politics

My latest Indieoma post is the second installment of my series of articles on Politics in Music, this time it's the turn of Classical music, read it <a href="https://www.indieoma.com/public_journal.php?d=2a79ea27c279e471f4d180b08d62b00a" target="_blank">here</a>.

Politics in Folk music, part 1... Quite proud of this one, read it <a href="https://www.indieoma.com/public_journal.php?d=539fd53b59e3bb12d203f45a912eeaf2" target="_blank">here</a>.

Firstly I wanted to share with you a recent experience of editing... I was asked to write a news piece on the rising number of International Students in Australian Universities, here's what I wrote : According to a forthcoming research report to be issued by overseas student recruiter IDP Education, International Student demand in Australia will double in the next two decades with Universities struggling to meet the demand. Currently Overseas students comprise approximately 17% of the Austral...

This week my column is something a little different, I've moved out of Indie Rock and it's a description of a demonstration of John Cage's Prepared Piano I saw during the Melbourne International Arts Festival, read it [here](https://www.indieoma.com/public_journal.php?d=6883966fd8f918a4aa29be29d2c386fb). And Finally, a little plug... I've teamed up with Polka Dot Rabiit to make the 2007 Election Colouring Book, please take a look at [www.polkadotrabbit.com/election.php](https://www.polkadotrabbit.com/election.php) to find out more. Chinch xxx...

My latest column is a brief foray into the Politics of Music in Melbourne, and poses a few questions, some of which I may be wrong on, and some I may be right on... Read it [here](https://www.indieoma.com/public_journal.php?d=950a4152c2b4aa3ad78bdd6b366cc179).

## How the change we have been discussing can actually happen? A valid discussion, but what will the limitations and potentials be. **[Friederike Habermann](https://www.leuphana.de/nage-tagung/programm/referierende/friederike-habermann.html)** As an economist, she has always been interested in alternative economies for many decades. She mentions that sometimes it's hard to live the principles you preach in everyday life, more-so than in other alternative lifestyles. Demonstrations don't work in the long term, they are to make your demands but in the long run you need to show why t...

## The Hegemony of Growth Growth is always a goal in many countries, statistics appear everywhere and it's always discussed. Even small reductions in GDP are met with bitter disappointment, it's become one of the most important measures in the modern era. **But why? Where did this obsession come from?** There are surprisingly few discussions or resources on when and why this did happen. Previously there were disparate measures of production or measures of territorial expansion. Even in the times...

## The Transition to a Sustainable Commons Society in Ecuador and beyond **Michelle Bauens, the [P2P Foundation](https://p2pfoundation.net/)** The [Nutrient dense project](https://nutrientdenseproject.com/) is a global community of farmers and civic scientists who believe that putting nutrients into the soil it will improve food growth rates. These projects will often receive no funding, so they have mutualised their research and practices. This knowledge and information is shareable and escapes the commodity model. This is the production of commons, not capital....

We are looking at what these models and projects share in common and what is different between them and why. **Astrid Lorenzen from [Hamburg FabLab](https://www.fablab-hamburg.org/).** One project created a lab in a public park where people could create their own mobile phones, it was a popular project and demonstrated that people have an interest in knowing what goes into what they own. It appealed to a broad audience in Hamburg and was widely reported upon. [XYZ Bike](https://www.xyzcargo.com/) that people can create and assemble themselves. The Fab Lab i...

## The OAE Project: Open Data and Open Source software for a sustainable economy It's refreshing to hear someone (unsurprisingly an engineer) mention that the Degrowth movement could do with more practical projects and methodologies to run alongside the theoretical discussions. The [OAE](https://www.openaltraeconomia.it/software.html#web) project aimed to intersect Ecological/Socio-Economic, Legal and Green Tech concepts and values. The project's expected outcomes were to provide up-to-date data in common and standard formats for the consortium...

## Facing the current crisis: Critique and Resistance **Konstantatos Haris of the Harokopio University of Athens** is a member of [Syriza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_Radical_Left) and Political scientist in the department of Geography. He states that Geography and History are also factors as well as different political and socio-economic structures. There are commonalities amongst many Southern European countries that need to be addressed today. Whilst a lot of attention has been paid to the neo-liberalisation of economies in the 70s and...

Despite attending the conference, not everyone will fully understand what 'Degrowth' is, or the multitude of related terms that will be mentioned during the conference. Thankfully the first session on the schedule is ideally suited for getting your knowledge up to scratch. Judging by audience responses to the question "What is Degrowth?" there isn't a concrete definition yet, but one is needed to make the term more understandable to the wider world. Currently 'Degrowth' is more of an intersect...

This has been a week of me appearing at meetups rather than attending, and I must admit, when I present, I tend to forget what else happened. More of an adrenaline rush than egotism. I hope. I delivered an Ignite talk about technology in board games, which went well, but I think the Ignite format lends itself more to 'inspirational' style talks. I also appeared on a panel recapping new products from IFA, and added sufficient journalistic realism. I think. Aside from that I had a more relaxed...

Yael Eisenstat has an interesting past. She ‘came out’ as a long term CIA employee in January 2017 after Donald Trump delivered a poorly received speech in front of the C.I.A. Memorial Wall. She didn’t intend to be sensationalist or release state secrets like some previous ex-secret service employees who revealed their identity, rather she had had enough of Trumps stream of insults to her country and hoped that her actions could make a difference. She has advised vice-presidents and major corpo...