Chris Carlsson, Executive Director of the multimedia history project, Shaping San Francisco, is a writer, publisher, editor, and community organizer. For the last twenty-five years his activities have focused on the underlying themes of horizontal communications, organic communities and public space. He was one of the founders, editors and frequent contributors to the ground-breaking San Francisco magazine Processed World. He also helped launch the monthly bike-ins known as Critical Mass
that have spread to five continents and over 300 cities.
Carlsson gives a hard-edged critique of work and society based on working for money. He reviles the current system of âwage slaveryâ which forces us to take jobs and do as we are told to earn money, thereby relinquishing our control over the world. We no longer think of ourselves subjectively as political agents who can make a difference in the world through our livlihoods. In fact, he feels that a huge percentage of the âworkâ currently being done is a complete waste of time, if not actually destructive of the planet-- such work as banking, insurance, real estate, advertising, military production and destruction, production of shoddy products designed to breakdown and be constantly replaced, etc. His vision of radical political change involves a deep transformation of our lives and approach to work. There are some signs though that a radical, community based revolution is beginning to grow and take shape. His new book, Nowtopia, extends his analysis of our current systems and documents how people apply their time and technological know-how to create a better world when they are not working for money. He calls for a move beyond the logic of money, markets and wage labor as the fundamental institutions which guide our society.
Recorded June 2008, Eugene, Oregon
Links of interest?
www.nowtopia.org
The Nowtopian (Blog)?.lipmagazine.org/ccarlsson/
Link? http://www.chriscarlsson.com
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Sue Suprianos Steppin Out of Babylon is a radio interview series covering a broad range of important issues in todays world: peace and war, human and civil rights, communication, the media, the environment, food security, racism, globalization, immigration and matters of the spirit.