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The Media Insurgency: Strategic Thinking for RealSocial Change
Or 
'For a Sustainable, Just and Democratic World We Need to Get Real About The Media,We Need DEMOCRATC MEDIA now!'
 
Part 0 – A Gentle Introduction (aka “What We Fight”)
Welcome to the the War!
This is a guide to how we can fight a media insurgency. You might have heard the term'insurgency' before – especially in relation to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It brings to mindAK47 toting men in a mix of military cast-off uniforms and jeans with covered faces anddetermined stares. But what is an insurgency? I like the definition used by the BBC back in 2004
1
;people 'rising in active revolt' – it has all the ingredients;
●
People
, as in nobody is forcing us to act – we do so for our own reasons of conscience.
●
Rising
, as in we are not petitioning the powerful to act on our behalf, we are doing itourselves.
●
Revolt
, as in our guide is our own moral compasses.This definition misses a crucial point though – if the sides in a war are evenly matched, it is not aninsurgency, but a battle we would fight. However when one side is less powerful than the other – however that is measured – in soldiers, tanks, money, resources – it is not classical warfare bu whatthe military thinkers call
'asymmetric warfare
'. In this case they have the money, the resources anda well established media machine. We lack resources and money – but we hame imagination and awhole bag of other tools and tricks (I will return to) – and so this is a struggle between their way ofdoing media (top-down, corporate, controlled and money-led) and our way of doing media – thedemocratic way. We're the insurgents and they are the occupying power – they occupy our mindsand the thoughts of our friends, families and communities. We must free our minds.
But I Don't Want to Fight in a War?
Tough luck – the war for your mind is already ongoing. Victory for the occupying powers is foryou to do nothing but carry on consuming as normal. Victory for the insurgency is a vibrant, freethinking democratic media.About This Guidetbc1http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4010000/newsid_4019000/4019065.stm
 
Part 1 – Farewell to Corporate Media (aka “Why We Fight”)
Understanding The Media
If you want to get technical,'media' is the plural of'medium' and a medium is ameans of exchange. If wewant to get real, Media, iswhat surrounds us every daywhether we like it or not. It isthe billboards, newspapers,TV, films and websites thatsurround us physically andmentally. It is persuasive andpervasive. My premise is this;as soon as you have a group ofpeople too large to informeach other face-to-face onwhat is happening, you need torely on third-party source todiscover/convey what is goingon.In our society, we are talkinghuge numbers of people – from hundreds and thousandsin our local communities, townand cities, to millions andmillions nationally; that thirdparty we have come to rely onis 'The Media'. 'Media' isshorthand for the corporate media institutions that form the mass of newspaper, TV, Internet, film,books, games we see, consume, interact with, ignore, are informed by, rage at or laugh with eachand every day. As we rely on The Media to inform us, they therefore play a pivotal role is thesupposed democratic system under which we are governed. Whether is in the decision of who tovote for or where to spend our money, they are the channel by which our world-view is shaped.However, The Media are (with a few exceptions, but I’ll come to that) businesses whose primaryfunction is to make money. Therefore it stands to reason that they will operate with a strong biastowards the maintenance of a world-view that provides the best conditions for them to aspire to thisprimary function. This is the zero-point of the media and from here the discussion can begin
.
My Bias
I have just accused the media of bias. Don't I have a bias.? Yes I do; I am going to state my biasand premise upfront so you (as the reader) know what angle this writing is coming from. By beingexplicit about what my opinions and ideology are, I am attempting remove any unspoken spin fromthis section and by doing so lay a clear path of communication between myself (as the writer) andyourself (as the reader.) I am doing this to avoid propagandizing – which is where you attempt tohide your bias and angle and present opinion as truth.My bias is that; I lean towards the anarchist view.
2
This is a political point of view whereby I
2If we want to drill-down even more, I am strongly influenced by the ideas of eco-anarchism. See
 Australian Media Ownership Relationships (source; Laurie Lock Lee,Optimice)
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