Operating far outside the lines of what he calls the “humanitarian-industrial complex,” freelance culture hacker and FreeSpace founder Mike Zuckerman goes into refugee settlements around the world, and works with their citizens to create spaces that better serve their communities.

While the NGOs wrung their hands over how to deliver aid in the COVID-19 pandemic, Zuck spent most of 2020 on the ground in Uganda, with the people of Nakivale, a refugee settlement of 120,000 near the Tanzanian border.

Together they built civic spaces including an amphitheater, a library, a radio station, and a Virtual Reality room in a shipping container, which they used to connect Nakivale to the Burning Man online multiverse.

Zuck brings lessons from Black Rock City to other temporary spaces around the world, helping displaced persons overcome “agency deprivation disorder” and reclaim their innate powers of self-reliance and self-expression.

mikezuckerman.com

burningman.org/culture/burning-man-arts/grants/global

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