Hamish Campbell an #openweb organic intellectual and technologist
There is a recurring problem in modern activism and alternative movements, the attempt to remove the uncomfortable parts, everything has to be friendly, to be safe, to be acceptable. The difficult questions, the conflicts, the power arguments, the risks and the sharper edges get pushed aside because they are seen as “too political”, “too negative” … Continue reading The Fluffy Trap is when Activism forgets the spiky path
This is a mess we are finally starting to move away from. For over a decade, #failbook was one of the main organising spaces for progressive activism. On the surface it looked useful: easy groups, fast sharing, broad reach. But structurally it was never neutral. It was built as a #dotcons attention machine, optimised for … Continue reading OMN history note: Failbook, activism, and the enclosure of organising
The online tools we “common sense” rely on for organising and campaigning are genuinely dangerous, and I find that paralysing. This isn’t paranoia, it’s a practical reality that urgently needs addressing. Until we do, offline working groups are one of the few reliable ways to unblock the mess. Where we actually are now… Disappearing, encrypted … Continue reading Composting the mess of digital security in activism – We need to talk about this, offline
Across Europe, large-scale “mainstreaming” tech projects are increasingly shaping the future of the digital commons. From infrastructure initiatives to sovereign cloud strategies and federated social technologies, the EU tech stack is becoming more organised, more funded, and more institutionalised. On the surface, this looks like progress. But history suggests that without active counter-currents, #mainstreaming inevitably … Continue reading Why mainstream EU tech funding needs counter-currents, why tech activism matters
There’s a common confusion, pushed by well-meaning #fashernistas, about how change actually happens. They love theory. They love to talk about change. But when it comes to doing, things go sideways. Why? Because good horizontalists know: theory must emerge from practice, not the other way around. At the root of radical practice is #DIY culture. … Continue reading Theory and Practice in Activism
This post is about controlling the narrative, not letting the #nastyfew dictate the terms of engagement. Too often, we let them set the agenda, reacting to their every word instead of actively building the alternatives we need. Their power isn’t just in what they do, it’s in how much space they take up in our … Continue reading #Fashionistas in Activism: How Buzzword Chasing Undermines Real Change
Let’s face it – activism and counter-culture are packed with “insane” people – and thank the gods for that – it’s what makes movements exciting, dynamic, and, most importantly, effective. But like compost, too much of the wrong stuff makes the pile stink, balance is everything. So, let’s look at this: what causes a movement … Continue reading The Beautiful Insanity of Activism: How Movements Rot or Blossom
Most people I interact with are buried deep in the rot they’ve helped create, the path out is hard, but not impossible. The composting metaphor holds — rot can become soil, but only if it’s turned, exposed to air, and given time to break down. The stench lingers, though, and the deeper the decay, the … Continue reading Composting mess making, activism and #openweb
The paths of the challenges we face in activism lies in the dynamic tension between the “fluffy” and “spiky”, two forces that shape the progress and direction of movements. The fluffy path leans into compassion, empathy, and collective care, while the spiky path channels righteous anger and confrontation. Both are essential, like two hands working … Continue reading Balanceing activism to cultivate change
We need food for thought for people trying to change the world. For the last 20 years, activism has been trapped in a paradox: we speak of grassroots change, yet we reach for #dotcons and #geekproblem tools that are built for vertical control paths. The digital infrastructure we rely on is dominated by top-down structures, … Continue reading The tools we use shape the activism we grow
Open source was always political, the very idea of #FOSS was always a radical, left-leaning stance. Let’s be honest, you’re giving away your labour.Not for profit, not for career points,but because you believe we’d all be better off togetherif we stopped rewriting the same bits of code in isolationand started building commons instead of empires. … Continue reading Activism, development of #FOSS paths
What we call #NGO’s in the hashtag story. The Non-Profit Industrial Complex (NPIC) entanglement of non-profits, big businesses, governments, and social activism can, leads to mess we need to compost. While nonprofits can fund crucial tech and activist work, their reliance on corporate-linked foundations dilutes this, to keep receiving money, the is STRONG presser to … Continue reading The Non-Profit Industrial Complex (#NPIC): A Double-Edged Sword in #FOSS and Activism