The #OMN View – The Dogma of Anti-Dogma: Rainbow Gatherings

We need to talk about a circler familiar mess: when movements that are open, non-hierarchical, and anti-authoritarian end up recreating the problems they set out to escape. This is the “dogma of anti-dogma”, and you see it everywhere, the example I am using here is in groups like the Rainbow Gatherings. The Rainbow Gatherings have … Continue reading The #OMN View – The Dogma of Anti-Dogma: Rainbow Gatherings

Composting the reboot funding

Dear Michiel, At this point, it’s hard not to notice a pattern. You’ve received clear, thoughtful proposals aligned with your calls – yet no real engagement, year after year. I’ve said this gently before: your call-out text needs to be composted. If you’re not funding alternative, open, activist infrastructure – just say that. Don’t lead … Continue reading Composting the reboot funding

The hard right path, the #nastyfew playing the Nazi card

In the current and historic right-wing path, the #nastyfew are mess making to mix and confuse social shit – like the recurring claim that Nazism was a left-wing movement, or at least contains left-wing elements as a mess making provocative and “controversial” statement. Let’s take a few minutes to look at this mess pushing argument … Continue reading The hard right path, the #nastyfew playing the Nazi card

We do need tools to share to help people on the path back onto the #openweb

The struggle to grow the #Fediverse and this #openweb reboot has never been about technology alone – it’s always been about narrative, framing, and belonging. If we want people to step away from the toxic silos of the #closedweb and #dotcons to step into something better, we need more than protocols and servers – we … Continue reading We do need tools to share to help people on the path back onto the #openweb

Bridging alt and mainstreaming: A note on the shape of resistance

There’s a nice post by Elena Rossini’s, “This is what resistance to the digital coup looks like.” she is commitment to the #Fediverse, #FOSS tools, and open publishing solutions, and her critique of #VC-funded platforms like #Substack and #Bluesky is needed. At the same time, it’s worth pausing to reflect on how we talk about … Continue reading Bridging alt and mainstreaming: A note on the shape of resistance

Notes from the Bubble: A Bad Conservative Pantomime at Balliol

At Balliol, the event is thick with what I’d call posh gits. The event felt conservative, not just politically, but in the deeper, old-school, institutional sense. The air was deep with entitlement. The room was full of young wannabes, the privileged types who don’t need to try, the future “elitists” rehearsing for their inheritance. The … Continue reading Notes from the Bubble: A Bad Conservative Pantomime at Balliol

Your world’s economic system is horribly broken

How is that made apparent? Economics (neoliberal edition):“Humans only value things that can be measured in money.” Sociology:“Uh… I don’t. Most people don’t. Parents raising kids, communities helping each other during disasters, activists building mutual aid networks – none of that is monetized, but it’s clearly valuable.” Economics:“Rational agents always act in self-interest, maximizing utility … Continue reading Your world’s economic system is horribly broken

The Seagull Knows: Notes on a Constipated Discipline

The opening moment of the workshop on Methodological Strategies for Real-Life Theorising was unintentionally profound. A story of a seagull crieing above the glass façade of the Blavatnik School of Government – a building that stands as a temple to the #deathcult that shaped our lives for the last 40 years of #neoliberal change. In … Continue reading The Seagull Knows: Notes on a Constipated Discipline

Rebooting the Fourth Estate: Building tools for grassroots governance

We’re living in the wreckage of the old 19th century social order. The so-called Four Estates, pillars of traditional power and authority, which 200 years latter are either rotting from within or already dead. It’s now past time to stop mourning and start composting this. Right now we are doing this at the #OMN we’re … Continue reading Rebooting the Fourth Estate: Building tools for grassroots governance

A letter from the margins of the #openweb

All the #OMN projects I’ve worked on over the years, from #OGB to #indymediaback, are not directly about social change. They are about creating the possibility of social change. A subtle, but critical difference. We don’t claim to have the answers. What we do offer are tools, networks, and processes that make it easier for … Continue reading A letter from the margins of the #openweb

Tearing down the old neoliberal #deathcult consensus

People are celebrating that Trump and the new right are tearing down the neoliberal #deathcult consensus. And to be fair, they’re right, Trump’s movement is smashing the status quo. But there is an easy to see problem, it’s not being replaced with anything better. It’s just more stinking shit, only now it’s wrapped in authoritarian … Continue reading Tearing down the old neoliberal #deathcult consensus