My trusty teaspoon

Ju has very kindly invited me to contribute to the 51st Down Under Feminists Carnival, focusing on the theme of Personal Positives: Share with me the moments of your lives and the way in which you put goodness, positivity, back into the world, even as you use your trusty teaspoon in the ocean of ick … Continue reading My trusty teaspoon →

Occupy Perth: Inclusion

I went to Occupy Perth yesterday, along with quite a few friends. On the whole it was a good experience and the people who I talked to mostly felt positive about it. The message that's mostly being used to frame Occupy events, 'We are the 99%', encourages participation: it's open to interpretation and it's broadly … Continue reading Occupy Perth: Inclusion →

Occupy Wall Street: movements and manifestos

Occupy Wall Street has been attracting a lot of attention, at least in the parts of the Internet I visit regularly. Most of the commentary I've seen so far, including from activists, is doubtful about the protesters' ability to force change: numbers at the protests are increasing and unions are beginning to join in, but … Continue reading Occupy Wall Street: movements and manifestos →

“Come, brother, come, sister, look at this software!”: Activism and Play

Last Thursday night, I spent a couple of hours walking the streets of Bangalore with a strange assortment of others, shouting out Kannada variants of "Software! SOFTWAAARE! Get your software!" We had a push-cart, like the vegetable sellers here use, a heap of handwritten signs offering "Free software USB stick, only Rs 250!", and a … Continue reading “Come, brother, come, sister, look at this software!”: Activism and Play →

How to be useful: Twitter activist edition

Having talked a bit about my reasons for discomfort with the way we in the West have been following "Twitter revolutions", I wanted to give a few ideas about how to use Twitter to engage usefully with struggles in other parts of the world. I've been thinking about this primarily in regards to the Egyptian … Continue reading How to be useful: Twitter activist edition →