electrohippies Hacktivism Case Study 2, December 2001

The Launch of the "Anti-TWAT" action

the electrohippie collectivemount a global anti-war action from a tipi, 14th November 2001, Pantglas, Wales.




As part of the development of the "Anti-TWAT" action the electrohippies organised a 'launch day' at Pantglas in west Wales.

The purpose of the day was to provide a focus for the development of the "Anti-TWAT" ('Anti-The-War-Against-Terrorism') action, and to hold a get-together of electrohippies and supporters.

The action was held in a tipi, 980ft up in the Welsh hills to the western end of the Black Mountains. The tipi had, for the day, been set up with computers and it had been networked by the electrohippies resident techie. Unfortunatley there were no renewable sources available locally, so the tipi was connected to the telephone and main power for the day.



The Location

The tipi was located at the end of a valley, with splendid views over the Tywi valley to the Black Mountain beyond. The weather was fine and sunny.

The location is rather remote, in the hills of west Wales, and despite the location and the facilities offered no members of the media made it to the launch... but plenty of electrohippies and their supporters did.

Here you can see the view from Pantglas to the Black Mountain, the hills around and the surrounding fields.





The technology...

Two computers were use for the day:

As well as providing an opportunity to launch the Anti-TWAT site, the gathering also gave an opportunity to work on a new electrohippies video. The also gave us chance to relax, play music, and mess about with "dige–ital" technology (below).


During the day

During the day there were various 'happenings'. The Grim Reaper arrived to talk about his recent role in the Afghan war (interviewed live for the electrohippies video!). There were also impromptue debates and discussions about the links between The War Against Terrorism and the wider neo-colonial policies promoted by globalisation.

Unfortunately it was not possible to have a fire in the tipi, because the smoke damages the internal circuitry of the computers, but with enought people in the tipi, plus the heat output from the transformers and monitors, a good time was had by all.


   

Here you can see Matt (above) and Simon (below left) joining in the discussions with Bob and Sandra (below right). This carried on for some hours, despite the excellent view (picture second below, click to see full image), until it got too dark to continue.



The end...

The day was successful. We'd assembled the equipment necessary to conduct 'out of the way' events, and we'd had the opportunity to work on the electrohippies "Anti-TWAT" video. Those who attended the event also had a really good time, and went away with a little more knowledge of Linux, using computers with multimedia equipment, and the issues surrounding TWAT.



But to cap it all, it was an excellent sunset...



"Anti-TWAT"... The Movie!!

As part of the launch of "Anti-TWAT" by the electrohippies, Paul Mobbs created a short film about the launch and its motivations. It is not intended to be a factual documentary, but instead a collage of the ideas and inspirations for the running of the "Anti-TWAT" event by the electrohippies.

The "Anti-TWAT" launch took place in a tipi 300 metres (980 feet) up in the hills of West Wales in the UK. The whole film is 11 minutes long. As noted in the film, the motivation of the electrohippies in running the action from a tipi in rural Wales was to make a statement about the inclusion of rural communities in the 'information revolution', and the fact that rural communities are often sidelined by national demonstrations/campaign movements, as well as taking a stand against the TWAT. The film begins with an introduction by Paul Mobbs, and then comprises footage of the events at the launch together with media images of the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, as well as the introduction of new anti-terrorism legislation in the UK.

"Anti-TWAT" is available as an MP4 and Ogg video file. We do not have access to a streaming server — therefore you must download the file to your hard disk and run it locally from Real Player. Click the 'RM' icon to download the Anti-TWAT movie in Realmedia format (4.7 megabyte file!, 11 minutes playing time).












© 2001-2006 the electrohippie collective. Produced by Paul Mobbs. Released under the GNU Free Documentation License
(with invariant sections being the document title and author identification, no front-cover texts, and no back-cover texts).