Inside the Machine: Everyday Resistance in Service Systems

Service providers occupy a critical nexus of power. They work within institutions that meet vital community needs, yet are often structured through logics that reproduce inequality and control. As potential accomplices to oppressive systems, service providers may hold sensitive data about communities targeted by authoritarian or fascist regimes and may be tasked with administering policies that reinforce structural violence. Across sectors—health, housing, education, legal services, local government, and community organisations—workers face an ongoing tension: how to deliver services within institutional constraints while recognising that certain policies, workflows, and compliance requirements may harm the very communities they aim to support. Under increasingly repressive conditions, they may also confront stark questions about complicity when policies expose community members to surveillance, criminalisation, or state violence. At the same time, service providers hold significant relational power. They possess deep community knowledge, steward collective resources, and can disrupt harmful processes through refusal, non-cooperation, or strategic delay. This interactive workshop explores how resistance can be practised from within service institutions, transforming everyday decision-making into sites of solidarity and potential structural change. Drawing on research and practice insights from efforts to build culturally safe and inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ refugees and people seeking asylum, the session translates these lessons into a broader framework for service sectors. Rather than positioning frontline staff as powerless, the workshop centres their capacity as institutional change agents and disruptors. Through guided exercises and small-group discussion, participants will reflect on their relationships with the communities they serve, identify opportunities to expand their power in liberatory ways, and develop strategies for recognising when intentional resistance is necessary. Given the diversity of workplaces and constraints, the workshop focuses on cultivating critical awareness and practical tools that participants can apply in their own contexts. It serves as a first step in preparing participants emotionally and strategically to act. Together, we will explore grounding service delivery in accountability—through shared decision-making, transparency, and alignment with community-defined goals—and moving beyond paternalistic models toward relationships rooted in solidarity. Participants are encouraged to bring real policies, procedures, or dilemmas for collaborative exploration.