Keep building a better world, one link, one line of code at a time.

Once upon a time, in a world dominated by the #dotcons, closed-source technology and centralized decision-making, a small group of passionate activists and developers came together to reboot an old way of building technology. They believed that technology should serve the needs of people, not just the interests of big corporations and governments. They called themselves the #4opens community.

The #4opens community believed that openness and trust were the keys to creating technology that served the needs of people. They codified the existing #FOSS, open-source working practices as a process called the #4opens, which consisted of four #KISS principles: open data, open source, open “industrial” standards, and open process. They believed that by embracing these principles, they could create technology that was more transparent, collaborative, and decentralized.

The first principle of the #4opens was open data. The #4opens community believed that data should be freely available to everyone, so that anyone could use it to build new tools and uses. They created a platform #OMN where people could share data openly and collaborate on projects together.

The second principle of the #4opens was the #mainstreaming idea of open source. The #4opens community believed that software should be free and open for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. They created a library of open-source software that anyone could use to build new tools and services.

The third principle of the #4opens was open “industrial” standards. This principle was a little more complex, but it basically meant that technology should be built using open, standardized protocols that anyone could use. This would ensure that technology was interoperable and that people could easily switch between different tools and services.

The fourth and final principle of the #4opens was open process. This principle was perhaps the most important of all. The #4opens community believed that technology should be developed using transparent, collaborative processes that anyone could participate in. They organized on a platform https://unite.openworlds.info/ where people could share ideas, collaborate on projects, and make decisions together.

Over time, the #4opens community grew and expanded. They built new tools and services that were based on the principles of openness and trust. They created a vibrant ecosystem of developers, designers, and users who worked together to create technology that served the needs of people, not just the interests of big corporations and governments.

And so the #4opens community continued to grow and evolve, creating a more healthy vision for technology. They knew that their work was just the start, they were determined to keep pushing forward, to keep building a better world, one link, one line of code at a time.

“the currency of the 21st century is information”

“the currency of the 21st century is information” highlights the growing importance of data and knowledge in our rapidly-evolving digital world. For the last 5 years, the rise of encryption and cryptocurrencies is on aspect of this trend, reflecting a growing concern for privacy and the secure exchange of information.

The unspoken liberal individualism and private property ideas that comes with encryption and cryptocurrencies is a market-based approach that prioritizes exploitation, greed, and selfishness. In contrast, #4opens can be seen as promoting connection, cooperation, and altruism.

The concept of a #4opens approach, which prioritizes connection, cooperation, and trust, represents an alternative to the market-based approach and highlights the importance of social norms and values in shaping the technology we use.

There is a divide between the “soft power” of social norms and the “hard power” of code in the #geekproblem, and the challenge is to find ways to talk about these issues and bring them into the #mainstreaming discourse.

How do you understand a conservative worldview?

The culture of hopelessness is a deeply conservative reaction to social change and challenges. This culture is often characterized by a focus on reaction and inward-looking tribalism, rather than hope and progress. An example would be meme culture and sarcasm, that often conforms to a narrow consumerist view that lacks power to address wider social issues. This is an example of “invisible” movements contributing to the problem we face rather than being part of the solution. Simply #deathcult mentality and the #mainstreaming #stupidindividualism are not leading to human flourishing.

We used to have heathy alt culture

#Indymedia was a global network of independently-operated media outlets that provide an alternative to #mainstreaming media and promote participatory and decentralized journalism. The network was founded in 1999 to cover events and provide a platform for activists, community groups and journalists to share their perspectives and experiences.

#Indymedia consisted of hundreds of websites and local collectives, each with their own focus and editorial policies, but all sharing radical #4opens and PGA hall marks working.

Over the years, the Indymedia network faced challenges, including censorship, legal pressure, and technical issues, but it remained an important and influential platform for independent media until its decline in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Alternative grassroots cultures fail for obvious reasons

Alternative grassroots cultures fail for obvious reasons include lack of resources, limited interest, conflicting #ideologies in the group, difficulty in maintaining momentum and attracting new participants, and difficulty in sustaining community infrastructure.

Grassroots cultures also face external challenges, such as opposition from #mainstreaming cultural institutions and power, as well as regulatory and legal attacks.

The success of a #grassroots culture depends on a variety of factors, including the vision and goals of the community, the level of participation and commitment of its members, and the resources and support available to the group.

What is wrong with Non-governmental organizations (#NGOs)

Non-governmental organizations (#NGOs)

* Lack of accountability: They operate without being transparent about their funding, goals, and methods.

* Dependence on funding: NGOs rely on funding from governments, corporations, or private individuals, this dependence compromises their agenda and integrity.

* Ineffectiveness: #NGOs are not equipped to solve complex social and economic problems, and that their interventions can do more harm than good.

* Overlap and duplication of efforts: With so many NGOs operating in the same areas, there can be a lot of overlap and duplication of efforts, which can be inefficient and ineffective.

* Cultural insensitivity: #NGOs are criticized for imposing #mainstreaming ideas and values on other cultures, and for not taking into account local customs, traditions, and beliefs.

If you cant understand ideolagy, you generaly cannot “think”

Thinking about #Ideology plays a role in shaping society as it provides a framework for understanding the world and determining values, beliefs, and principles that guide behaviour and decision-making. By understanding a society’s #mainstreaming ideologies, we can better understand its political, social, and cultural institutions, as well as the motivations behind various actions and decisions.

For example, a society’s often unspoken political ideology can influence the formation of political parties, the structure of government, and the laws and policies that are enacted. Social ideologies can shape the relationships between different groups in society, such as the roles and expectations of men and women, the treatment of minorities, and the distribution of resources. Cultural ideologies can shape our beliefs about beauty, art, and morality, as well as the way in which history is interpreted and remembered.

In short, understanding the idea of ideology is important because it provides insight into the underlying beliefs, values, and motivations that drive human behaviour and shape society. It helps us to make sense of the world around us and make informed decisions about the future.

Worshipping the #deathcult for the last 40 years has led us to this mess.

There has been a rise in far-right and fascist ideologies in many countries around the world in recent years. This is often characterized by anti-immigrant sentiment, racism, xenophobia, nationalism, and a disregard for democratic norms and institutions. Far-right and fascist movements have gained traction, often in response to perceived threats to cultural and national identity, as well as economic and political anxieties.

This ideologue is in direct opposition to the values of equality, tolerance, and democracy, and have been responsible for significant human rights abuses and acts of violence throughout history.

It is important for all people to actively stand against fascism and far-right ideologies, and to support the values of progressive and democratic values. This can be done through grassroot protest, #mainstreaming political action, and supporting 4#opens organizing.

Talking about the #indymediaback project

Q. A few comments on your excellent video.

Your page layout is driven by desktop. Nowadays, people think mobile first.

The rollback: an interesting idea.

A. Yep it’s the #nothingnew part of the project, the original IMC was ripped apart buy internal arguments and bad process, so we are rebooting the project before this happened so making minimal changes outa the box of UX and process, the needed changes can then come FROM “consensus” of the fresh crew running the rebooted instances.

The mobile expirence is swipe sideways to each of the menu items as columns. This is a reasonable compromise, as the original project had no mobile interface.

This is an example https://indymedia.hs2rebellion.earth/users/news you have to click past the SSL error to see the site, on mobile a single column interface, but the swiping is not implemented, so you have to click on the menu at the top. This test site is a RSS/AP aggregator #indymediaback

Q. Well, that is interesting. Seeing something is so much more impressive than just a video. What is the software platform? What web server are you using?
It is pretty easy to do https.
Is anyone actually using the software?

A. sadly, the 2-year working project was killed off by covid just as we were going to start the outreach at protest camps. The codebase is now abandoned, was based on epycion, but dev on this folk is now stopped/blocked.

What we had is a good expirence though, Imagen if the swiping worked. The RSS and AP side works for input, the AP output does not work, none of the tagging was implemented on these rollout test sites, we are still running 3 but needs a committed crew to restart #indymediaback

Was 6 months work for 3 people to put this working code together #DIY and a wider collective to do the work on the text and process to bring the original #indymeda back in the spirit of #nothingnew but the stress of dev and covid broke this as we were getting close to test rollout, been dormant since then.

We need to chose a new codebase and find a coding crew, most of the hard work is done, all the existing design, process and outreach text is in place to push this out agen as the “news” part of the #fediverse

But its another year of nonpaid #openweb work… phwww… fighting agenst the pointlessness of the #mainstreaming is a hard sell, even though it’s blatantly and obviously needed.

A look at the recent history of radical grassroots activism

#ClimateCamp was a radical grassroots direct action movement to directly challenge #climatechoas and raise awareness about climate change and advocate for solutions to mitigate its effects. The movement was made up of a loosely organized network of activists who used a diversity of tactics to achieve their goals. Climate Camps were established in many countries. The movement reached its peak in the late 2000s and early 2010s and had a significant impact on public debate and government policy.

#Protestcamps are gatherings of activists who set up temporary camps in public spaces in order to bring attention to a cause or issue. The goal of these camps is to create a direct action space where people come together, discuss and demonstrate. The camps may range from #fluffy peaceful gatherings to more #spiky disruptive and confrontational events, depending on the nature of the issue protested and the diversity of tactics of the activists involved. Some well-known examples of protest camps include #Occupy, #ClimateCamp

#CriticalMass a decentralized activism movement started in 1992. The movement is centred around a monthly direct action bike ride where participants gather to raise awareness about car culture.
The idea behind Critical Mass is to reclaim public space for cyclists and to assert the right of cyclists to use the roads. The rides are often a festive and celebratory event. The Critical Mass movement has since spread to cities around the world, with similar events taking place in many cities.

Using #openweb tools like #RSS and #ActivityPub has several benefits in the context of direct action and grassroots politics.
Decentralization: RSS and ActivityPub are decentralized technologies that are not controlled by any single entity, making them resistant to censorship and control.
Interoperability: By using open standards like ActivityPub, organizations and individuals can communicate and share content with each other, regardless of the platform they use.
Transparency: The use of #openweb tools can increase transparency and accountability in the political process, allowing for greater public scrutiny and engagement.
Ownership: By using #opensource tools, individuals and organizations can own and control their data, rather than relying on proprietary services controlled by corporations.
Accessibility: By using open web technologies, information can be more easily accessible to those who are marginalized or excluded from the mainstream, enabling more inclusive and equitable participation in the political process.

Direct action and grassroots politics are important tools for effecting social change. Direct action refers to forms of activism that seeks to achieve a goal directly, without intermediaries, often through disruptive or confrontational means. Direct action can include strikes, sit-ins, blockades, and other forms of resistance.
Grassroots politics refers to a political movement or approach that is bottom-up, rather than top-down, meaning it seeks to empower citizens to take action on political issues, rather than relying on traditional power structures such as political parties or government. Grassroots politics aims to give a voice to marginalized or underrepresented communities, and to create change from the ground up.
Together, direct action and grassroots politics offer a way for people to engage in the political process and to bring about change in a democratic and inclusive way. By taking action outside of traditional political channels, activists and communities bring about change on issues that they care about.

#Fediverse is a #openweb decentralized social network ecosystem consisting of independent, user-run servers that are all compatible with each other. This allows for a more open and democratic internet experience, as users can choose to participate in a variety of online communities without relying on any single centralized platform.
The Fediverse is seen as a more privacy-friendly alternative to the #dotcons this is a working “white lie” based on #4opens thinking.

#XR “Extinction Rebellion,” is a global social movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to protest against the failure of governments to take action on the climate and ecological crisis. The movement seeks to disrupt the status quo and force political leaders to take immediate action to address the crisis. The movement was founded in the UK in 2018 and has since spread to other countries around the world, with a focus on large-scale protests and acts of civil disobedience.

#XR is a protest movement, some people classify XR as a #spiky radical protest movement due to its tactics and goals, but others consider it more liberal because of its commitment to #fluffy nonviolence. Ultimately, the classification of XR as radical or liberal depends on individuals looking at the problem, it’s a debate.

Programming and ideology are different areas that intersect.
Ideology refers to a set of beliefs, values, and assumptions that shape an understanding of the world and people’s place in it. In the context of programming, ideology comes into play when a programmer brings their often #mainstreaming values and beliefs to the coding they write and the systems they build. You can see this in the copying of the #dtcons to build the #fediverse and how this is now shaping the #openweb

Discussing #postmodernism and the criticism to “isms”. The idea is that blindly following a particular ideology can make a person a “zombie” to limit the ability to think critically. The phrase #nothingnew is used to suggest that fresh thinking on old issues is needed, rather than blindly following existing dead #mainstreaming ideologies. The use of ad hominem arguments, which is a type of logical fallacy that attacks an individual rather than the argument they are making, is clearly #blocking

The #OMN is a project focused on linking alt/grassroots media. In the context of the need for a rebooted #openweb and avoiding the #blocking of this by #fashernista and #geekproblem agenda.

The #OpenWeb is the internet where information and content is accessible to all, regardless of their location, device or network, and can be shared, linked, and re-used without restrictions or barriers imposed by proprietary platforms, walled gardens, or monopolistic practices. It is based on #4opens and aims to provide a more inclusive, equitable, and participatory world.
The #OpenWeb is often contrasted with the #closedweb or “walled garden web”, where content and data are locked behind proprietary platforms, controlled by corporations or governments, and subject to limitations, restrictions, and surveillance. The #dotcons