After amazing conversations with some key Executive Directors about the Peacehat concept, we are beginning to get the backing we need to move this forward quickly. Three large, well-recognized organizations have joined with us, and will have representatives on our Advisory Board.
I remain very excited about the prospects for the Peacehat project, and other similar efforts we seek to coordinate and align with.
More info linked, or read on...
Kill the NeoCon economy! about the Peacehat project
Peacehat Portal Prototype (work in progress)
We are working on a project that has far-reaching implication for the Progressive community.
The key points are:
* Moving billions of dollars of online purchases from the profit at any cost economy to progressive/green goods and services.
* Yahoo!- like portal that is a launchpad for Action/Event and message aggregation.
* Progressive article feeds from CommonDreams, the Nation, BuzzFlash and others
* Provide customizible framework so site can be branded/co-branded by sponsoring organization (ie.-GlobalExchange.org members get a GlobalExchange look-and-feel, MoveOn.org members -MoveOn look and feel, etc.)
About the Peacehat Project
The strategic objective of the not-for-profit project -Peacehat is to forever change corporate behavior (which we have sadly learned is generally far more politically potent than we are as individuals) to as a minimum balance people with profit, as opposed to the profit and greed at any cost driven Bush - Cheney -Lay - ExxonMobil - WalMart - Halliburton -Diebold - Fox economy that we are presently encumbered with.
Peacehat will work because it is elegantly simple. It is a portal whose components will use existing technology and much of the fine open source work other organizations have contributed to the public good. Components and features such as:
* User Selectable RSS News Feeds
* Action Alert Aggregation and Event Notification Aggregation
* Social Networking
* Progressive/Green Goods and Services Shopping Portal
* Registered Organization Self-Service Data Entry
* Free Basic Email
* Mapping/GIS System
We will not attempt to forge Progressive Unity by an attempt to force Sierra Club, MoveOn, True Majority, Global Exchange and others fit into a box, or think the same way, or abandon their specific focus. As we release the portal, organizations that work with Peacehat, will be able to consume the portal in their look-and-feel for their membership. For example, the membership of TrueMajority will access the portal with the same functionality, but a different look than say MoveOn membership. Or an individual user can choose a look and feel, or customize it themselves. We will enable all progressive organizations to work well together in a loosely-coupled way through the Peacehat Portal, which will be a vehicle for the dissemination of unfiltered news, aggregated political and economic actions, messaging and interpretation of current world events through progressive authors and think tanks (such as the Rockridge Institute), and last -but not least ... unbridled economic activism through a progressive shopping portal.
The latest analysis for this holiday season yielded over 15 billion dollars spent in online commerce. People going to Amazon.com, Buy.com, WalMart.com, Yahoo.com and conducted their online shopping generally committed their income (or future income) without regard to the business, political or environmental practices of the entity that sold their product or services.
Peacehat will forever change this. As business gains more marketing intelligence to drive more sales, we will be providing a similar service back to moderate and progressive consumers. Firstly, no vendor that violates some of our fundamental premises about how a corporate entity interacts with the global community will sell through our portal until they have corrected their behavior. Sorry, you won't be able to purchase a GM Hummer online in our portal. You will not see product from WalMart. Producing toxins in your plant without regard to the environment? You won't be selling or advertising here. Spending alot of advertising dollar to reach the Fox News or Sinclair Broadcasting demographic? Your products and services will not be here.
This is significant, and the more this progressive path to the economy is invoked, it will have a significant and sustainable impact on the CEO/Greed Economy. Unlike a boycott -by making sure that alternative Progressive/Green goods and services are available, we will reward corporations that act in, as a minimum a balanced manner. I am very excited about this new opportunity on the horizon, and I hope you will be too.
This is coming to a browser near you in early summer 2005. It is evolving rapidly and everyone can play a large part, through sharing your ideas, volunteering in the development of this effort, or most importantly -in using it. Because 50 million consumers will shake this system as violently as 50 million voters!
About the founder, George A. Polisner
George has been working in most aspects of Information Technology since 1981. From humble beginnings as an UNIX System Administrator in 1981, he is presently a Director of Critical Engagement Management for Oracle Corporation. George joined Oracle in 1993, and ran the Southwest Performance Architecture team as a Practice Director in Oracle Consulting. He has been very involved in the progressive movement, and in 2003, personally sponsored the Peninsula Symposium for Peace, Justice and Human Rights, which included speakers such as Scott Ritter, Charles Liteky, Marie Davis for the NAACP, Paul George of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, Alpesh Patel of Peace Action, Brian Rawson of Make Trade Fair and others.