The Open Governance Body (#OGB) is a radical approach to decentralized governance, designed to address the failures of existing governance models by combining activist organizing techniques with decentralized federated technology like #ActivityPub. It provides a very flexible governance framework that can be used across different communities, from local markets to the #Fediverse, creating a scalable and human-centric decision-making path.
Real-world applications, the #OGB can be applied to various governance needs, examples:
- Local Market Self-Governance: Stakeholders—such as vendors, customers, and authorities—can collaboratively make decisions without reliance on centralized institutions.
- Fediverse and Online Communities: Federated instances can adopt the #OGB for cooperative decision-making, ensuring grassroots control over digital spaces.
By adapting to both digital and physical environments, the #OGB promotes collective agency and accountability.
Why this path works, activist organizing as a foundation: Social movements have driven radical change for centuries using decentralized, trust-based governance. The #Fediverse itself is a proof of concept, it has demonstrated that federated, open-source technologies can scale without corporate control. Human-centric governance is built by merging these time-tested approaches, the #OGB fosters sustainable, non-hierarchical governance models rooted in #4opens values. This combination ensures adaptability and resilience against co-option by #mainstreaming forces.
Permissionless rollout, the #OGB is designed to spread organically, self-initiated setup: Any individual or group can start an instance, onboard participants, and begin governance discussions. Network effect growth: As more people engage, the system scales naturally, shaping governance from the ground up. This bottom-up path challenges traditional top-down governance structures and paves the way for a more equitable #openweb.
The role of #openweb technologies on more political paths need funding and support. Using #RSS and #ActivityPub as core technologies offers significant advantages in grassroots politics:
- Decentralization: Resistant to censorship and corporate control.
- Interoperability: Enables seamless communication across platforms.
- Transparency: Enhances accountability and public engagement.
- Ownership & Autonomy: Empowers people to control their own data.
- Accessibility: Breaks down barriers for marginalized voices.
The #Fediverse exemplifies this by offering a decentralized alternative to #dotcons. But the is still an oftern invisable ideological battle for the #openweb, the issues we aim to mediate is that programming is never neutral. Ideology inevitably shapes the systems we build. We see this in:
- The Fediverse mirroring the #dotcons: Many platforms unintentionally replicate centralized models rather than embracing true decentralization.
- The risk of #mainstreaming takeover: Without active resistance, corporate and NGO interests will attempt to co-opt the #openweb.
- The #OMN as a counterforce: Focused on linking alternative and grassroots media, the #OMN is part of a broader push to prevent the enclosure of the digital commons.
The #openweb needs to remain a space for radical inclusion and self-determination, free from corporate and state control. This challenging of the status quo need real alternative futures, to get this we must critically examine the ideological underpinnings of our current world and ask:
- #StupidIndividualism is the norm—but what would non-stupid individualism look like?
- #DeathCult economics dominate—what would a non-neoliberal system look like?
- #Fashernisata lifestyle is an illusion—what would a #LifeCult look like?
- Billions have been wasted on libertarian #Encryptionists fantasies—what’s next?
The answers to these #blocking forces lie in building, not just critiquing, creating alternative paths and structures that embody the change we wish to see. The #OGB and wider #OMN projects, and the #4opens framework are part of this effort to reclaim community, autonomy and rebuild the #openweb from the ground up.
