Solarpunk Manifesto

Rachel Rose O’Leary is a revolutionary programmer, poet, and co-founder of DarkFi,  a decentralized anonymous infrastructure for building sovereign digital communities. She is one of the leading voices behind the Lunarpunk movement 🌚:  a darker, more militant sister of Solarpunk that defends the right to resist, hide, and build worlds away from the surveillance gaze. 🔮Originally trained as a conceptual artist, Rachel left the art world to explore the political potential of software. Her path took her from early Bitcoin spaces, inspired by the writings of the Cypherpunks and Abdullah Öcalan in Rojava, to developing privacy tools for organizing in the shadows of the surveillance state. 🐦‍⬛✨⛓️With Rachel, we discussed the failures of mainstream crypto 🪙, her subversive Irish heritage 🍀and why privacy is not a luxury but a condition for democracy 🔐We hope you enjoy this unexpected synthesis of revolutionary strategy, symbolism and technical insight. 🧝🏻‍♀️Let there be dark. Instagram - solarpunk.manifesto / Music - @simocellmusic / Editing - Xenia Kuznetsova / Visuals - @louise_mscr @tengtenho_ @via_minhu / Studio - Edouard Picard from @lpiparis (00:00:25) Personal journey from art to Lunarpunk(00:06:48) Possibitily to criticize art is the result of postmodernism?(00:07:58) Can you describe your initial attraction to the crypto movement and what aspects eventually led to your disillusionment?(00:14:47) Institutional Bitcoin or free (Cyberpunk) Bitcoin? (Blockchain for banks)(00:19:52) Why did you decide to shift from the personal liberty towards the collective liberty?(00:25:59) Why the concept of privacy is essential for a democratic society?(00:28:56) How does normalization of transparency and surveillance come to life?(00:38:46) What should happen for people to feel the urge to privacy?(00:41:27) Core Concepts of Lunarpunk and DarkFi(00:41:59) What's the dark forest?(01:03:26) Is DarkFi a prefigurative project?(01:09:30) Can meaningful societal change be achieved through decentralised methods?(01:16:51) What groups of people would be able to benefit from Decentralised Technologies?(01:22:26) Are governance tokens similar to Direct democracy?(01:34:50) How decentralized technologies can influence on social or economic inequalities?(01:44:17) How we can do that not only extremist groups would benefit from decentralized technologies?(01:49:25) What gives you hope for the future?PS: this session was recorded in April 2024.

🧩 In this bonus episode, Eva, Tarek and Noor discuss their experience playing the Solarpunk Futures game with classmates at the Learning Planet Institute in Paris last february. They share how the imagination process went for them, what it taught them and how they see Solarpunk Futures being used in different settings. 🌀 A conversation full of ideas and excitement, you will want to try it out ! Listen to the interview of the kentucky-based activist and artist collective who created the game: link…“Solarpunk Futures is a storytelling game where players imagine the pathways to a desirable world from the perspective of a utopian future. Players use a deck of cards to remember Ancestors and work together using Tools and Values to overcome a set of real-world Challenges. Through dialogue and collaborative worldbuilding, collective and visionary narratives emerge of a new society, along with plausible scenarios for how to get there”Solarpunk Futures is a project by @solarpunksurfclub, led by members Nick Lyell & Max Puchalsky. Download the cards to play right here:  https://thefuture.wtf/ Instagram - solarpunk.manifesto / Music - @simocellmusic / Editing - Xenia Kuznetsova / Visuals - @louise_mscr @tengtenho_ @via_minhu / Studio - Edouard Picard from @lpiparis PS: this session was recorded in February 2024.

🧩 Imagine a game that allows you to explore political desires without anyone being able to pull the "that’s just impossible" card on you. A collaborative game where you have to creatively solve interesting issues in a way that seems low stakes, but that actually gets you to listen and think hard about important topics. A game where you learn as much from what you can and cannot fathom. 🏄‍♂️🌻 This episode features the five members of the Solarpunk Surf Club, a kentucky-based artist collective that created Solarpunk Futures, an open-source tabletop role-playing game designed on backcasting principles and the social and ecological aesthetics of Solarpunk. This episode is in two parts: the interview of the SPSC collective + a bonus episode featuring our classmates. In this one, SPSC members Nick, Borrealis, Alyssum, Max, and, went into details about the sources of inspiration and intentions they infused the game with. We obviously talked about solarpunk and why they chose to identify with the movement as a collective. They also shared with us what it’s like for them to live and get organised in a conservative state in the US.  If you are interested in Solarpunk’s activist and creative dimensions, this episode is for you! Instagram - solarpunk.manifesto / Music - @simocellmusic / Editing - Xenia Kuznetsova / Visuals - @louise_mscr @tengtenho_ @via_minhu / Studio - Edouard Picard from @lpiparis (00:00:00) Introduction(00:00:47) W​​hy Solar Pvnk Surf Club? (00:02:37) The Green Room Project(00:03:40) Personal Journeys to Solarpunk(00:07:47) Concept and appeal of Solarpunk(00:11:34) Experiences of Being a Solarpunk in C0nserv@tive States(00:16:52) Playing Solarpunk Futures in Diverse P0litical Contexts(00:25:59) The Role of Barriers in the Game(00:28:53) Choosing Games as a Medium for Solarpunk (00:35:20) The Role of Tarot in Games and Contemplation(00:37:25) Spiritual Dimension of Solarpunk(00:38:40) Mindsets Encouraged by Solarpunk Futures(00:41:40) Discussing the Gameplay(00:45:34) A Board Game without a Board(00:48:18) Unorthodox Formats of Activism(00:56:18) Inspirational Communities and Movements(01:03:25) Qu33r Kinship and Prefiguration(01:08:43) CareTactics Podcast(01:14:58) Borrealis on 🫄and Ab0rtion Care(01:18:57) Finding Hope and Sustaining Act1vismPS: this session was recorded in February 2024.

🌞 Solarpunk Manifesto is back ! 🧙‍♂️ Andrew Sage (from the Youtube channel Andrewism) is a thinker, poet and video-essayist based in Trinidad. With each of his videos, he serves us a colorful platter of forgotten histories and inspiring takes on what humanity is actually capable of. An anarchist at heart, Andrew uses Solarpunk to vehiculate anti-hierarchical values and possibilities. ✊ We talked about the flawed myths of human nature, the role of education and upbringing in pushing back against the system, and how to get organized for the small “r” revolution. 🍃 Andrew’s hope is grounded in an impressive self-directed research and archival work. 🔎 His hopeful speculations are grounded in an impressive self-directed research and archival work. Andrew's YT: https://www.youtube.com/@Andrewism Andrew's Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/andrew-ism Instagram - @solarpunk.manifesto | Music - @simocellmusic | Visuals - @louise_mscr @tengtengho_ @via_minhu | Studio - Edouard Picard from the @lpiparis | Editing - Xenia Kuznetsova (00:00:30) Introduction to Andrewism (00:03:09) Dangers of Capital R Revolution (00:05:44) Andrew's journey to Solarpunk (00:08:12) Solarpunk and anarchism (00:14:29) Debunking the myth of flawed human nature (00:22:40) The role of education in shaping human nature (00:26:05) Psychological Mask (00:39:45) Community building & solidarity (00:48:15) Question on Ecotopia: a pessimistic view of racial integration (00:56:50) Target audience, reaching non-leftist audiences (01:00:40) Experience of organizing and engaging people (01:13:31) Experience with people who are indifferent or pessimistic (01:15:18) What kind of comminities can bring big changes? (01:24:10) Art and Solarpunk (01:25:16) What gives you hope?

🌁 For the second episode of Solarpunk Manifesto, we wanted to set the record straight that Solarpunk imaginaries are not Utopian. Or at least, not in the colloquial sense of the term, as perfect and ideal states, standing far away from us both in time and space. 💭 For this, we interview David M. Bell, a scholar who studies utopias, author of the book: Rethinking Utopia: Place, Power, Affect. Through his problematization of the concept, David shows us that Utopia is very much about the present, the real and the felt. It manifests in the resistance of the oppressed and cultural practices that instantiate different forms of being. 👓 David is a curator, writer and musician interested in utopianism, public art and ecology. His book, Rethinking Utopia: Place, Power, Affect, was published by Routledge in 2017. He’s also a member of the Out of the Woods collective: a collection of their essays was published as Hope Against Hope: Writings on Ecological Crisis by Common Notions in 2020. Check his website here: https://davidmbell.info Instagram - @solarpunk.manifesto Music - @simocellmusic Visuals - @louise_mscr @tengtengho_ @via_minhu Studio - Edouard Picard from the @lpiparis (00:00:00) Why is David interested in Utopias? (00:01:54) Thomas More’s Utopia (00:05:05) Utopian Elements in Culture (00:09:28) Musical Improvisation as Utopia (00:14:16) The Prevalence of Anti-utopianism (00:19:43) Hope vs Optimism (00:21:31) Educating Our Desires to Envision Better Futures (00:25:25) The Translation of Utopian Thought into Social Movements (00:27:29) Critical and Speculative design and Utopianism (00:30:40) Intentional Communities and their Impact on Societal Imagination (00:35:16) Communities and their Revolutionary Potential (00:40:12) The Notion of No-Alternative (00:41:27) Is Capitalism Utopian? (00:46:44) Why is Capitalism so Resilient? (00:51:45) Is Now a Good Time for Сhange? (00:56:38) David’s Source of Hope

In this captivating discussion, Andrew Dana Hudson, a pioneering solarpunk and narrative strategist, dives deep into the origins and ideals of the solarpunk movement. He highlights inspiring real-world projects that embody sustainable practices and the importance of community. The conversation contrasts solarpunk with cyberpunk, advocating for an optimistic vision centered on renewable energy. Andrew also addresses the challenges of greenwashing and the potential of gamification in promoting the Green New Deal, ultimately urging listeners to demand a hopeful and sustainable future.