A time for goodwill, for giving, for sharing… Or a time for consuming, for devouring, for spending…

As Christmas hype reaches its zenith, millions of last-minute shoppers stock-up on their obligatory must-gives. I wonder how much money is spent each year on unwanted gifts. Still, you’ve got to give something and it is good for the economy…

An Idea for Next Christmas
There’s no need to buy new, expensive gifts when the world is already full of perfectly good but unwanted possessions. And because so many of us have things that we no longer need, why not organise a local community bring-and-share for Christmas presents?…

People would bring good quality items to give away, and they’d take home gifts from others. Perhaps there’d be a small fee for each present, which gets donated to charity.

Would you want to take part?

Prout (PROgressive Utilisation Theory) is a visionary socio-economic system to encourage a cooperative society. A new short story competition has been announced for writers to open a window on a future, Proutistic society. From the press release:

IMAGINE A SOCIETY IN WHICH…
…food, clothing, housing, education and medical care are guaranteed to everyone.

…most farms, banks, industries and services are run as cooperatives owned by the workers.

…there are no multinational corporations.

…different voices, languages and cultures are respected.

…there is self-sufficiency in food, medicines, clothing, housing, and local transport.

…the environment is protected and restored, all agriculture is organic, waste is recycled and renewable energy is used.

…universal spirituality is valued, not religious dogmas or conflicts.

…leaders are selfless servants of the people.

STRUGGLE AND CONFLICT…
Naturally, such a society could never come about without great struggle. The richest one percent who control our world today would do anything to prevent it.

They direct the multinational corporations and manipulate the US Empire, going to any length to neutralise such a progressive society. When it does come about, there will always be selfish people who would try to destroy it for their own personal benefit.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE IN A COMPELLING WAY…
…the people, the struggles, the sacrifices, the tragedies and the triumphs that would be needed to achieve such a society?

…in which part of the world such a society would first take root and what threats, opposition, and deceit that would be employed to undermine it?

…how living in such a society would affect people?

SHORT STORY COMPETITION DESCRIBING A FUTURE SOCIETY BASED ON PROUT!
Prout stands for the Progressive Utilization Theory, an alternative socio-economic model. In the words of Noam Chomsky,
"Prout’s cooperative model, sharing the resources of the planet for the welfare of everyone, deserves our serious consideration."

To know more about Prout’s socio-economic model and its policies, see www.prout.org and www.proutworld.org.

The Prout Research Institute of Venezuela is hosting a short story competition about a future Prout society and the struggles needed to bring it about. Stories may not exceed 5,000 words and must be previously unpublished. Entrants may be located anywhere on the planet, but each person may submit only one story written in English, Spanish or Portuguese. The stories will be judged on whether the future society portrayed correctly represents Prout, as well as on good writing and originality.

JUDGES
A committee of four panelists, led by the published writer Devashish Acosta (author of "When the Time Comes" and "The Ashram"), will judge the contest. To ensure impartiality, all stories will be numbered and the authors’ names will be removed until the final decisions are made.

A Proutist who wishes to remain anonymous has generously donated funds so that we can offer the following cash prizes:

• First prize: US$500
• Second prize: US$300
• Third prize: US$200
• Five fourth prizes: US$100 each
• (Winners in economically developed countries will receive a check or bank transfer. Winners in economically undeveloped countries will be sent an international postal money order.)

The winning stories will posted on the Prout Institute of Venezuela website. In addition, the Prout Research Institute of Venezuela reserves the right to publish the stories in an anthology and in a Prout magazine.

DEADLINE
Midnight March 31, 2007 Venezuelan time (GMT minus 4 hours)
Winners will be announced May 15, 2007

All stories must be sent by email to shortstory[at]prout.org. There is no entrance fee. Stories that exceed 5,000 words, that arrive late or that do not describe the struggles to achieve or maintain a Prout society will be disqualified from the cash prizes. After June 15, 2007, all authors are free to submit their stories to other competitions or venues for publication.

Source: PRI Venezuela, via After Capitalism

Auroville is an experimental city, under development in south India. It is intended to be a model township – an international and universal place for personal, spiritual growth and social advancement.

Auroville exists for nothing less than to hasten the evolution of the human species – to develop the mind from its animal instincts to sublime intuition, and to manifest the inspiration of the Divine in the material world.

Origins

The idea for the town was inspired by the teachings of Sri Aurobindo – an Indian philosopher, freedom fighter and futurist who lived from 1872 to 1950. His greatest disciple, a Frenchwoman known simply as ‘The Mother’, came to India to be by his side and to realise his ideas. She proposed the creation of Auroville, which was finally founded in 1968. Representatives came from all over India and the world, bringing with them a handful of soil from their native lands, to be mixed in an urn at the centre of the city.

The current population is currently around 1800 ‘Aurovilians’. The aim is to have a thriving city of 50,000. The largest country represented so far is India, followed by French and German citizens.

The Matrimandir Temple

The building in the photograph is the Matrimandir – the ‘Temple of the Mother‘. Here, ‘Mother’ refers to the supreme Creative Force, the energy that binds Consciousness into the myriad forms of the universe. Compare with goddess Durga from Hindu mythology:

The Matrimandir is to be a place of concentration, for finding the source of one’s consciousness in the stillness of meditation. The red brick ‘lotus petals‘ each contain a room for meditation. Inside the golden dome is the ‘Inner Chamber‘ – a large, white, circular hall containing a huge glass crystal – the largest in the world – which focusses a beam of white light into the centre of the building.

The gold discs are actually made of gold — gold leaf, sandwiched in between two layers of glass and tiled like a mosaic around huge discs. This sphere of gold, around a place of great concentration upon human consciousness, is intended to have an electromagnetic influence on the state of consciousness for the rest of the planet…

In the following photographs, I use quotes from Sri Aurobindo and The Mother to illustrate the vision for Auroville.

Links:
• Auroville: In Quotes Photoset
• Auroville website
• Wikipedia: Sri Aurobindo
• Wikipedia: The Mother
• Wikipedia: Auroville

I am often fascinated by the choice of Google ads that appear on different posts on this site (at the bottom-right of the page).

For the previous post on Golden Rectangles, there was a string of ads for ‘Fibonacci Traders’…
What are Fibonacci Traders?!

It seems the ads were picking up the mention that stock market prices fluctuate in a Golden Ratio relationship. And Fibonacci Traders are ones who use this knowledge to get you Big Bucks on the stock exchange!

It just fascinates me to see all the random businesses out there who wind up being linked to words that we write. Whatever next?
 

The studios previously won a webby award for their movie “The Meatrix”, about the meat industry.

They are a talented bunch, using their time and skills for promoting ethical causes through multimedia. In their words:

We know we could be using our talents to sell cheeseburgers or sneakers, but we feel that an inherent part of creativity is the creation of something positive and meaningful.

I see they are also making a $15,000 grant to assist an ethical organisation communicate their message through the Web. Hmmm…

Here are some more of their activist movies.

Ah, the potential of the artist to reach the masses…

With their weapon of choice – the camera, the canvas, the pen or the voice… add a simple internet connection and… BANG! their work reaches to the far corners of the Earth.

Grassroots Media
I just came across OurMedia and their mission (via this news source):

Create. Share. Get noticed. That’s what Ourmedia is about.

Ourmedia is a global community and learning center where you can gain visibility for your works of personal media. We’ll host your media forever — for free.

So, a grassroots host for legal music, film and everything else. When they get BitTorrent file-sharing happening on the site, it could really take off. No one likes a strained server.

On the site is an excellent video by Chuck Olsen that beautifully showcases the idea of shared video & media content.

Vlogging
And so the whole thing works… Because I found out about Ourmedia on a blog, I visited Ourmedia and saw a film by Chuck Olsen and then found out about his projects and connections to other filmmakers and so on…
The WWW scores again! And so, connection begets connection, begets connection…

I learned a new term today: vlogger = video blogger. The word looks a little ugly to me – a little like Vogon. But at least the concept is beautiful: where video makers publish their works to the world – available to all.

Chuck is making an open source documentary film about blogging and the global community of bloggers. All his footage is available online for anyone to cut their own version of the film.

The Future Of Commercial Media & The Arts
I was recently thinking about the future of commercial music and film/TV. Illegal music downloads are rife. And with the constant increase in internet access speeds, the illegal downloading of TV programmes and films is catching up fast.

It is now becoming more difficult for TV companies to justify spending huge amounts of money for the rights to a particular TV series when half of their target audience has already seen the series by downloading it for free.

Fear Tactics
Right or wrong, this technology will not simply go away. It will only increase in efficiency, ease and availability. The current reaction from commercial distributors is to sue the downloaders and try to use fear to prevent this global, unpaid distribution. But it seems to me that this tactic will never give satisfactory results. It will never stop the file sharing and it will only further alienate the public from the traditional distributors of music, film and art.

So, how can the musicians, the filmmakers, the artists and the media companies of the future continue in their motivation to make great art and also receive their deserved income, when their works are increasingly distributed for free? Is there an alternative to fear tactics?

The Media Cooperative & The World Government
In the misty, idealistic recesses of my mind, I can imagine the existence of many artist and media cooperatives across the globe… Each musician, actor, filmmaker and artist is paid for their work by their cooperative. And the cooperative is funded by local and global government. As it becomes more and more recognised how important the role of artists is in society, the arts will be funded and supported to greater degrees.

The socio-economic theory of Prout has a lot to say about the role of artists and the role of World Government (& here).

In the short-term, funding for media cooperatives could be from private and commercial donors or from funding bodies at a local, regional, national, continental or global level.

Benevolent Art
At some point comes the question – “Is art a luxury commodity, or is it an essential requirement of society?” I would say that true art is a necessity and a powerful guide to society. As such, it should be supported as a non-profit, key industry of any and every society.

Of course, the distinction between what is “true” or “worthwhile” art and what is not can be hotly debated. Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar writes about such distinctions in his essay, The Practice of Art & Literature. The essay is a real manifesto for ethical and spiritual artists – their potential, their inspiration and their responsibility in society.

…And a 14-year old painter from Taiwan makes a statement about “What Is Art?” in a little series of paintings.

And now…
Where next to unleash the potential of the artists and to support them in their craft?

Fairtrade Fortnight has been and gone, as has the all-night vigil outside 10 Downing Street for trade justice, which happened last Friday the 15th of April. Fairtrade is an important step in moving towards a just society – which, in today’s world of corrupt, exploitative capitalist businesses seems a long way off.

One of the current problems with Fairtrade is the lack of products on offer – if you look on the Fairtrade website you’ll find these listed – mainly luxuries like chocolate, coffee, etc

However, if you really want to take fairtrade to the next level, I’ve discovered a great site which sells (amongst other apparel)… fairtrade sneakers! And again… fairtrade sneakers!

Yes, you can kick Phil Knight’s corporate ass with these 100% union made Converse-style beauties, which come with an info sheet on the wages and benefits of the workers in Indonesia who made them. Just today they’ve emailed me telling that they’ve added two new styles to their range… and all for the comparatively cheap price of £25.
Check them out here: www.nosweatapparel.com

Change the world! Start at ground level!

There are many online projects around the world that aim to involve people as a community in the project itself. From citizen-based reporting for a Korean online newspaper, to commercial businesses trying to get their customers involved, to the community of bloggers on the Net.

I just discovered OhMyNews, the Korean-based online newspaper that is maintained by 35,000 citizen reporters. “Every citizen is a reporter” is their slogan.

This article deals with the newspaper’s philosophy, the political and cultural history of Korea that enabled the project, the way it has swayed major political events in the country and the way that Information Technology is changing social participation of democracy. It is an exceptionally interesting read.

This article from Modern Marketing on Open Source Marketing deals with collaberative, open source and community networks and how they have reignited the passion and creativity in individuals; the empowering feeling of participation in community. It wraps it around the context of marketing in the Technological World.

Modern Marketing has also produced a manifesto called ‘What is Open Source Marketing?‘, and has posted readers’ feedback.

TrendWatch "and its 4,000+ trendspotters scan the US, Canada, European Union, Japan, South Korea, India, South Africa, Australia, Brazil and 50 other nations & regions for hot, emerging consumer trends and related new business ideas. "

One article of interest, "Customer Made" marketing:

Marketing has finally become a conversation. Not, in most cases, as was intended, BETWEEN corporations and consumers (that would make too much sense), but rather a global conversation involving millions of consumers ABOUT corporations.

MicroPersuasion, a blog on ‘how blogs and participatory journalism are impacting the practice of public relations’.

The Technorati blog search engine’s raison d’etre.

And the opportunity for dharma in all this…

(Some of these sources from another Open Source researcher’s blog here.)