, 2025
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