This is the second part of a two-part series. See also this article. Both articles first appeared in a slightly different form on the blog of OpenTech(AUC).
“…if we can’t convince people to take over the means of production when it only requires a USB stick with Linux and a short online course on bash/python, how are we ever going to gain control over (and share the fruits of) other, more material and inert kinds of technology?”
Given the ongoing #coup in the #UnitedStates and the ensuing increased security and privacy issues, I am refusing to actively contribute to the usage of the #Microsoft #email service of the #UniversityOfAmsterdam (18 Feb 2025: see update below).
I am archiving my incoming email to my own server, which is based in the #Netherlands and I only respond from my own email address (like this link).
Yes, it’s largely symbolic, but at this point, when it comes to forms of resistance, we can’t be picky.
In this post I share three tips that have helped me find great people on Mastodon.
In contrast to your regular corporate Big Tech social media, the Fediverse is not packed with algorithms that build your world for you. You have to do it yourself.
To be sure, this has advantages. For example, your digital world will be a more active product of who you are and what you like, rather than what some algorithm thinks you like, on the basis of some superficial reading of who you are. Also, it prevents a few popular accounts from getting even more popular, which helps to spread and share the community’s attention more equally.
A Dutch version of this article has been published on doorbraak.eu.
Israel and Hamas have signed a ceasefire: “we” finally have what we have been chanting for.
So what now? Business as usual? Move on with our lives?
Many people are eager to do so, and many are already doing so.
But this is unacceptable.
So what do we do?
The miserable truth is that the worst kinds of injustice can often not be undone: we cannot raise 100,000 Palestinians back from the death.
This post is part of a series about the alleged return of feudalism with the advent of Big Tech.
What is capitalism? What words, ideas and/or concepts would you generally associate with it?
Some might say it is all about “technological development” driven by the “desire to be rich”. Others might say something like “greed” and the “naked pursuit of power”.
But greed, lust for power and even technological development have been around for much longer than capitalism.
This post originally appeared on the website of OpenTech(AUC).
Imagine you’re at a house party, and people are getting drunk. Slowly but steadily, they are raising their voice. And as more and more people do, you are going to have to raise your voice as well. At the end of the night, everyone is screaming in each others’ ears, without being any more audible than when everyone was talking at a normal volume.
When our governments insist with all their propaganda tools that speaking out against Israel is antisemitic - conflating antizionism with antisemitism - we can’t be surprised that some angry teens in Amsterdam - furious about an ongoing genocide - make the same (stupid and dangerous) mistake.
Fighting the latter, implies fighting the former.
“We only have to internalize the externalities”.1 That’s what “environmental economists” say. For example by imposing a tax on the production/consumption that damages the environment, or by requiring producers/consumers to buy tradable emission rights.
But there are some fundamental issues in their way of thinking:
This blog post first appeared in February 2024 on the website of OpenTech(AUC).
Normally, when you feel you’re getting the short end of a stick, for example when the supermarket sells you expensive mushy cauliflowers, or when the organization you volunteer at treats you disrespectfully, you go and find what you need somewhere else.
This ability to “defect” to an alternative when you feel you’re not getting a good deal, is an important “power” that helps you get reasonable deals.1