Anarcho-Tech Collective | NYC

#AnarchistCollective #Anarchist #AnarchoTech

"Tech Learning Collective is an apprenticeship-based technology school for radical organizers founded in New York City that provides a security-first IT infrastructure curriculum to otherwise underserved communities and organizations advancing social justice causes. We train politically self-motivated individuals in the arts of hypermedia, Information Technology, and radical political practice.

Founded and operated exclusively by radical queer and femme technologists, we offer unparalleled free, by-donation, and low-cost computer classes on topics ranging from fundamental computer literacy to the same offensive computer hacking techniques used by national intelligence agencies and military powers (cyber armies).

Our students are primarily people of marginalized groups and other individuals who are politically engaged."

https://techlearningcollective.com/

When I discovered #Solarpunk, I realized that there was a name for my genre of stories. (FYI: Andrewism on youtube has a good series of videos explaining Solarpunk. It's oriented around community, equity, gardens, sustainability, horizontal democratic structures.)

I write about people striving to build community. To navigate difference in a healthier way. To deal with the conflict that arises from that and how to repair after conflict. Where people work together to build a more just, more equitable, more equal, more sustainable present and future.

One of the rules I gave myself long ago was that I was never going to write a story where capitalism or imperalism existed. This proved harder than I realized, because I had to face the conditioning capitalist imperalism patriarchy had instilled within me from a young age.

I had to reflect, unlearn, read a lot, and listen to as many unique voices as I could. That unlearning is lifelong and ought to be as there is no end point truly. If I ever thought that journey was over, then I'd be lying to myself. Perfection isn't attainable, and I won't ever completely root out all conditioning and bigotry.

What is attainable then? It's being able to do what we can with the gifts/talents/skills that we have. To continue to unlearn. To realize that we do not have all the answers and do not know everything, nor ever will know it all. To unlearn and be willing to admit when wrong. To learn from our mistakes, to repair when we harm, and to always strive toward being a more just and kinder and better version of our current selves. This is a hard road to travel, but it is always worth it.

Of course, reading and listening also exposed me to so many other cultures that have built collective societies in the past and in present. It showed me so many ideas of people exploring these concepts too, and ways they thought of on how to successfully do it.

This process of unlearning and exploration ignited more of my imagination, so I could build my created world of Elivera more effectively with more depth and diversity.

I love to envision things, to explore, to lift up the voices of others - especially our most marginalized, and work together to build a community and future that is just, equitable, sustainable, loving, and consensual. If the stories or essays I write inspire others to explore too, then that's more than I could ever hope for.

So thank you for reading this longer ramble. If you'd like to chat with me about this, feel free to reply! It takes me a bit to reply due to my disability, so bear with me, as I will reply eventually. :)

Take care, stay safe, and mask up friends!

#Writing #Justice #AnarchistCollective #AntiCapitalist #Equity #CommunityBuilding #CommunityCare #Imagination #Worldbuilding

#introduction

I'm Aidan -- nickname Bird, hence my screenname here: TheBird.

I am a #nonbinary, #queer, #disabled #sciencefiction #writer. I have #LongCovid, and it sucks. I am still working on diagnoses for other possible #chronicillness. If you wanna follow my writings on disability and the intersection of my other interests with disability, I will post more of those on my Aaidanbird@disabled.social. (For longer essays on it, I may post them here when they intersect with community building, justice, collectives, and anarchism.)

Interests: #Anarchism #CommunityCare #MutualAid #AnarchistCollective #Justice #DisabilityJustice, #SocialJustice, #Antiracism, #LGBTQIA #Accessibility

#CityDesign #WalkableCity #AccessibleCity

#gaming, #gamedesign, #writing #poetry #cartography, #physics, #astronomy, #worldbuilding, #music, #cats, and #art. I draw #maps.

My Elivera world, of which most of my writings are set, is located here: http://www.worldanvil.com/w/elivera3A-the-lost-ones-aidanbird

Important Note about my Elivera World: It's a solarpunk world, where I explore various #AntiCapitalist ways of existing. Capitalism has never existed on Elivera and will never exist. A lot of the "nations" of Elivera are run by horizontal democracy and are experiments with collectives (some anarchist in bent and others experiments with communist approach to society).

I keep a database of saved #Covid studies and articles. I update it weekly. I did have a few folks helping, but we all got #LongCovid, so it's down to just me again. It's on #notion. I set it up with tags. Link: https://bit.ly/AidansCovidDatabase

#CovidIsNotOver #MaskUp #AirFilter #MasksAreAnAccessNeed #Disability #Science #Pandemic

P.S. If you want to help, I'll need to vet you first. Feel free to share and let me know if there's some newer articles/studies you'd like to see saved here.

Other Important notes: I'll never shut up about #Covid. It's a #justice and #access issue. Please #maskup as this is airborne (plus masking will decrease chances of catching other airborne diseases and decrease allergens). Please push for #CRBox and other #AirFilter devices to be placed in all interior spaces. If we work together in solidarity, we really can push back this disease and slow (if not stop) the mass death and disablement that is currently happening!

Mask up and stay safe friends. Thanks for reading.

#ShamelessPlug Saturday.

My #DnD second book is all there in three parts. Exciting stuff, #AnarchistCollective stands up to the War Lords men who are taking their Grain. With, of course, the help of our favorite #HalfElf and #Gnome, Quee Quaig and Carl.

Please stop by http://ThatchColon.blogspot.com/ to check it out. Book three, or at least the start of it, tomorrow.
And now, a picture.