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By Any Media Necessary: Mapping Youth and Participatory Politics

Books on FIRE

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Contents of this tag:
1. KONY 2012
4. "FA$T CA$H: Easy Credit & the Economic Crash" - (Music Video by Dorian Electra)
6. Revolution in Egypt: A 4-Minute Introduction
7. Capitol Hill Day with The Can Kicks Back
10. Iraq Veterans Against the War
11. To All My DREAMheads
12. I'm in Love with Friedrich Hayek by Dorian Electra ( Official Music Video)
16. #BYP100 Responds to George Zimmerman Verdict
19. Part 1 DC DREAM Act National Graduation
20. Books on FIRE
22. North Korea: Explained
23. "Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem
26. UC Davis Pepper Spray Incident, Four Perspectives
27. Why I Can't Go to LeakyCon
28. Why Does Congress Suck?
29. Coming out of the Shadows - Dream Activist Philadelphia
30. Understand the Sequester (Spoiler: It's Bananas.)
32. Liberty in North Korea: Rescue Campaign
33. Supply & Demand Rap: WE GOT IT 4 CHEAP by Dorian Electra ( Official Music Video ) Uploaded on Dec 12, 2011 This song was created to enter the Supply and Demand Video Contest sponsored by Fayetteville State University's Hackley Endowment. We are students at Shimer College and Northwestern University. Made by: Dorian Electra & Neil Lokken Music by: Matt Kawahara Special Thanks: Lynn Hong, Bryan Maddox, Robin Babb, Allison Savage, Allon Libermann, Rachel Davison. LYRICS: Yo. We got it 4 cheap And we're tryin to be supplyin So we got to compete. OH. And we try to understand The laws we all cant help but follow called: SUPPLY AND DEMAND If I'm sellin somethin Here's what I got to know To ensure my sales be bumpin If we raise the price, fewer people be buyin If we push that price down low, customers be multiplyin It's not to simple just to sell it for cheap You got to cover your costs Ya tryna make ends meet Say we were forced to keep our price way down. LOW Our goods become more scarce become the talk of the town. OH If the law won't let us respond in turn by raising our money PRICE Then our lovely customers will have to pay the price in non- monetary costs such as waitin in line On day when you could be HUSTLIN and now you wastin yo time So when the prices are fixed costs remain, don't fall for tricks That extra cost don't disappear It just shift from here to here You got dem long long lines? Wait a sec, shorty, that ain't right UHM. SHORTY DAT LOOK LIKE A SHORTAGE SHORTY, SHORTY DAT LOOK LIKE A SHORTAGE Ooo. When dat price so low So they be rushin to da store tramplin one another to DA FLOOR uh Ya get it? It's about supply and demand. Ya get it? Yyeeaaaaaaaaahhhhh Yes sir, sir yes, what about a surplus? Yes sir, sir yes, what about a surplus? When you got leftover GOODS on your HANDS Cos the quantity supplied exceeds the quantity demanded Yo. We got it 4 cheap And we're tryin to be supplyin So we got to compete. OH And we try to understand The laws we all cant help but follow called: SUPPLY AND DEMAND
35. InterOccupy, Occupy Sandy Meeting 11-18-12 (raw footage)
37. Why We Rise
41. A Quick Guide to Understanding Immigration Reform
42. The Case Against Gun Background Checks
43. No Justice No Peace: California's Battle Against Police Brutality & Racist Violence
45. Cathy Cohen, Ph.D., Challenges Voter ID Laws
46. Target Ain't People
47. Black And Yellow - AnCap Remix
48. The Can Kicks Back
49. West Wing Weak: Your Guide to Obama's Scandal-Filled Week
55. Statement and poem by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Climate Summit 2014 - Opening Ceremony
57. Orphans vs. Empires: Andrew Slack at TEDxYouth@SanDiego
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Harry Potter Alliance

About
Inspired by "Dumbledore's Army" in the Harry Potter narratives, the Harry Potter Alliance (HPA) has been organizing fans around political and philanthropic issues since 2005. Based on the House Cups in the books, the Alliance is organized according to the "Chapter Cup" model. Tapping fan infrastructures, including podcasts, blogs, Wizard Rock concerts, mp3 networks, and YouTube celebrities, HPA runs its own campaigns tapping its 70 local chapters and supports efforts organized by partner NGOs.

See Neta Kligler-Vilenchik's By Any Media Necessary Chapter, Decreasing World Suck, to learn more about the HPA and other groups who employ fan activism.
Harry Potter Alliance Media
The Harry Potter Alliance, A History
Why I Can't go to LeakyCon
Accio Books: LeakyCon Edition
How to Change the World
Books on FIRE
Andrew Slack Tedx Talk
“Decreasing World Suck” The Harry Potter Alliance (HPA), a non-profit organization established in 2005, encourages civic and political engagement amongst Harry Potter fans by using metaphors from J. K. Rowling’s best-selling fantasy series. When the HPA was established, Harry Potter fandom was at its peak: two of the books had not yet come out, the movie series was just gaining steam, and the fan community was thriving. Yet even a 7-book, 8-movie series that has become a world phenomenon ends at some point. In terms of release of original content, that end came in July 2011, with the release of the last movie in the Harry Potter series. At that time, many feared that the fandom was also dissolving . At Leakycon 2011, a grassroots fan convention, young fans were talking about “the end of an era”, linking the series’ conclusion to their own ending childhood. As one HPA member puts it, with some degree of overstatement, “so obviously Harry Potter is over, sadly” (Daniela, 23). What happens to a civic organization that grounds itself in the connection to a prominent content world, when that content world increasingly loses its traction? The HPA tried to pre-empt this question by launching the “Imagine Better” Project in July 2011. The idea: applying the approach that has proven successful for the HPA—connecting fans around story worlds they love to create real world change -- to collaborations with other fandoms. The HPA can be seen as a prime example of fan activism—harnessing fan enthusiasm toward real world change. Yet at the same time one may ask, to what extent is the example of the HPA a singular one? The Harry Potter phenomenon, after all, has been a remarkable success, with a generation of children “growing up with Harry”. This fan community was recognized as a particularly active and creative one -- among the first major fandoms to emerge alongside the internet and employed its increasing affordances. Moreover, many of the themes of the books seem particularly resonant with real-world issues, complemented by J.K. Rowling’s own history working for Amnesty International. Much like Invisible Children, the HPA uses media production and circulation to direct attention onto issues their members care about and in the process, to try to reshape the cultural and political agenda. Yet this model is not the only possible approach to fan activism. Consider the example of the Nerdfighters. Nerdfighters are an informal online community that took shape around the YouTube channel of the Vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green. The two brothers upload two videos a week, about “nothing in particular”, though always with their unique look and feel, including a fast pace of speech, multiple jump cuts, and elaborate use of inside jokes and jargon. Nerdfighters are not connected around a fictional content world, but rather around their affiliation with the Vlogbrothers and a broader “nerd” identity, yet the group has developed a shared social agenda, broadly characterized as “decreasing world suck”. Beyond the Vlogbrothers’ own videos discussing current affairs (e.g. “Revolution in Egypt: a 4 minute introduction”), the young participants also are creating and posting their own videos in support of diverse charities and non-profits. The Nerdfighters have shown a capacity to mobilize rapidly around short-term, high impact civic goals: for example, the Foundation to Decrease World Suck raised $483, 296 in two days in 2012. According to John Green, the group’s civic goals are: Very very much at the center of Nerdfighteria and I don’t think that there really is a community without that commitment to decreasing world suck or, as Hank likes to say, ‘increasing world awesome’. Building on these three case studies (the HPA, Imagine Better and the Nerdfighters), this chapter explores the intersection of fan communities, content worlds, and participatory politics. The HPA demonstrates how a civic organization can translate fan enthusiasms into civic and political action. The Imagine Better Project raises questions about whether such a model can be “generalized” towards other fan communities. The Nerdfighters, finally, show that civic goals can be achieved by an interest community without one shared content world. Through these case studies, this chapter will explore two theoretical concepts: fan activism and content worlds.

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