Krist Novoselić (June 4, 2024)
One of the goals with Cascade is to build a political association which merges with social media. The latter could take people aback, however, we are not merely tagging onto a major social media platform. The goal is to be independent.
I have been a member of the Washington Grange for twenty years. In 2019, our local chapter wanted to stay connected between meetings and naturally, we looked at the dominant social media. There were members who were already on Facebook. Others were interested in connecting through technology, but did not want to go on Facebook due to it’s tracking, selling of users and other issues.
I was tasked with researching how to digitally connect our members. Of course, I entered terms like “private social media” on a major search engine. One social network seemed interesting, so we gave it a try.
HumHub is based in Germany. This app looks and acts like Facebook, but is a paid service. There is no advertising — the app does not track or sell us to advertisers. It costs around $25 per month for 40 members. The platform can host many more people. The idea of connecting through a social network came in handy in 2020 with the lockdowns. It helped to keep our Grange going.
I came out of the independent music scene over 30 years ago. The Cascade Party was started a couple of months ago. It’s habitual for me to express the independent ethic to this new group.
With Cascade Party, we uploaded the open-source version of HumHub to our own server. Our private social network does not track or sell you to advertisers. Considering the current situation, being unspotted from dominant media is critical. Government and media are in lockstep. For example, investigative journalist Matt Taibbi, was given access to X’s (then Twitter) records by new owner Elon Musk. Taibbi’s research discovered collusion between the government and the company with controlling speech on the platform. I believe this is widespread with other social media. And look at the legacy media in general — it’s base propaganda. Let’s build something new which is disconnected from this problem.
The embrace of independent social media is influenced by some research I have done. In a 2013 article, I write about the book Millennial Makeover,
In their 2008 book Millennial Makeover, generational theorists Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais predict a political realignment for the United States that will soon be spearheaded by the Millennial generation – those born between 1982 and 2003. The authors state this cohort will determine the relative standing of the two [major] political parties for the next thirty to forty years (p. 203) This tech-savvy “civic generation”, as the authors call them, have collective attributes that will drive them to adhere to one of the US major parties. The book shows how political realignments in our nation have always been centered in transitions between media technology. (The progression from telegraph, telephone, radio, television to Internet.) Winograd and Hais make a compelling case about the history of communications technology and its impact on politics. They look to the respective Democratic and Republican parties as potential beneficiaries of any realignment initiated by Millennials. To the authors, the future will belong to one of the lucky major parties…
The idea with Cascade Party is to empower people and be part of a political realignment. The user agreement for our HumHub is a declaration of affiliation with the party. We are a state party, so users need to be Washington registered voters. Once you agree, you are a member and let into the Hub. Membership privileges include participating on the Hub; voting on and running for party offices, propose resolutions and build a party platform. We can eventually nominate candidates for the public ballot.
When members feel the time is ready, in the near future, we should have a convention. My hope is that we build a membership of people who recognize the power of a new kind of party and independent social media to break ground.
CASCADE PARTY of WASHINGTON
PO Box 28004
Seattle, WA 98118