I just came across this video after reading this interview
Google Tech Talks July 31, 2007
ABSTRACT
Rick Falkvinge, the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party and the international politicized pirate movement, talks about the rise and success of pirates, and why pirates are necessary in today’s politics. He’ll also outline the next steps in the pirates’ strategy to change global copyright laws.
The fight against copyright aggression tends to focus on economic aspects of the shift to a networked economy. Rick explains how this conflict is much more important than that: the fight against the copyright regime is about the right to fundamental civil liberties - down to the postal secret, whistleblower protection, freedom of the press, and the very right to an identity. Rick Falkvinge is the founder and leader of the Swedish Pirate Party, as well as the founder of the international politicized pirate movement. His leadership and vision took the Pirate Party from nothing into the top ten parties in the last Swedish general election, without a dime in the campaign chest. His personal candidacy came in at rank #15 out of over 5,000 candidates for the 349 parliamentary seats.
While he didn’t win one of those seats due to threshold rules, the Swedish Pirate Party has inspired similar parties to form in over 20 other countries, and the fight for civil liberties against copyright and patent aggression continues.
The primary focus of Rick and of the Pirate Party is to fight back against the current copyright aggression and surveillance populism using the one thing lobbyists can never buy - votes in a democratic election. Rick demonstrates how much more than business models are at stake in the copyright debate: today’s copyright and essential civil liberties have become mutually exclusive, and society must choose.
Rick Falkvinge lives in Stockholm, Sweden. When not engaged in the fight for privacy and citizens’ rights, he can usually be found cooking, reading, or riding a motorcycle.
There are lots of ways to an initiate a call (including a facebook app) but the one I’ve personally found most convenient is to simply text a contact from my address book to Dialstation.
Say, for example, I want to call my Dad in Spain. Both he and I only have mobile phones and he has never even used a computer so voip is out of the question for now.
Normally, (unless I buy international calling card, dial and massive long number, enter and code and then enter my dad’s number, the call from a UK mobile to a Spanish mobile costs me a bomb. This has led to me not speaking to my dad much.
Now, with Dialstation, calling my Dad on the cheap is as simple as texting one contact from my address (my Dad’s) to another (Dialstation).
After texting my Dad’s number to Dialstation I almost immediately get a call (from Dialstation) that appears to be from my Dad (his name comes up on my screen as if it were him calling).
Moments later, my Dad receives a call that appears to be from me (my name comes up on his screen).
In effect Dialstation is simply making two local calls and connecting them up over the internet.
Dialstation is simple, cheap, effective, AND founded on principles of economic democracy.
I love it!
Dialstation was built using free software by our friends at Telekommunisten, a company wholly owned and controlled by the workers and organised as a “Venture Commune“.
So, we’re both a day late, but Gloria and I somehow decided that every day in May was going to be inspirational!
Each day Gloria will a post about an inspirational person, and I’ll highlight an inspirational project. Her first person is Maya Angelou, and my first project is…
Focussing on the central issues of peak oil and climate change, Transition Towns are “towns that are participating in the transition to a more localised post-peak-oil future”.
This process normally involves going through the following 10 steps (now 12 steps, see here):
Lay the Foundations. This is about networking with existing groups and activists and stressing that this Transition Town initiative is not a process of duplicating their work but of requesting their input in a new way of looking at the future.
The Official Unleashing. The aim of this event is to generate a momentum which will propel your initiative forward for the next period of its work.
Form Groups. You can’t do this on your own. Part of the process of developing an Energy Descent Action Plan is that of tapping into the collective genius of the community. One of the most effective ways to do this is to set up a number of smaller groups to focus on specific aspects of the process.
Use Open Space. Open Space Technology is an extraordinary tool. It has been described as ‘a simple way to run productive meetings, for five to 2000+ people, and a powerful way to lead any kind of organization, in everyday practice and ongoing change’.
Develop Visible Practical Manifestations of the Project. It is easy to come up with ideas, harder to get practical things happening on the ground. It is essential that you avoid any sense that your project is just a talking shop where people sit around and draw up wish lists. Your project needs, from an early stage, to begin to create practical manifestations in the town, high visibility signals that it means business.
Facilitate The Great Reskilling. Very few people still have the skills a more resilient society needs. This is where your Transition Town initiative comes in.
Build a Bridge to Local Government. Whatever the degree of groundswell your Transition Town initiative manages to generate, however many practical projects you manage to get going on the ground and however wonderful your Energy Descent Plan is, you will not progress too far unless you have cultivated a positive and productive relationship with your local authority.
Honour the Elders. There is a great deal that we can learn from those who directly remember the transition to the age of cheap oil, especially the period between 1930 and 1960.
Let it Go Where It Wants to Go and Reflections….In essence, although you may start out developing your Transition Town process with a clear idea of where it will go, it will inevitably go elsewhere. You need to be open to it going where the energy of those who get involved want to take it. If you try and hold onto the idea that it will be a certain way it will, after a while, begin to sap the energy that is building to do certain things. It is what is so exciting about the whole thing, seeing what emerges.
So there you have it. Transition Towns (of which there are now many) are very inspiring projects.
