<![CDATA[I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics.]]>I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics.

The German fascist party AfD now created a European foundation to push their fascist politics further. The name: "Sovereignty Foundation".

Even though tactically it might feel like it makes sense to use the term to get funding, you are integrating right wing politics into your thinking and speaking.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/5f1e4a46-2886-4cb8-be42-0a1e29e2cc14/i-have-been-warning-about-the-term-digital-sovereignty-and-how-it-is-right-wing-coded-and-probably-can-t-be-salvaged-for-non-right-wing-politics.RSS for NodeTue, 21 Apr 2026 20:55:31 GMTMon, 20 Apr 2026 07:24:19 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:30:26 GMT]]>@tante it's important that information used by your government is held on servers that come under your government's jurisdiction. This is information about taxes, justice, socialized health care etc. Without that another regime can take control of it in ways you don't like and you can't, for example vote them out of office cos it isn't a country you have a vote in.

But another meaning of digital sovereignty is more personal. It's important that, where possible, your own data (eg family photos) is held on machines you control. This prevents other people using it in ways you don't like.

Neither of these requirements is specifically right wing, though right wing people may want them just like the rest of us.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.nz/users/rogerparkinson/statuses/116441994141326885https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.nz/users/rogerparkinson/statuses/116441994141326885Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:30:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 07:34:17 GMT]]>@hadon @skaphle @jwildeboer @tante
I'm always talking about not being dependent on corporations. American, european, whatever. My "we" is always people, proletarians, never a nation.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.io/users/zeh/statuses/116441537422157875https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.io/users/zeh/statuses/116441537422157875Tue, 21 Apr 2026 07:34:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:38:07 GMT]]>@anna @beandreams @tante In what relates to the legal process of decolonisation, according to the UN “self determination” was often a necessary step: meaning giving a population a chance to determine whether they wanted full sovereignty or some form of autonomy within another nationstate. (The ILO developed further frameworks for decisions on economic development based on this one.)

But the phrase can be a bit confusing in the neoliberal era because of the word “self” which in this context isn’t individual at all.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://weirder.earth/users/janet/statuses/116441316526207805https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://weirder.earth/users/janet/statuses/116441316526207805Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:38:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 22:45:03 GMT]]>@cascheranno @tante im not going to invent a new lexicon because some slobbering rightoid makes words sound scawwy. That’s some soft ass shit, these people literally want you dead

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://defcon.social/ap/users/116406490098387661/statuses/116439456371969667https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://defcon.social/ap/users/116406490098387661/statuses/116439456371969667Mon, 20 Apr 2026 22:45:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 22:44:02 GMT]]>@tante

Yes, but… I'm not prepared yet for a linguistic dance around all words, that might be used by the wrong people in a wrong meaning. It would feel like a Sisyphean task, because they occupy and abuse new words all the time.

But maybe we should use for the state-level meaning, and e.g. for collective and individual meaning? I used to use the first term for both, and that's blurring things.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://framapiaf.org/users/debacle/statuses/116439452357270457https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://framapiaf.org/users/debacle/statuses/116439452357270457Mon, 20 Apr 2026 22:44:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 20:13:35 GMT]]>@tante Did you mean that AfD is co-opting the term or that's the term digital sovereignty itself is originally conceived as a tool of right wing parties? At this point that the term digital sovereignty is pretty well embedded in the policy scene these days judging by my podcast feed.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://indieweb.social/users/McNeely/statuses/116438860761822481https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://indieweb.social/users/McNeely/statuses/116438860761822481Mon, 20 Apr 2026 20:13:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:51:44 GMT]]>@bsdphk @tante agreed, that's my term of choice as well.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hci.social/users/floe/statuses/116438774883039037https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hci.social/users/floe/statuses/116438774883039037Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:51:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:22:02 GMT]]>@tante would digital self-determination be better? but yeah, why is that term right wing coded? I'm not familiar with this issue

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.stealthy.club/users/esoteric_programmer/statuses/01KPP5FDNF2F2SR36RH847VX77https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.stealthy.club/users/esoteric_programmer/statuses/01KPP5FDNF2F2SR36RH847VX77Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:22:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:51:23 GMT]]>@larsmb

What we get for letting the social media platforms/newspapers become the default dictionary - fascist/regressive types squirm/buy their way in and start weaponizing it. Been a problem with PBS/NPR in the US for a while.

1984 was not supposed to be a doubleplusgood manual, ffs.

@tante

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Orb2069/statuses/116438301649014817https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Orb2069/statuses/116438301649014817Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:51:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:34:43 GMT]]>@tante and so if the AFD says they are proclaiming freedom we also stop using that word? 'Rechtsstaat' is bad, because fascists are 'rechts'? What is the plan here going forward?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/gsc/statuses/116438236119810938https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/gsc/statuses/116438236119810938Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:34:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:23:04 GMT]]>@tante Not everything what is called sovereign is from afd. It would be a good start, if they would be souvereign 😄

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/115725476093785751/statuses/116438190295461441https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/115725476093785751/statuses/116438190295461441Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:23:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:20:50 GMT]]>@tante No, no, we all are sovereign and as we become more and more gloriously sovereign if it just so happens that this is exactly what allows the power-hungry extremists to take full control over everything and harm all the sovereign individuals, well, that is just a coincidence that no sovereign-minded citizen could have possibly foreseen.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/kevinashworth/statuses/116438181509388504https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/kevinashworth/statuses/116438181509388504Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:20:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:01:53 GMT]]>@tante @larsmb This is a good way to view it, fascists will attempt to coopt any term that's chosen, so we need to choose the one that is both the best at conveying the goal while also the easiest to defend, and then be ready to defend it.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://retrogaming.social/users/reflex/statuses/116438106987367740https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://retrogaming.social/users/reflex/statuses/116438106987367740Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:01:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:58:57 GMT]]>@abram @tante I also quite like digital agency.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://retrogaming.social/users/reflex/statuses/116438095459547336https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://retrogaming.social/users/reflex/statuses/116438095459547336Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:58:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:58:31 GMT]]>@nilz @tante @jwildeboer This is why I love projects that use the .gay TLD. Built in antifascist naming scheme there.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://retrogaming.social/users/reflex/statuses/116438093770078901https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://retrogaming.social/users/reflex/statuses/116438093770078901Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:58:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:55:06 GMT]]>@hadon I don't think that patriotism or nationalism is helpful in a world of global open source communities. Yes, this is my biased opinion as a Red Hat employee, granted. @skaphle @tante

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.wildeboer.net/users/jwildeboer/statuses/116438080334571596https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.wildeboer.net/users/jwildeboer/statuses/116438080334571596Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:55:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:53:39 GMT]]>@skaphle @jwildeboer @tante

But sovereignty seems appropriate since we are talking about not being dependent on another State. The idea is to not be dependent on American technologies (or defense)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/hadon/statuses/116438074642841998https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/hadon/statuses/116438074642841998Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:53:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:43:47 GMT]]>@vintage_pizza @tante imagine thinking a toxified word doesn’t matter.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/cascheranno/statuses/116438035837706259https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/cascheranno/statuses/116438035837706259Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:43:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:42:25 GMT]]>@tante I don’t see Resilience in the comments. Whether it is just that word or Regional / EU Resilience, enterprise risk folks often have part of their Resilience (BC/DR) based on geopolitical-risk metrics to avoid having critical supplies or functions reliant on scary places.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/cascheranno/statuses/116438030470206744https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/cascheranno/statuses/116438030470206744Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:42:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:13:48 GMT]]>@jakob So basically, what you're saying is that since the post didn't analyse all aspects of the word, it should never have been posted?

Would I have accepted the post as an article in linguistics? No, but why should you apply those standards to a 450 character Mastodon post?

And where are these "Heideggeresk arguments from just-so-etymology about which other German (sic!) words would be more correct"? Not in the post you replied to, that's for sure.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.nu/users/ahltorp/statuses/116437682001463154https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.nu/users/ahltorp/statuses/116437682001463154Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:13:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:48:00 GMT]]>@tante i thought digital sovereignty was a good thing?! :0

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pitha.social/ap/users/116401372315378918/statuses/116437580554452433https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pitha.social/ap/users/116401372315378918/statuses/116437580554452433Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:48:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:37:08 GMT]]>@ahltorp yeah, no. All the Heideggeresk arguments from just-so-etymology about which other German (sic!) words would be more correct to describe the same issue... This is just not it.

Meanwhile the rejection of this particular word obfuscates critiques of dimensions and domains of sovereignty itself, whom it applies to, if it can exist outside of the state and how it intersects with hegemonic practice. The kinds of things I find useful as a linguist and political scientist.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pxi.social/users/jakob/statuses/116437537829300966https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pxi.social/users/jakob/statuses/116437537829300966Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:37:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:24:08 GMT]]>@tante There might be some promotional potential in "Digital Sovereign Citizens" as a movement, though.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://growers.social/users/jpaskaruk/statuses/116437486722797923https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://growers.social/users/jpaskaruk/statuses/116437486722797923Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:24:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I have been warning about the term "digital sovereignty" and how it is right-wing coded and probably can't be salvaged for non-right-wing politics. on Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:21:34 GMT]]>@tante "Digital independence" is a better term(as are several others already mentioned). But when I read "digital sovereignty", I tend to think of it as individuals, organizations, or countries technologically "going their own way" rather than be beholden to someone else.

🇫🇷 ditching Microsoft for Linux, and Linux distributions ditching Red Hat software(systemd, GNOME) come to mind as examples of that.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/antoniusmisfit/statuses/116437476590323561https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/antoniusmisfit/statuses/116437476590323561Mon, 20 Apr 2026 14:21:34 GMT