\quote SchNEWS was one of many significant projects which arose in the nineties (in Britain), coming out of the then-strong direct action movements, which sought to put in place 'infrastructure' which was by us for us - and part of a more-or-less common project to build or consolidate another world or society, which we believed was necessary if we were to get beyond social/environmental/financial collapse. Do-it-yourself - DIY - don't wait for the government or the never-arriving revolution to make the changes, do it yourself - was the attitude which drove a lot of the nineties activity, and definitely kick-started SchNEWS. Constantly being mis-represented by the media? Let's make our own. Jello Biafra's quote 'don't hate the media, become the media' was a catchphrase heavily used by Indymedia, with SchNEWS, Squall and others on the same path. There were many others types of 'infrastructure' which either came from these movements or were strengthened by them - from the housing co-op movement to many other social and environmental protest and research groups. Individual campaigns may come and go as issues arise, but for some of us, it was always about a longer haul than ephemeral temporary autonomous zones or short-term efforts.
But while many of the 'infrastructure' efforts I'm talking about are happily thriving (some not), the radical media side of things has taken a battering. My point is, I don't object to newer generations abandoning what we built - referring here to SchNEWS and Indymedia - but it's a long-term social transformation we're talking about, and independent, unbiased and counter-hegemonic media is part of the future we need; yet this seems to be lost in an ocean of chatter, where political commitment is reduced to pressing 'like' buttons and signing online petitions. Meanwhile the corporate media is in control as ever, pumping out mis-information and celebrity gossip. \unquote http://www.corporatewatch.org/news/2014/oct/28/facebook-killed-internet-star-reflections-radical-media Best A. Mani A. Mani [Last_Name. First_Name Format] CU, ASL, AMS, ISRS, CLC, CMS HomePage: http://www.logicamani.in Blog: http://logicamani.blogspot.in/ sip:[email protected] _______________________________________________ network mailing list [email protected] http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in
