SUBVRT

Vicky van der Togt is a central figure in the grassroots response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s the founder of the Zero COVID Alliance, and a sufferer of Long COVID herself. In this episode we hear about how grassroots groups are successfully filling the gaps where governments are failing on COVID. We talk about the Zero COVID strategy, COVID myth-busting, and Vicky’s own experience of the disease. And we examine how anyone can join the fight to work on this problem that’s affecting us all. About this show Questions or comments? The email address is hello@thetaproject.co. And the show notes are available at www.thetaproject.co Chapters 00:00:00: Intro 00:02:15: Vicky's COVID activism and how it all began 00:05:36: The Zero Covid Strategy, and the challenges involved 00:10:00: Grassroots wins against COVID (that I bet you hadn’t heard about) 00:11:58: COVID myths busted 00:13:32: How anyone can join the fight against the disease 00:16:02: Why Vicky chooses activism over Netflix 00:17:34: Book/documentary recommendations 00:18:46: Outro

From its grassroots beginnings as a group built around the idea of reclaiming public space, Don’t Let Belgrade Drown has become a prominent force against the increasingly authoritarian, and as many say corrupt, regime of Serbian President Alexander Vucic. And they’ve done all this using with a variety of creative, peaceful protest tactics, that I think we can all learn from. In this edited version of a live interview for DiEM25 TV [https://diem25.org/diem25-tv/], Mika discusses how to build a movement, protesting in COVID times, making the jump from being a grassroots group to a political party competing in elections, and of course those creative tactics that Don’t Let Belgrade Drown has become known for. I found it fascinating talking to Mika. He’s warm, he's funny, and he’s very open about all the failures and lessons learned on his journey to becoming a significant political actor in his country. ABOUT RADOMIR AND DON’T LET BELGRADE DROWN Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)own [https://nedavimobeograd.rs/english/] (Ne da(vi)mo Beograd) is a Serbian political movement that is gathering large numbers of people interested in improving the living and working conditions of all our citizens; improving, conserving, and lawfully using common and natural resources, building democratic institutions, sustainable urban development, urban and cultural policies and incorporating citizens into the development of their environment. ABOUT THIS SHOW If you want to get in touch, the email address is hello@thetaproject.co [hello@thetaproject.co], and the show notes are available atwww.thetaproject.co [http://www.thetaproject.co/] CHAPTERS 00:00:00: Intro 00:02:46: The challenge: the Belgrade Waterfront mega-project 00:06:18: The value of satire 00:08:03: The Establishment attacks 00:10:50: From grassroots movement to political party: challenges and mechanics 00:17:18: Creative protest tactics 00:20:50: How to build a movement 00:24:32: Protest in the COVID era 00:27:53: Book recommendations 00:28:36: Outro

Antonis Bougias is a key person in the project Golden Dawn Watch, which has a single goal: to cover the ongoing trial of Greece’s neo-nazi party Golden Dawn. In this episode I talk to Antonis about the rise and fall of Golden Dawn, the project and the media failures that made it necessary, how to measure impact, and the challenge of trying to remain impartial in the face of neo-nazi ideology. Antonis gives us some great insight into an unconventional but effective digital activism project. The far-right is gaining power across the world, so the story of how he and his colleagues are tackling them in Greece, is increasingly relevant for all of us. About Antonis Antonis Bougias is a digital marketing expert, grassroots journalist, and activist. Based in Athens, he tweets under the handle @ypopto_mousi [https://twitter.com/ypopto_mousi/]. SHOW LINKS * Golden Dawn Watch [http://goldendawnwatch.org] * Antonis Bougias on Twitter [https://twitter.com/ypopto_mousi/] * Relevant articles: * After murder, defections and poll defeat: the sun sets on Greece’s Golden Dawn (The Guardian, September 21, 2019) [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/21/greece-sun-has-set-on-far-right-golden-dawn-murder-defections] * "Golden Dawn: the rise and fall of Greece’s neo-Nazis” (The Guardian, March 3, 2020) [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/mar/03/golden-dawn-the-rise-and-fall-of-greece-neo-nazi-trial] * Greece: Far-right activists in violent clashes to 'defend Europe' against migrants (Info Migrants, March 9, 2020) [https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/23294/greece-far-right-activists-in-violent-clashes-to-defend-europe-against-migrants] * Examples of groups that are successfully tackling the far-right: * NSU Watch [https://www.nsu-watch.info/] * Hope Not Hate [https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/] * Unicorn Riot [https://unicornriot.ninja/] * Books that Antonis recommended: * Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74034.Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death] * Twitter and Tear Gas by Zeynep Tufecki [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32714239-twitter-and-tear-gas?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=XVlMb6pJ4F&rank=1] CHAPTERS 00:00:00: Intro 00:02:26: The rise of the Golden Dawn party 00:04:46: The fall of Golden Dawn, and the failure of the media 00:09:36: How Golden Dawn Watch was born, and how it works 00:14:27: Measuring the project's impact 00:16:50: The challenges of staying impartial 00:19:51: Far-right ideology, and violence, in Greece today 00:21:02: An activist guide to tackling the far-right 00:24:45: What drives Antonis' activism 00:26:14: Book recommendations 00:27:15: Outro

In this episode I speak to Asteris Masouras [http://twitter.com/asteris], a global news curator and journalist, about what online activism is getting right -- and how it could improve. We kicked off our conversation with a deep dive into what global news curation actually is, before moving to Twitter’s value as a platform for activism, when to call a fascist a fascist, and deplatforming and censorship as political weapons, among other topics. I learned a lot from my chat with Asteris, and I hope you will too. About Asteris Asteris has been curating global breaking news on Twitter since 2007, where he follows stories ranging from the protests of social justice movements worldwide, to mainstream politics and conflicts around the globe. He was included in the Independent’s 2011 list of “The most influential non-celebrity users of Twitter”, and was an editor at Reportedly [https://reported.ly/], a real-time news experiment sponsored by Pierre Omidyar’s First Look Media. Asteris is also an editor for Global Voices Online [http://globalvoicesonline.org/], and a co-founder and editor of Global Voices in Greek. SHOW LINKS * Asteris Masouras on Twitter [http://twitter.com/asteris] * Open Source Intelligence [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_intelligence] * 2011 Indignants movement (Greece) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-austerity_movement_in_Greece#The_] * Steve Bannon and the New Yorker Festival [https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-bannon-sent-new-yorker-festival-down-in-flames-on-twitter-2018-9?op=1] * Steve Bannon’s “The Movement” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Movement_(populist_group)] * The Trial of Greece’s Golden Dawn Party [https://goldendawnwatch.org/?lang=en/] * Two Greek towns protest migrant transfers [https://www.france24.com/en/20191103-two-greek-towns-protest-migrant-transfers] (November 2019) * George Lakoff’s Truth Sandwich [https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/instead-of-trumps-propaganda-how-about-a-nice-truth-sandwich/2018/06/15/80df8c36-70af-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html] * Daniel Dale on Twitter [https://twitter.com/ddale8] (CNN reporter, fact-checking the president and other politicians) * Books that Asteris recommended: * Open Sources 2.0 [https://www.amazon.com/Open-Sources-2-0-Continuing-Evolution/dp/0596008023] * We The Media [https://www.amazon.com/We-Media-Grassroots-Journalism-People/dp/0596102275/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=we%20the%20media&qid=1579609533&s=books&sr=1-1] by Dan Gillmor CHAPTERS 00:00:00: Intro 00:01:38: A primer on global news curation 00:02:08: Verifying sources 00:04:08: Twitter's value as an activism platform 00:09:06: Is online grassroots activism making a difference? 00:10:02: Challenges for climate change activism 00:11:46: Deplatforming and censorship 00:16:16: When to call a fascist a fascist, and other labels 00:25:26: Two sides watching different movies 00:28:05: Lakoff’s “Truth Sandwich” approach to fact-checking 00:30:54: Grassroots protest as a model for change 00:33:59: Book recommendations 00:35:19: Outro MORE INFO For more information on Theta Project, visit www.thetaproject.co [http://www.thetaproject.co] Music: “Aerosol” by Mehran Khalili