Navigating duality at MozFest Barcelona
placeholder only!!! supposedly a photo of MozFest but no credits
By Dr Ronda Železný-Green and Dr Kũi Mackay
“It's magic what we do. It's sacred... and big.” -Delta Slim, Sinners
As Black women, one of the ways we live our unapologetic Black feminist ideals is by being strategic and intentional about the spaces we engage with. This is born out of a need to decentre spaces not built for us and to limit our exposure to harm from systems of oppression. This is perhaps one of the reasons that in the nearly five years since we co-founded BRK Ujima, our trip to MozFest (Mozilla’s annual conference) in Barcelona was the first official international conference that we both attended together.
When considering whether to attend MozFest, a few things stood in its favour. MozFest's theme "Unlearning" aligned perfectly with one of our core values: "A commitment to learning and unlearning". The opening day keynote speaker was Ruha Benjamin, a MacArthur Fellowship recipient (colloquially called the "Genius Grant"), transdisciplinary scholar, writer and activist. With our work at the intersection of Blackness, tech and gender, having such an incredible Black woman as keynote was significant. Her presence itself was a form of unlearning, challenging dominant beliefs about who can impart knowledge, who can teach, who can speak with authority.
There were also logistical, practical reasons to attend. With Ronda living between the UK and Spain and Kũi in Liverpool, Barcelona was accessible and affordable for us. However, these same factors – geography and cost – were the very barriers that kept so many others out, including our co-founder Belinda. The minimum three-night stay in Barcelona, plus flights from Accra, was simply unaffordable for our small three-person Black women-led organisation. Beyond our own situation, there were many last-minute adjustments to the MozFest programme because speakers from Global Majority nations, especially Africa, could not attend due to visa barriers.
This duality, access and exclusion, presence and absence, learning and unlearning, is not unique to us. It is the reality Black women constantly navigate. So we did what Black women do best: we held the contradictions while simultaneously creating something new.
"Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within." –Dr Ruha Benjamin
Our world-building began even before we gathered in Spain; we formed virtual connections with Black women attending the conference via LinkedIn. As more and more women were added to the conversation, an energy of community and respect grew along with it – this was refreshing especially as the post-COVID era also means some of us are still having new “first time in-person” contacts. During MozFest, we attended many sessions together, deliberately choosing to move through the conference in the company of Black women. Now back in our respective countries, we continue those connections virtually.
When deciding which sessions to attend, we prioritised those that were either facilitated by Black women and/or centred on Black knowledge and practices.
For example, in "Love as Political Practice" facilitated by Gustavo Souza and Gabriela de Almeida Pereira, we heard about Brazilian Black networks of care using love as a political strategy to combat disinformation. This resonated deeply as we are creating a syllabus around bell hooks' love ethic for the workplace.
Ingrid LaFleur's "Afrofuture World-Build" introduced us to the Dinkinesh Method, a futures-thinking framework rooted in ancestral wisdom, communal care, and ecological balance. This workshop in particular was a joy to participate in, as in many ways we were invited to connect with some of the more mystical musical elements associated with the film referenced in the opening of this post (and that has been a fervent topic of discussion in the BRK Ujima circle), Sinners.
Along with Tais Oliveira's "Ossain Orisha and Environmental Justice," these sessions gave us the missing piece for a Black women and AI project we are designing: thinking across three temporalities, past (ancestral knowledge), present (current realities), and future (speculative possibilities).
Outside the formal sessions and conference spaces, we continued our Black girl world-making, revealing yet another duality. The conference was predominantly white, and many Black women experienced microaggressions and other forms of gender and race-based discrimination in Barcelona. For example, many more Black presenters, other presenters of color or presenters on diversity, equity, and inclusion topics found themselves in rooms (at best) not entirely fit for what could sometimes be difficult conversations. But in our co-created spaces, we were surrounded by Blackness. We expressed and experienced our Blackness in all its joy, complexity, beauty and power.
MozFest returns to Barcelona next year. When organisers were asked about visas during a Q&A session, they expressed a willingness to work harder at making the process more just and equitable. We truly hope so. Despite the low lights, we left this year's conference feeling inspired, blessed, and affirmed, and we are looking forward to MozFest 2026, hopefully alongside more Black women, especially from African nations.
*** CTA - Reach out to Ronda and Kũi here and here.
? - see email - Incidentally, the incredible cinematography of Sinners was brought to us by a woman with Black American ancestry, featured two outstanding Black female cast members, and the biggest champion of the film was the director and screenplay writer’s wife, also a Black woman. We will always stan Black women!!!
Watch Dr Ruha Benjamin’s MozFest plenary “On Unlearning”
About the authors and BRK Ujima
Dr Ronda Železný-Green
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Dr Kũi Mackay
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AND should we explain MozFest / Mozilla?