Tag: undercurrents

What was Undercurrents?

#Undercurrents was a video activist group that was active in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2004. The group was founded by filmmakers who were interested in using video as a tool for social and political change. Undercurrents produced a wide range of video content, including documentaries, news reports, and short films, on issues such as environmentalism, social justice, and anti-globalization. The group was known for its innovative use of video technology and its commitment to grassroots activism. Undercurrents was a non-profit organization that relied on donations and support from its audience to fund its work. The group disbanded in 2004, but its legacy continues to inspire and influence video activists around the world.

A draft funding application – OGB

Requesting funding for the Open Governance Body (#OGB) project, which is being developed by the Open Media Network (#OMN). OMN is a collective that builds and hosts #4opens standards-based socio-political software. Our mission is to provide communities with the tools they need to organize, communicate, and make decisions.

The #OGB project is a grassroots initiative that seeks to empower communities by giving them a stronger voice in decision-making. We believe that traditional social coding projects that are based on a top-down approach to power are not effective. Our approach is different. We are developing a bottom-up solution that is based on the principles of sharing power and collective decision-making.

Our team has years of experience in grassroots social tech projects. We have been directly involved with #UnderCurrents, #indymedia, #VisionOnTV, #LondonBoating, among others, and have a firm grasp of what does and does not work within organizing both social and technological communities. We have also worked on UN and World Bank projects in West Africa and have decided to manage them through community/scrum, rather than formal methods.

We are seeking funding in the amount of $50,000. This funding will be used to pay four people to work on the project at a fixed rate of ten thousand euros for 9-12 months of work. The bulk of the work will be programming and implementation details. The remaining ten thousand will be used for servers, expenses, outreach work, extensive testing, and basic project upkeep.

A Look at Existing Projects

It is important to note that foundation funding agendas can have a negative effect on the agendas of #openweb projects. A brief look at some existing projects highlights this issue. For example, decidim.org, which is an NGO process similar to loomio.org, Formal processes can be a bad tool for “herding cats” in social challenge or activist groups. And has been imposed numerous times in activism but has always failed.

After reviewing loomio.org, it is clear that the same ideas and workflows were pushed onto #climatecamp, #indymedia, and #occupy. In the first two cases, it ossified the projects, and in the last case, it was a mess. The #processgeeks behind these projects have not changed, and their projects are a bad fit for life and a terrible fit for the fediverse and activism. However, they may work for some NGOs and more formal cooperative organizing.

It is important to note the differences between formal and informal governance structures. Both use “consensus,” but the Open Governance Body is more like a do-ocracy than a formal governance structure.

 

Our worshipping the #deathcult (neo-liberalism)

For the last 20 years, everyone in the ruling classes has failed you

Our governing glasses of every colour has failed us

Our media and entertainment elites have failed us all

Our NGO and their leaders have betrayed us all

Our business and academic classes have grasped and dithered

We face the #climatechaos naked and disjointed at war and in the shopping centres

We have failed ourselves, it’s pastime to step away from this mess.

Don’t drink from the #mainstreaming

Go with the flowing #undercurrents

Compost this mess

In the lives of our current generation, we face the world sliding into eco-chaos, both social/political and directly climate related. It’s a truism that if we can’t radical change society now in 10 years, we face a world of BIG DUMB UGLY MEN WITH GUNS telling us what to do. The money we are now poring into “defence” in reaction to the Ukrainian crises will be buying weapons that will then be used on “us” as social chaos grows to shape our society.

#deathcult and #lifecult are metaphors of human nature

#deathcult and #lifecult are metaphors of human nature. Both are “cults” very human. Life and death is a better truth to speak, but not human to communicate, we compromise with the world as it is and live in the world of cults.

For the logic choppers, the words are not for you, you are a knife, we are talking about metaphors and inspiration, the building of hope. The Knife that you know divides, which is a small part of building hope, I am touching on the wider social “truths” in these metaphors.

#deathcult is the mainstreaming, “greed is good” is a modern glimpse.

#lifecult is a counter current that makes up a part of mainstream, you can find this in “left” politics, ecological movements and some religious heretics and sects.

Death and Life are a balance in the wide view. To us/humans we push a more narrow view some for life some for death.

We build our hope in #undercurrents of our social movements these feed into/or feed the mainstreaming cultures that reshape us.

At best “life” is the spring/flow. Though often our society build sewers and the filth of “death” contaminates this spring. This is the worlds we live in.

The ansear is simple, composting to purify the shit that fill the mainstream. Our job “life” is building this composting social system.

Ideas to communicate this to the logisticians who are our need “blinded” alias in this building work.

What do you mean by “mainstreaming”

Q. what do you mean by “mainstreaming”.

A. we all worship the #deathcult (neo-liberalism) in polatics, economics, most of the food we eat, our jobs and social lives are all mediated/mostly created by this invisible world-view. In progressive terms #mainstreaming is pushing this agender to build carriears and social structures to further the personal #stupidindividualism created by the #deathcult we live in. This is a circle that is going to kill and displace billions of people over the next 100 years from #climatechaos and the social feedback loop of political #fascism

#stupidindividualism is created by the social disintegration of the last 40 years of neo-liberalism, fascism is an outcome of this.

Examples from the UK groups @NovaraMedia while producing fab content its all distributed through the #dotcons and in the end they aspire to be the new @guardian to take the role of #traditionalmedia This is fair anufe but the wider “we” need to balance this with #grassroots media which is a non #mainstreaming mission.

Most #NGO agrenders are #mainstreaming this is an easy to see view.

I played a role in training thousands of grassroots “journalists” over the last 25 years at #undercurrents, #indymedia, #visionontv and now #OMN the majority that are still creating media went onto build there carriears in the mainstream and #NGO sectors few stayed in non #mainstreaming production missions. Cant blame them for this, though no alts were sustained from this which was why we did the training.

In each case grassroots/alt structures were devoured by the #deathcult pushing the need for mainstreaming survival – cant blame people for this.

BUT we need a working alternative if we are going to change the world that does not kill and displace billions of people over the next 100 years #XR

learning for expirence the #OMN is a political/tech tool to mediate this issue.

A look at how technology shapes progressive/radical media- looking forward – looking back

3 events at newspeak house this winter:
Session 1) Looking back – how technology shaped the production and distribution of radical/progressive media like #Undercurrents, #Indymedia etc.

Session 2) The current day – failure of radical media technology. The rise of the #dotcons and the new alt-media projects.

Session 3) Looking forward – The #activetypub meetup. This is an update on the state of current #openweb projects. A continuation of the very successful #Mastodon meetups that I setup last year, opening up to the wider projects like #Peertube, #Pleroma, #Pixalfeed etc.

What kind of format do you imagine?

First two would be presentation, with long Q&A sessions and feedback from other participants that arrive on the day. Following the successful meetups last year, the last session is a user group go round with a few lightening talks and Q&A.

Session 1) I’m planning to invite one of the founders of both Undercurrents and IMC to speak. I was also involved in both so we would have 3 perspective’s. I would have to cover the expenses of these speakers.

Session 2) I’m currently looking for speakers. I can talk/guide on this subject to shape the agenda to the subject.

Session 3) We have a list of people to invite from our meetup group from last year, so it will be a continuity user group meetup with fresh outreach.

And who do you imagine as your target audience?

Session 1) People who were involved (a lot) on the production and distribution of radical/progressive media. Historians (a few), and people interested in the 3 workshops and the subject of tech and politics in general.

Session 2) The same people from the first session will come to the second one, plus next generation who built good things inside the #doctons (for example UK uncut, student protests, current radical media projects and their ordinances).

Session 3) The same people from the first two sessions, plus the people running the Mastodon instances. Both developers and users, as well as the new alt media producers to connect with the developers/sysadmins

For outreach there will be two bites of the cherry, the publicity for the event and the publicity for each of the sessions.

A brief history of activism

Published Date 3/28/13 1:18 PM

This is a DRAFT

#Occupy has become bureaucratised and continues as e-mail lists and side projects, not very active.

#ukuncut has become institutionalised. Still active – presser protests in conjunction with NGO’s

#climatecamp The anarcho’ s left and most of the rest got jobs in NGO’s a few continue in other campaigns. It has run its course, the influx of liberals had watered it down till its DNA failed. The healthy ones went onto Ukuncut. Fuckup, not conspiracy sadly. A spattering of global projects remain.

(google trends not accurate)

#submedia still banging the radical drum

#Indymedia failed from the opposite resion the activists excluded other groups in till the weren’t a healthy mix left. Then the group dwindled by exclusion and inbreeding till its DNA was two narrow to evolve when it needed to change with the growth of personal publishing. It was replaced by blogs then corporate social networks. Still exists.

The are still some active IMC’s would be intresting to look at why some are still working?

#undercurrents burned out of funding then failed to re-new with the fund-raising charity side not feeding into the active political production side. The charity/NGO side then shrank and dispersed. Still exists

(google trends not accurate)

#schnews had some lean times but seem to have survived in the radical project Though clearly fading on this graph of web searches