As part of my residency at Residência São João / Somsocosmos, I gave presentation about the history of Pirate Radio as tool for activism, and the possibilities for mesh wireless networks—communication networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology (essentially wifi pirate radio)—as a present and future tool for decentralized, off-grid communication.

I talked about pirate radio ships (yes, ships!), abandoned anti-aircraft carriers were used by pirate radio broadcasters in the 1960’s, on the river Thames in England. I also gave some history on the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle and the pirate station Free Radio Cascadia.

Finally, I talked about the legacy of how the pirate radio movement created the political energy for LPFM stations (like KRAB and Hollow Earth Radio) to exist on the dial, and the connections this history has to open, neutral and free communication systems like mesh wireless networks.

Everyone was very excited about the possibilities, and we are talking about doing a pirate radio station/mesh wireless setup for the fazenda someday!