019 - Martin Leskovjan: Parallel Structures, Subversive Art & Liberating Minds

Today I'm talking with Martin Leskovjan. Martin is a member of the subversive Czech art collective Ztohoven and co-founder of Paralelni Polis which is one of the collective’s better known projects, also the site of the world’s first bitcoin-only cafe. This is a conversation about art and the power to influence. Ztohoven are a band of merry pranksters with a desire to provoke emotion and open minds and I talk with Martin about many of their projects and whether it is possible to create parallel social structures that can liberate people. Martin is a fascinating and inspiring individual, one of many good people I had the pleasure and privilege to meet in Prague for this series and I sincerely hope you enjoyed the discussions as much as I did. Enjoy the conversation: A.I. generated summary: 00:10 - Introduction to this episode. 06:32 - Spreading awareness of Bitcoin. 13:14 - The Artistic side of the collective. 20:12 - The fetish of national and state symbols. 26:55 - How did the idea of the red underpants come about? 30:34 - Trolling on the internet vs. trolling on 4chan. 37:32 - What is Ztohoven's latest project? 41:56 - The beginnings of the art collective. 48:49 - What was the intention behind the creation of Paralelni Polis? 54:06 - Organising the Hackers congress. 1:01:36 - The price of being ungovernable. 1:09:57 - What is meme culture? 1:19:22 - Being compelled to be subversive. 1:23:58 - The tools of crypto-anarchy. 1:28:13 - The transition from centralized systems to decentralised systems. 1:33:47 - The fall of Rome. 1:37:44 - Awareness of cryptography tools. 1:44:37 - Problems with the current state of activism. LINKS: Liberty In Our Lifetime 2023: ⁠https://libertyinourlifetime.org/⁠ TWITTER: Martin Leskovjan: ⁠https://twitter.com/LeskovjanMartin Timothy Allen: ⁠https://twitter.com/MrTimothyAllen⁠ WEBSITES: Ztohoven: http://www.ztohoven.com/⁠ Paralelni Polis: https://www.paralelnipolis.cz/ Free Cities Foundation: ⁠https://free-cities.org/ VIDEOS: The official burning of the red boxer shorts: ⁠http://shorturl.at/mqrxU⁠ The Triggering of Shia | He Will Not Divide Us: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p4h3jwJob0