Today at #OccupyAmsterdam, as I’ve been doing each day this week, I was speaking with people, interviewing, collecting information and testimony to report to you the audience.  Being the activist- journalist that I am, I climbed up on stage to say something.

My Buddy Marc took video that includes crowd shots. If you’re interested in seeing more of the atmosphere today.

Image by noodlepie on flickr

Greetings from Lisbon, Portugal, where I’m tending to both family business, and soaking up all I can when it comes to how things are REALLY going here for the individuals that make up this country. The results, in both text and audio will be coming soon, as well as the next edition of the DIY homesteading series which I’ve greatly enjoyed working on.

For today I wanted to go back in time a few months, back in June I was in Georgia doing some work on behalf of Small World News. While I was there I was invited to give a talk at the Frontline Club, and the topic was crowdsourced funding with some extra attention on flattr. Afterwards I did a longer form interview on the topic of journalism and new media. You’ve probably seen me do many of these in the past, but just in case, here’s how it turned out:

The Future of Media, Frontline Club Georgia

Me on stage at CCC2011

At this year’s Chaos Communication Camp I decided to talk about what i’ve learned regarding how the minerals in our mobile devices are mined.  The infamous process including all the middle players and related groups is increasingly being looked at as people around the world wake up to the reality of what this thing is that we carry with us everywhere everyday.  In waking up, more and more people are demanding transparency and a real standard of ethics when it comes to how phones are made. One such group of people here in the Netherlands came together under the name Fairphone. In my talk I get into the activities and discoveries made by fairphone in the past year during a fact finding mission in Congo (DRC).

(full credit to the documentation team and everyone who made it possible to have this video and share it online)

as a side note: A huge thank you to everyone at the NAI center in Jalalabad, Internews who were great to work with, and also the good people at the Taj who made us feel at home and showed us another amazing side to working in Afghanistan.  We will surely stay in touch and look forward to seeing you all again. ( I say “we” because Im positive the same goes for my colleagues)

Only decades later was his name restored and the story of his heroic deed recognized throughout the world. However at this very moment his magnificent home continues to be neglected and teeters on the brink of collapse, waiting for a plan to be approved and carried out, to restore it as a symbol and tribute to those in this world who don’t just follow orders and who take action to help others regardless of the risk to themselves.

I had a chance to visit Casa do Passal during Carnaval in Cabanas over the past few days.  The following video contains moments from that visit.

27C3 Moments in Video from BicycleMark on Vimeo.

This brief video clip is from one of the many marches against the evictions, as squatters and supporters marched from Waterloo Square through the heart of Amsterdam.

More info at: squat.net or indymedia.nl

Volt in DC

During my journeys in the United States over the past month, I found myself in the always educational and fun presence of Ryanne and Jay, pioneer video bloggers, world citizens, and curious minds. On one fine day in Washington DC we saw a test drive stand for the hybrid electric car by Chevrolet, the Volt. We decided to go check it out and of course, I was recording for the internets.

Note: None of us are shills for Chevy, but we are interested in alternative transport options and electric cars.

Therefore before I can move on to the now, I must first release this last Afghanistan video including alot of footage I had not yet used in a vlog entry.

We rambled into the Kabul Golf Club one afternoon in September, as we had heard there was a golf course in the outskirts of Kabul where one could play nine holes like no others in this world.  What we found was a charming and forgotten course with a staff that are extremely happy to see you.  Among the stars of the day was Mohammad Afzal Abdul, club Pro and our escort the entire afternoon.  He has run the club for the last 40 years, facing imprisonment twice and a laundry list of problems as Afghanistan has struggled over the last few decades.  The following is a video interview I did with him as we made our way through the course.