about
firstly, i’ll give a simple and concise outline of the whole thing:
– this website is the creation of an individual (myself) who paints over corporate/capitalist street advertising as that seems to him to be the most appropriate response to the atrocious mess we have created here on planet earth (political protest if you like).
– i paint in a way that i am quickly apprehended after causing very little improvement to society (‘criminal damage’) and i run a human rights defence (freedom of political expression) to the charges, hoping to trigger a meaningful public discourse on issues i believe are extremely important and widely ignored.
– what i am directly advocating by this action is:
- a total, world-wide ban on corporate/capitalist advertising in public media/space
- the resultant end to capitalist/corporate dominance of our mainstream media (due to losing their main source of funding: corporate/capitalist advertising)
- the establishment of truly liberal, public media systems, from local to global level, to form a quality mainstream
(why aim small when sound judgement demands big?)
– i believe that replacing the capitalist/corporate media/advertising farce with a media of true liberal democratic principles, accountable equally to all global citizens, is both totally logical and necessary to achieve the fastest rate of improvement in global affairs.
– it would be a very important tool for escaping the insane demands of the capitalist/corporate/business hegemony that hold sway today (eg. perpetual ‘economic’ growth = insane) — it would allow us to make sustainability, justice and human rights the aims of our global politics/economy through international cooperation.
– i am so convinced of the need for these changes, and so intolerably unhappy with the present situation, that i will continue this action as long as the current ridiculous situation persists.
– i have been jailed already for around 6 months (on 5 separate occasions) but am currently stalling awaiting the decision of the victorian supreme court regarding my human rights case (being respectful and shit).
– i focus on this kind of activism because i believe a quality mainstream media would help dramatically with the solution to all the problems of our global community (even making all kinds of progressive activism more effective in the future) by enriching democracy/political discourse and giving us reason to believe that the intelligent construction of a just global community is possible.
i think that covers it basically, but i’ll talk shit/explain a little further by engaging in some broad ethico-politico freestyle, which is what everyone (myself included) is dying to hear a little more of.
the aims that motivate me, put concisely and imprecisely, are the standard ethical and environmental aims of a non-fuck-wit: an end to systemic violence/war and poverty; the actualisation of human rights; sustainable and respectful ecology/economics; etc.
the answer to the globalisation of exploitative and destructive profiteering (neo-liberal-market-fundamentalist capitalism) is to globalise what would be good: democracy (representative/monitory and participatory), human rights (health, education, housing, financial welfare, safety from violence), policies for environmental/ecological/economical responsibility, etc.
while many sight the impotency of the UN (flawed from its inception by the veto power of the big 5) as ‘proof’ that international co-operation cannot work, it’s a fact that without international co-operation our governments and our future will remain largely at the mercy of the unholy mess that is global capitalism.
even the most ‘powerful’ democratic states have their power limited/undermined by the domestic intervention of the illegitimate and globally uncontested power of integrated world capitalism (the usurious behemoth), but the worst effects, the dehumanising suffering and death, are shouldered mostly by the people of the poorest nations — as the largest impediment to global justice and global democracy, it is absurd to allow the corporate/capitalist world to undermine our public media in any way, particularly by owning and running it.
i think a truly liberal media system, with democratic, humanitarian and ecological aims, might have these structural features:
– a constitution outlining the principles and processes the media is bound to uphold
– a not-for-profit model of operation that is publicly funded/subsidised
– a strong level of public control/influence on the agenda
– a democratically elected administration that is separate from government (ideally not the type to believe in party politics)
– several independent public media organisations for the purpose of competitive media provision and of scrutinising the integrity of one another (as well as they’ll scrutinise governments and business)
– sufficient protection from government interference and the interference of the moneyed (we’ll have to ensure that that happens through continued vigilance, regardless of the systemic protections)
the role of the media in democracy is so crucial, the lives of so many people at stake, that public news journalists and editors should have to sign a kind of hippocratic oath before entering the practice and be expelled for malpractice (tough but fair).
i think if we were able to accomplish this it could reduce the cynicism, mistrust and perceived powerlessness that cause our hard-fought-for democracies to be pretty uninspiring/depressing today.
the fact that it was a decisive win for the people over the profit-driven would give realistic grounds to believe a better world is possible, worth hoping for, worth working toward.
a global liberal media system could facilitate a long overdue discussion on the international co-operative measures necessary to stabilise the world economy, then get it to work for people instead of for the gratification of the depraved moneyed — hopefully prompting the international community to demand the best options be implemented.
while conversation of ambitious, root-cause-focused, yet achievable improvements to the global system/economy is shut out of the mainstream, it is made to seem ‘radical’, idealistic dreaming, without credibility or realism — it even discourages thinking people, including those within our academic institutions, from thinking in that way, the way that is really necessary today.
the mainstream media (our public space) has to become the ground for truth and the discussion of progress — it should therefore not be trusted to any level of control by the exact people who have a vested interest in concealing truths, containing public conversation and public thought: profit-driven pricks.
i haven’t said anything yet about the psychologically destructive effect of the corporate/capitalist media/advertising farce, but i believe what it says to us all is something like this:
‘money controls everything you lowly arsehole, fuck you, we’ve got ‘your’ politicians, we have our way with the planet, its creatures and its people, we’re all over your streets, choking your airwaves, in your home, we’ve got your children wrapped around our little finger, we profit from your every pathetic little move and there is not a fucking thing you can do about it with your pathetic little ‘democracy’ you tiny little boob (with a dumb hat on)’.
we shouldn’t put up with the current situation, for our own sake, and for the sake of the millions, denied their voice, who suffer and die as a result of it.
i do not believe that our present media system is a deliberate, centralised conspiracy to defeat democracy and further the agenda of profit-driven, cancer-cell organisations — it is just a bunch of self-interested pricks trying to maximise profits while fucking anything/everything up in the process (but it’s not their fault of course, they’re just nice people doing their jobs, they’ve got to pay the bills too you know) – democracy and the political agenda are just another couple of casualties in the array of psychological injuries caused by the generalised cultural deification of egoism.
the overall effect of the whole media set-up is predictably shit – if we put profit-crazed gangs of people (who, of course, deny all personal responsibility) in charge of our mainstream media, which is our public political discourse, you don’t have to be a genius to figure out why our political situation is a suicide-inducing nightmare.
the possibility that the majority would find what i am on about incomprehensible, naively idealistic, or totally ridiculous, is also rather depressing (i hope that’s not the case).
it seems like few believe that global improvements in democracy can rescue us from this situation (if we haven’t already fucked the planet and our collective psychology beyond all repair), but if that belief creates that truth, and this situation continues, i’ll be totally fucked anyway, so i might as well do what i think is right and get punished for it — at least then the reason for my condition is clearly demonstrated, and i give myself the best chance of keeping it together.
kyle anthony magee.