A-Infos (en) France, Monde Libertaire - SIDO 2025 (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Why are we opposing SIDO? For two years, we have been co-organizing a 
protest rally in front of the Internet of Things (SIDO) Trade Show with 
the Stop 5G Lyon coordination, Écran Total, and other groups. This year, 
it will take place on Wednesday, September 17th and Thursday, September 
18th, at the Cité Internationale de Lyon Convention Center. Why would 
anyone disrupt a trade show that, at first glance, seems to have little 
to hide? Because upon closer inspection, SIDO and its tech companies are 
dabbling in murky and deadly waters. Is this collusion between the 
digital and weapons industries? First of all, the military loves tech, 
and the military is crazy about military contracts: in 2023, a study we 
conducted concluded that more than half of the companies exhibiting at 
SIDO had military-related activities. And 2025 promises to be just as 
militarized.

Aware that this is a sensitive subject, the show seeks to mask this 
reality in a hushed and cool atmosphere... But each year, discussions 
with certain critical visitors demonstrate that in this industry, no one 
is fooled.

Then there is STMicroelectronics, SIDO's "premium sponsor," whose 
expansion of its Crolles plant in Isère is being contested by the Stop 
Micro collective. The group fights both the land and water grabbing and 
the forced digitalization imposed by the microelectronics industry.

STMicroelectronics also manufactures and exports chips for military use. 
These have been found-despite the 2014 embargo-in Russian kamikaze 
drones and in equipment used by the Israeli army.

Two other "silver sponsors," Arrow and Vodafone, offer military 
technologies in their catalogs.

The presence of Nicomatic is a prime example of what this industry and 
SIDO are really about. Like STMicroelectronics, it violated the embargo 
on Russia in 2023. Like STMicroelectronics, it has sold military 
equipment to Israel and uses the country as an innovation center for 
military-civilian projects. (1 and 2) And, the icing on the cake, 
Nicomatic is a member of the EDEN cluster, a regional arms lobby whose 
many members are involved in sales to dictatorships and embargo violations.

A trade show serving extractivism?

The microelectronics and digital industries, for which SIDO serves as a 
mega-showcase, are at the center of the ecological, social, and economic 
crime that is extractivism.

The more we digitize society, the more minerals (copper, gold, tin, 
coltan, lithium, cobalt, etc.) must be extracted, devastating entire 
countries, exploiting local populations and resources, and spreading 
wars and massacres (DR Congo, Sudan, Senegal, etc.).

For the moment, this mainly concerns countries in the Global South, but 
soon, in the name of "sovereignty" and profit, this will happen in our 
latitudes, for example in Allier, with the Échassières lithium mine.

Greenwashing to the rescue of SIDO?

Following our previous actions, SIDO has taken to greenwashing with the 
complicity of the "ecological" Lyon Metropolis. The latter is a partner 
of "Impact by SIDO" for supposedly more "responsible" but, above all, 
"profitable" technologies. ADEME is also participating in this sinister 
farce by intervening on critical minerals, sobriety, and smart cities.

Events around "frugal AI," ethics, mineral traceability, and other 
attempts are multiplying to make us believe that the future of ecology 
and the survival of the world lie in technology.

For our part, we believe that this industry, its leaders, and the 
technosolutionism that serves as their compass are largely responsible 
for the ecological, social, and war crisis we are experiencing and 
certainly not the solution.

All-Tech: Towards a Dehumanization of Cities and Public Services

And that's not all! Also on the agenda: cybersecurity and smart cities, 
which are the two sides of techno-security management of the city; 
generative AI, considered an "engine of evolution... by transforming 
robots into intelligent agents," without ever specifying that it is 
decimating and further dehumanizing workplaces and public services!

Don't let it happen

All this and more stems from our rejection of SIDO, the digital 
industry, and the world they want to impose on us. A world of constant 
control, excessive automation, and brutal exploitation thanks to AI, 
robotics, the "Internet of Things," and other joys, all aimed at fueling 
the capitalist mega-machine through war, the destruction of nature, and 
the oppression of peoples.

We therefore invite you to join us in demonstrating your rejection of 
SIDO and the world they want to impose.

Various activities are planned. More information coming soon. Stay tuned.

Sharing other initiatives and coordinating

The appeal "Why we support those charged on June 15, 2021?" published on 
June 29 by supporters of those charged on June 15, 2021, calls for "a 
de-escalation of imposed digitalization and... to open spaces in which 
it is possible to publicly critique digital technology. We also call for 
organizing to resist digitalization." To this end, let's join the 
protests against digital technology showcases:

- SIDO (Internet of Things Exhibition) in Lyon on September 17, 2025
- SIM (Mineral Industry Exhibition) in Orléans from October 15 to 17, 2025
- Tech&Fest in Grenoble on February 4 and 5, 2026
- Vivatech in Paris from June 17 to 20, 2026.

We fully support this call and, beyond SIDO, call for increased actions 
and initiatives against the digital industry.(3)

Regional Coordination Against Arms and Militarism (CRAAM) - Total Screen 
Lyon - Stop 5G Coordination

Contact: craam@riseup.net

Notes
1 - War in Ukraine: How France is circumventing the embargo on Russia. 
Observatory Notes No. 7. June 2023 . And "Russian Papers Dossier." 
Benjamin Jung. Blast
2 - War in Gaza: How France Cooperates with Israel. Tony Fortin, Patrice 
Bouveret. Observatory Notes No. 8. June 2025
3 - 
https://www.terrestres.org/2025/06/16/organisons-nous-contre-linformatisation-de-la-societe/

https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8495
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