If you are reading this, then welcome to Day Two of #fluConf2025
For those just tuning in now, #fluConf is intended as an alternative, online venue for those in involved in #openSource and #freeCulture who still care about public health.
Our program is fully online and includes contributions in a variety of formats, including pre-recorded videos, live presentations, and articles.
Got to explain to Mr 10 that one of reasons why higher education used to be (almost) free, and now isn't, is because charging for education overwhelmingly favours the rich.
Free education runs the "danger of producing an educated proletariat", which is trouble if you're trying to run a country that doesn't favour the masses.
How about a little good news in this *gestures around*... you can now get ebooks via bookshop.org, including THE AI CON! (Available May 13, but you can pre-order now.)
w/ @alex
It is critically important for all NZers to understand that, amongst other rights and resources, #TeTiritioWaitangi protects the right to water for all people of NZ. Privatisation of water is a key aim for the #AtlasNetwork funded #ACT Party and #NZPol govt. While the treaty principles remain intact this will not be legally possible. #ToitūTeTiriti #JohnathanPie #UKPol
I'm going to read this, and no one can stop me.
https://annas-archive.org/md5/38149f9d67cd722c3b514cb47634aa0e
#uspol I talked to stateside mum the other day and she said that her hopeless MAGA brother had finally broken the peace with her over her resolute retelling of Jan 6. He lives in the San Joaquin Valley, surrounded by irrigation-dependent farms. I wonder what the local mood is like now that the monumentally stupid orange skidmark just flushed next summer's profits into a dry lake where it will never be recovered.
All to score points with his base on social media.
The last session of Day One of #fluConf2025 will be @coopcloud's
"Co-op Cloud: Grow Your Own International Democratic Tech Federation"
https://fluconf.online/sessions/co-op-cloud-grow-your-own-international-democratic-tech-federation/
hosted as a livestream via their cooperatively operated Owncast instance, starting in 15 minutes (at 18:00 UTC)
💡 "Free" as in "free time": To be able to work on free software you've got to have enough quality time available to work on this, outside the time you need to dedicate to survive under capitalism
Final session of day 1 of #FluConf coming up! By Calix (they/them):
Co-op Cloud: Grow Your Own International Democratic Tech Federation
Description:
The Co-operative Cloud is an international, democratic federation with members representing developers, administrators, and users of our system for setting up community technology infrastructure.
Since 2020, our tools and configuration have been used by worker co-operatives, trade unions, artistic collectives, friend groups, other libre software projects, & home-hosters to provide privacy-supporting, user-empowering platforms to their members and supporters. Co-op Cloud has been used on recycled servers and upcycled laptops as well as traditional "cloud" providers, helping extend the useful life of otherwise-forgotten hardware, & squeeze the most out of cheapest hosting providers' cheapest services.
In this livestream (hosted on a Co-op Cloud Owncast instance) we'll get into detail on the governance side of Co-op Cloud: the issues we saw with other models of community-building and software maintenance which led us here, our inspirations in building the Co-op Cloud Federation, the resources that have supported us along the way, & some tales of the rough and the smooth of our experiment so far. (...)
Session link: https://cast.coopcloud.tech/
Oh and co-op cloud are federated too, in the sense that as a co-op, they connect with other co-ops
Which in general is good practice: co-ops support other co-ops <3
@jensorensen Saw a suggestion to stop saying D.E.I., use re-segregation instead. When they try to eliminate that, ask why they want segregation again.
The term “DEI” is being used as a cover to tear apart much of the federal government. It’s not that this language didn’t exist before, but it’s being weaponized now. Suddenly the cold, impersonal-sounding acronym DEI has replaced “diversity initiatives,” “civil rights,” “equal rights,” “fairness,” and “anti-discrimination” in everyday conversation. I would suggest that one small thing we can do is return to using those actual words. This week's comic:
#cartoon #uspol
The internet isn’t neutral— billionaires own these platforms, and it’s important that we stay connected however we can. Get on email lists. If you are on socials, follow the accounts you care about in multiple places, including smaller and/or safer platforms. See the link in our bio for all the places you can find us.
@sam first told me just how REI has been benefitting from being co-op washed while not being a true co-op.
This article gives a great overview: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/rei-workers-look-to-shake-up-co-ops-board-amid-push-for-a-first-contract/?utm_campaign=EO%20News%20Sharing%20ICA&utm_content=323220061&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-2989070
Follow Recommendation 📚✨
By the way, Wikipedia is here!
And is doing all the good Fediverse organizations things!
Hosting their own instance 🏠
Verifying themselves ✅
Adding alt-text to their pictures 📝
They have nowhere near the follower count they should have! Add your support by following them here: @wikipedia
In 2016, Kanien’kehá:ka filmmaker Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas traveled to Palestine, witnessing firsthand the struggles of Palestinians resisting occupation. A Red Road to the West Bank is a documentary about the deep parallels between Indigenous struggles in North America and Palestine—two peoples fighting against settler colonialism, displacement, and erasure.
This film is currently in development, and we need your support to create the materials necessary to secure further funding. Our goal for this development phase is $10,000, which will allow us to build key pitch materials, begin early-stage editing, and prepare for full-scale production.
Your contribution will directly fund research, filming, editing, and outreach—ensuring that this urgent story is told.
https://kolektiva.media/w/jfgC46zAZXm83fS7jnisJh
#palestine #indigenous #decolonize #Gaza #WestBank #Kanehsatake
It is no surprise that Google searches for VPNs in Florida have skyrocketed. But as more states and countries pass age verification laws, it is crucial to recognize the broader implications these measures have on privacy. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/vpns-are-not-solution-age-verification-laws
You don't have to be a fighter to fight fascists. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/1/31/2300356/-Cartoon-The-pacifists-playbook-for-frustrating-fascists
#ShlaerMellor, #FunctionPointAnalysis, #punk, #environmentalist, #unionAdvocate, #anarchosocialist
"with a big old lie and a flag and a pie and a mom and a bible most folks are just liable to buy any line, any place, any time" - Frank Zappa