Tech adaptations would be necessary in any case, especially considering that well-informed observers believe switching from blocklist-based moderation to allow-list-based federation is the only way to definitively disconnect from Meta and its collaborator instances. The communal structure would make this viable. Fedifams could federate allow-lists amongst themselves, and trust-treaty caracoles could pave the way for new instances which spin up from within fams to federate in the greater network.

It could also change the nature of the instance itself. Fedifam support for internal spinups would make it easier for instances to become the initiatives of communities rather than individuals, who currently must re-invent the wheel and take on the technical and moderation burdens entirely of their own accord. Community-activated servers would be naturally inclined to a more democratic internal culture. The problems of admin burnout and micro-tyranny could be significantly lessened. And allow-list federation would slam the door shut on interlopers scheming to fabricate moral panics.

The horizontal redistribution of agency, across community members, admins, and developers, would change the game and fulfill the democratic promise of the fediverse.

17/20

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #Prefiguration #DualPower #Fedifam #Communalism #DirectDemocracy

Meanwhile, more creative technological approaches remain obstructed or ignored. This proposal from @supakaity offers the enticing and empowering prospect of granular control of all search and visibility parameters for each post: https://blahaj.zone/notes/9ev0kge0aj

The fedifam construct could be extended to developer alliances as well. This would enable a shared, stable source for crowdfunding, and the coordination of efforts toward complimentary and interoperable results.

The person at the top of the Mastodon development hierarchy actually refers to himself as a "benevolent dictator for life" - but there's no such thing as a benevolent dictator. Dictators, of any nature, do not facilitate democratic outcomes. We didn't let Vladimir Lenin get away with that "benevolent dictatorship" shit and we shouldn't let John Mastodon do so either!

15/20

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #Prefiguration #DualPower #Fedifam #Communalism #DirectDemocracy

The need for self-governance and the democratization of fedi culture is clearly indicated by the current democracy deficit of the status quo. The controversies resulting from the upcoming Mastodon feature upgrades tell the tale.

The initial and unilateral introduction of the upcoming search capability - rumored to have been a demand of Meta - took the form of a single all-or-nothing toggle which would actually have removed existing functionality for users who opted out. The sensibilities and consent concerns of fedi-folk from smaller instances and marginalized communities were only considered after an outcry.

Though a more amenable alternative was provided, there are still serious concerns about the performance toll of these new functionalities on small and self-hosted servers. They are now mainly being beta-tested on megaservers, which means negative impacts both technical and cultural may only become apparent when it's too late to reverse course.

14/20

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #Prefiguration #DualPower #Fedifam #Communalism #DirectDemocracy

When referencing the democratic potentials of the fediverse, it's important to note that inspiration is not to be found in the competitive, bureaucratic electoralism of liberal democracy, but rather the horizontal consensus-based process of radical direct democracy.

The fedifam structure would facilitate a go-to democratic framework for attaining consensus between communities on moderation conundrums. At the moment, these regular crises tend to sprawl out in random threads, with the directly affected and indirect stakeholders perhaps able to chance upon them or not.

And what about intra-instance democracy, to redistribute agency within the community itself? This post - the second part of a rather long essay on the fedifam idea - sketches out a speculative scenario of "democracy as a protocol", baked into the software.

https://kolektiva.social/@ophiocephalic/110707707012210965

13/20

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #Prefiguration #DualPower #Fedifam #Communalism #DirectDemocracy

Critical to the understanding and acceptance of this model is the horizontal distribution of power. This is consistent with both the Zapatista and Rojava programs. Envision now a series of three concentric rings, with the individual instance as the smallest ring on the inside, the caracol the biggest on the outside.

The instance should have exactly as much agency as it does now (or perhaps in certain ways, even more). No capacity currently under the control of the instance is ceded to the outer rings of the fam and the caracol. Those rings are quite deliberately limited in their functionality, with the biggest being the most limited; their very purpose is to augment and devolve agency back in to the locality of the community.

This is the only chance for a construct of this nature to facilitate direct democracy and avoid hierarchical creep.

12/20

#FreeFediverse #FediPact #DefederateMeta #Meta #Facebook #Threads #Prefiguration #DualPower #Fedifam #Communalism #Zapatista #EZLN #Rojava #DirectDemocracy

hello new server mates, thank you for welcoming me! I'm a #software #developer, #solana aficionado and #anarchocommunist. Take a look at the #project I'm currently working on: https://argonsuite.org is a set of tools for #directdemocracy.

@snooze_cat

Right you are!

Oil and Gas Money to Congress

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.php?ind=e01&cycle=All&recipdetail=S

And their own portfolios as well!

Members of Congress Own Up to $93 Million in Fossil Fuel Stocks

As dire climate change projections mount, one in four members of Congress is invested in oil, gas, or coal interests.

https://prospect.org/power/members-of-congress-own-up-to-93-million-in-fossil-fuel-stocks/
__________________

#RepresentativeDemocracyIsNeither

'Representative democracy' is an oxymoron that functions to maintain minority/oligarch rule.

We the people, will not find life, liberty and happiness until we wrest control of our lives from the self-serving hands of the rich.

#DirectDemocracy
#ParticipatoryDemocracy

https://argonsuite.org is a collection of #rust programs on #solana that you can use to get #ubi, participate in local #politics, explore novel #election mechanisms, and fund #publicgood. States will be able to integrate permissionlessly, no matter how small, big or recognized. Are you a #dev #developer? Contribute on #github. Are you a #state representative? Reach out to me and learn how your #institutions and #people can benefit from #directdemocracy.

https://www.cubik.so/project/b48866b4-093d-409a-b55b-2dc05822e21d/hackathon/8e23ade0-0dae-4c4b-83aa-67867749029c #solana #blockchain #crypto #nft #token #ubi #democracy #directdemocracy #anarchism #communism

(12 Aug) - The failed Ohio amendment reflects Republican efforts nationally to restrict direct democracy https://apnews.com/article/direct-democracy-ballot-initiatives-republicans-ohio-abortion-bdf2dd061925e49d8dad69e2bd00f835 #DirectDemocracy #OhioAmendment #RepublicanEfforts #RestrictDirectDemocracy #BallotInitiatives #Abortion #Politics #News https://mastodon.sdf.org/@uspolitics/110878678556401130

The failed Ohio amendment reflects Republican efforts nationally to restrict direct democracy

https://apnews.com/article/direct-democracy-ballot-initiatives-republicans-ohio-abortion-bdf2dd061925e49d8dad69e2bd00f835

#DirectDemocracy #OhioAmendment #RepublicanEfforts #RestrictDirectDemocracy #BallotInitiatives #Abortion #Politics #News

@gcblasing

#SystemFail

#Capitalism, with the support of sympathetic governments, externalize as many costs (of doing business) as they are permitted. It's the nature of the game!

Mass migration can be (directly and indirectly) an externalized cost.

Things will not change for the people or the planet, until we wrest control of our lives from the exploitive capitalists and their political class minions.

'Representative democracy' is an oxymoron that functions to maintain minority (Oligarch) rule.

#RepresentativeDemocracyIsNeither

We must #AbolishCapitalism and 'representative democracy' before it's too late!

If we are ever to gain life, liberty and happiness, we must establish a #DirectDemocracy/
#ParticipatoryDemocacy .

#PowerToThePeople

#Ohio voters reject #Issue1, a #BallotMeasure that would have made it harder to change the Ohio Constitution. A higher than expected number of Ohio's registered voters cast ballots in this special August #election that was set by supermajority Republican state lawmakers who oppose abortion.

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/08/1191679261/ohio-election-results-issue1-abortion-state-constitution-amendment-ballot-voters

#news #politics #DirectDemocracy #SpecialElection

#SystemFail
#NoWarButClassWar

As horrifying as are the consequences of #CultureWar for oppressed groups, remember that its function is to #DivideAndConquer- so as to avoid all-out #ClassWar.

Regan's unholy alliance with Pat Robertson ushered in this era of #WhiteChristianNationalism upon which the oligarchs (by way of #RepresentativeDemocracy), misdirect and zap our limited energy and resources, and distract us from their theft of everything valuable; including planetary life.

#WakeUp people, before it's too late!

#RepresentativeDemocracyIsNeither

'Representative democracy' is an oxymoron that functions to maintain oligarch rule!

We the people, will not experience life, liberty and happiness until we wrest control of our lives from the ruling class!

#DirectDemocracy
#ParticipatoryDemocracy
#GetInvolved
#Organize

#DirectDemocracy ends #IndirectPlutocracy.

Finally, A Third Party For Billionaires

hurray

https://www.levernews.com/finally-a-third-party-for-billionaires/

Americans might want a third party, but the latest attempt from No Labels offers more of the same corporate politics with even more billionaire control.

#billioniares #corruption #indirectplutocracy #systemchange #directdemocracy

Marjorie Taylor Greene Likely Broke The Law By Showing Nude Hunter Biden Pics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onMotV-IqJU&t=387s&ab_channel=FarronBalanced

Marjorie Taylor Greene stepped way out of line during a hearing on Hunter Biden this week when she showed enlarged photographs of a nude Biden with a woman ... later she sent an email blast to all followers with a video of her showing this, some of whom are likely minors.

#statism #bitterpeople #representative #systemchange #directdemocracy

😊 By the way, everything is available #openaccess and is translated automatically, also into English (in addition to German, French and Italian).

#directdemocracy #LawFedi #elections #Switzerland

the reason we will ALWAYS have to fight for human rights is because human rights are detrimental to optimum business environment (captive consumers, slave labor, socialized expenses, privatized profit... fascism)... until we change this indirect plutocracy political system (which will always evolve from political "representation" in a competitive economic system).

#DirectDemocracy
https://github.com/loomio/loomio

#OpenAccessEconomy
https://openaccesseconomy.org/doku.php?id=start

FREE Community Assembly training, 2 dates, 20th July and 24th August, 10am-12.15pm

Really recommended, Trust The People are excellent organisation

https://actionnetwork.org/events/community-assembly-facilitation-training-2

#democracy #DirectDemocracy #ExtinctionRebellion #ClimateEmergency