Onlangs kreeg ik het pas verschenen boekje Generation Freedom getipt. Generation Freedom. The Middle east Uprisings and the Remaking of the Modern World van de New York Times columnist Bruce Feiler over de generatie opstandelingen in Noord Afrika die wellicht overeenkomsten hebben met die uit London van afgelopen maand. Nu zal deze blogpost niet over deze opstanden, maar over deze generatie jongeren, jonger dan 30 jaar, gaan. Kunnen we het nog hebben over generatie Einstein en Generation Y? Of is het tijd om deze geëngageerde jongeren eens een nieuwe naam te geven? Mijn idee Generation A (Generation Re-Start) of Generation Freedom.

GENERATION A

Generation A is de titel van de roman van Douglas Coupland. Coupland kwam eerder met het boek Generation X over de generatie geboren tussen 1955 en 1970 – die precies tussen de babyboomers en jaren 70 en jaren 80 kids in vielen. Generation X? Nee! Generation A is een veel mooiere naam voor een generatie, zoals schrijver Kurt Vonnegut in het voorwoord van Generation X schreef.

“Now you young twerps want a new name for your generation? Probably not, you just want jobs, right? Well, the media do us all such tremendous favors when they call you Generation X, right? Two clicks from the very end of the alphabet. I hereby declare you Generation A, as much at the beginning of a series of astonishing triumphs and failures as Adam and Eve were so long ago.

Daarom heeft Coupland een vervolg op Generation X geschreven: Generation A. Een briljant boek voor mensen die met de toekomst bezig zijn. Coupland uit zijn zorgen over de toekomst – die niet eens zo ver weg lijkt te zijn. Bijen zijn inmiddels zo goed als uitgestorven, de voedingsindustrie heeft voor een extreme monocultuur gezorgd. Fruit is schaars, autorijden en vliegen is niet meer een commodity, maar iedereen is overal en continu online. Tot dat vijf mensen op vijf verschillende continenten tegelijkertijd door een bij worden gestoken. Wereldnieuws, is er sprake van een wonder of is dit conspiracy? De wetenschap zit er direct boven op. Geweldige verhalen van de toekomstige digitals passeren de revue, zoals het verhaal van Samantha uit Nieuw Zeeland die net bezig was met de bereiding van haar zogenaamde Earth Sandwich – de idee om samen met iemand anders, precies aan de andere kant van de wereld, op het zelfde moment aan hetzelfde broodje te werken. Dus een sandwich met de aarde er tussen, GPS georgansieerd. Of het verhaal van een callcenter medewerker Harj in Sri Lanka die 12 uur per dag telefoontjes van een New Yorkse vestiging van Abercrombie & Fitch afhandelde. Zijn familie was hij bij de tsunami in 2004 verloren, hij had geen vrienden en had dus veel tijd over om leuke en onzinnige online concepten te verzinnen, zo zette hij voor de grap de gekste diensten op websites en mensen kochten het. Complete decadentie!

Nu staat Generation A boordevol dit soort bizarre, leuke en grappige verhalen van online addicts en generatie genoten. Maar uiteindelijk gaat het over een dieper liggend fenomeen en uit Coupland zijn zorgen over de toekomst. En na die bijensteek verandert het verhaal en komen de echte waardevolle momenten bovendrijven.. M.a.w. het tij zal keren. Deze generatie zal het anders doen, Generation A of Generation Re-Start, dat vind ik ook nog wel een mooi omschrijving over de opkomende generatie die Coupland hier omschrijft.

GENERATION FREEDOM

De diepere betekenis van verhalen, van geloof en soms zelf van extremere inzichten worden ook aangestipt in het boek Generation Freedom van Bruce Feiler. Hij gaat uitgebreid in op de rol van het geloof, de Koran en Genesis, Adam en Eva en het Paradijs en hoe juist de jonge revolutionairen uit Noord Afrika naar het geloof en hun missie in de wereld kijken.

Hij noemt dat de Generation Freedom aan de ene kant gelovig en soms zelf extreem, maar aan de andere kant futurists, de zogenaamde Twitteraars, Facebookers, Youtubers of digerati. Nu zien zij zichzelf als een nieuwe generatie moslimgelovigen, veel toleranter dan hun ouders en voorouders, veel dichter bij de Koran die vrijheid van de burgers als hoogste goed ziet. Een generatie, die, zoals hij zo mooi omschreef, al “They were spending all their time in Internet cafés… they were practicing freedom. On the Net, they could chat with anyone they wanted, express any opinion they wanted, explore themselves sexually. They had space to do that – cyberspace – and now they wanted to have it on the streets.”

Feiler geeft deze generatie 4 kenmerken mee, 4 P’s.

1. Plentiful (overvloed). Het zijn er veel. Zeker in Noord Afrika, een derde van de mensen die daar leeft is tussen de 15 en 29 jaar, in totaal zijn dat 100 miljoen individuals.
2. Pinched (geknepen). Er zijn voor deze jongeren weinig kansen. Er is weinig werk en de kosten van levensonderhoud zijn hoog.
3. Plugged in (online). De jongeren hebben wel mobiele telefoons en internet verbindingen, thuis of in het café. Ze hebben toegang tot sociale netwerken als Facebook, Twitter, Youtube en Google, daarom hebben ze wel veel contact met de wereld en toegang tot kennis.
4. Proactive (proactief). Ze wachten niet af.  “We’ve had enough! We’re going to act!”

Verder lezen:

Generation A. A novel (2009), Douglas Coupland

Generation Freedom. The Middle east Uprisings and the Remaking of the Modern World (2011), Bruce Feiler

Hoe gaan wetenschap en technologie ons leven veranderen? De Volkskrant gaat deze zomer op zoek naar de zonnige zijde van die vooruitgang – van vliegende auto’s tot de onsterfelijke mens. Deel 11 gaat over de toekomst van de consument, een interview met mij. Een samenvatting.

Ooit hobbelde de klant braaf aan achter wat je hem voorhield, nu wapent hij zich met Twitter en Facebook en trekt hij zijn eigen plan – vaak tot ontzetting van de industrie. Het is slechts het begin, voorziet trendwatcher Andrea Wiegman. Wacht maar tot de consument een 3D-printer krijgt. ‘Eerst komt er chaos. Nog meer chaos.’

‘Er is een revolutie gaande. Een omslag in hoe we denken, handelen, consumeren. Waar je vroeger kon terugvallen op allerlei vaste stramienen, een overzichtelijk aantal mogelijkheden, heb je nu voor iedere beslissing wel duizend keuzemogelijkheden. Bij welke groep hoor je, neem je wel over geen pensioen, welk product schaf je aan? Iedereen gaat het op zijn eigen manier te lijf. En ja, zeker voor mensen die van houvast houden, is dat ingewikkeld. Het is waarschijnlijk de reden waarom zoveel mensen een burnout hebben. Waarom er zo veel stress is. Keuzestress. Dus chaos. En er zal nog meer chaos komen. Maar chaos hoort bij overgangstijden. Ik vind dat we ook in een heel leuke tijd leven, vol nieuwe mogelijkheden’.

Download hier het hele artikel: Artikel Volkskrant 11 aug 11

Ernst-Jan Pfauth became Chief of Internet at the Dutch media company NRC in October of last year. Less than two months later, a new site of the newspaper was launched. Many changes will be implemented in the years to come. A conversation with Ernst-Jan Pfauth regarding web blogging, his function at NRC, and the role of network revolutions in society.

Ernst-Jan Pfauth has just turned 25. He was appointed as Chief of Internet by the managing board of the daily newspaper NRC in October of last year; him being only 24 at the time and worked as the NRC Next newspaper’s blogger for 17 months. “The management really took a chance on this one”, says he.
The ultimate reason the management chose him is that the internet is evidently his cup of tea. He has got to do it, after all he grew up with it. He built sites as if they were Lego blocks, something that is quite different if one were to compare him with kids of today. He sat behind the computer for hours on end, building his first websites (hebjijhumor.nl and cdreview.nl) when he was 14. Ernst-Jan’s motivation was that anyone can design his own website. Self production without any hustle and bustle.
Being able to independently design your own site, to organise something by yourself is only possible because of the technology. Technology that was revolutionary at the time, and came into existence thanks to the internet pioneers of the first generation.
Ernst-Jan himself belongs to he second generation of pioneers. In his book Sex, Blogs and Rock ‘n’ Roll, he talks about ‘sex appeal’ where he writes about the extra dimension that he and other people in his generation are giving to web-publishing. Iphoneclub.nl is one good example of successful contemporary web-publishing. It began when two citizens from Amsterdam realised they were missing a particular site where everything about the iPhone can be found. Because of this, they took the liberty of building a blog site, which now happens to be the most important site in the Netherlands in terms of finding everything there is to know about the iPhone. Nowadays, thís is revolutionary.

Punk Genius

Ernst-Jan compares the rise of blogging with punk music. Punk artists in the previous century turned the music industry upside down. They experimented and did not care about the prevailing norms and rules. Bloggers have also taken matters into their own hands; they have appropriated freedom that editors of the past generation did not have. Ernst-Jan speaks of a ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ feeling. He thinks that blogging is about to enter its second phase. Blogging, just like how he puts it, is becoming more serious nowadays, more mature so to speak.

Ernst-Jan welcomes the second phase of blogging with open arms: he intentionally chose his career as NRC’s Chief of Internet because of the challenge to connect a weblog with the best Dutch journalism.

He works rapidly: in December of last year, a new NRC site was already made available online. Even though it was only a beta version at that time, it was a good foundation for further developments. Now, the site is being improved everyday.

Ernst-Jan has already made a few huge changes. The old navigation system, which took sections in the daily papers into account, has given way for a simpler, more accessible type of navigation that is focused on timeliness. This is revolutionary, at least for the newspapers of NRC. Another major change is the turning of the internet department, that suffered a million euro losses a year, into a start-up within the organisation. In less than a year, the Internet department has to break even. Additionally, Ernst-Jan replaced the whole internet department with six new young people. He put no ads; if he does not know the people, he argues, they must have been doing something that is not right.

New Tools

A couple of years ago, during the uprising in Iran, Ernst-Jan built and designed a site called netwerkrevolutie.nl together with a group of like-minded people. He thought that he could get a large group of people on their feet to bring about a positive noise through social networks. But it does not work that way. Look at the Anti-Wilders Hyves account (anti-wilders.hyves.nl). In June 2009, 54,266 Hyves users were members of this social networking group. Members actively participated in the forum of the group, declaring that the PVV leader imitates Hitler. Someone called out that ‘it really is time for action’ every other ten messages. The Amsterdam Anti-Wilders-Brainstorm nevertheless came off with only 25 people. (see www.nrcnext.nl/bibliotheek/2009/06/29/twitterprofiel-op-groen-en-dan/).

Ernst-Jan strongly believes that changes must come from inside out. A need, desire, or a pressing reason would first have to be present before people mobilise; otherwise people will not be able to break the existing patterns. This is exactly what we now see in North Africa. People in Egypt have been agitated enough this year to rebel against Mubarak’s regime. In Libya and Morocco too.  In situations like these, social media are an ideal tool in making people stand up for their ground. The revolutionary potential of this tool is significant. If Che Guevara had had social media at his disposal, he would have twittered straight from the jungle. The Cuban uprising would have looked very different.

Newspaper’s blog

Internet and social media are being more widely accepted. At first, it was considered strange if you put up and shared your personal life via Twitter or Facebook; now it has become much more common. The change is gradual but has major consequences.

Newspapers too have to change with time. This seems possible at NRC. The web editorial team works well with the editors of the printed version; editors who in turn help the web editors with the right information. This is very pleasing to see. Particularly when at the end of the day a web editor brings with him a bottle of wine to share with the print editor for a job well done.
Newspapers and newspaper blogs will remain in existence in the future, states Ernst-Jan. “Newspapers will slowly change, and so will newspapers blogs. But I am rest assured that Twitter and other forms of micro-blogging will not replace blogging itself. Micro-blogging is for those who fancy sharing messages with their friends and followers. A newspaper’s blog goes further and deeper. And regardless of whether the newspaper is printed or read on the iPad, we will always have the need for high quality news that keeps us updated and makes us aware of what really lies behind a story. This is the present-day responsibility of the newspaper. News has to be delivered in minute detail with the right perspective.”

I’ve read a lot of his novels like Island or Eyeless in Gaza. And off course, like everyone of my age I had to read Brave New World at school. All his books are great. Wonderful stories, some more utopian, some less, some more critical, others more poetic, but each of them has been written by its own purpose. And each of them is immersed with realities about people and society. Till now I thought Aldous Huxley was great… … and now I think Huxley was brilliant. I just finished the essay Brave New World Revisited. And this is an unbelievable truth. What Huxley wrote down in 1958 seems to be written between 2008 and 2010. It’s about Over-Population, it’s about Quantity, Quality and Morality, about Over-Organization, about Rational and Unrational Propaganda, about The Arts of Selling and about Education for Freedom – What Can be Done? All of them up-to-date trending topics, I suppose.

In 1958 Huxley was aware of his forecasting talents, sure in content, but the reality of the future society was coming true much sooner than he thought it would. In 1958 a Brave New World was already around the corner. I think he had a point. While very sensitive and seeing some serious topics about the future, the future is already around the corner. That’s the main role of trend forecasters in society. Read Huxley’s awareness of the speed of the developments, speed of change…

(from 1958)

‘….in the West, it is true, individual men and women still enjoy a large measure of freedom. But even in those coun­tries that have a tradition of democratic government, this freedom and even the desire for this freedom seem to be on the wane. In the rest of the world freedom for individuals has already gone, or is manifestly about to go. The nightmare of total organization, which I had situated in the seventh century After Ford, has emerged from the safe, remote future and is now awaiting us, just around the next corner.’

And I think he was right in 1931 and in 1958, off course the measure of freedom in the West was on the wane (watch Mad Man) and now in 2010 it’s for sure. We entered the seventh century after Ford already. We are not free at all. For instance soaring mortgages and other material commitments we’d made in the past made us slaves of the systems, if you like it or not.

Maybe now in this period of crisis and big changes in organisations and economy we’ll pass through an end of an era. The era started before 1931 (when Huxley wrote his novel Brave New World), not changed in the years between (George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948 and Huxley wrote Brave New World Revisited in 1958) and left its climax behind us in the nineties of the twentieth century, the ultra-individualistic nineties. There’s a strong feeling we are looking for other, more serious things in life now. And off course with the help of technology and the rise of the word wide net there’s more chaos and therefore more freedom.

I’m an optimist and believe (or wish…)  our children shall write other utopian essays for the future. At least I expect less dystopian stories. Maybe thanks to the insights of Huxley we are aware of our slavery now and don’t accept it in future anymore. And that’s a second role of the trend forecast business. Keep your eyes wide open and let’s shape our newborn future…!

(Read the full essay on http://www.huxley.net/bnw-revisited/index.html )

And personally I have something more in the nineteen-seventies, I was born in 1973 and remember the pictures from my infancy too well. In a black tight turtleneck on the brown corduroy couch with a bright red table lighter in my mouth, my mother as a perfect host for her guests in purple, bright yellow, red, black and absolute green. The cozy seventies, cigarettes, sherry and old port, snacks and conversation pits, very social.

Back to Menkes report on Jacobs S/S 2011 collection. ‘There must have been a visit to the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective in Paris — the first of many — to catch the flavor of the hippie deluxe era, with peasant blouses and lush satin skirts and narrow trench coats worn with wide-brimmed hats. And at the show he would have studied the painterly shades of 20th-century fashion’s greatest colorist, who reveled in the mixes of papal purple and Moroccan spice, sunset pinks and sun-ray yellow that appeared with such dash and clash on Mr. Jacobs’s runway.’ And she linked on to the 1970s fashion exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs as well.

Beside this ‘zeitgeist’ expressions, it’s a strange move from Marc Jacobs, Menkes assumed. ‘Mr. Jacobs was unrepentant about such obvious references to fashion’s past’ … or ..’he who insists on his own creativity has no memory’ said the designer once. But ‘.. a youthful audience seeing long peasant skirts for the first time couldn’t possibly connect a whoosh of fabric at the shoulder of a brief dress to the YSL interpretation of Georges Braque’s birds. The real problem with fashion’s version of cut-and-paste is that it lacks the deep emotion that comes with firsthand inspiration’, but ‘the freshness appeared in the choice of fabrics, as soft, flowing silk and chiffon were followed by tactile, knobbly cloqué and by shiny satin. The pieces, with a whiff of past and present, added up to an appealing collection. And, as ever with Mr. Jacobs, the show touched a fashion nerve, as hemlines drop and the recession-era 1970s holds up a mirror to present times.’

That’s a snappy approach of looking back in times and the cut-and-paste or mash-up trend. And if Menkes approach is right,  i look forward to the next after-recession years with new fabrics as a starting point.

More about the Selby’s Andrew Field:

1] He’s a chef at Rockaway Taco in Queens, NY [I think he's a trendsetter, he has the guts to start a hip restaurant in such an upcoming district];

2] He launched Veggie Island as a real veggie king [I think reduce eating meet will definitely be a very important topic in sustainable living];

3] He’s a beekeeper [and urban beefarming on city rooftops is not only a nice pastime, it's good for our ecosystem too. Read more about this subject and try the Miel Béton honey];

4] He’s a community entrepreneur;

5] And last but not least, he’s a surf hippie in New York City too [so he's master in bringing more laissez-faire mentality to the Big Apple].

More pictures about Andrew Fields work and life you can find on the Selby site or watch Rockaway Taco, A Selby Film.

With or without iPad….

http://esquire.com/the-side/augmented-reality

http://t-post.se/past-issues

What I am talking about here originated from an interview given by David Shields, after a presentation of his manifest Reality Hunger. Shields argues that ‘… non-fiction needn’t hew to factual truth, and writers should feel free to commandeer one another’s words and ideas’.

He also explained that ‘the online culture today is dominated by trivial mash-ups of the culture that existed before the onset of mash-ups. He’s not really concerned about originality and imagination in a world where mash-up seems more important than the sources – ‘ … mash-ups are trivial.’ [Okay, he says]. ‘But art will not eat its own feedstock. Art, like science, moves forward.’ Shields gave a nice example. ‘I recently attended a copyright conference and sat on a panel with a video artist and musician named Pogo, who cuts up Disney movies and puts his own beats behind them. The whole thing was very kitschy… Again, though, so what? He should have done what artists have done throughout history – use, re-use an abuse previous works to create his own….’ For saving literature, he thinks it’s important to liberate us from the 19th century conventions. I think the rise of all these new ways of communication comes with a compromise; that being we will have to let go some old rules. With the increasing information overload, mixing and mashing-up becomes a new form of art. Shields even thinks that letting go of some old copyrights will give literature a new status – ‘once liberated by this yoke, it will have the opportunity to catch up with the other arts’.

Watch Pogo’s Toyz Noize:

And for the girls Pogo’s Alice: