Nowtopia Meeting in Newcastle

He's coming to Leeds too -
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/leedsbradford/2009/01/420756.html

I'm hoping to make an audio recording to put up here, for anyone who can't make it to either.

This meeting should be *great*, very glad it's being recorded.

Chris Carlsson was on Steppin' Out of Babylon last year -- this 30min audio is well worth a listen:

Nowtopia: How Pirate Programmers, Outlaw Bicyclists, and Vacant Lot Gardeners are Inventing the Future Today

Play Audio:  http://www.suesupriano.com/audio/ChrisCarlsson.mp3
TRT: 29:20
Date: 2008-09-04

Chris Carlsson, Executive Director of the multimedia history project, Shaping San Francisco, is a writer, publisher, editor, and community organizer. For the last twenty-five years his activities have focused on the underlying themes of horizontal communications, organic communities and public space. He was one of the founders, editors and frequent contributors to the ground-breaking San Francisco magazine Processed World. He also helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass that have spread to five continents and over 300 cities.

Carlsson gives a hard-edged critique of work and society based on working for money. He reviles the current system of “wage slavery” which forces us to take jobs and do as we are told to earn money, thereby relinquishing our control over the world. We no longer think of ourselves subjectively as political agents who can make a difference in the world through our livlihoods. In fact, he feels that a huge percentage of the “work” currently being done is a complete waste of time, if not actually destructive of the planet-- such work as banking, insurance, real estate, advertising, military production and destruction, production of shoddy products designed to breakdown and be constantly replaced, etc. His vision of radical political change involves a deep transformation of our lives and approach to work. There are some signs though that a radical, community based revolution is beginning to grow and take shape. His new book, Nowtopia, extends his analysis of our current systems and documents how people apply their time and technological know-how to create a better world when they are not working for money. He calls for a move beyond the logic of money, markets and wage labor as the fundamental institutions which guide our society.

Recorded June 2008, Eugene, Oregon

Links of interest:

 http://www.nowtopia.org/

The Nowtopian (Blog):  http://www.lipmagazine.org/ccarlsson/

Link:  http://www.chriscarlsson.com/

SUN April 5th at 56a Infoshop
56 Crampton St LONDON SE17
Details to be announced. It will be in the afternoon with some food too!
www.56a.org.uk

MON April 6th at Pogo Cafe, Hackney
Details to be announced
www.pogocafe.co.uk

And also in Bradford Friday 10th April

 http://www.processedworld.com/carlsson/nowtopia_web/calendar.shtml


Thurs., April 2 Arcades project, Cardiff Wales, UK

Fri, Apr. 3, evening, Bristol, St. Werburghs Community Centre

Sat. Apr. 4, tbd

Sun. Apr. 5, 56a Infoshop, London, afternoon

Mon. Apr. 6, 7:30 pm Pogo Cafe, North London

Tues. 7th April 5.30pm, MA Activism and Social Change seminar, Leeds, Geography Lecture Theatre, East Building

Wed. Apr. 8, Casa, Liverpool, England

Thurs. Apr. 9, Manchester, I Bike MCR

Fri. Apr. 10, 7 pm, Bradford, 1 in 12 Club
Sat. Apr. 11, 6 pm, Lancaster, England The Dukes Cinema

Sun. Apr. 12, 5 pm, Newcastle, England, Star and Shadow Cinema

Mon. Apr. 13, Glasgow, Scotland

April 15: Forest Cafe, Edinburgh, Scotland