(2/?)

I helped set up an open publishing activist news site for Aotearoa as part of the Indymedia network, that went online in 2000. It quickly became clear to me that if we really succeeded in our goals of getting connecting with activist outside the main cities, our mods would be drowning in the flood of articles being published, and needing review against our editorial guidelines. Even with the inherent filters of "Aotearoa" and "activism" and "news".

#Indymedia #InformationOverload

#Indymedia for about a decade, the network ran largely on donations and volunteer labour. From that base, it grew to over a hundred sites, with tens of thousands of people contributing. It shows what can emerge from these “free cultures” when they intersect with the right tools and shared purpose.

The problem of academics covering activism, particularly within grassroots movements, is the significant disconnect between academic interpretations and the realities on the ground. Most history’s of #indymedia are full of academic wank https://hamishcampbell.com/historys-of-indymedia-are-full-of-academic-wank/

#Indymedia for about a decade, the network ran largely on donations and volunteer labour. From that base, it grew to over a hundred sites, with tens of thousands of people contributing. It shows what can emerge from these “free cultures” when they intersect with the right tools and shared purpose.

The problem of academics covering activism, particularly within grassroots movements, is the significant disconnect between academic interpretations and the realities on the ground. Most history’s of #indymedia are full of academic wank https://hamishcampbell.com/historys-of-indymedia-are-full-of-academic-wank/

Gerichtsbeschluss: Weitere "Indymedia"-Ermittlungen waren rechtswidrig

Die linksautonome Plattform "Indymedia linksunten" stand mehrfach im Mittelpunkt von Ermittlungen - zuletzt waren diese rechtswidrig, wie nun das Landgericht Karlsruhe nach SWR-Informationen entschied. Von Kai Laufen.

➡️ https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/swr/indymedia-durchsuchungen-rechtswidrig-100.html?at_medium=mastodon&at_campaign=tagesschau.de

#Indymedia #Durchsuchungen

Gerichtsbeschluss: Weitere "Indymedia"-Ermittlungen waren rechtswidrig

Die linksautonome Plattform "Indymedia linksunten" stand mehrfach im Mittelpunkt von Ermittlungen - zuletzt waren diese rechtswidrig, wie nun das Landgericht Karlsruhe nach SWR-Informationen entschied. Von Kai Laufen.

➡️ https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/swr/indymedia-durchsuchungen-rechtswidrig-100.html?at_medium=mastodon&at_campaign=tagesschau.de

#Indymedia #Durchsuchungen

@Palky55 after looking at the work we have done with #undercurrents #indymedia #ruffcuts #visionontv and now #OMN what would you suggest the path is to reboot this community of action based on #openweb and #affinity paths?

It needs to happen,

The Reboot Principle

Affinity before scale. Action before legitimacy. Use before platform.

This is how #Indymedia worked before it forgot itself.

A Practical path to rebooting a community of action

1. Start with a small, visible “We”. Not an open call. Not a mailing list. A named affinity cluster of people with shared history or aligned instincts.

5–15 people is ideal.

People who ship things

People who argue honestly

People who don’t need brand permission to act

This group is not representative.
It’s responsible.

Their job is not to speak for anyone, it’s to do visible work others can plug into.

A project like the #OMN does need to happen — and it’s harder than it should be.

We have already done this work.
#Undercurrents, #Indymedia, #Ruffcuts, #VisionOnTV weren’t theory projects - they were action media, built in lived struggle, with real risks, real trust, and real consequences.

#OMN isn’t a new idea, it’s a recomposition under worse conditions: more capture, more fear, more professionalisation, more #techshit in the way.

So the question isn’t “what’s the idea?”
It’s “how do we reboot a culture of action when trust has been eroded and replaced with fear driven safety theater?”

Accept that this will never be “Mainstream”. And stop wanting it to be. The goal is not millions of users. The goal is hundreds of nodes that matter. If it works, it will spread sideways:

by imitation

by reuse

by adaptation

That’s how #Indymedia spread. That’s how it will happen again, if it’s allowed to stay messy.

Accept that this will never be “Mainstream”. And stop wanting it to be. The goal is not millions of users. The goal is hundreds of nodes that matter. If it works, it will spread sideways:

by imitation

by reuse

by adaptation

That’s how #Indymedia spread. That’s how it will happen again, if it’s allowed to stay messy.

The Reboot Principle

Affinity before scale. Action before legitimacy. Use before platform.

This is how #Indymedia worked before it forgot itself.

A Practical path to rebooting a community of action

1. Start with a small, visible “We”. Not an open call. Not a mailing list. A named affinity cluster of people with shared history or aligned instincts.

5–15 people is ideal.

People who ship things

People who argue honestly

People who don’t need brand permission to act

This group is not representative.
It’s responsible.

Their job is not to speak for anyone, it’s to do visible work others can plug into.

A project like the #OMN does need to happen — and it’s harder than it should be.

We have already done this work.
#Undercurrents, #Indymedia, #Ruffcuts, #VisionOnTV weren’t theory projects - they were action media, built in lived struggle, with real risks, real trust, and real consequences.

#OMN isn’t a new idea, it’s a recomposition under worse conditions: more capture, more fear, more professionalisation, more #techshit in the way.

So the question isn’t “what’s the idea?”
It’s “how do we reboot a culture of action when trust has been eroded and replaced with fear driven safety theater?”