We cannot have public power without a public press – where by “press” I mean a source of public media.

We want and deserve public power. In order to have this, we must also have a way to communicate with and engage one another, a way to distribute information and ideas and a way to come together as a single united group – the “public.”

Anyone can produce a work of quality. The community’s goal should be to help each person create to the best of their ability. We talk about democracy, about a free press and free education, yet it is clear that many are still powerless, voiceless and unable to reach their potential. As inspired as we may be by people put in leadership roles, only the public is able to determine what it wants or needs; as frustrated as we may be by the incompetence of people in leadership roles, we cannot be victorious either through apathy or the use of violence, even in the cases where it might be justifiable. These things only further divide the communities which are the only source of our power.

Culture is the sacrament of our humanity. It is how we recognize and understand different groups of people, if we want to understand them at all. When we ignore language, history and culture, we dehumanize ourselves and others; that is how many heinous crimes have been justified and carried out. Instead of forgetting our past, the songs and words and stories of our ancestors, we should be remixing and sampling these things in our daily lives. We should be doing this across families, neighborhoods and cultures; we should be doing this to prove our intelligence, coherence and competence; we should do this to overcome the virus of suffering and violence that governments only revitalize with laws and propaganda, that only the public acting autonomously can control. We can educate. We can enlighten. We can inspire. We are artists, philosophers, engineers. Every person has something to offer that the community can use.

By valuing each other, we empower each other.