...from Plot Tracer and Acting Strange Theatre Company...
Follow their blog HERE
They've been enacting some of Plot's short stories and scripts... this is one.
The Bridge
2 weeks ago
Showing posts with label plot tracer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plot tracer. Show all posts
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Podcast drama...
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Have you got what it takes...
... to help run (and build) Sl's ONLY hub for lefties?
SL Left Unity NEEDS YOUR SKILLS to continue into 2012.
SLLU has been in SL since 2006.
Contact Plot Tracer (in world or via email - plottracer@googlemail.com ) for details on how you can help - or turn up at the Red Star Bar 2am PDT this Friday!!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Flagg/211/13/114
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Net Neutrality Discussion, today 7am Red Star Bar
see notices inworld for slurl
This is a piece I did for Red Pepper Magazine that covers SOME of the issues.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
SL Left Unity - questions
Olza Koenkamp, an SL activist, sent some questions to me. These are the first few – Olza has said there may be more at a later date. I thought I would publish these answers for other members to read and perhaps help open discussions and debate with the wider membership/ anti-capitalist left across SL.
1. Why did you help form this group (SLLU) on SL?
This group was formed back in 2006 when Second Life was rarely out of the press.
In RL, I am a member of a Left Unity group – the Scottish Socialist Party, which is generally recognised as one of the most successful projects in Left Unity in the world; using a general statement of aims and principles for the left to unite behind. It was thought that SL might be a platform to promote such a way to unite the left using SL, across the world.
Ever since, SL has stagnated and not been used quite in the ways that were predicted back in 2006 (or at least, as widely as first anticipated). SLLU recruitment, although still rising in ACTIVE members, has slowed because of many of the political people who were initially attracted to SL leaving during the period between 2007 and now (the reasons for the departure of these people are many-fold, and should be a topic of study of those who study VR and its platforms – I have my theories, but these can be explored in a further article in the future).
This recruitment data is shown in the fact that every year, we “cull” our membership by deleting avatars from the group who have not logged in to SL for 2 years or more. At one time we had around active 700 members; now we have around 500 (across 5 groups – the main one being SL Left Unity (the others being SL Left Unity Artivist Network; SL Left Unity Feminist Network; SL Left Unity LGBT Network and SL Left Unity Unity Hub). Although there is cross membership – there are some people who join only one of these groups. Analysis of membership of these groups show our active membership to be around the 500 mark.
Therefore, SLLU’s objectives have moved *slightly* from recruitment and forwarding a proposition of left unity to the new SL and SL public in general, to now concentrating on ways and space for those, like academics and artists using SL, to forward an education programme that brings anti-capitalism back to the mainstream as it once was until the late 1990’s.
Although this is a slight objective emphasis change, it does not replace our original aim of connecting with ordinary users; it does, however recognise, that our places of learning and creativity (eg Universities) HAVE moved further away from the discussions around envisaged alternative systems of social organisation. This is in stark comparison to academia and “artivism” of the mid 1800’s through to the late 20th century, where these subjects would have been the common topics of discussions at all levels.
Olza asks:
Why not organise on a different virtual world or in a different platform, for example some place only for chatting?
There are many “Left Unity” discussion forums and groups on net 1.0 and some net 2.0 applications, eg blogs; facebook and yahoo groups. My own internet early 2000’s experience was on yahoo groups and I have taken some of the successful aspects of that experience to inform how SL Left Unity has been promoted; for example, trying to encourage as much cross cooperation and OWNERSHIP in the central hub of SLLU for as many people and groups as possible across the anti-capitalist left spectrum.
SLLU *could* branch out to opensim – and perhaps a few of us need to engage there (I have an avatar there) – and I, as well as other people involved in the running of SLLU are open to that.
Other platforms such as Twitter, have their own idiosyncracities that do not allow a wider participation and although SLLU does have a twitter account, it is used only to retweet other members contributions to twitter or promote SLLU events (though the use of the twitter account has been intermittent).
2. Has SLLU made some real influence? Have You made some impression on some RL institution or any other RL consequences?
Yes we have. We have helped (and indeed catapulted the issue into the mainstream media) with chasing the French Front National from recruiting in Second Life and we also did the same for a RL/SL IBM strike in Italy which, because avatars were able to infiltrate a meeting of RL CEO’s, led to the resignation of IBM Italy’s CEO and the strikers winning the working conditions they were fighting for.
We have also helped with university studies on the use of SL in left/cooperative education etc.
However, I feel the real influence we have had is with individuals – with activists sharing experiences in RL that have encouraged others to go on to find RL groups they are comfortable with. Our biggest success is helping others engaging and shaping their RL world.
Examples of a huge range of activities that have in some way influenced RL are on our blog that has been running since 2006. We also have an archive on our Flagg sim, maintained by RL student (as part of a RL college course) Jamesdekens Resident.
3. What are the main aims? I am not asking about aims of Left organisations in general, but especially SLLU.
(Our charter and Aims and Principles are here
See answer one. I think to summarise and add to that answer:
To bring together anti-capitalist left activists into a hub where they can cooperate in activities across their particular ideological differences (eg, socialists, anarchists etc uniting in work to propote and raise awareness of the Greek uprisings of 2009/10 or on the Israeli government crimes in Gaza). People and groups can unite on educational projects – and can agree to disagree on various solutions.
Each individual or group can take a view outside SLLU on, for example a one or two state solution in Gaza, but can cooperate on educational “demos” or installation showing the Palestinian peoples plight.
What people have to understand is that SLLU is a place to listen to differences and to work on similarities.
Disagreements are fine, so long as people can accept others have a different view and that the best way to promote your difference, is to do so comradely. It is through thesis and antithesis we reach synthesis – or it is through sharing experiences we both learn and teach.
4. Would you move SLLU from SL to other platform?
SLLU won’t be moving FROM SL – but could have similar groups with aims and principles in other metaverses- which will happen.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Conversation with Ilsa...
...on socialism etc.
The people you meet in a Left Unity group may not always agree, but we are mostly singing off the same hymn sheet. This is the second in my "Conversations" series. If Left Unity is not about talking, what else is it for? Conversations educate - I come away from conversations with other people who have different views as me, hopefully, a more understanding activist.
[06:25 AM] Ilsa Hesse waves
[06:25 AM] Plot Tracer: hi ilsa! :)
[06:25 AM] Ilsa Hesse: how are you ?
[06:26 AM] Plot Tracer: aye - i am good :) you?
Thursday, 24 February 2011
SLUncut Meeting on Monday - please read
by Plot Tracer
I firmly believe SL, like the real world, is a place people can co-operate and help change society and societal “norms.”
How do we do this?
Education is the key.
I wrote this little piece on my blog - HERE
Also read this on the SLLU blog about the demo for the people of Libya, which expresses the importance of political organisation within SL… HERE
We are all in a system and from within it is sometimes difficult to see our part in it.
Those in power are certainly aware of their place in society. They are, at present, ensuring they hold on to their millions / billions /bonuses etc. and with their control of the world’s mainstream media, are peddling the lie that “We are all in this crisis together and are all working to fix this unforeseeable phenomena that wrecked our financial institutions.”
As activists, most of us have seen through this lie. We watch as the weakest in society are now expected to suffer in order to “fix” this crisis – not of their doing. We the working people and poor are being expected to bear the brunt of cuts to our social services and amenities and pay and working conditions while those who caused it, ensure the system in which they cream off billions of pounds is safe. Those at the top pay legions of accountants to ensure they pay little or no tax. So where is the fairness in this “bank bailout?” In what way are “we all in this together?” The platitude is rhymed off and many now are engaged in a synthetic battle between workers and poor to hold on the the scraps we have been thrown down from the high table. Divide and conquer – the tactic used by imperialists from the times of the enforced enclosure of Ireland, through the middle east and into communities within the developed western world – a tactic constantly used in the headlines of our billionaire controlled press and media.
Fuck Fox…
No more. There are other ways to pay for the banking crises… closing tax havens; closing tax loopholes; a huge reduction in arms proliferation and the economics of war and an investment in the economics of peace and ecologically sound energies… I could go on.
In the real world we see communities fighting to retain their libraries, their schools, staff for their schools, community police, leisure facilities, heating allowances (in the more northern climes), maternity facilities and allowances etc etc. And rather than these groups fighting for the $/£ limited by Govt, why shouldn’t we all fight together for a better ran world?
Across the world, from Wisconsin to Glasgow, London, Madrid, Paris, Athens and beyond, people are taking to the streets and demanding their right to a better world. One were resources are not hoarded by billionaires and their millionaire lackey politicians, but where resources are shared. If we are all born equal, then why are some children born into a world in which they will always have more than they need while other children in the same countries must struggle from the word go to eat?
Proposal
I feel, if we can reach as many large groups and sims in SL and ask them to put on an event at which people are asked to either sign a worldwide petition (wording to be agreed) AND/ or are given a notecard with simple facts about the economic crisis, we will be part of a chain that is educating people about how they are being oppressed by the people who caused this crisis, but who sit in their tax free ivory towers telling us we are all in this together. I propose we set a date (perhaps sometime in April) in which all of SL will be awash with events from art events, political rallies, music events, poetry, exhibitions, writing “dashes”, political discourse, club nights etc – but all publicising the petition and notecard – and ask people to send the notecard to a friend or some friends – so this spreads further.
I propose this group of organisers spread the word of this event to owners of groups and media outlets attached to SL.
I propose that this group become the core who collate all of the events people are proposing and release them to various websites, from our own organisations websites, to places on mainstream media websites such as cnn where we can add reports and comments.
I propose that this group draft and then agree on a statement for the notecard and also set up the petition site, and draft the wording of the petition that will ensure the involvement of as many people across the political spectrum as we can without diluting our message.
I propose we open a new group for people who want to continue the struggle against the austerity measures by exposing the tax misadventures of the corporations in much the way UKUNCUT and now, USUNCUT are doing – I have created a group called SLUNCUT – and will open this group if we decide this is a good idea.
Please come to the meeting on Monday 28th February (time tba). I also propose a second meeting at a time that suits other time zones. Please let me know when this could take place and I will inform the group of a time that will suit most of the others.
Please pass this message on to others you feel may be interested.
---ooo000OO---STOP PRESS---OO000ooo---
Excellent article as to why education is key... HERE
Monday, 21 February 2011
Plot's projects!
If you want to help, click HERE
Thursday, 10 February 2011
On SL Marxists; Networks and Platforms
by Plot Tracer
The Charter and Aims and Principles entitled “For friend and foe alike” on our blog is NOT the most up to date one – it was mistakenly copied from an earlier version. The most up to date version is BELOW. The version that was agreed in 2008 was the forth incarnation. Slight tweaking of our “constitution” took place over the preceding period.
A source of pride has been the continuance of SLLU work through the SLLU Feminist Network. This group of people, who share an idea of left feminism, but not a rigid blueprint to feminism or of what feminism should be, have been an inspiration. They have been organising events, meetings, websites, information hubs and demonstrations and have been a huge part of other events and places and activism throughout the huge SL world. They are, and we are, a small group in a huge world, but a group who have influence from one end of SL to another (In the second ever post on this site, Bob Marley was quoted, and how true this is of our group - "If you are a big tree, we are a small axe."
The second thing that has impressed me in the past few months is the new “platform” within SLLU – SL Marxists (I will come back to the differences between platforms and networks in a while). Some of the people in SL Marxists have been on a political journey not unlike my own when I first came into SL. When I arrived in SL in 2006 there were a plethora of left wing groups – SL Socialist, communist, Leninist, Trotskyite and Marxist groups – all of whom rarely spoke to each other and none of whom got together for joint work. As a member of a real life left unity project, I thought I would try to get representatives from all of these groups together and come up with some sort of “hub” group – a group we could all use to plan and talk about projects we could work on side by side. I used the existing group’s IM facilities and membership lists to contact people to meet in the old SL Socialists building on Bora Bora. Two people turned up - Higgledpiggle Snoats and Dick Marellan and within our first or second meeting, we created SLLU (after a debate about it’s name! – SLLU could well have been SLUL!). Within weeks we had set up SLLU’s first HQ on a Scottish themed sim and membership rose relatively quickly. We set up the blog and rented a couple more premises on different sims, and people began to come to our meetings.
We formed a committee and issued invitations to others to join – and join they did!
Shortly after our formation, one of our new French members, Laura Gagliano told us that the French Front National had organised in SL for the French elections – setting up an HQ and recruiting “shop”. I went along and found that there was only one avatar sitting outside the Front National building with a placard. We sent the word out that we were organising demonstrations against them and more people turned up. We then sent out press releases to press organisations across the worlds both SL and RL, and both the demonstrations and SLLU took off!
Our membership at one point was over 700. It was agreed that every year we cull members because of inactivity for more than two years as it is preferable to know exactly how many active Second Lifers are in the group. We are at present 500 strong.
Why do I compare this journey to that of SL Marxists? Well, the fact is that the fight against Front National, and how big it became (at the time it has to be remembered that SL was still zeitgeisty and we hit major Television news channels and news papers across the globe) honed the committee and how we interacted, and it was the experience during the massive fight against Front National, with a cast of thousands, that informed our Charter and Aims and Principles. We very quickly, and “on the hoof,” came to decisions that have formed the basis of how SLLU conducts itself and is now “organised.” Consensus and a loose organisation were seen as essential. (I cannot understate, by the way, the work carried out by Higgledpiggle Snoats in this. She is a sadly missed founding member). SLLU FemNet have taken this further with their organisation and meetings structure. Within FemNet, there are people who agree on some things and disagree on others, but consensus is the key, not a creation of oppressed minority within the group through shouting loudly or voting to keep others views out of the mix. Listening is the key. FemNet is a true network – feminists from across the left with no “line” coming together with genuine intent to find consensus.
Where SL Marxists differ, is that they have an agreed a line – a minority one within the wider left, but a valid one nonetheless.
Back in the early days of SLLU, it was agreed that people could affiliate as an “affinity group.” This never really happened more or less because it was based on the RL anarchist system that had worked well from Seattle through to G8, Scotland in 2005 and onwards. What we found was that this didn’t translate to SL so well. We looked at how other political Unity groups worked and it was agreed we encourage people to affiliate either a full operating group, like SL Socialists (which never happened as it died) or create groups that could become platforms or networks within SLLU.
This was what was agreed back in 2007 (and was enacted only when SLLU FemNet and SLLU LGBTI were created much later).
Platforms
1 Members have the right to organise in Platforms or Tendencies. The SLLU, as a pluralist group, recognises that a range of political points of view is a healthy source of debate and new ideas.
2 All Platforms/Tendencies should be open – their constitution and aims & objectives should be brought to the attention of the wider group.
3 Platforms/Tendencies have a right to be heard, to organise meetings, to produce literature and to distribute materials at SLLU meetings.
4 Platforms/Tendencies are not expected, however, to organise public campaigns against the overall aims or policy of the SLLU.
Networks
Networks
1 Members can organise in Networks.
2 (a)Networks can be set up to encourage the self organisation of members of SLLU who suffer from specific discrimination and to enable them to organise collectively in campaigns against oppression and to take a lead in the wider group on these issues.
(b) Networks can also be set up to bring together members of SLLU interested in campaigning on a specific issue. Such networks can help to bring together members who are active in campaigns in order to intervene more effectively, coordinate activity, promote the group and feedback experience into the party.
To sum that up, Networks tend to be based around identity politics (youth, women, feminism, Black, LGBTIQ) and platforms are traditionally sub-parties which have a specific left anti-capitalist stance (eg. Marxist; Marxist-Leninist; Anarchist etc). They are autonomous, but use SLLU to find consensus and share experiences with the SL Anti-capitalist left and indeed the anti-capitalist left across the world.
RL Left anti-capitalist political parties can also be part of SLLU by affiliating as a platform. However, those who claim to be representing a real political party must prove this as difficulties have sprung up in the past when enthusiastic members of RL groups have affiliated and then the RL group has disowned what they have claimed!
Oh – I also want to add, people do-not have to be a member of a network or tendency or platform or working group to be a member of SL Left Unity. Some prefer not to be identified as any of these things – or some – or all!
SL Left Unity is a hub for all who agree with our Charter and Aims and Principles. The work carried out by SL Marxists during the Egyptian protests has been superb – and inclusive. The work they did during the wikileaks demos was also exemplar – they ensured they did not upset the Swedish owner of the sim they wanted to demonstrate on and indeed, condemned the griefing of another left group. For their hard work and proven want to help build a non-sectarian left unity hub in the spirit of the SLLU during the defining months of late 2006/early 2007 I welcome them as a platform.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
A view from a Starr...
Starr Luna is a new member of SLLU. These are her words!
Disclaimer: The following post is not representative of SLLU, or its core values. It's written from my perspective, a new member. 
Hello SLLU Members! I'm Starr, a proud to be a new member amidst your ranks, very nearly 38 years old, happily married to Joseph Hubbard, another newbie with SLLU, and disabled with a few chronic neuromuscular illnesses. I became introduced to SLLU through Plot Tracer, and the Avatars United website. He had kindly united with me some weeks back, and lately, when I read about the issues related to the false allegations, and premature suspension of his account, it piqued my curiosity. The situation didn't sit well with me, and to make a messy story short and sweet, I ended up involving myself a bit in “Plot's plot”, and upon his being free and clear, he has been generous enough to befriend Joe and me, and bring us into the fold.
I have never considered myself as being very interested in politics, nor have I ever thought I was 'any good at it', per se. What I have had an interest in, from an early age, is society, people, and equality. I herald from an area of the world that is largely very right-wing. Still, in speaking to my friends up North, and elsewhere internationally, and I am somewhat dimly bemused at many of their view of the states, particularly the Southern states, and especially Texas, as this conglomeration of overblown stereotypes and generalizations, a wild caricature straight from a satirist's panel, or a television skit. Texas is a beautiful dichotomy. The boys in my parochial school, our senior year of 1991, showed up en mass to the KKK's annual demonstration on the courthouse lawn. Every year the foul hate group would exercise their right to assemble and free speech to gather, and the town would hole up in their houses, and ignore them. The hooded morons would stalk around, waving bibles, and attempting to recruit, though nobody ever came. When a couple cars full of healthy young Caucasian boys showed up, they were muchly enthused, until those boys used the years of bible classes they had perhaps less than enthusiastically endured, to nail them regarding the numerous ways that they were misquoting and twisting the words of the book they'd never actually read. It resulted in quite a row. That was the last year the KKK bothered to assemble in our town. I had driven back and forth and hollered at them, but somehow, I think being shamed by the boys was more effective. =) Today, each of those fellas are as right-wing as their fathers and grandfathers taught them to be. I love them all regardless, and always will.
My first experience questioning political authority was also in my Senior year, when our Congressman visited our school for an assembly, during which he boasted a policy in which he would oust persons from public housing who were found to be illicit drug abusers. I was a 'good girl' back then, and fairly shocked everyone when I raised my hand, and challenged him, inquiring as to how it would improve the situation to toss a person afflicted with a drug problem out onto the streets, so that they could be homeless, too. I then inquired as to why our county didn't have any drug rehabilitation resources available to the people at all. The gentleman was a bit taken aback, but gave me a typical mealymouthed answer that said nothing at all, and was pleasantly condescending about the whole thing. I then proceeded to write a letter, to which I received a slightly more respectable reply.
I do not believe in the “war on drugs”. I believe that drugs should be decriminalized, and that the funding that has been poured into 'the war on drugs' should be put into education and rehabilitation, including providing clinics with clean needles, Methadone, and rapid detox programs. Marijuana being illegal just insults my intelligence, and is hardly worthy of discussion. It is no more harmful than alcohol, and its being illegal is purely a matter of right-wing politics and taboo. Its medical potential is abundant, and I could be benefiting from it immediately, should it be available to me. I believe that prostitution should be decriminalized, and that the women should have access to healthcare, and education, including and particularly counseling and group therapy, focusing on self-value and personal safety. Safe sex education and birth control should be made readily available to the public via the education system and clinics. Abstinence is a viable option to be taught to young people regarding sex, as a healthy, holistic choice, not as a religious more that is being applied arbitrarily on another person.
It is essential that there be a stark separation of church and state, because each person has a right to their belief, and as soon as someone puts commandments in school, or in the courthouse, then they are no different than the militant theocracy that tortures and commits genocide with those that believe differently than they do, elsewhere in the world. People, regardless of gender, have the right to marry and share benefits. Deciding that homosexual marriage is immoral is a purely religious knee-jerk reaction, and is therefore inapplicable as a matter of government. I believe, strongly, in socialized healthcare. Everyone should have the right to help when they're sick. The fact that the technology exists in the world to assist a human being that's suffering, or in pain, and that person, man, woman, or child, wherever they are, languishes without that assistance, proves how very far from having attained true civility we really are.
It is clear that the big corporation has been allowed to erode away at the environment until it is all but destroyed. Lobbying in the U.S. Should be illegal.. period. Corporations buying votes should have never been allowed to happen, and horrible things have resulted.
'The War on Terror' is the most counter-intuitive phrase I can possibly conceive of. One cannot attack the intangible, and in our terror, and paranoia, post-9/11, we recoiled into a defensive posture, allowing ourselves to find a reason to be the first to strike out in a war against an ideal. In doing so, we have simply fueled endless hatred, and it's the song that never ends. A dirge, playing the loss of lives, both figuratively, and literally, on both sides of the conflict. I support my brothers and sisters who have chosen to defend their country, but I have protested, and will continue to, protest the war, since its inception.
Socialism is my ideal world, but I don't know that pragmatically people will ever allow it to happen. How does one get all of the people in a nation in one accord, working together, in order to support the utopia? What happens if people decide they don't want to be productive? They have the right not to be. What will happen to society? What will happen with the people who are not content with what they have? I fear that capitalism may be a necessary evil. Libertarianism or minarchism comes close to espousing my ideals, in that I am very pro-people's rights, and civil liberties, and personal freedoms. But then I am forced to wonder, if our nation were Libertarian, and I had no husband, no family, no one to watch after me.. being sick as I am, what would become of me? Would I languish and die, homeless and in agony? I heard one Libertarian say that they would not have offered support during Hurricane Katrina, but the people would have had to rely on themselves to take care of things. I can't get behind that.
So where am I, politically? I am -not- Republican, and I am -not- Democrat. I loathe the parties. It has almost come to the point in the States, in my opinion, where as soon as a person espouses a party, they rescind their ability to think for themselves. I have a particular seething dislike for pundits, the talking heads that dominate the airwaves, and say everything and nothing at all. The truth is found in small print, buried in documents on government websites, it is in the sum and total of the actions of the man or woman in office, and the truth will eventually be found through my own self-explorations, and my armchair activism, through petition signing with moveon.org, and elsewhere, and now through SLLU. 
I am fervent about protesting sexploitation sims (rape/incest/snuff) and racist groups in Second Life. In my downtime, I roleplay, and explore. It's my hope that I can exist in a zen space somewhere between my righteous rage, and the better world we all hope to attain through SLLU in Second Life, and indeed in RL, because, of course, while I can love my opportunity to 'live my voice', via SLLU, and activism, I can't force anyone to listen to it. That is just one of many ways for me to begin to grow with you all. Thank you for the opportunity!
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Discussion
Noah Gearbox, a journalist from New York and SLLU member, in discussion with Plot Tracer about organising in SL.
[8:00] Noah Gearbox: Hi!
[8:02] Plot Tracer: Hi :)
[8:02] Plot Tracer: What can i do for you, Noah?
[8:03] Noah Gearbox: Well, I'm kind of curious about what you think has been most effective inSL
[8:03] Noah Gearbox: In terms of organizing
[8:03] Plot Tracer: depends what u mean.
[8:03] Plot Tracer: there are different events/ conditions need different kinds of organising
[8:04] Noah Gearbox: Of course -- what are the main things that generally get addressed in-world these days
[8:05] Plot Tracer: :) tbh, I have been out of the loop since February (I was banned... you can read about it on my blog - http://plotsplot.blogspot.com/ as well as my Avatars United site... i intend writing a longer article soon... but up to my eyes with General Election in UK...
But
I personally think that it is rl issues that are most effectively addressed in SL. I think SL is a brilliant platform to raise awareness and help educate potential rl activists.
I mean for example
The Italian contingent in SLLU have effectively educated people from across the world about the anti-Berlusconi movement in Italy through music events that coincide with rl events in italy. Also, the IBM strike in Italy a couple of years back was extremely effective - it was a "virtual" strike - and it lead to the sacking of IBM Italy’s ceo and the workers won their rights
[8:09] Noah Gearbox: Yeah, the IBM strike is really interesting to me.
[8:10] Plot Tracer: Personally, I think raising awareness through events/ demonstrations/ meetings/ exhibitions all have their place.
[8:10] Noah Gearbox: Yeah, totally. Do you think that people make the real-world connection more often than not?
[8:12] Plot Tracer: I think people do make a rl connection. For example - when we led the anti-Front National demonstrations inworld, a lot of people who had no idea of what fascism means learned about it here - through dialogue and personal research.
[8:13] Noah Gearbox: That's good -- so if you tackle real-world issues, people will make the connection
[8:13] Plot Tracer: Also - something that was unique about the anti front national thing at the time was the noobness of the sl platform, so we managed to get press releases about the fight against front national into press across the real world - from San Francisco through to Japan!
I think inworld issues... like issues of privacy / LL's policies are just like complaining to McDonalds about the fact there is too much pickle on their big macs. (Tho not entirely- I will expand on this another time).
[8:15] Noah Gearbox: Hah, yeah. OK.
The point about criticizing SL kind of brings me to something I've been thinking about in my own RL work, which is that it's really hard to escape capitalist means of production.
Because ultimately SL is run by a commercial enterprise, so how do you square doing organizing on a platform like SL with that reality?
[8:24] Plot Tracer: well - it is no different than organising through facebook or twitter - or blogspot or whatever - all of these are "enclosed" parts of the web - ie. parts of the web ran by commercial enterprise. Capitalism is insidious - hard to escape! Unfortunately in order to exist reasonably comfortably in society we must interact with all kinds of compromises - shopping in ASDA/Walmart/ Tesco/ Lidl/ Marks and Spencer... climbing on board a Greyhound/ Stagecoach bus/ buying petrol/ etc. Lot's of the political parties in rl stand outside supermarkets in order to give out leaflets etc - because that is where people are.
SL is a great place for people to come together to share ideas etc. In a socialist society, places like this would exist without the profit intention. Good ideas survive the fall of societies. Look at roads... the Romans refined that idea... and we kept them :)
[8:27] Noah Gearbox: Well do you think the attitude about SL that it is a "business" platform gets in your way, or helps you?
[8:27] Plot Tracer: it would be a strange thing to say, "I am a socialist, so i wont interact with capitalist society".
[8:27] Noah Gearbox: mhm
[8:28] Plot Tracer: It is essential for survival to interact in capitalist society - but at the same time, pointing out its inadequacies and pushing for change, regardless of what you call that change (reform/ revolution etc)
Pulling down Linden Lab would be counter active. It is the system that has forced LL to make SL more and more commercial that needs to be changed. If the system is changed, then LL will evolve into that system (call the new system what u like - socialism/ a fair society etc)
[8:30] Noah Gearbox: mmm. Yeah, I see what you mean.
[8:31] Noah Gearbox: I have always struggled with the fact that the technology I use for a lot of my work is on many levels sullied by capitalism and its attendant violence.
[8:32] Plot Tracer: But everything is! From the bike you ride to the car u own to the company that supplies electricity to your house to the rings on your fingers’ and food on your plate
as i said, it is impossible within a system to totally disengage from it. we have to push for change/revolution/reform
[8:34] Noah Gearbox: Yeah, I agree. It's sometimes a difficult matter to explain to people.
It's kind of funny because people have a specific idea of what is "serious," too, I find.
[8:36] Plot Tracer: the start off point is to ensure people realise they are in that system... they have to become educated/radicalised etc. We can’t do that for them, but we can hold up the evidence of the barbarity of the present system. Only through their own education can people become "conscious".
[8:36] Noah Gearbox: Have you found SL residents to be receptive to thinking about their Second Lives in critical ways?
[8:39] Plot Tracer: Well, that is a difficult question. Generally people come to SL to escape their rl in lots of ways. Some in Role play others to make friends others to engage in representations of sex they do not engage in in rl etc. I think people’s reception of SLLU and other "radical" groups in SL depends on how relevant they see the message to them at certain times. eg, i think the radical movement in sl will become more and more relevant in the coming months as the rich make the working/middle classes suffer for the rich man’s crisis. brb
[8:43] Plot Tracer: sorry, rl tends to creep in :) back
[8:43] Noah Gearbox: Haha, that's fine
[8:44] Noah Gearbox: I always find myself multitasking when I'm in SL
Do you generally find that people are more interested in "entertainment" type events like concerts, etc?
[8:45] Plot Tracer: yup - i am at the mo promoting videos I have edited for my rl political party and liaising with activists out and about at the moment lol
I think originally when SLLU started (about 3 1/2 yrs ago) people liked to voice their dissent (eg the 24hr/7 day a week and nearly 2 month long anti-front national demos)
But I think nowadays the best way to get people involved is through music/ exhibitions/ interesting builds etc.
[8:47] Plot Tracer: also
I think avatars united is a brill way to engage with new people and bring them into organisations
[8:49] Noah Gearbox: What are some limitations you see to using SL as a platform for organising?
[8:52] Plot Tracer: I think all means of organising have limitations. I think Sl is one link in a chain of organising. I think some people think, when new types of social networking become popular that "this is the new and ONLY way!" I know rl people who argued that, for example, rl activist organisations should give up old ways to engage (newspapers/ leaflets etc) and bring everything online. similarly i know of people who jumped from yahoo groups to sl to facebook and now twitter - i feel all organisation - effective organisation - uses tried and tested methods as well as new
[8:53] Noah Gearbox: mhm
[8:54] Plot Tracer: I engage in all sorts of organisation/ education activities. Another one i use is youtube (for my rl political party) - http://www.youtube.com/nwsocialist
and blogs - www.slleftunity.com www.campsiesocialists.com http://plotsplot.blogspot.com/
to name a few :)
[8:55] Plot Tracer: these all feed into other things @sspcampsie on twitter and the national Scottish Socialist Party website, www.scottishsocialistparty.org
[8:56] Plot Tracer: and rl publications like red pepper http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Left-unity-in-Second-Life amongst many more :)
[8:56] Noah Gearbox: nice
[8:58] Plot Tracer: at different times different aspects of these interfaces become more important... eg, at the moment i am engaged in rl public meetings and with rl media because of the General Election in UK (where in the world are u Noah?)
[8:58] Noah Gearbox: upstate NY
[8:59] Plot Tracer: k- i am in Scotland. So right away, the importance of SL and this kind of social network becomes apparent :)
[8:59] Noah Gearbox: Yeah, absolutely. :)
[8:59] Noah Gearbox: It's a good place to share our projects with each other.
[8:59] Plot Tracer: absolutely. sharing... collaborating and aiding education.
[9:01] Plot Tracer: http://slleftunity.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-it-is-to-be-sllu.html
[9:01] Plot Tracer: the last line of the aims and principles of SLLU reads "As Freire said, and SLLU agree, each individual wins back the right to say his or own word - to name the world."
[9:02] Plot Tracer: Paulo Freire is a huge influence on the work we started here.
[9:03] Noah Gearbox: Love him! I run a radical pedagogy reading group in RL
[9:05] Noah Gearbox: Maybe one of the things that is most intriguing to me about this kind of netroots organizing is that you cannot just name the world but remake it.
[9:05] Plot Tracer: you know, that was something I thought would be a good idea for SLLU - perhaps a fortnightly reading group. Scylla Rhiadra is , along with smoke wijaya, going to build a radical bookshop/ cafe... would u be interested in running such a group here?
[9:05] Noah Gearbox: Yeah, absolutely!
Most of the books we would do are also available for free online. So that's great.
[9:11] Noah Gearbox: maybe I will just ping the group to see about general interest first
[9:12] Plot Tracer: just go right ahead and organise a meeting - perhaps first meeting to see interest and perhaps discuss regularity of meetings and what materials people will want to read.
[9:12] Noah Gearbox: Alright, sounds like a plan.
[9:13] Noah Gearbox: It might be in a couple weeks, I have to wrap up my semester here at school, so I'm rather swamped for time.
[9:13] Plot Tracer: come, I’ll show u were the bookshop etc is going to be - it might be an idea to add links in the new shop to materials so people can come here and access them...
Plot Tracer: nice one. i look forward to seeing the notices! if i am speaking to people in sllu can i give them your name to contact if they are interested?
Noah Gearbox: Yeah absolutely.
Plot Tracer: cool. ok... speak later, Noah!
Noah Gearbox: Ciao!
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Old Archive
Article about SLLU from 3 years ago (thought I would archive this :)
HERE
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Plot Tracer on History and Future of SLLU
An opinion piece HERE
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Letter from Plot Tracer to SLLU
(Please see the post below this letter for meeting details)
I am heartened to see the re-commencement of meetings of the Left Unity project, Second Life Left Unity.
The Aims and Principles of SLLU state – “The group offers the means of a left environment, the term Unity does not claim anything since there is no monopoly. It is a proposition.” – and I feel the honourable history of SLLU has met that aim. Many people from different aspects of the left have used SLLU to rally many others to causes we can all unite on. SLLU has proved time and time again NOT to be a sectarian, evangelical left sect – and has been a welcoming space for the left of different hues.
The aims and principles state, “The SLLU stands for the transformation of society. To replace capitalism with an alternative classless, stateless economic system based on collaborative democratic ownership and control of the key sectors of the Second Life (SL) economy. A system based on physical freedom; artistic freedom and environmental protection rather than private profit and promotion of Real-Life mass produced corporate products.”
This aim is fundamental to the use of virtual environments to be used as freely as possible without exploitation. The recent disappearance of the SLLU shop is a real pity – it was a resource under used and under publicised. Having said that – the use of the physical spaces owned by SLLU by SLLU members for agitation, publicity for issues etc is second to none. Voices usually silenced or filtered by the mainstream media have managed to be heard – and this has led from SL through to the mainstream media, as we have seen in the past with fights against fascist groups such as the French Front National; union battles such as the fight in Italy against vicious IBM bosses and the recent Greek uprisings and Palestinian solidarity demos.
Virtual worlds offer a place to experiment with alternative – fair - economies and social systems. Second Life does not do this, with its tier system of rights according to ability to pay. SLLU has offered space for left artists to express themselves free of charge (for example in the garden for the victims of capitalism and the camp we set up for people to create their own expressions of protest against the capitalists system). In giving voice to those who are usually silenced, SLLU has been meeting its third aim – “The SLLU will provide political support and solidarity to all those who are involved in fighting back against injustice, whether it be trade unionists, community organisations, tenants groups, anti nuclear protesters, animal rights campaigners, anti racist organisations, feminists, anti-war groups, mental health advocacy groups, LGBTI rights organisations and other campaigns and protest movements.”
I won’t patronise members by going through the rest of the aims and principles of the group, they are here for all to see. These aims and principles were created back in 2005/06 by a group of people from diverse backgrounds in real life – some members of real life political/ activist groups, and some who were from none. The aims and principles have been tweaked and improved upon over the years through democratic discussion.
No individual can claim to be SLLU – SLLU is made up of people across the world united by these aims and principles.
The recent call for new meetings by Smoke Wijaya is exactly the way SLLU can be re-ignited – SLLU does not go away much as in countries across the world, left unity is important in order to challenge the current hegemony. In times of crisis, such as that affecting the world at the moment, were workers conditions are attacked by those who control the financial cogs and wheels, the anti-capitalist left MUST unite.
Although unable to attend the meetings for the next few weeks (personal circumstances has stemmed by second life- I WILL be back – and look forward to meeting my SL friends again soon), I hope they go well. I will remind people, that all that was achieved by SLLU was started when three people met and decided to build a left unity project. Dick Marellan, Higgledpiggle Snoats and myself created a space for the left to meet and plan installations. The original idea was to create a space where lefties could share their real life experiences and have a welcoming space in which to express them. SLLU took off in a way none of us could have imagined.
SLLU, as a place for lefties to meet without hierarchy, is vital. The left groups in SL usually have a structure, even though this structure may be informal – there usually is a “leader” - a core activist plugging away at sometimes single issues, or a multitude of issues.
I would suggest that those activists (even if the initial numbers are small) who do attend meetings should contact as many left groups as possible, and show them our aims and principles and invite them along to share their experiences and perhaps a synthesis can be reached of common action and activity.
SL needs SLLU- and those who meet must ensure people from across the grid come together without prejudice.
Plot Tracer
28.6.09
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
To Obama...
Leading up to the inauguration of Barack Obama to the U.S. Presidency on January 20th, we asked people across SL to write a letter to him/ express their feelings on a world led by him (see HERE for details if you would still like to contribute). Some members put their thoughts straight to blog (see below) and some sent their contributions inworld to Zoe Parness and Plot Tracer- and some placed notecards in the collection points at our builds.
We will be publishing, intermittedly, those posts sent inworld, starting with a view from the U.S. and a view from France.
How Do I Fuck My Base? Let Me Count The Ways.
A poem by Barack Obama
(as translated by GenJCChristian Homewood)
How do I fuck my base.
Let me count the ways?
I fuck them by reaching out to homophobic pastors
and the bigoted throngs they represent.
I fuck them by embracing war-mongering apparatchiks
and the neo-con wet dreams they blindly followed.
I fuck them by allowing war-criminals and torturers
to escape the punishment they so richly deserve.
I fuck them by endorsing domestic spying
and allowing the telecoms to profit from their complicity.
I fuck them and smile
as I reach out to everyone but them.
Mister President Obama
I am French artist and as well as mine,i like your country , Mister President… and I am like many people in this world… happy of your election; I would say that is a great step for American and a step of giant for humanity… You carry in fact our desire to all to fraternize!
...And certain minds as mine believe in the possibility a better world, I wish that you be able to profit from all inspiration and energy necessary to manage to carry out this hope which share of the citizens of the whole world.
Mer Dreier
Mr. President of the United States
Sunday, 7 December 2008
SLLU past and future
The beginnings of SLLU have largely been documented on the web – rudimentary searches will show who was involved and how it developed. One article gives a basic – and not totally detailed – run down on the beginnings (http://www.redflag.org.uk/frontline/feb07/03secondlife.html ). Wikipedia has at least three mentions of the group – one on Second Life Businesses; one on the page of the French Front National and one on the page of the Scottish Socialist Party. SLLU has been mentioned in quality press across the world – including the London Telegraph, Guardian and Los angeles Times and New York Times. Members have been interviewed on TV –CNN and British station, Channel 4 have both carried articles on the groups work. We have organised and been part of the organisation of various SL events – including being the initiators of the “attacks” on Front National; supported the first SL/RL “strike” which led to the resignation of the CEO of Italian IBM – amongst many others.
SLLU became more insular than originally planned because of wrecking tactics by some who joined with less than a “Unity” agenda. Unity on the left means a place we on the left can come together on things we can agree on and a place to discuss – comradely – things we may differ on.
The Aims and Principles of SLLU were developed by an active core of members who met over a periods of 8 weeks – with meetings going on well into the wee small hours here in the UK. Members of the core were drawn from countries across the world – well, countries reflective of the digital haves…
The SLLU, in order to continue as a real left unity project, must ensure it has procedures that ensure responsibility and accountability of members.
SLLU has developed from the insular group (and insulation was necessary to protect what had been built) to a group that has opened up to more members taking control. This has been reflective in the amounts of people who have requested use of notices and those who have organised meetings in SLLUnity Station Hub and those who now “own” the Hub. All lands have been passed on to the group – and no individual has control of any of the institutions of the group (except for the funds AV – which will soon pass on to two members agreed by a group meeting).
Procedures are necessary in light of the new openness of the group.
Once these have been achieved, SLLU can truly blossom.
The Hub will be used for discussion. It will be used for exhibition and educational installations – as well as the other lands we own. Members will share ideas and group together to implement them in SL and RL.
Plot Tracer is an avie who is part of this, but just a part. I have, with others, given a large part of my last two years to this project, but my time is increasingly being taken up with other rl things. I will be in and out of SL – but have not the time to devote to projects like I have been able to over the past few months. SLLU is extremely dear to me – and to others who have been part of the project. Now it is over to all those who would like to see a Left Unity project get results.
Remember, capitalists can unite on varied platforms in order to keep their hegemony. Let’s unite on various projects that throw a spanner in their works and moves the time closer when capitalism is a seen by all as old fashioned – and barbaric – in our history books alongside feudalism.
Plot Tracer, 7.12.08
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Creating Community
by Plot Tracer
A new culture/media
"A culture that took 200 years to build was torn apart in twenty," is how Paul Mason, in his book "Live Working or Die Fighting," describes what has happened to working class culture in Britain and the west through the processes Thatcherism and Neo-Liberalism have brought upon us. Living in post industrial Glasgow/ Scotland/ UK/ Europe/ US/ France/Spain/etc - the west - is a very different place than it was only a couple of decades ago. Community in housing schemes/ miners villages/ industrial towns/cities has been torn apart by low employment/ lack of shared experience (like the docks/ mines/ steelworks etc), the privatisation of the town centre and a new world of competition on every level has been borne. Working class community has been torn apart by policies such as "right to buy" and the outsourcing of work by the large industrial companies. And the sense of history that came with the assurance of the industrial plant where grandfather, father and son, grandmother, mother, daughter worked side by side has gone.
A new culture/media
"A culture that took 200 years to build was torn apart in twenty," is how Paul Mason, in his book "Live Working or Die Fighting," describes what has happened to working class culture in Britain and the west through the processes Thatcherism and Neo-Liberalism have brought upon us. Living in post industrial Glasgow/ Scotland/ UK/ Europe/ US/ France/Spain/etc - the west - is a very different place than it was only a couple of decades ago. Community in housing schemes/ miners villages/ industrial towns/cities has been torn apart by low employment/ lack of shared experience (like the docks/ mines/ steelworks etc), the privatisation of the town centre and a new world of competition on every level has been borne. Working class community has been torn apart by policies such as "right to buy" and the outsourcing of work by the large industrial companies. And the sense of history that came with the assurance of the industrial plant where grandfather, father and son, grandmother, mother, daughter worked side by side has gone.
Mason also says that the fracturing of our society comes with "the culture of individualism born of technological progress. The communications revolution has created a young generation that thinks more individualistically, cares more about its individual rights than its collective ones, and is- to the frustration of union organisers- less inclined to join organisations. If the union way of life was in the [past] the only positive identity on offer to young workers, today they are adept at playing with multiple identities: Shenzhen shoe worker by day, World of Warcraft dwarf by night, retro-punk rocker at the weekend." People spend their leisure time in the new Cathedrals of consumerism – a Saturday trip to Braehead Shopping Centre [mall] outside Glasgow, or any of the large privatised spaces can show you that.
A TRIP TO THE PRIVATIZED, DEPOLITICISED, DEPERSONALISED NEW TOWN CENTRES SHOW HOW COMMUNITY HAS BEEN SHATTERED
Even sports and games are being pulled into private spaces such as the "Xscape" complex with such things on offer as skiing, "sky walks", cinema, football with Kevin Keegan, bowling etc. Communities in which we "come from" are no longer places where people live their lives out – some types of housing are seen as "stepping stones" on the property ladder. Small communities have people moving in and out within a couple of years. People move out of their communities to go (increasingly) to universities across the country, and then find work in new places. The community of family is being spread across the country/ across the world by the ease of travel and cheap flights.In this new fractured world, where do we pull together community? Belonging? Comradeship? Dialogue? Debate? The new "town square" is the internet. Though, that too is being fractured and privatised. For this piece I will not talk about the privatisation of the net, that is for another time, but I will briefly write about how community can be borne across what is there- new community that can exist regardless of the transient nature of modern living- new community that can exist between people who have never actually met, but share common interests/ beliefs etc.- also new community between political allies AND adversaries. A real dialogue with real people. Lawrence Lessig in his excellent book, "Free Culture" says about the west and the US from where he is writing, "We, the most powerful democracy in the world, have developed a strong norm against talking about politics. It's fine to talk about politics with people you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you disagree with. Political discourse becomes isolated, and isolated discourse becomes more extreme. We say what our friends want to hear, and hear very little beyond what our friends say." He then goes on, "Enter the blog."
ENTER THE BLOG
Indeed. The blog is a place where people can write exactly what they think, and have debate/ discourse with people across the globe. Blogs allow for political discourse without them having to be gathered in a single public space – or at a specific time. Blogs can link to articles in other blogs, and debate and conversation can happen across the world. Commercial pressures do not exist for bloggers, they can obsess, focus, be serious, flippant, whatever. If a blogger writes one good story – that story could be linked across the country/world through other blogs and as the number of links increase, it rises up the ranks of stories. People read peer selected popular stories – and with new tools added to blogs such as Diggit etc, these peer selected stories get a larger audience again. Journalism is freed of all the constraints of commercialism and other issues that hamper the mass media. Lessig goes on, "As more and more citizens express what they think, and defend it in writing, that will change the way people understand public issues. It is easy to be wrong and misguided in your head. It is harder when the product of your mind can be criticised by others. Of course, it is a rare human who admits that he has been persuaded that he is wrong. But it is even rarer for a human to ignore when he has been proven wrong. The writing of ideas, arguments, and criticism improves democracy." Blogs are one way we can create dialogue with people across the world. People writing their political thoughts on their environment/ their immediate communities etc and linking them to SLLU aims and objectives – and creating dialogue between these blogs and other blogs across the world/ country, and not necessarily just our friends – can get our voice out across cyberspace(And with the tools you find on the web, you can advertise your blog online and in the new cathedrals of consumerism by wearing a teeshirt you have designed online with a suitable slogan your blog address emblazoned across it!).
BLOGS CAN BE USED TO HELP KEEP ISSUES IN THE PUBLIC MIND - NEWS CORPORATIONS THINK OF THE "BOTTOM LINE" RATHER THAN WHAT IS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST TO DISSEMINATE.
Behind every blog/avatar is a real person
The term "cyberspace" suggests something unreal. A place where “unreal” people congregate. A place where the labelled "geeks" obsess and do things apart from real life. This is, in my opinion, like Thatcher and her cronies in the eighties when they said that degrees and courses that studied media were "Mickey Mouse degrees." Degrees such as Film/Media and degrees within the arts that encouraged critical thinking all came under attack. And to attack cyberspace and those who use it to communicate as geeky or as trivial, is attacking or at the very least, mistakenly trivialising the single most powerful communication tool thus-far created by humanity. A communication tool that goes across borders and is very cheap to use in comparison with all other communication tools people have come up with across the years. A communication tool that the corporations are exploiting to the hilt – sinking huge amounts of money/ research and legal fees into (from blog spaces through to forums and Cyber worlds such as Second Life). So who loses if the left succumb to the trivialisation/ labelling of cyberspace/ geekdom? Ignore the naysayers – I would not be surprised if the black arts are in play in rolling out these labels. After all, if a tool is shown to be effective in breaking down the barriers between the reader and writer of news/ political opinion – and in fact en masse we all become the active participants of the triangulation of news/ opinion, then who loses?
The citizen or News Corporation? In Lessig's book he writes about a scheme ran in San Fransisco for children of this new media world. "Media Literacy," as Dave Yanofsky, the executive director of Just Think!, puts it, "is the ability… to understand, analyze, and deconstruct media images. Its aim is to make [kids] literate about the way the media works, the way it's constructed, the way it's delivered, and the way people access it." This is literacy in the world where children (and adults) see on average 390 hours of commercials per year. It is important to understand the grammar of media. It is important to understand how to use that media. And it is important to understand that nowadays most people have the power in the gadgets they have in their every day lives to create media. Elizabeth Daley, executive director of the University of Southern California's Annenberg Centre for Communication and dean of the USC school of Cinema and Television says, "From my perspective, probably the most important digital divide is not access to a box. It's the ability to be empowered with the language that that box works in. Otherwise only a very few people can read with this language, and all the rest of us are read-only." Passive.
Creating communication
FACEBOOK IS ONE WAY TO CONNECT- BUT LET'S ENSURE THOSE WHO OWN DO NOT DICTATE WHAT WE WRITE
We can create a read and write political agenda – at the very least empower people to read and understand the tools that are used to mislead. At the very least show people how they can get their political thoughts into cyberspace with the use of their mobile phone/ video camera/ pc or one or more of the above. The tools are out there and are free. From blogger, through Facebook, myspace, Second Life, Youtube, etc. We have the tools to create a community of news gatherers/ commentators that can link across the world. I would like to suggest the SLLU run basic courses in using the tools and ascertain the skills party members have and can share with others to help create this new Scottish Activist Media. If anyone is interested, please contact me, Neil Scott through Second Life - Avatar name- Plot Tracer; SLLU blog – https://webmail.gccschools.co.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.slleftunity.com/; Facebook – Plot Tracer; email – plottracer@googlemail.com /
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Herald publish article by Plot Tracer
The article and comments are found here -
The article was an abridged version of this:
PLOT' S VIEW
Let’s get some of the deflecting tactics out of the way first. I know that when some see my name and that I am writing from my perspective within the SL Left Unity, I will be accused of many things and not reference what I am actually saying.
I am not a Stalinist. A abhor Stalinism. I don’t believe people should be locked in jails for their political beliefs – I believe in political freedom – in fact I believe in total freedom. I believe in freedom of choice – informed freedom of choice – not the choice between 30 multi-million dollar promotional campaigns for sugary carbonated drinks that are shown to induce happiness, but actually cause obesity - the sugar and caffeine from which are like a bullet passing through the systems of our small children.
I am from Scotland in rl, and am not an anti-American – in fact America has a lot to teach the world; in my opinion US local democracy and a (flawed) Republican system has a lot going for it. It is a step forward from the Monarchy my country has. But it is flawed – and the flaws have shown recently with the corporate take over of the Presidency. The American people will overcome – I am confident of that. They saw through the lies in 1968 – they are seeing through the lies forty years later.
I am a socialist. I am an anti-capitalist – capitalism does not give us choices – it gives those with money/power choices, and keeps the rest in ghettos both physical and of the mind. Capitalism is the most controlled economy the world has ever seen – money and the moneyed are able to go where ever they want, when they want. Those outside this tiny clique must toe the line and stay behind borders. In “Projects”; in trailer parks; in council estates; made to feel guilty for their being “left behind.” Capital reigns supreme. The corporation is the new government, and those with a slice, control the army of working class people who graft or fight for the freedom of the corporation to exploit. For the freedom of the Cheney’s and Bush’s of this world to live behind their fences and to use the rest of us/ the worlds resources as their playthings. While we the working classes graft and fight and die.
Now to the point.
What sort of world would we live in if place names were trademarked? What sort of world would we live in where we could be banned for saying the wrong thing… for speaking against the government, or be banned for whatever takes the whim of those who wield power? A world where George Orwell predicted in 1984 where even the language of oppression has been changed to the language of freedom. Freedom is Slavery. Your world, your imagination – when it isn’t – really. A world were what we do is for the self aggrandisement of those who sit on committees and reap all the benefits of those who are artistic/productive/trusting. Apartheid
I think if you have got this far you get my point.
My first foray onto the internet was back in 1992. It was a basic place – a place anyone with a tad of know how could navigate or set up a space – free of charge. A place uncontrolled and at the time thought almost uncontrollable. Well, they got to work. And we must fight back to claim this bastion of freedom from them – the Facelessbooks, the Theirspaces, the Seconded Life. They should not be allowed to win. They should not be allowed to decide who has freedom of speech or freedom to organise/ create community based on their corporate image and ultimately on profit.
Paulo Freire, the South American Educationalist said that the powerless in society can be frightened of freedom. He wrote, "Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly. Freedom is not an ideal located outside of man; nor is it an idea which becomes myth. It is rather the indispensable condition for the quest for human completion." Only an educated, informed working class – those who graft and die for these people, will change the world. The middle class fear change, because they do-not want to fall off the cart into the lower classes (hence the bile and snidey remarks from those who have made a wee bit of cash from Seconded Life that may follow this article) and the upper classes – those who hold power and therefore control the system will not let it go.
To quote a great working class poet, “[They’ll] never live like common people, you'll never do whatever common people do, you'll never fail like common people, you'll never watch your life slide out of view, and dance and drink and screw, because there's nothing else to do. Sing along with the common people, sing along and it might just get you through. Laugh along with the common people, laugh along even though they're laughing at you and the stupid things that you do, because you think that poor is cool. Like a dog lying in a corner they will bite you and never warn you. Look out they'll tear your insides out. 'Cos everybody hates a tourist, especially one who thinks it's all such a laugh and the chip stains and grease will come out in the bath. You will never understand how it feels to live your life with no meaning or control and with nowhere left to go. You are amazed that they exist and they burn so bright whilst you can only wonder why.”
References: Orwell; 1984
http://lindenlab.com/about/culture
http://lindenlab.com/about/tao
“Common People” Pulp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Linden Labs new TOS
Please, please read these. They effect how you relate to SL (including the use of the term "SL")
Come to the meeting at 3pm PDT/ 10PM GMT today.
IM Plot Tracer for a TP at the time of the meeting.
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
GAP revisited
From Plot Tracer
Reply from GAP. Scroll down for my response.
Thank you for your inquiry. We wanted to write back to let you know that Gap Inc. is committed to doing business in a socially responsible way.
We have a team of 90 people around the world who are dedicated to improving the lives of garment workers. In fact, in 2006 our vendor compliance officers conducted 4,316 inspections in 2,053 garment factories. Last year, we revoked our approval of 23 factories for compliance violations.
When we first learned about this allegation, we immediately launched an investigation. We learned that a very small portion of a particular order placed with one of our vendors was apparently subcontracted to an unauthorized subcontractor without the company's knowledge or approval.
This is in direct violation of our agreement with the vendor under our Code of Vendor Conduct.
We strictly prohibit the use of child labor. This is non-negotiable for us and we are deeply concerned and upset by this allegation.
As we've demonstrated in the past, Gap has a history of addressing challenges like this head-on, and our approach to this situation will be no exception.
As soon as we were alerted to this situation, we stopped the work order and prevented the product from being sold in stores. As for the concern you raised involving how we are handling the merchandise, we do not believe it would be appropriate to sell or donate product
involving child labor. We will continue to work with a variety of groups including government, non-governmental organizations and trade unions in an effort to end the use of child labor.
Thank you,
Kellie
Gap Inc. Customer Relations
I wonder if the real reason they do not want to donate the clothes to
poor people is because their "classy" label would look terrible on
them?... image is everything, even when the product is made by kids
and adults on 14 cents an hour.
This is my email back to them-
Thank-you for your prompt reply.
Could you answer two more questions on this matter?
1 Why is it inappropriate to donate the clothes?
2 If you are working with the unions to eradicate these practises,
are you stipulating to vendors they must be fully unionised?
Thanks in advance.
P.S. I have had a letter on this subject published today in the
scottish national newspaper, (click here to read it) The Herald
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