http://futurehistorians.org/ 2026-04-08T23:04:19-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/ http://futurehistorians.org/lib/tpl/dokuwiki/images/favicon.ico text/html 2019-07-10T13:44:40-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=about-us&rev=1562780680&do=diff [Another World] Future Historians: Is Another World REALLY Possible? International Study Group and Collaborative Writing Project sponsored by Marxist Education Project and Victor Serge Foundation / convened by Richard Greeman About Us For more than a year, starting in September 2017, our Future Historians seminar met on a weekly or monthly basis, both in-person in New York City, and via online teleconferencing across a dozen time zones. Participants ranged from California to Moscow and poin… text/html 2017-10-27T12:01:24-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=africa&rev=1509120084&do=diff Sub-Saharan Africa Team Source Readings Please post under appropriate subtopic using this citation formula: YOUR NAME - FILENAME (of source document placed in dropbox) - Author, Title - Short Description/length - Proposed paper in _Add to Wiki Dropbox folder (?) text/html 2019-01-13T11:09:35-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=archives&rev=1547395775&do=diff Archives (old Sidebar) Then, Now and How Guide to the Grid * Internet * Catastrophes * The Economy * Crime/Corruption/Prisons... * Women * Planetary Consciousness * Internationalism * Organization * "Planning Factories" * Violence * Energy * Reconstruction * Work * From Development to Simplicity * Restoring the Earth * Transportation * Markets * Mystery of Commodities * Monopolies * Education * Cities * The Planetary Festival Envoi Snippets … text/html 2017-09-19T19:47:23-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=billions-rise&rev=1505864843&do=diff The Billions Rise Up An international general strike was brewing, revolution was in the air. On both sides, people were thinking about it, preparing for it. Unitary global strikes against multinationals multiplied. Properties owned by multinationals in the Third World – from fruit empires to oil installations – were being overrun by local labor and peasant associations. The international federation of strike committees quickly came to a consensus. The momentum was there. It was now or never for… text/html 2020-12-28T12:43:17-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=blank&rev=1609177397&do=diff Blank Page to Write On Write right here ... Future Historians text/html 2018-02-07T19:09:24-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=capitalism-how&rev=1518048564&do=diff How It Happened Second Negation by Sam Friedman 1. Notes on the Day after the Revolution As crowds partied loudly on glass-glittered sidewalks and dodged around potholes while promenading the Bowery, skirting the waves inching north three feet each year, text/html 2018-11-04T13:33:21-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=capitalism-now&rev=1541356401&do=diff The New Economy Now Speech by Head Teacher Marie-Claire Fresney to students at 2117 graduation ceremony (Postcapitalism-RG) As any three-year-old anywhere on the surface of this beautiful, wounded planet can tell you, the economic principles of our societies can be summed up in two simple words: Caring and Sharing. The values you learned at home and in Kindergarten will be the motors of adult activity as well. As you may have discovered in your studies, the words “economy” and “ecology” are … text/html 2018-02-07T19:01:59-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=capitalism-then&rev=1518048119&do=diff Capitalism Then By the early 21st century, it was common knowledge that income inequality had grown by leaps and bounds as a result of the neoliberal policies of the previous half-century. The United States was a case in point – in 2017 eight hyper-rich Americans owned as much as the entire bottom half of the nation's households – and that was no anomaly. Books such as Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century and Walter Scheidel’s The Great Leveller attempted to explain such stupefying disp… text/html 2018-03-16T11:27:19-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=capitalism&rev=1521214039&do=diff The Economy Capitalism Then Then The New Economy Now How we Got Here How text/html 2019-03-16T21:52:59-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=catastrophes&rev=1552787579&do=diff Catastrophes THEN RG- A century ago, in October 2017, journalist Dahr Jamail sadly observed: “The Earth is unraveling due to human-forced warming. We've changed the composition of the atmosphere, and are acidifying the oceans. The cryosphere is melting before our very eyes, and the seas are rising. Global wildlife populations have decreased nearly 60 percent since just the 1970s, and the current extinction rate of species is 1,000 times the normal background rate. Functional coral reefs could … text/html 2017-09-19T19:57:51-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=ceasefire&rev=1505865471&do=diff The Ceasefire The Officers’ Council in charge of the Pentagon immediately accepted the Federation’s call for a cease-fire. But the generals were divided on the question of whether to negotiate and with whom. Impossible to enter into negotiations with the Federated Assemblies without tacitly recognizing their sovereignty. On the other hand, the Officers’ Council could not ignore the strikers, for they controlled all the networks of civil transportation as well as access to oil and foodstuffs. Fo… text/html 2017-09-19T19:51:56-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=center-falls&rev=1505865116&do=diff The Center Falls Out The bourgeoisie was divided. Many business people were stunned by the sudden polarisation of society, frightened by the violence and uncomfortable with the Administration’s bluster, intransigence, lack of realism and apparent absence of any plan to resolve the international and domestic crises. Their comfortable world was on the skids. Retailers, manufacturers of consumer goods, small businesses and companies with cash-flow problems were bleeding to death financially. They … text/html 2017-11-02T15:38:43-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=china&rev=1509651523&do=diff China Team Source Readings Please post readings to the corresponding Dropbox and add to the session's Agenda using this formula: YOUR NAME - FILENAME (of source document placed in dropbox) - Author, Title - Short Description/length - Proposed paper in _Add to Wiki Dropbox folder (if applicable) text/html 2018-11-04T12:08:42-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=cities&rev=1541351322&do=diff Cities Then How Now While the country was repopulating itself with nature-lovers who wished to live and work near the earth, the cities were flourishing as during the great periods of city-states such as Athens, Thebes, Syracuse, Alexandria, Florence, Pisa, Toulouse, Montpellier. People began by banning the cars that under capitalism had invaded public space, terrorizing and asphyxiating citizens who were normally pedestrian. As a stopgap, they turned high-rise office buildings into dwelling… text/html 2017-09-20T14:54:29-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=compgame&rev=1505933669&do=diff The Computer Game Next, the members of the team behind “the-novel-where-you-are-the-hero,” along some left-leaning soft-ware designers, decided to design an an elaborate computer game on the same theme. They set up a cooperative build-it-yourself opensource Gamesters’ forum and set about creating something more dynamic, more realistic, more interactive and more nuanced than the novel. Advances in computer science opened new possibilities. A game with a multiplicity of “heroes” and “villains,” w… text/html 2018-11-04T14:37:57-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=contact&rev=1541360277&do=diff To contact the Future Historians, send email to AnotherWorldNYC@gmail.com We also have a Facebook group and a listserv on Google Groups. Videos of our online sessions are available on YouTube. text/html 2018-03-09T17:29:48-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=crime&rev=1520634588&do=diff Crime, Corruption, Prisons, Drugs Subtopics NARRATIVES Then How Now text/html 2018-11-04T13:34:44-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=culture&rev=1541356484&do=diff Culture Then How Now Education Juvenile prisons were abolished, those factories for molding docile employees, passive consumers and ignorant citizens, those stupidity factories that capitalism called “schools.” Children were now free to play and pursue their education to their own liking, according to their ability, satisfying their curiosity. Communities put at their disposal all they needed to teach themselves, and adults offered them workshops in math, science, history, music. text/html 2017-09-19T18:57:43-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=dance-craze&rev=1505861863&do=diff The Dance Craze to Save the World Joyful to celebrate their new-won unity and solidarity, multitudes of women everywhere began descending non-violently into the streets and dancing up such a storm that even the hired mercenaries of the capitalists had to put down their guns and join the joyful throng! The images of Billions of people dancing in the streets, flashed around the globe, became a paradigm of the potential of humanity’s radical Emergence. ‘The Dance Craze to Save the World’ amazed ma… text/html 2017-09-20T14:46:58-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=devel-simplicity&rev=1505933218&do=diff Development vs Simplicity As various projects were discussed in neighborhood assemblies and collectives, the debates generally turned around the choice between plans considered “productivist” and more conservative plans that put the emphasis on the reduction of work time and minimal environmental impact. Some Utopians argued in favor of a greater immediate effort to construct infrastructures that would make life easier or safer in the future. For exemple a crash program using carbon-based prod… text/html 2017-11-06T13:26:09-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=discuss-1&rev=1509992769&do=diff DISCUSSIONS * Castoriadis et al. * The Limits of Technology (Beth) * Doubts * Oct 8 general discussion -I (Jason) thought maybe we could try having a 'blank page' but one for each week, so I'm just trying it but people can of course roll it into something else * Blank Page to Write On * Problems/Solutions * Brainstorming November 5 text/html 2017-10-09T14:56:48-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=discuss-castor&rev=1507575408&do=diff Castoriadis et al. Castoriadis_WorkersCouncils_part-7.pdf 1958 prefiguration of democratically-run, self-managed economy by Greek philosopher and co-founder of “Socialism or Barbarism” group. Presented at Oct. 1 meeting. Very detailed explanation of how it could work for those interested. Prefigures use of computers and horizontal connection to self-organize. text/html 2017-10-08T12:40:07-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=discussion2&rev=1507480807&do=diff Discussion #2 And then you start the discussion ... text/html 2017-10-09T14:48:36-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=doubts&rev=1507574916&do=diff Doubts Does anyone have any? text/html 2018-11-18T13:25:13-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=dsa-history&rev=1542565513&do=diff Democratic Socialists of America - History DSA was the latest incarnation of the historic U.S. Socialist Party/Social Democratic Federation. The SP’s perennial Presidential candidate was E.V. Debs, who was thrown into prison by Democrat Woodrow Wilson for his opposition to the U.S. entry into WWI (in 1920 Debs garnered a million votes from his cell in Leavenworth). The SP was decimated by the post-WWI Red scare and later was pushed aside by the more radical Communist Party. The post-WWII Red … text/html 2017-09-19T19:10:46-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=econ-crisis&rev=1505862646&do=diff The Economic Crisis Although stock prices on the volatile and shaky Wall Street and Hong Kong exchanges continued to set new records and hedge-fund traders were still pocketing millions in complicated, opaque deals in derivatives, the working people were sliding deeper and deeper into what was euphemistically called the post-2008 ‘Recoveryession’ with millions unemployed, millions under-employed and forced into contingent part-time work with no security and no benefits. By now, unemployment be… text/html 2019-04-16T11:31:40-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=ecotopian-bet&rev=1555428700&do=diff Ecotopia: A Bet You Can’t Refuse One Chance in a Hundred? – Denial and Diversion – A Challenge for the Imagination – The Power of Utopias – Marx and Utopia – Fascist Dystopias – A Favorable Moment ? – Mutiny on Starship Earth One Chance in a Hundred? text/html 2017-09-30T16:03:35-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=education&rev=1506801815&do=diff Education Juvenile prisons were abolished, those factories for molding docile employees, passive consumers and ignorant citizens, those stupidity factories that capitalism called “schools.” Children were now free to play and pursue their education to their own liking, according to their ability, satisfying their curiosity. Communities put at their disposal all they needed to teach themselves, and adults offered them workshops in math, science, history, music. text/html 2018-11-04T15:13:37-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=emergence&rev=1541362417&do=diff Histories of Revolutionary Emergence This page references earlier texts by Richard Greeman, included here as inspiration and raw material to be incorporated into the work of the Future Historians. 1. Collective Creation * The Utopias Contest * The Scattering * The Novel Where You Are the Hero * The Computer Game 2. Billions vs. Billionaires text/html 2017-09-20T16:58:01-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=endgame&rev=1505941081&do=diff End Game The Revolution may be more or less violent and destructive. If the Virtual Billions have enough strengths the induce the Billionaires’ relatively privileged middle-class Allies to join them on the winning side, their combined strength becomes overwhelming. The final struggle is shorter and there is less violence. But if the Billions lack strength to attract Allies and the Billionaires are able to mobilise massive violence against the Billions, the process may degenerate into prolonged … text/html 2018-11-04T12:26:07-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=energy&rev=1541352367&do=diff Energy THEN State sponsored monopoly away from use value (feeding people) toward creating profits for corporations. $5 trillion/year is spent in direct and indirect subsidies to fossil fuel/nuclear energy producers (David, quoting IMF). [Tokar start 2017] text/html 2017-09-14T16:27:55-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=envoi&rev=1505420875&do=diff Envoi These are the three dreams I dreamed. Let other dreamers tell us theirs, and let them take their dreams for possible realities. Recall that what is possible in the present system is more and more unlivable. From that you can conclude that only the impossible is possible. What good is it to refuse to play the Game of the planetary revolution, to refuse to bet on Utopia? One chance out of a hundred is not so bad a bet when we have nothing to lose any more—except the spectacle of a sufferin… text/html 2018-03-10T16:54:40-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=europe&rev=1520718880&do=diff Europe text/html 2017-09-14T15:45:45-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=factories&rev=1505418345&do=diff Development vs. Simplicity As various projects were discussed in neighborhood assemblies and collectives, the debates generally turned around the choice between plans considered “productivist” and more conservative plans that put the emphasis on the reduction of work time and minimal environmental impact. Some Utopians argued in favor of a greater immediate effort to construct infrastructures that would make life easier or safer in the future. For exemple a crash program using carbon-based pro… text/html 2017-09-19T20:12:30-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=federation-appeal&rev=1505866350&do=diff The Federation’s Appeal All over America, local strike committees, occupiers, workers’ councils and community assemblies were galvanized into action – tending to the wounded, relieving the homeless in the zones of destruction, preparing to go underground and resist. Meanwhile, striking truckers began hauling in relief supplies while keeping the committees informed of troop movements along the Federal Interstate System. text/html 2018-11-04T12:28:06-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=food&rev=1541352486&do=diff Food Then Now How text/html 2019-02-25T13:37:55-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=friedman-noah&rev=1551119875&do=diff The Fable of Noah We! By Sam Friedman Once upon a time, in a land now gone below, clouds gathered, and rains began.These were not your ordinary clouds. They were very ominous indeed. The rai ndrops were the size of golfballs the first few days. But as the days passed, they grew to include baseballs andthen even basketballs.And there were lots and lots of rain-balls.Day after day, it rained. The puddles filled the roads. Roofs leaked, then gushed. In the districts where the poor people lived, r… text/html 2019-04-16T20:54:41-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=google-group&rev=1555462481&do=diff text/html 2018-10-17T15:58:13-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=grid-guide&rev=1539806293&do=diff Future Historians Project Guide to the Grid The goal of our Future Historians project is to construct a utopian narrative, from the viewpoint of historians who are looking backward from a future world society, a sort of popular utopian fiction in the tradition of Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888) and Morris' News from Nowhere (1890) – books whose popularity helped bring to life a new socialist movement at the end of the 19th century. Our utopian narrative takes the form of an imaginary textboo… text/html 2017-09-19T18:48:04-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=halmart&rev=1505861284&do=diff The Great Halmart Midnight Fire Sale It was the hottest day of the year, indeed one of the hottest on record, and by evening streets and front stoops were crowded with mostly poor people trying to beat the heat. At around 11 pm mysterious flyers began to appear in the neighborhoods, and the news spread instantaneously through text-messages, Twitter and the Internet: “At precisely midnight Central Time the doors of every Halmart Store in the country would open for a surprise ‘Summer Madness Clea… text/html 2018-11-04T12:29:45-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=imperialism&rev=1541352585&do=diff Imperialism Then Now How text/html 2017-09-30T15:36:13-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=improv-planning&rev=1506800173&do=diff From Improvisation to ‘Planning Factories’ Once peace was re-established on the planet, the Internet revealed itself as a horizontal networking and sharing tool as useful now as during the period of revolutionary emergence. The first order of the day was to make a rapid assessment of the state of the planet and its population so as to address the most urgent needs, the first wounds to treat.The Net facilitated first the gathering of information and then the matching up of needs and resources ar… text/html 2017-12-07T15:13:20-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=instructions&rev=1512677600&do=diff Instructions 1. Log in above with your user name and password. 2. To open an existing page, click on the page title in the left-side index (the “sidebar”). 3. To make changes to the page (“edit”), click the pencil icon at the right. 4. The editing window opens, where you can make your changes or additions to the text. For easy formatting, you may use the icons in the Toolbar above the window. See text/html 2018-11-04T12:38:18-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=internationalism&rev=1541353098&do=diff Internationalism Then [Greeeman 2017 start - Nationalism And Capital] The paradox of the late capitalist era was that the globalization of capital coexisted with, indeed exacerbated, nationalism. One might even argue that the fragmentation of the world into ethnicly based, militarized, nation-states was the ultimate political form of the rule of international capital. Features like militarism, state-sponsored terrorism, race- and religious-based repression and violence seemed to be necessary … text/html 2018-03-09T17:34:24-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=internet-recon&rev=1520634864&do=diff Reconstruction Ironically, thanks to the technology inherited from capitalist barbarism, reconstruction was less difficult than had been feared. The dismantling of the armaments industry freed immense industrial resources that could now be put to the service of the people and the planet. As in the ancient prophecies, people literally “beat their swords into plowshares.” The enormous bulldozers that had once served to demolish Palestinian houses now served to make water available to the Palestin… text/html 2018-11-04T12:40:32-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=internet&rev=1541353232&do=diff The Internet as a Planetary Platform Then The consensus among historians today, in 2117, is that the Internet played an essential part in the 21st Century emergence of vast planetary movements, strong enough to overthrow the dying capitalist world-system. But for a long time the Internet was a contested arena and a two-edged sword.The abandoned step-child of a U.S. military network designed to survive atomic attack, it was taken up by university researchers, students, hackers and networks of a… text/html 2017-10-25T15:05:16-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=latamer&rev=1508958316&do=diff Latin America Team Source Readings Please post under appropriate subtopic using this citation formula: YOUR NAME - FILENAME (of source document placed in dropbox) - Author, Title - Short Description/length - Proposed paper in _Add to Wiki Dropbox folder (?) text/html 2017-09-30T15:51:56-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=markets&rev=1506801116&do=diff Markets The old commercial shopping centers, now accessible by the network of public transport, were transformed into bazaars and surrounded by public parks in the place of the old parking lots. A great variety of local and regional businesses were installed in the centers in the place of all those faceless and lifeless stores from multinational chains like MacDonalds, Etam, Jennifer, Zara, Calvin Klein, and Benneton. Artisans could be seen there chatting with their friends and potential custom… text/html 2017-10-25T15:04:49-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=mideast&rev=1508958289&do=diff Arab Middle East Team Source Readings Please post under appropriate subtopic using this citation formula: YOUR NAME - FILENAME (of source document placed in dropbox) - Author, Title - Short Description/length - Proposed paper in _Add to Wiki Dropbox folder (?) text/html 2019-04-16T11:33:18-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=mod-arch&rev=1555428798&do=diff A Modern Archimedes Hypothesis Our planet – call it Starship Earth – is on a collision course with catastrophe. Today’s rulers – the officers of the ship – are too busy enriching themselves and fighting for domination to pay attention to the ecological, economic and social crises that are degrading life on the planet. If we don’t stop them soon, they will steer our ship onto the rocks of catastrophic climate change, social disintegration, endless warfare and nuclear holocaust. If there is even … text/html 2017-09-30T15:58:16-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=monopolies&rev=1506801496&do=diff Monopolies “In the period you speak about, the word “markets” was hiding in reality the effective monopoly of several hundred big multinationals. These groups were so powerful that the annual revenues of just one of them, General Motors, surpassed the GDP of all the Scandinavian countries put together. Thanks to international organizations and treaties (IMF, World Bank, NAFTA) these powerful multinationals had been able to dominate every domain of world economy, agriculture and media. In the na… text/html 2017-09-30T15:55:55-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=mystery-commodities&rev=1506801355&do=diff The Mystery of Commodities Explained It was a little laughing lady around 50 who answered me good humoredly: “Like many militants of your generation, you confuse two things: The natural market, on the one hand, a social institution going back to the beginnings of human culture, and on the other, this dangerous animal that invades society with capitalism, this monster hybrid half-thing and half- abstraction, this fetish of capitalism, merchandise! text/html 2018-03-09T17:35:59-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=natural-order&rev=1520634959&do=diff Restoring the Earth Little by little the natural order was re-establishing itself on earth. In the agricultural countries of the South, the peasants had taken back the good lands expropriated by invaders and used to cultivate luxury products for export to rich countries. These export commodities —coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, bananas, spices – had been produced by the labor of impoverished natives reduced to semi-slavery. Their children had ended up in horrible favelas, bidonvilles, slums and urba… text/html 2018-03-10T16:55:04-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=north_america&rev=1520718904&do=diff North America text/html 2018-03-10T16:55:18-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=oceania&rev=1520718918&do=diff  Oceania text/html 2017-10-10T22:07:52-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=oct8mtg&rev=1507687672&do=diff Oct 8 discussion Comments by Jason inspired by last Sunday’s discussion If I heard right and recall right, Brian had a focus on just doing the work where we are and can and not just doing defensive struggles (democratic confederalism) whereas David said he thought the question of state power had to be dealt with (I don’t remember if he said how). text/html 2018-11-18T13:35:33-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=organization&rev=1542566133&do=diff Politics Then [Previous Europe-specific text moved to Regions/Then/Europe] How Those seeking a way out of the political impasse of the early 2000s pointed to three key notions: The first was “grassroots”, since any new movement would need to establish the largest possible social base, while supporting all the other forces that shared its goals. The second was “communication”, since a new movement would also need to spread its values and policies as broadly as possible, by combining old and n… text/html 2017-10-20T13:37:48-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=page-tbd&rev=1508521068&do=diff Strikes Spread American womanhood had earlier mobilised to counter the super-patriotism of the White House, whose “Bring-em-on” belligerence had united the world’s terrorists and put thousands of young Americans in their line of fire. A nationwide support group of military mothers, spouses, sisters and sweethearts formed around the Website text/html 2017-09-30T16:08:54-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=planetary-festival&rev=1506802134&do=diff The Planetary Festival I saw arts and culture flourishing everywhere, as well as sports and nature activities. Many individuals, freed from the yoke of famine and long days of boring work, were just having a great time. Others simply rested, content to breathe air that was fresher and fresher. Music was being revived, dances, products and traditional legends. New ones were being invented. Remembered now was the pre-capitalist period, when in Europe the Catholic calendar listed 142 days of holid… text/html 2017-09-19T19:07:00-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=planetary-strike&rev=1505862420&do=diff The First Planetary Strike Meanwhile, labor activists in the international network were getting more and more impatient with the foot-dragging of established unions on the issue of trans-border campaigns, especially after the success of international Women's Dignity Day. Even local and national union officials – 90% of them men secure in their territorial fiefdoms text/html 2018-11-04T13:24:39-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=planetcon&rev=1541355879&do=diff Planetary Consciousness Then For centuries, socialists in capitalist societies struggled with an important yet seldom formalized issue: they had trouble communicating with those they wanted the most to help. They had arguments, powerful analyses, they could even be right! But they were not convincing. At least not enough to mobilize the masses those analyses were made to defend. text/html 2018-02-06T12:00:07-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=platform&rev=1517936407&do=diff The Internet as a Planetary Platform The consensus among historians today that the Internet played an essential part in the 21st Century emergence of vast planetary movements strong enough to overthrow the dying capitalist world-system. But for a long time it was a contested arena and a two-edged sword.The abandoned step-child of the U.S. military network designed to survive atomic attack, it was taken up by university researchers, students, hackers and networks of anti-capitalist protesters ar… text/html 2018-05-18T10:56:13-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=platform2&rev=1526655373&do=diff The Internet as a Planetary Platform Then The consensus among historians today, in 2117, is that the Internet played an essential part in the 21st Century emergence of vast planetary movements, strong enough to overthrow the dying capitalist world-system. But for a long time the Internet was a contested arena and a two-edged sword.The abandoned step-child of a U.S. military network designed to survive atomic attack, it was taken up by university researchers, students, hackers and networks of a… text/html 2017-09-19T20:03:55-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=popularity-bb&rev=1505865835&do=diff Popularity of the Game "Billions vs. Billionaires" Soon after its release, the class-struggle multi-player online computer game “Billions vs. Billionnaires” became a smash hit around the planet in game rooms and on the Internet. At every hour, elaborate matches were being played between teams hooked up in every time zone around the planet. Possible strategies and moves were being debated in chatrooms and Internet cafés to the point where teenagers’ arguments were beginning to sound like seminar… text/html 2019-01-13T11:10:34-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=premises&rev=1547395834&do=diff Premises 1. The Pascalian bet: one chance in 100 (or 1000) for humanity to survive the 21 st century? 2. If that chance exists, we ought to be able to imagine it as sci-fi, no? 3. The power of utopias to awaken people to struggle is proven 4. Today more than every people need a credible positive vision text/html 2017-09-20T16:54:38-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=princopp&rev=1505940878&do=diff Principal Opponents Two Principal Opponents face off on this Virtual Planet: the Billionaires and the Billions. The Game is a contest between the 99% and the 1%, Capital and Labor, Rich and Poor, Profits and People, Death and Life. Each Principal Opponent is allotted certain assets and certain liabilities. Each has strengths and weaknesss. Each will seek Allies who will be more or less reliable. text/html 2017-09-19T20:09:33-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=prisons&rev=1505866173&do=diff The Prisons Explode <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/nyregion/new-york-state-prisons-inmates-racial-bias.html> There were already more than four million men and women in US Federal, State and Municipal prisons, with numbers growing every day. Although new, mostly private jails were constantly being constructed, they rapidly overflowed with inmates thanks to the War on Drugs, the Patriot Laws, three strikes legislation and the despair of the young and the inner cities. In that vast prison pop… text/html 2017-11-05T08:07:40-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=problems&rev=1509887260&do=diff Problems / Solutions added per request of Beth 10/30/17 This page is for everyone to work with. Please add at least one solution for every problem you add. You may also add your solutions to those of someone else, or offer a new, improved version of an existing solution: Solution #2. Or, Problem Modified: may be added to better state a given problem. text/html 2017-10-05T13:25:42-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=profile_deborad585909&rev=1507224342&do=diff Hi there! :) My name is Hamish, I'm a student studying Human Ecology from Bagnoli, Italy. Take a look at my web blog myanmar vietnam cambodia text/html 2017-11-03T12:24:18-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=progglob&rev=1509726258&do=diff NEW SOURCES: Barbrook_ClassWargames.pdf in “CapitalismTexts” Topic Folder Introduction: The “Rules” of the fictional class-war game Billions vs. Billionnaires are intended both a satire of capitalism and a pedagogical primer in marxism and internationalism. Originally inspired by Bertell Ollman’s Class Struggle board-game, we have attempted to develop it as a card-game (based on Magic: the Gathering) and an actual-computer game. (See OldMaterial sub-folder in WikiDreams folder.) It is a very ro… text/html 2019-01-13T10:39:50-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=regions&rev=1547393990&do=diff Regions Then Africa Arab World / Middle East China Europe [Murphy 12/8/17] In the early decades of the twenty-first century, social democratic parties went down to defeat in country after country in Western Europe and were eclipsed by the rise of right-wing, national-populist, or even fascist-type parties. For a time the latter managed to appear to social and demographic groups that had historically supported not only the Social Democrats, but the Left in general, such as “blue collar” wor… text/html 2017-09-19T19:28:34-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=revolts&rev=1505863714&do=diff Revolts Everywhere Meanwhile, the poor were rising up in the cities and the projects. An angry street protest sparked off by the police killing of a ten year old girl in the Bronx had turned into a full-scale police riot in which hundreds were injured and several of bystanders killed. Amateur videos of police beating, shooting demonstrators were instantly aired on Facebook and picked up by the Networks. Angry young Blacks rioting in their poverty-stricken ‘hoods’ drove out the cops, burning s… text/html 2017-10-25T15:06:45-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=russia&rev=1508958405&do=diff Russia and the ex-Soviet Zone Team Source Readings Please post under appropriate subtopic using this citation formula: YOUR NAME - FILENAME (of source document placed in dropbox) - Author, Title - Short Description/length - Proposed paper in _Add to Wiki Dropbox folder (?) text/html 2017-09-20T14:52:37-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=scatter&rev=1505933557&do=diff The Scattering As often happened in those dark times, the visionaries who had come together around this project drifted apart. Some were tired or simply satisfied with what they had done. Others broke away over questions of principle or personality, in order to relaunch the project differently with people they found more compatible or closer to their own political wavelength. text/html 2017-10-25T15:06:17-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=se-asia&rev=1508958377&do=diff Southeast Asia Team Source Readings Please post under appropriate subtopic using this citation formula: YOUR NAME - FILENAME (of source document placed in dropbox) - Author, Title - Short Description/length - Proposed paper in _Add to Wiki Dropbox folder (?) text/html 2019-04-16T20:56:00-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=sidebar-original&rev=1555462560&do=diff Is Another World REALLY Possible? About Us Then and Now * To the Youth * The Planetary Platform * Catastrophes * Capitalism * Then | Now | How? * Crime/Corruption/Prisons... * Women * Planetary Consciousness * Internationalism * Organization * Violence * Work * Rules of the Game “Billions vs. Billionaires” * Programming the Game Globe * Principal Opponents * Strengths of the Billionaires * Weaknesses of the Billionaires * Weaknesses of the Billions… text/html 2019-04-16T20:56:39-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=sidebar&rev=1555462599&do=diff About Us To the Youth of 2118 How to Use This History Then, Now, and How (Index) A Bet You Can't Refuse A Modern Archimedes Hypothesis Histories of Revolutionary Emergence YouTube Channel Collective Writing Google Group Archives Wiki Instructions Contact Us text/html 2018-11-18T13:37:09-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=snippets&rev=1542566229&do=diff Snippets removed from other pages from Politics 11/18/18 - [This section improvised on line Oct. 21st meeting] As the label “the left” ceased to have substantive meaning - encompassing everyone from Hillary Clinton to Bob Avakian - a new terminology gradually emerged: [Sam Fassbinder on text/html 2018-11-04T14:32:03-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=start&rev=1541359923&do=diff [Another World] Future Historians: Is Another World REALLY Possible? International Study Group and Collaborative Writing Project sponsored by Marxist Education Project and Victor Serge Foundation / convened by Richard Greeman Naomi Klein has reminded us that “No is not enough.” To save the planet from impending catastrophe, people need a positive vision of a better world and the roads leading to it. In other words, a credible picture of a possible Utopia and a plausible account of how to get… text/html 2017-09-20T16:53:48-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=strengbilair&rev=1505940828&do=diff Strengths of the Billionaires Sides are drawn by lot. If you are lucky enough to have drawn a Billionnaire identity, here’s what you get. The Rules provide every Virtual Billionaire with three virtual mansions, a virtual yacht, a private jet, bundles of money and a staff of people to help you get whatever you want when you want it: sex, power, access. However, the serious assets of the Virtual Billionaires in the Game are corporate and bank capital, legal status, control of the media, global … text/html 2017-09-20T16:56:15-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=strgbillions&rev=1505940975&do=diff Strengths of the Billions Number. The Virtual Billions have the advantage of number. Six billion working families against a few thousand Billionaires. “Ye are many; they are few” wrote the poet Shelley 200 years ago. This is a decisive advantage if the Billions can establish a modicum of unity. text/html 2017-09-19T19:53:23-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=surgical-strikes&rev=1505865203&do=diff Surgical Strikes  The first targeted attacks launched by the White House against “nests of terrorists” within the US were presented as “surgical.” However, many of these nests were located in heavily populated zones, and there was inevitable “collateral damage” which the Presidential spokesperson “regretted” while placing the blame on a “handful of terrorists, outside agitators, foreign agents and malcontents” behind the disorders. Speaking of Cleveland, Ohio, Air Force General Mike Megabom w… text/html 2017-09-19T19:25:12-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=tax-rebellion&rev=1505863512&do=diff The S-11 Employee Tax Revolt That is exactly what happened when the dust cleared after the Great Collapse and the fast-track bailout of the too-big-to-fail Billionaire Banksters. Wage-earners woke up to the fact that they were now stuck paying off another $23 trillion in government debt. It was the $23 trillion straw that broke the camel’s back. When the crazy W-4 Tax Revolt appeared on an obscure website called Accountants Anonymous, the idea went viral. text/html 2017-10-19T14:29:27-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=techlimits&rev=1508437767&do=diff The Limits of Technology Note by Beth Holden Worship of the efficiency of technology is represented on the cover of the Oct. 23 New Yorker, where robots give alms to the beggared human. It's title is “Tech Support”. The desire to escape the bonds of humanity is also represented in Freud's use of the term thanatos, the death instinct. I use the word Freud, knowing that it causes many to cringe in fear and loathing. That response is understandable since our culture seems to be taking us awa… text/html 2018-11-18T10:42:20-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=textbook&rev=1542555740&do=diff How to Use This History Then, Now, and How is not a linear or monolithic narrative. The Index/Contents page is in the form of a grid or patchwork that can be read horizontally, vertically, or at random. So you can let curiosity be your guide, and create your own narrative. text/html 2018-11-18T11:15:30-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=the-grid&rev=1542557730&do=diff "Then, Now, and How" How to Use this Index TOPICTHENNOWHOWResources Dropbox To the Youth of 2118 CitiesthennowhowCitiesTexts ConsciousnessthennowhowConsciousnessTexts CrimethennowhowCrimeCorruptionPrisons CulturethennowhowCultureEducTexts Ecological CrisesthennowhowCatastrophesTexts EconomythennowhowEconomicsTexts EnergythennowhowEnergyTexts FoodthennowhowFoodTexts ImperialismthennowhowImperialismNationRace InternationalismthennowhowInternationalism InternetthennowhowInternetTexts Politicsthen… text/html 2018-06-14T15:01:56-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=then_and_now&rev=1529002916&do=diff Then and Now Note by Richard Greeman 6 Nov 2017 In our weekly international online Future Historians seminars we pretend that we're historians putting together a centennial history book for the teenagers of 2117. We are constructing utopias, if you will, but we are also explaining how we got here (a peaceful, cooperative world society in 2117) from there (the catastrophes of 2017). We're a group from a wide variety of backgrounds, spread out from L.A. to Moscow, including a subway track wor… text/html 2018-11-18T10:46:22-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=to_the_youth&rev=1542555982&do=diff To the Youth of 2118 Then, Now, and How looks back on the past century from the vantage point of 2118. We have much to be satisfied with. Today our planet is slowly returning to health. Humans have adjusted to a more extreme and chaotic climate. We have achieved a sustainable exchange with the rest of nature, we eat, we live in relative safety, we (mostly) get along with each other. In the process of restoring the environment, we have learned to cooperate and live together peacefully, respectin… text/html 2017-11-07T17:02:42-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=topic-teams&rev=1510092162&do=diff Topic Teams sign up here under your preferred topic(s). Women Anna, Jenny, Lola, Silvia Internationalism Richard, Dan, Alexey Organization Anna, Richard, Dan Violence Dickey, Barry (maybe on non-violence?), Richard Work Sam (maybe?), Richard, Fred text/html 2018-11-04T13:02:59-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=transform-work&rev=1541354579&do=diff Work Then How Now Everyone was working, but less and less. Many senseless jobs were abolished. There were no more CEOS, no more police, no more attorneys, no more watchmen, no more bankers, no more bank robbers and bank employees, no more cashiers, no more politicians, no more supervisors, no more teachers, no more foremen, no more blackmailers, no more head waiters, no more bureaucrats, no more plutocrats, no more mafia, no more military, no more jailers, no more exchange agents, no more sw… text/html 2018-11-04T12:42:28-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=transportation&rev=1541353348&do=diff Transportation Then How Now Free public transportation had already been put into place in the period of the planetary revolution, and that had happened in the most spontaneous manner. After a series of official labor strikes, the transport workers had understood that the only people they were seriously inconveniencing were other workers – depriving them of necessary trains, buses, subways to get to work. On the other hand, management, government and media were warning the public against str… text/html 2017-09-19T19:49:31-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=us-impasse&rev=1505864971&do=diff The United States at an Impasse The U.S. military found itself at an impasse. American armies were dispersed over Asia (Indonesia, Philippines), the Middle East (Irak, Afghanistan, Syria), Latin America (Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico) with over 400 bases in 70+ countries. Significant American forces remained bogged down trying to pacify these places as part of the “War Against Terror” and the “War Against Drugs.” The essence of these two ‘wars’ – like the ‘War on Communism’ that preceded them – app… text/html 2017-09-20T14:51:38-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=utopcontest&rev=1505933498&do=diff The Utopias Contest NOTE First written in 2003, this Dream of Collective Creation narrates how a bunch of visionaries like ourselves got together to work cooperatively to create a utopian vision for those bitter times. Their efforts, as you will see, eventually go viral and help spark the planetary revolt. Well, comrades, the first part of my self-fullfilling prophecy is finally being realized here today with the creation of our Future Historians’ Study Group and Collective Writing Project. text/html 2018-11-04T12:45:49-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=violence-topic&rev=1541353549&do=diff Violence Richard's Comments on Jenny's document J-Greeman_PoliceInteraction.docx Please go to Dropbox, Violence Topic folder, to read excerpt of her “Police Interaction with Communities of Color in the 
Context of American Racism” by Jenny Greeman for PAF 9100 Introduction to Public Affairs, Baruch College, which I have tried to transform from a Source to a Story by text/html 2017-09-19T19:44:27-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=violence&rev=1505864667&do=diff Violence The world’s employers, caught off balance, counterattacked violently. They desperately needed to make an end of this hydra-headed enemy. Whenever injunctions were defied, they called on the government to send in the troops. They arrested leaders and fired on crowds. Everywhere, the complicity of national governments with the interests of multinational corporations became plain. ‘Patriotic’ and ‘Religious’ leaders were unmasked as fronts for the corporations. Authority was discredited.… text/html 2017-09-20T16:53:14-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=weakbilaire&rev=1505940794&do=diff Weaknesses of the Billionaires The Rules of the Market give the Virtual Billionaires most of the advantages in the Game. But they also impose limits which the Billionaires must respect. The principal weakness of the Billionaires stems from contradictions in the Rules that keep them running as fast as they can to stay in the same place. First among these Rules is Competition. text/html 2017-09-20T16:52:33-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=weakbilions&rev=1505940753&do=diff Weaknesses of the Billions Hunger. The Billions, the poor working masses of the planet, are limited by the urgent need to find enough to eat and to feed and house their families each and every day. A goodly number of working people—the skilled and the fortunate in advanced countries—are still eating well, even very well (in France for example). But their survival depends on their salaries. So the threat of hunger is only deferred from month to month while awaiting down-sizing, privatization,… text/html 2018-11-04T13:01:29-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=women&rev=1541354489&do=diff Women How City of Joy, by Jenny Greeman As environmental disasters continued to sweep the world, middle class Americans suddenly found themselves to be refugees. Survivors of Hurricanes Harvey and Maria, and the wild fires on California found themselves without homes, jobs, food, or health care weeks, months, even years after the events text/html 2017-09-19T19:03:29-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=womens-day&rev=1505862209&do=diff The Women’s Day Uprising How did the epochal Women’s Global Strike for Dignity begin? The idea was first broached at the huge All-Women’s Assembly organised at the World Social Forum the year before. The topic was “Women at Work,” and participating were organised networks of female workers and professionals in every field including agriculturists, market-women and garbage-pickers (from the million-member Indian Self-Employed Women's Union). Panelists of specialists and women researchers docume… text/html 2018-11-04T13:21:52-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=work&rev=1541355712&do=diff Work Then How Now Everyone was working, but less and less. Many senseless jobs were abolished. There were no more CEOS, no more police, no more attorneys, no more watchmen, no more bankers, no more bank robbers and bank employees, no more cashiers, no more politicians, no more supervisors, no more teachers, no more foremen, no more blackmailers, no more head waiters, no more bureaucrats, no more plutocrats, no more mafia, no more military, no more jailers, no more exchange agents, no more sw… text/html 2019-01-13T14:32:04-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=yellowvests&rev=1547407924&do=diff Happy New Year 2119! News From the Future The Yellow Vests and the Origins of Today's Egalitarian Society by Richard Greeman Thanks to a technologically inexplicable process, the Future Historians’ International Study Group has received a New Year’s Greeting from our colleagues in the year 2119. We find it reassuring to learn that there still will be historians practicing their craft a century from now. They inform us that they are preparing a centenary celebration of the year 2019 on the th… text/html 2017-09-20T14:53:27-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=youhero&rev=1505933607&do=diff The Novel Where You Are the Hero Some other individuals got together in order to make these visions of possible Utopias more accessible and more popular. Among them manga artists, sci-fi writers, computer-freaks, creators of computer games. They talked about many things in a forum on the Web called “Utopias Unlimited.” To make their scenarios as realistic as possible, they tried acting out the roles of the various antagonists : some had fun playing the part of the capitalists while others playe… text/html 2017-09-19T20:08:00-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=youth-arise&rev=1505866080&do=diff World's Youth Arise By 2017, the planet was on the verge of a population explosion of young people. People under the age of 30 already accounted for about half the population of what was euphemistically known as the ‘developing world,’ and in Egypt, for example, they made up half the labor force. However, as the world economy continued to stagnate, there were fewer and fewer jobs, even for those young people who had some how managed to get an education. Even in advanced countries like Spain, y… text/html 2017-09-19T19:30:23-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=youth-break&rev=1505863823&do=diff The Youth Break Out A national student strike swept the country from the high schools and junior colleges to the elite universities. Classrooms were turned into forums. Local strike and community leaders were invited to speak on campus and explain their goals. Grad students and radicalised faculty members organised teach-ins exposing the misinformation in the media, exploding the myths of mainstream economists and political scientists. The ‘open’ campuses became a Mecca for radicals of all stri… text/html 2018-11-04T13:04:36-04:00 http://futurehistorians.org/doku.php?id=youth&rev=1541354676&do=diff Youth Then How Now