Ohio Removes Over 600,000 People From #HealthCare Plan
Experts & policymakers warned the growing number of Americans without #healthInsurance will not only grow following passage of the Orange Rapist's budget, which will bring about major changes to the #Medicaid program, but also how high #uninsured rates will impact #healthOutcomes & #medicalCosts
#DeathCult #Ohio https://www.newsweek.com/ohio-removes-over-600000-people-health-care-plan-2109201
Activist tech has been stuck in a defensive crouch
For two decades, activist tech has been stuck in a defensive crouch. We’ve built bunkers (security tools, encryption layers, anonymity networks) but very few bridges. That’s left the field fragmented, insular, and often unattractive to the people we’re supposedly trying to empower.
If the aim is to push social change and challenge rather than just survive, here’s what I think needs building:
#4opens-native infrastructure Open data → not just sharing docs, but making activist […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/activist-tech-has-been-stuck-in-a-defensive-crouch/
Musk's vast Tesla payout & Palantir's stock leap tell us one thing: any qualms the market used to have about explicit Nazism and "sin stocks" are a thing of the past. Capital is openly embracing the cult of death.
“The skeptics are admittedly fewer now, having been defanged and bent into a kind of submission”
#DeathCult #Palantir #SinStocks #Naziism #SoftwareCompany https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-04/palantir-reports-revenue-up-48-cites-astonishing-ai-impact
Let’s call it what it is #stupidindividualism = the #neoliberal condition of enclosure. A social operating system designed to lock us into self-referential survival while the commons burn. Enclosure of self is #deathcult worship in the era of #climatchaos hamishcampbell.com/enclosure-se...
Enclosure of self is deathcult...
Let’s call it what it is #stupidindividualism = the #neoliberal condition of enclosure. A social operating system designed to lock us into self-referential survival while the commons burn. Enclosure of self is #deathcult worship in the era of #climatchaos https://hamishcampbell.com/enclosure-self-is-the-death-of-collective-meaning/
Have any crypto-bros ever thought about turning the contents of the Bible into a set of smart contracts?
This is what the #deathcult calls “progress”, the drive to strip the world of friction so that each of us can float through our own private consumerist delusion, never encountering anything real.
Frictionlessness is a Poisoned Fantasy – an #OMN Reflection
In our current mess of a world, one of capitalism’s illusions is the promise of #frictionlessness, that everything should just work, that all interactions should be smooth, efficient, and untroubled. In tech this is the logic of the #dotcons, keeping the “users” engaged, never give them time to think, and above all don’t let the real world get in the way of the pipeline between their attention and your profit.
This has infected the #geekproblem deeply. In software culture, especially, […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/frictionlessness-is-a-poisoned-fantasy-an-omn-reflection/
W3C How this fits into #OMN the Shared Origins and Intentions
Both the W3C statement and the #OMN recognize that the early web was built with open sharing, decentralization, and public good in mind. The #W3C calls for a web “respectful of all participants,” which aligns with the #OMN goal of building an open media infrastructure based on the #4opens: open data, open source, open standards, and open process.
Where this W3C #mainstreamin alt path falls short (and why #OMN matters). The W3C vision speaks of “taking responsibility” and “addressing the […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/w3c-how-this-fits-into-omn-the-shared-origins-and-intentions/
Dig, Plant, Grow. Compost the #Techshit, Repeat
Let’s be honest, much of the so-called “alternative” tech scene is still stuck. We fled the #dotcons for something better, but ended up with copies of the same broken models. The Fediverse, with all its potential, is still dominated by “mainstreaming meta” chat (“Twitter refugees incoming!”) or conspiracy-laden, #fashionista rabbit holes. It’s little wonder that even the nerdy privacy crowd struggles to find meaningful content or community. And no, shouting “fuck the system!” […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/dig-plant-grow-compost-the-techshit-repeat-2/
The path I walk, and advocate for, is rooted in a few simple but powerful #KISS principles: a return to grassroots governance, a focus on community-driven technology, and the composting of failed ideas to nurture new growth. To enable this shift, we must develop tools and frameworks that uphold transparency, empower collective action, and center sustainable, open alternatives. This means pushing back against the dominant #mainstreaming narrative and embracing practical, grounded methods of building from the bottom up. You can see some of this in action at unite.openworlds.info.
I remain deeply critical of the role of #NGOs and the broader mainstreaming strategies that dilute radical potential. Too often, projects that begin with genuine grassroots energy are co-opted through institutional funding and pressure to conform. This turns them into vehicles for maintaining the status quo rather than challenging it. To reclaim our agency and resist this corruption, we need to re-center on the #4opens, prioritize collective and direct action, and build resilient alternatives to the #deathcult of neoliberalism. My critique comes from long experience with radical media and open tech — from #Indymedia and #OMN to the #Fediverse and ActivityPub. Learn more at hamishcampbell.com.
My #boatingeurope life reflects a more sustainable, #DIY lifestyle — an attempt to live "native" to the rhythms of nature rather than the chaos of the #deathcult. A decade ago, after 20 years campaigning on climate and ecological collapse, I sailed away in a literal lifeboat, escaping burnout and disillusionment. But the world is round — and I’ve since returned to re-engage with tech activism and grassroots media, because retreat alone won’t solve systemic issues. Bridging the divide between alternative cultures and the mainstream remains vital. Yet this is often blocked by both sides — the mainstream demands conformity, while alt-paths refuse to compromise. Without building bridges, we risk further stagnation. It's time to find common ground without losing our roots.
#hamishcampbell
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We’re refocusing from:
Individuals → To Groups
Silos → To Flows
Control → To Co-creation
This is not fundamentalism, rather balance. And yes, that sounds hippy. But the alternative is the #deathcult of neoliberal tech: #stupidindividualism, constant surveillance, coercive control.
The #OMN project is a step toward rebalancing that mess — with whatever floats your boat: protest, gardening, mutual aid, permaculture, peer education. We need many paths. The current path isn’t working.
What does mainstreaming do?
#mainstreaming narrows the field of imagination and excludes non-conforming ideas that could offer real solutions to systemic crises. Mainstreaming smooths the rough edges of society. It normalizes hierarchy, filters dissent, and packages politics into manageable narratives. It’s how radical demands are turned into reforms, then paperwork, then slogans, then forgotten.
Absorbing opposition into bureaucracy (e.g., NGOs, consultancy)
Rewarding compromise and incrementalism
Silencing or […]
The Open Media Network: More Than Just a Tech Project
At first glance, the #OMN (Open Media Network) might look like a technical project, a collection of code, standards, and protocols. But to think of it only this way is to miss the point entirely.
What we’re building is a social and technological fabric for the #openweb, woven together by shared values and practical needs. Yes, there’s tech, but the tools and standards we develop are not neutral. They lean, by design, toward openness, transparency, collaboration, and grassroots control, […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/the-open-media-network-more-than-just-a-tech-project/
We need to talk about #metadata and the “freemarkit” ideology.
People say “metadata isn’t real data” — but it's more, It maps movements, moods, relationships. That’s why #governments and #dotcons want it.
If you think this doesn't matter, that we’re just individuals in a marketplace, not a society, congrats, you’ve joined the #deathcult.
We can change course. But only if we name the poison. Loudly #OMN
The #Hashtags Tell a Story: Building Trust in a Messy World
We live in a time of crisis. Climate, community, communication, all are breaking down. Our tools and platforms no longer serve us. To make sense of this, we need to tell stories. And in the digital world, hashtags are one of the most powerful ways we do this. But our hashtags don’t just tag, they trace the roots of our problems, and signpost paths out. Each one is a seed. Together, they are a map.#dotcons – From #openweb to walled gardens. Once, the internet was a place of openness, […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/the-hashtags-tell-a-story-building-trust-in-a-messy-world/
Criticisms of Capitalism — and Its Digital Children, the #dotcons
Capitalism, especially in its late-stage #neoliberal form, has always had significant structural problems. In recent decades, these problems have been amplified and globalized through digital platforms, what we call the #dotcons. These companies are not a break from capitalism, they are its most refined, efficient, and extractive version to date.
Income Inequality
Traditional critique: Capitalism concentrates wealth in the hands of those who own capital (factories, land, assets), while […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/criticisms-of-capitalism-and-its-digital-children-the-dotcons-2/
Building Alt/Grassroots Media Networks to Challenge and Widen Traditional Media
The current ecosystem of alternative and grassroots media is too narrow in its imagination of what media could, and should, be. There’s a persistent naivety or, in some cases, a self-serving dishonesty. Many of the most “successful” progressive media groups continue to mimic #traditionalmedia without understanding, or addressing, the fact that they do not control their distribution. In effect, they’re renting space in someone else’s empire.
This is not just a mistake. It’s the […]
Hopelessness is a deeply conservative reaction to change and challenge
In the face of mounting crisis – social breakdown, political polarization, ecological collapse – many people turn inward. And in this turn, they mistake passivity, irony and detachment for resistance. But hopelessness is not radical, it’s deeply conservative. It says: “Nothing can change.” “Everything is corrupt.” “Why bother?”
This isn’t rebellion, it’s surrender. And it’s the exact emotional state that power systems – what we call the #deathcult of neoliberalism – […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/hopelessness-is-a-deeply-conservative-reaction-to-change-and-challenge/
Hopelessness is a conservative reaction to social change/challenge
Hopelessness is a deeply conservative reaction to social change/challenge. Sarcasm and “meme” culture can be conservative with its strong focus on reaction, in this pushing reactionary/conservative rather than hope/progression. In a globalising world, strong “inward” looking tribalism is about conforming a narrow “consumerist” change/challenge to individuals with NO power for wider social outlooks. In the era of #climatechaos all of these dominant “invisible” movements are […]
https://hamishcampbell.com/hopelessness-is-a-conservative-reaction-to-social-change-challenge/
