Comments on: New issue of Left Turn

by: kg

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 21:00:33 +0000

Also, the point about non-staffed and non-funded isn’t really about it being non-exploitative. Most things under capitalism involve exploitation. The point is retaining political independence both from advertisers and from liberal foundations. Easier said than done, so props to LT!

Left Turn just sent out a fundraising appeal, so now’s a good time to give!

by: eliot

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 00:14:00 +0000

sum1 & k.see’s points bring to mind john emerson’s article on artists’ cooperatives which i wrote about here.

print publications are incredibly hard to run. i ran one for two years and during production cycles it was anywhere from 20-50 hours of work per week. then in between production cycles you have to fundraise, network, recruit writers and photographers, etc.

blogs are a lot, lot easier to run but building up actual readership is hard, and the quality of the readership is totally different. there’s something about having a physical, printed publication that just makes the words and messages more real, more tangible.

by: k.see

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 18:03:31 +0000

I was curious what form of “work” in a capitalist society isn’t exploitation, self- or not. I’d much rather work for myself or in a co-operative
setting, than in most “straight profit-driven” businesses.
The reality, to me, is that everyone’s got a hustle, if not they’ve got a trust fund.

More importantly
It sounds to me that sum1 has personally had negative experiences and I am more interested in hearing about their
frustrations, difficulties, problem, etc with co-operative, volunteer run ventures so we can avoid them, or at least be prepared for them
in the future.

by: Ali G (hear muh now)

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 15:39:24 +0000

I think the problem is that your (or most peoples) weblogs are seen by only a handfull of people. Well distributed print media can still reach many more people, specifically those who dont spend all their time on computers or even have the internet. To say that to be driven by sales is still self-exploitation and desperate adherence to market forces seems a little ‘activist-jargon heavy’. Im sure the magazine does not depend on sales at Tower records or Borders Books to make its money, its based on support from the broader activist community who in various ways support the project. Also Left Turn (unlike almost every other magazine) seems to not depend on advertising at all (not even from ‘progressive’ groups which is impressive in this day and age. Lets find ways to all support this and other radical media institutions!

by: sum1

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 23:44:44 +0000

well, sounds very nice the way you describe it, but “volunteer-run and funded completely by sales” is still self exploitation and desperate adherence to market forces. i’ve done both and was frustrated afterwards. if you do volunteer media work for an activist public, they are so demanding even though they don’t pay you that your frustration doubles. when you charge people for your media, a magazine for instance you are trapped in capitalism completely because you try to make money off something thats not profitable without being corrupted. either way you end up overworked, frusttrated and disillusioned.

only if everybody (every group) does her/his own magazine or media work without spending too much time on it, it can somehow work. like i do with my weblog. so the only thing you can do is to teach people how to do it by themselves.