What a bizarre, intense and upsetting month it’s been, hasn’t it?
I wanted to give you all a brief update on my life and work.
Kit O'Connell: Approximately 8,000 Words Posts
How can you make safe deliveries of food or other supplies to neighbors who may be immunocompromised, during the coronavirus pandemic?
Right now, a lot of people are helping out their neighbors. They’re reaching out to people who can’t safely leave their homes during the COVID19 crisis and offering to pick up necessities, whether it’s cleaning supplies, canned goods, or toilet paper. But how can we provide mutual aid without making people sick? I wanted to know more about making safe deliveries.
To hear from an expert, I reached out to Dr. John Stracks, a Chicago MD that’s been treating my mother. She’s vulnerable due to a past heart attack, and I’ve been impressed by how seriously he’s taking all of this. After she forwarded me some of his COVID19 updates, I asked if I could speak to him on the record.
I updated my popular Ministry of Hemp article on how CBD can help alleviate symptoms of anxiety with some new research from 2020.
I’m pleased to announce the upcoming publication of a new zine, “Beyond the Concrete Milkshake: Tactics for Dealing with Media Trolls & Grifters.”
At the beginning of the year, I announced on Patreon that one of my goals for 2020 was the creation of a zine. I’ve made great progress and intend to publish by late March or early April.
One side effect of the first few years of the Donald Trump administration, with all its associated increase in far-right activity, is a hijacking of Leftist tactics for use by fascist causes. One clear example is the banner drop. Once beloved primarily by far left activists, this technique now sees regular groups by nazi and hyper-nationalist fascist groups. So too it is with the media grifter.
Activism & Shared Social Media: How Can We Close The ‘Occupy Hole’?
Posted in Creative Commons, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street
I got quoted in an article about Micah White, the self-styled “Occupy Founder” that recently spent time hob-nobbing with the 1% at Davos. In passing, the article covered another issue: the problem of stolen shared social media accounts during the Occupy Wall Street movement.
During the national Occupy movement, it became routine to hear about camps with a stolen Facebook or Twitter account. One person would get into a disagreement with the rest of the social media working group and run off with the whole account.
When this happens with a commercial business, or a nonprofit or any undertaking that’s conventionally organized under capitalism, the owner can prove ownership of the account and get Twitter to give it back. With a leaderless movement like Occupy, you and your comrades are on your own.
As part of my goal to create more zines, I want to read more zines.
I really believe some of the most useful radical political thinking, and activist strategy, appears in the pages of these self-published pamphlets.
I’ve decided to curate a regular list of new, interesting, or notable zines. I’m aiming to share this list twice a year (or more often if I get really ambitious). It will be similar to the zine list I curated for the Antifascist Month of Unity in October.