The Activist Project

[theactivistproject-blog]

The Mayoral Debate: A Fresh Perspective

What the Evening Standard wouldn't publish..

The riots, a frivolous weekend of urban joy-riding and grand theft auto lunacy that kept us confined to peering above window frames for an entire weekend - a consequence of growing crime rates, sour politics or a disenfranchised youth? The argument rages on. But there’s no doubt it’s a contentious issue that every Londoner wants an answer to.  The candidates at yesterday’s debate stand afoot an audience more whipped up than their own egos; an audience, to which politics matters dearly, hence they queue round the corner to grill those who want to govern their cherished ground. The answers are the rhetorical spew of pledge splutters that seem to fall straight from their gawping mouths. “We’ll quit as mayor if we fail to cut crime,” they say. I say, it’s any wonder the youth are absent tonight. They’re far too busy building the structures of their own political forums for their ideals to be governed, and they’re concerns to be expressed freely. Free expression eh,ain’t that just a thing of the past?

[nickamina-deactivated20130919]

[theactivistproject-blog]

#Kony2012: The Truth According To Jane Bussmann

Back in 2009 Jane Bussmann wrote a book about Joseph Kony called ‘Worst Date Ever’. So who better to ask about #Kony2012? Robbie consults Jane for answers..

http://www.live-magazine.co.uk/2012/03/kony2012-the-truth-according-to-jane-bussmann/

The Kony film has had a huge impact worldwide. How do you think it’s going to affect the crisis in Uganda?

The Kony2012 documentary has engaged 26 million people. 26 million intelligent people can hit the search button and find out whatever they like. When you talk about whose job it is to stop Kony, there’s only one answer: Museveni, the elected leader of Uganda. Museveni never started out as a dictator, but he’s become one because he’s given free cash by muppets like David Cameron. The next step for us lot is to ask just one word. Why? If you can’t catch a man in 26 years when he’s abducted 30,000 kids. Why? The greatest thing that can happen is people will start asking questions and googling these things.

I think the story we hear from Africa over here is a distorted picture of poverty and warzones.

The media very rarely pay attention to the incredibly successful booming economy; it means people like me can invest in Africa first and become immensely wealthy. The problem at the moment is aid. It’s a bunch of desperate politicians who have to make budget cuts at home funding actually very cheap aid programs to make themselves look good in their own countries. It’s the middlemen that get the money. And this is why Joseph Kony has been able to run amok for 26 years. Politicians give the money directly to the bent government like Kibaki’s in Kenya or Museveni’s in Uganda, but time and again it’s half-inched by crooks. It’s almost as corrupt as the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.

“Cut off Museveni’s money tomorrow, bang, you’ll have him by Friday.”

So, the only person that can influence Uganda is Museveni. But is putting armed forces into the country the answer?

Well, let’s look at the next step. Museveni hasn’t done that. Why didn’t he do it? It’s for one simple reason, that he is getting a shitload of cash. If you want to know why someone does something, follow the money. And essentially, Invisible Children has asked 27 million people to tell their government. Museveni is up there with Invisible Children as a marketing genius – and the reason he’s getting no flack for having taken all this money and not catching Kony is because he’s sent troops to Somalia. America needs them there, but if you create something bigger than Somalia on the international news scale, which Invisible Children has done, you create an opportunity for politicians to stop arguing and actually get something done.

So your outset is one of positivity. But how do you see all this Kony stuff? Is it a positive or negative development?

Kony2012 was an act of fucking genius. People are going to forever doubt it and say it doesn’t do a number of things. But of course it doesn’t, it’s only half an hour. The film’s so pertinent that people might actually hear it. Kony2012 is advocacy to get political change. No-one stopped Kony for 26 years. That is an astonishing story. This is the greatest story ever told, once you actually realise what IC are saying is true, who cares who’s saying it? It’s a fucking mental story.

But surely, putting the US military into an already hostile area of Africa is no good thing?

Well, you say that. But there is no-one else there who has any clue what the Ugandan military are doing. If we, the British taxpayer, are essentially paying for the Ugandan military by funding their boss and paying his bills, we have no means of finding out what is actually happening because we’re not there with them. No-one really knows who’s telling the truth. On another, more peaceful note, kids trying to defect from the LRA can only physically do so if they know where to go. The radio system paid for by Invisible Children has helped do that.

“There’ll always be another Kony, but the biggest enemy is the person who knows about it and does nothing.”

So, how do we capture Kony?

Cut off Museveni’s money tomorrow, bang, you’ll have him by Friday. I predict if we stopped the international aid going to the Ugandan government, within seven days we’d have Kony in the ICC.

Then, this is all the fault of politicians and international aid, and the solution is public pressure? This is far past Kony, it’s a much deeper story…

The story is if you give large quantities of cash to bent people they will carry on being bent. Some will build ridiculous palaces while others will let Joseph Kony carry on. It’s the same old story. It happens everywhere, its just harder to get the story out in Africa because thanks to Band Aid, people think any story coming out of Africa will be depressing.

I’m one of those people who through the KONY2012 film, wants to make a change. What should I do?

Go to a website called theyworkforyou.com, type in your postcode and you’ll get the details of your local MP, whose wages are paid from your tax bill, and ask them what they’re doing to help.

So who’s the real enemy here? The one killing kids, or the one letting Kony do that?

There’ll always be another Kony, but the biggest enemy is the person who knows about it and does nothing.

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@robbieflash

[theactivistproject-blog]

Mother's Day: This Time It's Personal

(Via the incredible @heardinlondon..)

http://www.heardinlondon.com/post/10743347675/mothers-day-this-time-its-personal

The assault on the NHS is accelerating into a massacre and there is only one person that can stop it. Politicians in this country do not want free health care for the people of this country.  Andrew Lansley himself has his office funded by a private healthcare company. There is only one person that can save the NHS from the mortuary - and that is YOU.  Hundreds and thousands of you. The politicians proved they have no intention of listening to the public or the medical professionals. Despite so much opposition, they still intend to make this bill law by 20 March. The only way we can get this bill dropped is to get the House of Lords to hear us.  And our voice has to be loud and diverse. It is not enough to think this is a done deal.  It is not enough to say you emailed an MP.  It is not enough to say you read a story once about someone having to wait five hours for an X-ray.  We need to be out on the streets.  We need to be visual and we need to be big.  And we need to be fast. Sunday 18th March is Mother’s Day.  The mother of all health services needs some motherly love on that day.  A call to action has been raised in London for a march on 17th - which is brilliant, be there, but we potentially have EIGHT DAYS to get our voices heard and we need to use every opportunity we have.

I propose at 1pm on Mother’s Day we attempt to turn Parliament Square into a graveyard.  Could we fill the square with midwives? What could be more visual than grandmothers handcuffed together?   You name it - we have got do do it.  This needs to be big. It needs to be visual, it needs to be creative enough to get the media talking and the politicians listening. If we allow this bill to pass, we will never get our NHS back.   If you think market forces are a good thing, please look at the railways.  The government have no mandate to make the biggest changes to the NHS since its creation - and they are not listening to the public nor the professionals who are opposed to this bill. The Archbishop of Canterbury said “The NHS is institutionalised altruism.  Generations to come will never forgive us if we let this bill pass.” This is the fight for our lives. See you on the streets.

[spencerbagley]

[theactivistproject-blog]

#Kony2012: We Are All Social Activists

We live in an age where technology replaces social engagement, and it’s leading to a loss of human personality. Our lives are manipulated to form statistics and data, then sold on to the highest bidder. It’s a dark thought. But surely, a campaign, like Kony2012, that only wants for you to sit down, watch and listen is a good thing? Well, yes, to some extent. But as always, you’ve got to look at what it’s trying to change, and take everything with a pinch of salt.

A marketing campaign means to make you actively participate in it. Likewise, Kony2012 is ‘social experiment’ produced to engage you. Propaganda is powerful, and its effects are worldwide. But you don’t just “change the conversation of our culture,” without backlash, if you change conversation, people will do more than listen. They will research.

To many, Invisible Children are an organisation responsible for masterminding the biggest campaign of internet uprising this world is yet to see. It’s engaging the common person to become a social activist. It’s got the message; it’s got the ethic behind it. But are IC really  the ones to have a say on the use of military force in the crackdown of Joseph Kony? With the track record they’ve got themselves, sense tells you they’re not. Sense tells you to invest your money in aid that’s been in Central Africa for a number of years. Not the charity that profiled the matter, but is looking for your investment to let others take action.

Essentially the Invisible Children campaign is one of lobbying, an old activist tactic that has worked in pushing through some of the biggest developments in world history. No doubt there’s influence from the social media revolution of the Arab Spring (there’s a reference point to the year of uprising in the film too) in creating the campaign. It’s one that parallels a lot of last year’s revolutionary ideas. What Kony2012 aims to do is educate the common person on oppression in Uganda. And it does that. But then goes on to tell you that investing in Invisible Children is the only way to do so, which is an incredibly naive perspective.

The whole Kony2012 video is a clever bit of marketing, and a brilliant piece of activism that cherry picks from the best of revolutionary ideas. But it should be you that makes your decision, not the propaganda that’s soaked throughout the film.

Yes, we are able to make change. We are able to influence our government. It took a film to tell many of us that. But don’t go signing up to an institution because it opened your eyes up to a new way of life. Instead, form your own opinions.

We’re all social activists, we’re all capable. We just need a common cause. If that is Kony, then so be it. But take a step back, think, fundraise, and make your own decision as to what you believe is right. Don’t let someone else make it for you. Western culture is gullible, and open to influence. Don’t be naive to fall into that trap too.

- -

http://www.live-magazine.co.uk/2012/03/kony2012-the-day-activism-went-viral/

@robbieflash

[theactivistproject-blog]

The Last Faces Of Occupation

I wrote this on Saturday, but it feels as though i should post this now. It was due to be published on Dazed on Wednesday..

- -

Hackney shines, glistening wildly as beams of light cascade across St Paul’s stained glass windows. The spring air is crisp, but the bitter Winter doesn’t feel far away, as gushes of breeze pass the steps and flush into tent porches.

A protester sits on the steps in front of St Paul’s. He is unknowingly the perfect example of the coffee cup generation – an unshaven, laptop carrying, camera wielding fiend who clutches himself to an oversized parka. He leans back, sighs and takes a deep breath; then proceeds to sit quietly and absorb the atmosphere, plugging himself into the moment

The atmosphere is one that echoes around most of the occupations i’ve visited – a confused blend of revolution and hope. It’s a world away from the excitement that started this campaign, but even at the end of Occupation in this form, there’s still energy to the place. It’s hard to put a finger on what or who exactly is responsible for it, but even when the tents are moved on, that energy will still carry. Any space can hold a special message; can be a hub for ideas, education and philosophy. Occupy’s story isn’t yet over. It’s occupancies may be, but that doesn’t mean to say it can’t adapt, take other forms and move on. It just means this chapter ends, and a new one begins.

This is a place where society’s lost characters reside. For the unsecure, Occupy has become a home, a place of peace and harmony where they’ll never judged. It’s a place where the homeless man can be the philosopher, the occupier, the anything – but the reality is once the camp is evicted he’ll need a place to stay, and without Occupy he is once again just the homeless man. We’ve all given up something to be here, but some more than others. The focus now then is welfare, putting the characters who’ve sacrificed at the forefront; keeping stability in an already fragile movement.

The faces who started off this campaign now house themselves in cramped coffee houses round Paternoster Square, tapping at laptops and telling their stories to journalists who tap away at their iPhone’s. They may no longer be tenants to occupancy, but these faces are wary. They’ve seen the once excited message of Occupy devolve to a battle of corporation, legal and legislature. But don’t be shallow to think they are no longer involved, they’re still very much a part of this movement, just fighting a different battle – one of perception and outreach rather than GA and working group.

The face of the movement now then is the delinquent hopeful, who’s held on for this long, battling to keep hold for the final few days, and that’s something to be admired. However faceless this movement is, it’s the people who still poke out of tent cubbyholes that are it’s network. Whatever battles are fought online, are fought for these people. They have the energy where others don’t. But is their method really changing anything? Are the effects of all this actually that noticeable? No, not really. It’s the people that have changed rather than the economic system. But in a battle for direct and fair democracy, that ‘power to the people’ ethic shouldn’t be underestimated.

It takes a strong person to look at the camp now and see a positive message. But for those who take time to look a little bit further, they see faces of people who will never, ever be the same.

[theactivistproject-blog]

The stats behind The Network Effect: A breakdown.

[theactivistproject-blog]

Question One: The Network Effect: How does music join the dots of revolution?

A little insight into the role of this blog..

Here, you'll be able to track my research log during the answering of a series of questions. At the end, you'll hopefully be a little more clearer as to how the feature and film came together. 

Stay tuned for scraps, updates and quotes ahead of the finished product. 

[theactivistproject-blog]

Blog Two: In Limbo

As posted here - http://www.planetnotion.com/2012/02/09/activist-blog-2-%E2%80%93-in-limbo/

What is predictable is no doubt inevitable – not least, terrifying. Occupy London is in limbo, shrunk to a state of confusion where its future lies in waiting, creeping up unsuspectingly without witness. The last few weeks have seen a series of evictions, all low profile in terms of media coverage, but crushing to the state of occupation in Britain.

Camps across the country look towards London for answers, but the hub of it all is being shut down, slowly, camp by camp. The politics has been put on the back bench; February is about rescuing a dying movement. It’s a sad state to see, especially for something that started with such energy and prosperity.

With Occupy LSX due back in court on the 13th February, there is some element of hope amongst the negativity. St Paul’s have said they’re happy to keep an information point open if the camp does lose, but it’s hardly going to be the source that brings the point to hand, and really grapples the reasons why we’ve all visited.

Instead then, the focus moves to the camps future. How can we effect without using the standard means of protest. “We need excitement, we need fresh ideas” says one protester to me as he wonders round the camp in search of some familiar faces (there’s none to be seen, they’re all elsewhere). Perhaps the best idea to come to light is one that takes to communities to write Occupy’s story further. Thanks to the excellent work of Jeremy Kelsey-Fry, Occupy is already finding its way into schools, but why not further? Why not teach those in boroughs the skills needed to become a pressure movement? It seems, at least, only then will Occupy immerge as a stronger, more connected force fighting for ‘the 99%’.

“We’ve played the corporations game, now it’s our chance to play ours”.

[theactivistproject-blog]

Blog One: A Prelude To Death

As posted here http://www.planetnotion.com/2012/01/30/the-activist-speaks-prelude-to-death/

It’s been a hard week for the Occupy movement, one that’s seen arrests, direct action, and the threat of eviction ever looming. Time passes and so do deadlines, but ideas of revolution are still fresh on the mind as conversations fill the numerous Occupations.

At first sight, spirits seem lost, hazed by the on-going legal pursuit between the City Of London Corporation and the protesters, making for a solemn reception to new visitors. But, even amongst the ‘evening of disappointment’- a name given to the eve of St Paul’s eviction appeal deadline passing – there’s still a feeling that this is only the first chapter in a neverending story. The library at the St Paul’s site is still a hub of interest, as members of the public flow in and out, glazing the bookshelves in search of revolutionist literature, picking up a copy of the latest Occupy Times as they leave. ‘Judge Rules against Occupy LSX’ reads the main headline. The mood may be buzzing, but the threat of eviction is never one that’s forgotten. It looms, dauntingly, making for an eerie presence.

Friday night is a busy one, as the streets that surround Aldgate station fill with protesters, reacting to the news from the @OccupyLSX twitter feed. They’ve just announced the taking of another occupation, asking supporters to come down and help build the new camp’s working groups. The new occupation is the desolate Bank of Iraq on Leadenhill Street, coyly renamed the Bank of Ideas 2.0 by protesters.

Supporters mingle around outside, creating a presence that attracts commuters to take a peek at what’s going on, but all this attention is a little too much, the police are alerted and on the scene within minutes. They corner off the area, separating two sets of protesters with a police line. Both sides interact by human mic – a system of repetition which helps carry noise amongst large numbers of people. Police enter the occupancy, arresting anyone still left inside, causing a stir as they’re pulled from the building. They move those arrested into awaiting police vans that protesters throw themselves in front of in aid of their friends. But it’s no good; they break out into scuffles as the police pull them away clearing the road.

It all ends peacefully, but Occupy see eviction from their 2nd takeover of the week. The discussions of Occupy’s future break out once more as the protesters make their way back to their respective camps.

Although it’s been a difficult week, interest once again starts to surround the camps, even as they face the prospect of eviction. The general consensus from discussions is that the next step is taking to local communities, helping boroughs build their own separate projects. The next month is where these ideas will be tested, but the focus turns to the coming week. Will the 99% chose to support the camp in its time of difficulty, or will public consensus form a Dale Farm like series of events.

UPDATE: Last night the Bank Of Ideas occupation was evicted. The action proceeded following a court case around the ownership of the bank, which UBS won. Earl Street, a building linked to the Bank occupation was also evicted. 

[theactivistproject-blog]

[thepoliticalnoteboo1deac]

Keep Calm and #OccupyLondon. Daniel McGowan, who took and submitted these photos of an #OccupyLSX (London Stock Exchange) rally, was impressed with the workings of the movement, saying:  ”Right off the bat the event was well organized.”

You can follow Daniel here on Tumblr!

You can view the rest of The Political Notebook’s project to gather photography, documentation and experiences from the OWS movements nationwide. Check out the Call for Submissions page and email your photos to me at [email protected]!

[realworldnews]

Fear, thats the topic I want to talk about. Fear to me is the world’s best motivator, in times fear makes us trust the wrong person to do the right things. In Nazi Germany the people trusted Hitler, a charismatic veteran who promised the people that he would bring them out of the dark and into the...

[ashleehafford]

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[theactivistproject-blog]

The Occupied Times Issue #8: Occupy 2.0

Open publication - More occupied times

[theactivistproject-blog]