A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #25-26 - Let a thousand self-managed platforms bloom! The shutdown of Autistici/Inventati. Taking the next step. (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In the last issue of *Umanità Nova*, due to time constraints, only the 
announcement regarding the shutdown of services provided by 
Autistici/Inventati (A/I) was published. However, there was an article 
recounting what had happened and-in part-explaining the reasons behind 
this drastic decision. A week later, we attempt to take stock of the 
situation and envision future scenarios. --- The vast disparity between 
the force deployed by the USA and the defenses a small collective could 
muster is what should give us the most pause for thought. It is an 
imbalance truly terrifying in scale. This is one of the factors that 
influenced the decision to bring an end to a project that was historic 
within the landscape of digital activism. Yet, in the statement 
announcing the closure, A/I also noted that the decision was intended to 
safeguard, in some way, the people involved in their story:

"We cannot accept a confrontation or allow ourselves to be exploited in 
ways that endanger their lives-or the lives of their loved ones-leaving 
them at the mercy of autocrats, fascists, and agencies operating outside 
the law. The very real possibility of causing criminal or financial 
repercussions for someone close to us, or even for someone who simply 
interacts with us, leaves us no other choice."

These words clearly reveal the gap between the two conflicting visions 
of communication: one involving a Network entirely subservient to 
profit, and another that claims and carves out spaces of freedom within 
the world of commodities. They also highlight the difference between two 
completely opposed and irreconcilable ethical stances. Over the past 
three weeks, many have expressed solidarity with A/I in various ways, 
demonstrating that the violent impact of the attack on a large number of 
people certainly did not go unnoticed.

Since August 26-the date the Executive Order was published-these events 
have been discussed and analyzed at various levels, ranging from 
personal social media posts and interviews with prominent figures in the 
field to statements issued by institutional bodies.
What has been missing, at least so far, is widespread coverage of this 
story among the general public. "Authoritative" newspapers virtually 
ignored the news-news which, as we noted last week, actually served as 
the basis for a sordid right-wing press campaign against the PD. The 
same applies to television; to the best of our knowledge, coverage was 
limited to a single interview with a writer on Lombardy's regional news 
program, a radio show featuring journalists specializing in digital 
media, and perhaps a few other items we might have missed.

Naturally, this was not the primary reason for the lack of attention 
paid to the story by mainstream media outlets. Factors that certainly 
played a role included the difficulty of recounting an affair with 
complex technical aspects and-from a legal standpoint-an even more 
intricate nature. Not to mention the political implications.
To cite just one example, "Banca Etica" froze the account A/I used for 
its operations. Setting aside questions regarding the legitimacy of this 
deplorable action, the fact remains that if the Association wished to 
shut down-as it has announced-it could not do so; its bylaws stipulate 
that, upon closure, any remaining funds must be donated to a similar 
association-a step clearly impossible to take while the account is 
frozen. A/I quite rightly filed a lawsuit against the bank.

It should also be noted that most statements issued by official bodies 
and organizations-while containing polite expressions of protest 
regarding the incident-were not followed by any concrete acts of 
solidarity. In almost every instance, they merely complained about the 
lack of appropriate legislation and chanted the mantra of "sovereignty" 
in unison.
Suddenly waking up to the realization that if the US imposes financial 
sanctions, all banks-at least Italian ones-must bow down, reveals 
nothing but immense and culpable hypocrisy.

This is the exact opposite of what happened online, where we saw public 
interest steadily grow as people grasped the magnitude of the event-and, 
above all, as they realized its short- and medium-term consequences. 
These effects will primarily impact the thousands of people who had used 
A/I's services for years and now find themselves, overnight, without 
email, blogs, websites, or mailing lists.
But, more seriously, anyone now seeking tools-even simple ones like an 
email account-that are managed in a way radically different from 
commercial corporate models will struggle to find them.
This is because there are no other groups providing tools similar to 
those A/I offered. Or, more precisely, such groups do exist, but they 
are few, small, and virtually unknown.

At this point, the classic question arises: "What is to be done?"
In a statement-likely the last one to be published-the A/I Collective 
answered that question:

"...now is the time to take the next step, to push our imagination 
beyond the narrow horizon imposed by these dark times. We hope that this 
attack on network freedom sparks a strong, creative collective 
resistance. May a thousand platforms bloom, a thousand hacktivist 
collectives form, and a thousand servers be born! May the end of A/I 
give rise to a myriad of infrastructures for dissent that were never 
before imagined."

Even while forced to shut down, the A/I Collective clearly stood by its 
work and called on others to carry it forward.
Long before the attack, a document titled the "Orange Book" had been 
circulated online; it serves as a practical manual for replicating and 
distributing services to build a resilient network of self-managed 
servers. Although this is a read intended for specialists, it serves as 
further proof that, at times, certain ideas are not merely slogans or 
empty words, but something concrete made available to everyone.
By the time this article is published, the computers that have carried 
the author's emails for twenty-five years will have been shut down, and 
the work underpinning the A/I project will have passed into history-not 
to gather dust, but, we hope, to be available to anyone wishing to learn 
about it or, better yet, emulate it.
Meanwhile, on the evening of September 10th, during a hockey match in 
Switzerland, a long banner in Italian appeared in the stands: 
"Solidarity with Autistici/Inventati. Let us remain human."
Resistance organizes on all fronts, too.

Pepsy

https://umanitanova.org/che-mille-piattaforme-autogestite-sboccino-chiusura-di-autistici-inventati-fare-un-passo-in-piu/
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