Tuesday 17 February 2009

Why Cartoonarchy?

(This post will be heavilly editied, tweaked, added videos, links, and pictures to, until it´s a mission-statement I´m pleased with) 

If you only come to this blog to read comics... Don´t feel pressed to read this shit. All you need to know is this: 

On this blog you will  get free comic books. 

If, however, you´re wondering a bit more about my intentions behind this blog, and indeed all my comics, then go ahead: Read this shit.  

Some say art and politics should not be mixed. I say they´re dickheads.

Making art is in itself a political act, and the sad fact is that whether the intentions are completely non-political or unabashedly radical the major effects of most art is simply to provide a release from the daily insanity of the modern world, and to create more objects we can use our money on, both things fueling the corrupt and crumbling economic system. 

So how does an artist avoid.... to paraphrase Bill Hicks.... sucking on Satans cock?

Well, that´s the question I´ve been struggling with all my life. As a good God-fearing Anarchist, I feel there must be some better way of doing stuff. And as far as I can see, the only option available to artists is to use their power to destroy the concept of intellectual property and copyright. 

Wha-wha-WHAT? But copyright is there to protect us artists???

No, it isn´t. But we´ll to that soon enough. 

First.... Why anarchy?  

Well, Alan Moore can explain it more eloquently: 


Thank you, Mr. Moore. 

So... Why the destruction of the concept of intellectual property?

Because intellectual property is a form of censorship that is currently enslaving the world and because we as artists are making our living creating items that are "protected" by this form of oppression. But by freeing our art, I believe we can help to create a better and more just system, and perhaps walk a tiny step closer to realizing the dream of a world where everyone can decide over themselves. 

Now I became interested in copyright through reading about the struggles of comic-book artists like Jack Kirby, and therefore my first opinion on copyright was to support "creators rights". 

Now... changing my opinion from believing in the strengthening of these "rights", to the abolishment of them, required quite a lot of mental contortion. But the more I learned about the history and the effects of intellectual property laws, the clearer it became that these "rights" have to go, because they simply are not right. 

But for a bit more on why and how, I´ll turn to Eben Moglen: 

Thank you, Mr. Moglen. (See also part 2 and part 3)

Ummh.... 

Where was I?

Yes, I´m nearing the end of this. 

So what´s the plan? The plan is to create comics, and experimenting with ways of distributing them without copyright. Right now there´s not much I can share, but I´ll be working to get the print-files ready for my old stuff, translate everything to english, and create new stuff. And I need all the help I can get, so don´t feel shy. 

One last why.....

Why comics? 

Well, that needs a bit longer explaination... so we´ll have to wait a bit for that... 

3 comments:

  1. YES KIMMIE!!!!!

    I'm so happy you are doing a blog in English. Although I can follow the Norsk stuff, it takes some deciphering and even sometimes whipping out my trusty old Nor-Eng dictionary from the old days. Plus now I can share it with my friends here. Yippeee!

    Thanks. And I love your contribution to destroying the oppression of distributors who are holding back the producers by giving away free stuff!

    Also those videos were great. I saw all 3 of Eben Moglen and another he did at Google Tech talks. Interesting guy. Way more intelligent than me. Fucker.

    I'm not 100% sold on anarchy and the abolishment of copyright and patents, but I am intrigued. Definitely it is becoming more and more difficult to keep copyrights enforced and since that comes from a more and more free means of communication, it might be a sign that copyright is not the future of freedom. Moglen says the copyrights are really there to protect the profits of the distributor and make sharing knowledge much more difficult. That makes sense, but he speaks of patents in the same way. It seems like patents also help the little guy or else what would stop a big company stealing the little guy's idea and swooping in on the market share? (well i forgot you don't care about money)

    Anyways I'm just glad you're letting me read your comics gratis free! (as Al Swearengen would say--just finished season 1 of Deadwood).

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  2. by the way if i could ever help in translating with my rudimentary norwegian and pretty fucking good english, i would love to!

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  3. Well, if you look at the history of copyright, it started as a means of censureship(sp?), quite literally the right to print(a right given exclusively by the state, and books that were printed without copyright were burnt). So it would be quite a feat if it were to become the future of freedom.

    As for patents... Yes, the little-guy argument. Well, that´s what´s said about both copyright and patens-laws, that it´s there to protect the little guy, the artist, the scientist, etc, etc.
    I don´t really buy it. But I have to come back to this sometime later.
    There are some differences between copyright and patent-law though. But my main problem with patents is that it for instance allows for atrocities like bullying poor countries out of "pirating" medicine, and therefore results in the needless death of millions of people.
    And in choosing between the little-guys economic prosperity and the death of millions... well... I WOULD like to have some more money, but...

    And YEAH! Help me translate stuff! "Dette er et Ran" is probably the one that would most benefit. I´ve been intending to do a rough translation of it, but haven´t gotten so far yet.

    But I can mail you when I have something concrete.

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