February 18, 2008
Video excerpts from DIY Video panel
12:48 UTC » Activism - Emergent Democracy - Global Politics - Global Voices - Information and Media - Joi's Diary - Video
Ulrike Reinhard posted a nice "best of" video of our DIY Video panel. The panel was a lot of fun. The moderator was Howard Rheingold and the panelists were John Seely Brown, Yochai Benkler, Henry Jenkins and me.
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December 1, 2005
Will Digital Communication Undermine NGOs?
02:43 UTC » Activism - Health and Medicine - Human Rights - Information and Media - Media and Journalism - Network Technology - Social Software
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November 8, 2005
French Suburbs in Flames
06:10 UTC » Activism - Economics - Information and Media - Leadership and Entrepreneurship - Media and Journalism - Sharing Economy
Posted by thomas crampton
After spending several days in the Paris suburbs and filing stories non-stop all day today, a few things struck me.
I have written about the first incident that sparked the riots and today's latest news (more violence already starting tonight and plans by French government to use curfew.)
The underlying feeling I got from the young people in Clichy-sous-Bois - where the troubles began - is total despair with no way out.
Seems there must be CK Prahalad opportunities for these young people to make a fortune - or at least a living - if they are given half a chance.
What ideas for businesses or projects that can bring hope to despairing young people in a high rise ghetto?
Are there successful models of what can be done?
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November 4, 2005
Home Video Clip of Paris Police Shooting in Suburbs?
23:56 UTC » Activism - Economics - Emergent Democracy - Global Politics
Here's a home video clip a friend sent that claims to show Paris police shooting in the suburbs. Fairly strong stuff.
Disclaimer: I do not know anything further about the site or the clip.
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November 3, 2005
If you can read this: You are rich.
00:07 UTC » Activism - Economics - Global Politics
Posted by thomas crampton
Defining the poor is common (The World Bank's one dollar per day level, for example)
But who are the rich?
If you can read this posting, you are likely rich.
Anyone with a university education and an income at or above the lower-middle class level for an OECD country is rich, I would argue. Being rich is more about having time and freedom to make choices about your life than bagfulls of money.
Joi's latest posting may suggest a way to measure wealth through a Technorati rating!
What is the best metric to define someone as rich?
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October 29, 2005
Diseases of the Rich
02:08 UTC » Activism - Economics - Health and Medicine - Media and Journalism
Posted by thomas crampton
My minor hand operation this week highlighted to me how journalism/blogging are literally manual labor.
Also, my ability to tell many people about this injury reminds me of how repetitive strain injury/carpal tunnel syndrome only became something of broad public concern when the chattering classes (ie: white collar workers, including journalists) were hit due to their typing on computer keyboards.
Throughout the industrial revolution, however, the same problem had afflicted manual laborers who could not bring their problem to a wider audience. (Lately there seem to be fewer complaints about it here at the International Herald Tribune, perhaps because there is a greater understanding of ergonomics.)
Must be many examples of diseases that only became well known when they also became diseases of the rich. Any interesting ones?
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October 18, 2005
Yahoo's Political Prisoner?
02:34 UTC » Activism - Global Politics - Human Rights - Media and Journalism
Posted by Thomas Crampton
Three questions regarding the Committee to Protect Journalists today naming online journalist Shi Tao as a winner of the International Press Freedom Award.
His 10-year sentence to a Chinese prison came partly due to a disclosure about him by Yahoo!.
1- Do employees of Yahoo! feel responsible for/comfortable with this man going to prison? (Will they, for example, send care packages or join a letter-writing campaign petitioning the government of China for his release?)
2- How do users of Yahoo! feel about the company's privacy policies? (Or privacy policies of other Internet companies, for that matter.)
3- As a journalist who has had many police encounters in countries with nasty authoritarian dictatorships, I am always very concerned about the safety of those with whom I interact. Does online interaction lead to a sense of diminished responsibility? Do we need to see someone's face or visit their family at home to feel their pain?
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September 28, 2005
Global Voices Live Chat on Handbook for Bloggers & Cyber-Dissidents
00:24 UTC » Activism - Global Politics - Global Voices - Media and Journalism
Global Voices Live Chat on Handbook for Bloggers & Cyber-Dissidents going on right now. Join us at #globalvoices on Freenode. For more information see the post on the Global Voices blog.
Update: Just ending now. Will post link to transcripts when they've been posted.
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September 20, 2005
Eroding freedoms
05:16 UTC » Activism - Human Rights - Privacy - US Policy and Politics
It's a bit scary when "normal" shifts like this.BBCUS teens 'reject' key freedomsA significant number of US high-school students regard their constitutional right to freedom of speech as excessive, according to a new survey.
Over a third of the 100,000 students questioned felt the First Amendment went "too far" in guaranteeing freedom of speech, press, worship and assembly.
Only half felt newspapers should be allowed to publish stories that did not have the government's approval.
Here is an old Encyclopedia Britannica Films video clip from 1946 (I think) about despotism that they showed to children in schools. Amazing how things have changed. I wonder what kids would think now watching this clip.
Via Greg Elin
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September 3, 2005
The underprivileged victims of Katrina
15:37 UTC » Activism - US Policy and Politics
I've been reading all of the news about Katrina and feeling more and more guilty about not being able to do anything to help and not blogging about it at all. I think Xeni and others who have been tirelessly blogging about and doing something about it are doing an amazing job.
Each morning, I've been just choking up reading the front page of the newspaper, not even being able to make it past the first page. I really don't know what to say... so I haven't said anything.
However, chatting with some people and reading some of the blogs, I am beginning to wonder if the government is really doing everything possible. I wonder about the allegations of treating the underprivileged victims as more "expendable". I realize this is quite a harsh allegation, but something that I wonder about none the less. How much airplay is this opinion getting in the US and what is the public sentiment about this?
UPDATE: ("not being able to do anything to help" other than giving to the Red Cross which I have done.)
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Katrina Tech Resources wiki page
We've been chatting on #joiito on Freenode to try to help coordinate technical support and resources for Katrina relief work. Please sign up on/edit the wiki page and join the conversation on IRC if you can help in some way.
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August 5, 2005
OSCON 2005
00:01 UTC » Activism - CPSR - Joi's Diary - Mozilla - Open Source Software - Sharing Economy
I'm at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention in Portland. Perfect weather, nice town, good conference, good folks. This is my first time in Portland (I think), and my first OSCON. Having recently joined the OSI and Mozilla Foundation board, I'm getting to know the open source community and I am enjoying it very much. I have always had a respectful, but slightly distant relationship with the community having found it a bit intimidating. I'd always been a supporter, promoter and friend, but now I am becoming a participant. I saw Steve Gillmor and Doc Searls wandering the halls of OSCON together and they were totally in their medium.
For now, I think my contribution to this community will be help with the international perspective and help with some of the non-profit organization issues. It is amazing how many of the same issues many of these non-profits face, particularly on international issues. Desiree, Veni and I have been talking about making a "starter kit" for new countries. It would have instructions on how to set up local presences for CPSR, ISOC, Mozilla, OSI, CC, Wikipedia and a variety of other Open Source/Internet/Free Culture movements. More so than in the US, the people involved in these movements in the smaller countries are often the same people.
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July 30, 2005
Elected to board of CPSR
I was recently elected to the board of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR). I had been a member for quite awhile and have been the Treasurer of the Japan chapter since we started it in 2002. CPSR has thousands of members and has incubated a number of important projects including the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). I hope that I can help CPSR mobilize more members for what I believe is a very important mandate that CPSR has. I'll keep you all posted on the activities, but take a look at the web page if you are interested in getting involved.
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July 13, 2005
Global Voices redesign
15:51 UTC » Activism - Cool Web Sites - Global Voices
Global Voices has undergone a redesign. Nice look. Congrats to all involved.
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July 4, 2005
Africans on Live 8
13:47 UTC » Activism - Activism - Music
Ethan Zuckerman has posted roundups on Africans talking about Live 8 here and here and blogs about it himself. Please do read these. They are an important voice.
Ethan is clearly weary and skeptical as are many of the Africans. I can understand this. However, I think Live 8 is a good thing. Although the concert may not have the effect on the G8 meeting that some people hope it will, I think that the concern will reach a broad audience and increase awareness. We should not forget how few people even realize there is a problem in Africa. I understand the arguments about nuances and stereotyping. They are valid. But I believe the benefits outweigh the costs in such an effort to "get the word out". The average person won't get the nuance. Not yet at least.
Also, I don't think it's fair to slam people for having fun or for the promoters for trying to add to their career. I think it's all part of getting things like this to happen. If you read any of the books or diaries of leaders of the various political movements and protests in the 60's, most of them were having a lot of fun. That didn't make the movements less effective or relevant.
QTVR Photo of Live 8 goers having fun in Philadelphia by Hans Nyberg
Technorati Tags: live8
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Africans on Live 8
13:47 UTC » Activism - Activism - Music
Ethan Zuckerman has posted roundups on Africans talking about Live 8 here and here and blogs about it himself. Please do read these. They are an important voice.
Ethan is clearly weary and skeptical as are many of the Africans. I can understand this. However, I think Live 8 is a good thing. Although the concert may not have the effect on the G8 meeting that some people hope it will, I think that the concern will reach a broad audience and increase awareness. We should not forget how few people even realize there is a problem in Africa. I understand the arguments about nuances and stereotyping. They are valid. But I believe the benefits outweigh the costs in such an effort to "get the word out". The average person won't get the nuance. Not yet at least.
Also, I don't think it's fair to slam people for having fun or for the promoters for trying to add to their career. I think it's all part of getting things like this to happen. If you read any of the books or diaries of leaders of the various political movements and protests in the 60's, most of them were having a lot of fun. That didn't make the movements less effective or relevant.
QTVR Photo of Live 8 goers having fun in Philadelphia by Hans Nyberg
Technorati Tags: live8
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July 2, 2005
Municipal networks, the great equalizer
14:18 UTC » Activism - Global Voices - Network Technology - Wireless and Mobile
Micah Sifry has written a nice piece about why wifi and cheap broadband is an essential enabler and more important than direct aid for communities which need help. He references various examples and source. I completely agree. I remember speaking to a UN diplomat who said that the Internet has changed the face of global policy making. He told us that the Anti-Personal Land-mine Treaty would not have happened if it weren't for email and the ability for NGOs to get information, organize and pressure governments and the UN using the Internet. I believe that at every level, it is essential to empower individuals and communities with a voice and the Internet is in a position to enable people for the first time at a reasonable cost. It is about global voices.
I believe that it is easy enough to run a basic Wifi, Internet and Voice over IP network that in many cases municipal governments can run them. I realize this hurts competition and this is what Verizon argued when they tried to stop Philadelphia for setting up their own Wifi network, but I think it would be better than what we have now. In many places broadband is controlled by organizations that are effectively monopolies anyway. See for example the new ruling in the US that cable companies don't have to allow others to provide access through their network. Would you rather have the network run by a monopoly that is controlled by a bunch of greedy shareholders or a local government that the people at least have some control over?
People will argue that allowing local governments to operate networks will stifle innovation because of lack of competition. I think that the benefit is worth the cost of providing cheaper and more universal access. The network is becoming less and less a "service" and more and more a "thing". You can buy a bunch of routers and hook them together and you have a pretty good network. You do need maintenance, but you don't need some huge company with a bunch of bell-heads running the thing. Simple access is more like a road than a full-service hotel. It just has to be cheap and work.
I agree that this isn't for all municipal governments, but I think the central governments of the world should try very hard not to give in to the pressure of the telco lobbies and stifle the attempts of municipal governments to provide network services including voice. I also believe that non-profits and NGOs can play a huge role in helping provide access in addition to municipal governments as well as helping municipal governments set up such networks.
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May 13, 2005
Congratulations Gillian and Angelina
21:41 UTC » Activism - Human Rights
For those of you who haven't been following Gillian's blog that I blogged about earlier, their trip to Sierra Leone was successful and Gillian has done a nice job capturing the trip on her blog. Congratulations Gillian and Angelina and everyone else who was involved! Gillian says she's going to continue blogging. Yay!
Technorati Tags: globalvoices
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May 10, 2005
Global Voices Online Daily World Blog Updates
13:55 UTC » Activism - Blogging about Blogging - Global Voices
Rebecca MacKinnon has started doing daily summaries of Global Voices oriented stuff on blogs all over the world. They're really great. They're on the Global Voices blog and are also a separate category if you just want to see the Daily World Blog Updates.
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Gillian Caldwell's new blog
08:22 UTC » Activism - Blogging about Blogging - Human Rights
Gillian Caldwell, the executive director of WITNESS just left for Sierra Leone with Angelina Jolie to deliver recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) to the government. WITNESS is an important effort using video for human rights advocacy. (I blogged about it in more detail in Sept 2003.) In Davos in 2004, Ethan and I cornered Gillian and tried to get her into blogging. At the same time Ethan and Gillian tried to get me interested in Africa. (Since then I've been to Africa once and have two more trips planned this year. Note that Ethan is the key connector here.)
Last week, Gillian emailed me and told me that she was going to blog this trip. With a bit of scurrying around and some quick design help from Boris, Gillian got her blog running just as she was running out the door. I'm looking forward to reading her reports from Africa and hope that she gets addicted to blogging so I can live her amazing life vicariously through the blog.
Safe travels and congratulations on the blog Gillian.
Technorati Tags: africa, globalvoices
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April 24, 2005
Happy Birthday, Free Culture Movement!
11:05 UTC » Activism - Creative Commons
Happy Birthday!!!Lessig BlogHappy Birthday, Free Culture Movement!One year ago -- April 23, 2004 -- about a hundred students gathered at Swarthmore College to begin "an international student movement to free culture." (Dan Hunter described the event in LegalAffairs). The event was organized by the students who had sued Diebold after Diebold sued them. The movement now has about ten chapters around the country.
Happy Birthday, Free Culture Movement! Creative Commons has a present that we wanted to announce today. Bizarrely, we're still waiting for the license. More soon (we hope).
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Video from Shanghai of start of Anti-Japan protest
07:09 UTC » Activism - Global Politics - Global Voices
The video was taken April 16, 2005. I have created Prodigem page with a BitTorrent torrent. It is a 18.4 MB AVI file that runs for 30 seconds. If you download the file, please keep it seeding for awhile so that we can have a few other peers.Anonymous friend in ChineseThe video shows the initial gathering and starting to march of the protesting in Shanghai. It was taken by my family member while I was not in Shanghai.
There is no violence or anything so don't download it if that's what you're looking for.
UPDATE: Oguradio has converted it into a 3.11MB QT file. Thanks!
UPDATE 2: And also now on archive.org...
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April 12, 2005
CIS Amicus Brief Asks for Legal Rights for Internet Journalists
14:40 UTC » Activism - Blogging about Blogging - Media and Journalism
The Stanford Center for Internet and Society filed an amicus brief today which I signed together with a number of others. Go CIS!
Amicus Brief Asks for Legal Rights for Internet JournalistsCIS filed an amicus brief today on behalf of The First Amendment Project, Internet journalists and bloggers and others asking the court in the Apple v. Does case to treat online publishers the same rights as their colleagues who publish in more traditional formats. Download file
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December 30, 2004
Bloggers without borders launched
15:02 UTC » Activism - Blogging about Blogging
Bloggers without borders has just launch. Here's the first post from Jonas.
Tsunami OutreachSubmitted by Jonas M Luster on Thu, 2004-12-30 05:23.
We have found our compassion in this one. Yet, one thing remains and is badly needed, says a friend of mine who just arrived in Sri Lanka and will be contributing what he learned in eight years in Uniform. People. Not the odd-job bystander, not the “activist”, and certainly not the journalist. What is needed most, today, are qualified specialists. Demolitions experts to safely destroy dangerous structures, Doctors, guys and gals who know how to handle a syringe or a gun. The latter is needed more and more as the looting increases and food and medical supplies are being raided by black marketers.
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December 24, 2004
Americans and Civil Rights for Muslims
07:09 UTC » Activism - US Policy and Politics
My next question is, of the 56% of the people who didn't favor restricting the civil rights of Muslims, what percentage are going to do anything about trying to stop this trend?Kuro5hinThe glass is half empty: Americans and Civil Rights for MuslimsThe Media and Society Research Group of Cornell University conducted a survey in November of Americans with respect to their attitudes towards Muslims. Nearly half (44%) of respondents favored restricting the civil rights of Muslims in some way. The press release, with links to the report, is available at [link]
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December 23, 2004
BloggerCorps first success story
09:26 UTC » Activism - Business and the Economy
Rebecca blogs about the first BloggerCorps success story. BloggerCorps is project to try to hook up local bloggers with important local projects who need help from bloggers. It's a great idea which just needs a bit more momentum I think. It ties in well with the Global Voices stuff. (The first version of the manifesto is done.)
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November 27, 2004
Slow Food
09:25 UTC » Activism - Eating and Cooking
A few of us had dinner with Mike Tommasi from Slow Food France. Slow Food (as opposed to fast food) is a semi-political movement originating in a protest against the entry of McDonald's into Italy and formally becoming an organization in Paris. They focus on a variety of gastronomy issues. They care about the impact of industrialization of food on farmers, diversity, cataloging endangered food, teaching children about food, finding produce that can be brought back or preserved and help create new markets and for slow food. They have successfully found a variety of slow foods including cheeses and meats and have brought them back and created markets for them in sympathetic restaurants. They have a magazine, a Slow Food Guide for Italy (Good slow food restaurants for under 30 Euros), and conferences where they invite farmers from around the world to share ideas. They are not against science, but are against science used to destroy food culture. They now have 80,000 members in 100 countries with offices in Switzerland, Germany, the US, France and Italy. Although it was originally founded by people from the Italian Left wing, it is recently more politically neutral. Being a movement originating in Italy, founded in France with an English name makes it unique as well. Their web site has a lot of interesting stuff on it.
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November 21, 2004
Someone sabotaging EFF at WIPO
12:33 UTC » Activism - Technology Controversy
Cory blogs from the WIPO meeting about position papers from IP Justice, EFF, and the Union for the Public Domain being repeatedly stolen and thrown in the trash. Someone is obviously upset about their position on the Broadcast Treaty. Cory quotes Gandhi, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Good luck Cory!
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November 15, 2004
The Blogger Corps
18:37 UTC » Activism - Blogging about Blogging
Rebecca suggests starting the Blogger Corps.
Count me in Rebecca. I've been doing my own share of Johnny Appleseed evangelism, but I think a more organized approach where we can share information and coordinate activities would be great. I think we should start a wiki page. ;-)Rebecca MacKinnonBloger Corps?... For early blog-adopters, blogging was an end in itself. For the activist community, blogging has to be an effective means to a concrete end.
In the final wrap-up session of Bloggercon III, I suggested that socially conscious members of the blogging community (of all political persuasions) might want to organize a "Blogger Corps." Through it, bloggers could donate their time to help poorly funded activists or non-profit groups to figure out what blogging tools are right for them, set up blogs, and develop effective blogging strategies.
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October 4, 2004
Hunger strike against Nader
01:28 UTC » Activism - US Policy and Politics
I wonder what Ralph Nader is going to do...Warren EllisA peace activist who once fasted for...Jerry Rubin, 60, said he plans to consume only liquids from Saturday until Nov. 2 if Nader doesn't take a meeting with him. "I know Ralph Nader and I don't think he's doing the right thing," Rubin said Saturday. He said the consumer advocate's campaign is dividing the progressive political movement.
Rubin is often confused with now-deceased "Chicago Seven" defendant Jerry Rubin. He legally changed his name to Jerry Peace Activist Rubin to avoid confusion with the 60s radical...
UPDATE Via Warren: "We're sending him some carrot juice," Nader said Sunday...
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September 5, 2004
I )( Wi-Fi bumper sticker
19:16 UTC » Activism - Art - Cool Web Sites - Creative Commons
The "I )( Wi-Fi" bumper sticker can be found on the Tech Culture page.
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September 3, 2004
RNC-NYC: reported presence of long-range acoustic device (LRAD) at protests
13:55 UTC » Activism - US Policy and Politics
The NYC police are reported to have a weapon-like acoustic device called an LRAD at the RNC protests.
Here is a picture from Indymedia.
Earlier this month, the New York Police Department showed off a machine called the Long Range Acoustic Device, developed for the military and capable of blasting at an earsplitting 150 decibels -- as loud as a firecracker, a jet engine taking off or artillery fire at 500 feet, according to the Noise Center at the League for the Hard of Hearing. The NYPD said it would use the machine to direct crowds to safety if there's a terrorist attack or remind protesters where they're allowed to march. Police said they wouldn't use the earsplitting screeching noise feature at the convention. "It's only to communicate in large crowds," Inspector Thomas Graham of the police department's crowd control unit said.
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September 2, 2004
Barlow's dancemob update
23:57 UTC » Activism - US Policy and Politics
John Perry Barlow promised to organize dancemobs to disrupt the RNC and he has. He sends a quick update from the dancemob front lines.
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August 31, 2004
RNC-NYC: Update on arrest of Joshua Kinberg, Bikes Against Bush
07:39 UTC » Activism - Art - US Policy and Politics
Xeni Jardin @ Boing Boing: RNC-NYC: Update on arrest of Joshua Kinberg, Bikes Against Bush
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August 30, 2004
RNC protests: Bikes Against Bush organizer arrested
10:05 UTC » Activism - Art - US Policy and Politics
I think I saw this device at Ars Electronica a few years ago. I have a feeling that at the time it wasn't mounted on a bike. I remember thinking, "What a cool idea. I wonder if it will ever be used for something useful." I love it when political art projects/proposals get put into real world action. It's too bad that they confiscated the bike before it was used "in the wild." I wonder whether this bogus arrest will end up getting this project more press than if they hadn't arrested him...Xeni Jardin @ Boing BoingRNC protests: Bikes Against Bush organizer arrestedA post on an indymedia website says activist Joshua Kinberg -- inventor of a wireless, bike-mounted, dot-matrix printer for spraying protest messages in the street -- was arrested yesterday at the RNC in NYC. At the time, he was reportedly being interviewed by Ron Reagan, covering the convention for MNSBC.
Kinberg's invention allows users to spray messages transmitted to the bike-printer by way of the 'Net or SMS. They're painted in a water-soluble chalk solution that washes away with water (not spray-paint, as misreported elsewhere). Link to indymedia post, Link to previous BB post about Bikes Against Bush, Link to August 02 Wired News story with background on Kinberg's invention, Link to yesterday's NYT piece on Bikes Against Bush, and link to a torrent identified as video coverage of the incident, via DV Guide. (Thanks, Patricia and el norm)
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August 24, 2004
RNC protestors and their rights
08:02 UTC » Activism - US Policy and Politics
UPI via The Washington Times reports that the Weather Underground are planning some action during the RNC. UPI says:
Someone who asked not to be named emailed me and says that they heard that, "it's planned on being a nonviolent action. Something about leaflets and random covert protesters." If this is indeed the case, there is a pretty high likelihood of some really wound up police running into some pretty innocent people. If you are at risk of looking like a risk to the police, make sure you read about your rights. (344k ZIPped PDF on cryptome.org) via Boing BoingUnited Press International"These people are trained in kidnapping techniques, bombmaking and building improvised munitions," the source said. "They're very bad people..."
UPDATE: An anonymous tipster sez "this pamphlet was done by the wonderful Katya Komisaruk over at the Just Cause Law Collective. At her site, lawcollective.org, there's the pamphlet and tons of other info about how to not lose your rights when dealing with the po. (Including Komsiaruk's book, set up much like the pamphlet, 'Beat the Heat.' Komisaruk applied and was accepted to Harvard Law School while in federal prison for anti-nuke demonstrations. She went to HLS while on parole and graduated with honors. Now she's one of the most active anarchist lawyers in the U.S."
UPDATE: Anonymous old media journalist who thinks the UPI story is bunk: "my theory is that the republicans are going to have their own anarchists there a la the reichstag fire...."
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August 20, 2004
EFF wins Grockster case
02:30 UTC » Activism - Intellectual Property
This is great news. Congrats to the whole EFF team who worked on this!Xeni @ Boing BoingEFF wins Grokster
Big news: The EFF prevails in the long-fought Grokster case. Court decision is available here (PDF). Link to 9th Circuit Court of appeals ruling in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer v. Grokster, issued August 19, 2004.
More on Corante: Powerful Language from the MGM v. Grokster Decision
- Posted by Jason Schultz
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August 1, 2004
Barlow proposes dancing flashmob to protest RNC
15:43 UTC » Activism - US Policy and Politics
John Perry Barlow, former Grateful Dead lyricist and Republican city council chairman has an interesting idea.
As always, the full text of his essay is a great read, but this idea of discombobulation as protest is funny and seems appropriate as well. I wonder if we can map "I don't think it's funny" split. I wonder if this would constitute "terrorism". I guess it might depend on what they were dancing to.BarlowFriendzDancing in the Streets: Revolution with a Smile...Maureen Dowd recently observed that the Republicans had become so obsessed with rejecting the 60's ethic of doing it if it feels good that they have taken up an ethic of doing it if it makes someone else feel bad. Moreover, the GOP strategy of basing their root-level organization on Hot Protestantism has infused their ranks with a lot of chilly Puritanism, which, as H.L. Mencken defined it, is "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, is having a good time."
...So, to that end, I propose the following: I want to organize a cadre of 20 to 50 of us. I want to dress us in suits and other plain pedestrian attire and salt us among the sidewalk multitudes in Republican-rich zones. At a predetermined moment, one of us will produce a boom-box and crank it up with something danceable. Suddenly, about a third of the people on the sidewalk, miscellaneously distributed in the general throng, will start dancing like crazy and continue to do so for for about a minute. Then we will stop, melt back into the pedestrian flow, and go to another location to erupt there.
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Sudan: a failure of will
09:54 UTC » Activism - Global Politics
A call to action that you should all read. This is "low hanging fruit" on the "lets do something good today" tree. Take some action today.The Passion of the PresentA failure of willForces from across the world are poised to help the people of Darfur, but no nation has the will to move forward.
We are in a tragic and signal moment, a catalytic moment, where the world sees the need, has the means, and yet continues to experience a failure of will.
...Now it is the public's turn. It is our turn. The time is now for our action. We must ask our leaders to act now, not in 30 days.
All key elements are in place, except the will to launch the rescue of Darfur in earnest.
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