Hilke, you‘re quite the activist for alternative social media platforms, promoting them among Swiss musicians. What‘s driving you?
It started just after Trump was elected, especially the statements by Mark Zuckerberg and how the tech CEOs actually chose his side. The fascism that‘s growing and growing. I felt that I really needed to do something now.
As a transgender person, people like me have been directly targeted for some time now in the US. I can‘t just look away. So, I had been searching for some time to find out how I could make an impact. Because I‘m a software developer, I wondered if I should become a hacktivist…
So, it‘s a very personal motivation.
It is. But I see myself mainly as an artist and a musician, asking myself what I could do. There were a couple of people around me with the same question, and we organised a small gathering at the One Of A Million festival in Baden.
It prompted me to research the alternative more because I knew nothing about the Fediverse or what‘s happening with Bluesky and their AT Protocol. I saw a way to use my technical knowledge to do something about these fascist tendencies.
If you envision a utopia for a sustainable digital ecosystem for musicians, what would it look like?
It‘s difficult to say because we are so trapped in the current way. We need more community. And I think we need a better way to balance local and global aspects.