Discovery
This website was found through The Price Of Treason where this site is credited to "Neil Czerno".
Content
Unlike the rest of the Year Zero World of Year Zero sites, Open Source Resistance is set in -15, which, since Year Zero is 2022, is this year (2007). The appearance of the site reflects this, particularly since it doesn't carry the "corrupted" appearance of the sites set in 2022/0000.
The site encourages you to submit subversive work with the suggestion that it will be published somehow. The work should follow the guidelines of anything which is intended to raise awareness of the issues which could lead to Year Zero.
At the top of the page is the number sequence "24.5.2".
At the bottom of the page is a link to subscribe to a mailing list. You can join the list by sending an email to list@opensourceresistance.net with the subject line of 'subscribe'.
If one looks closely at the London mural image, there are three areas of the mural that have been torn away. Within the underlying areas of the tears, one can see a repeating motif of the Art Is Resistance flag. The mural is also present in a photo found in the 'current' section of the official nin.com website[1].
Czermo seems to have been the one to first use the "AIR flag", since it appears on this page numerous times. The star field of the flag is actually a lower-case r, finishing the abbreviation "OSR" in the site's logo. The star field also appears without stripes at the bottom of the page, as if it were a final word on the subject - "resist.".
If you subscribe to the email address, you'll get the following response:
Thanks. You are now on the Open Source Resistance email list. I don’t sell, I don’t spam. If you want to get off, write back with "Unsubscribe" in the subject at any time.
Welcome. There are more of us than there are of Them. Let’s make that count for something.
If you reply to that, you'll get the same thing over again.
Submitting to the request for subversive art elicits the following emailed response:
"Thanks! I mean that. Your particular piece may rock my world or leave me cold, but the fact that you put the time and energy into making it in the first place is what matters the most. That kind of effort is the thing that allows me to hope the future will be better than I fear.
I never know exactly when I’ll have time to review submissions, but I will try to get to it soon."
New email sent April 11: Just received the following: " From: list at opensourceresistance.net Subject: Update, plus OSR goes live in LA Date: April 11, 2007 8:38:23 PM EDT To: Unbelievable, the quality of stuff you have been sending in. Check out the new content on the site-and beyond that, people are starting to submit platforms with real potential. From campus DJs and copy store clerks to people with connections at major networks and publications. This feels like the start of something real. (I'll be sending out the first few connections soon, so please keep them coming. Every voice out here helps.)
Local news-some very serious artists in LA are making a difference in a very public place. Check out the piece near Melrose and Ogden in LA. If you're worried about where this country (and this world) is going, check out their work. It will remind you why you should be worried: but maybe give you a little juice for the fight, too.
Lastly, a few of us are talking about organizing a meeting here in LA. If you're interested, show up at the Melrose location at or a little after 7 pm on this Friday evening (April 13th). Wear something that shows you're one of us. Stand under the big pig and follow the revolver across the street to the van. Knock twice. When you've got the stuff, get out of there fast. Don't attract attention. Don't be followed.
That's it for now. Sometimes it feels like hope is hard to come by. What you're doing makes hope a little easier for me to find.
Neil
Czerno And Art Is Resistance
The creator of the website, found through The Price of Treason. The Price of Treason says he was executed Feb. 4, 0000, one day after a post on Another Version of the Truth was made, talking about how the creator of Art Is Resistance was "dissapeared" by the government. Many people speculate that this Neil Czerno had also put up Art Is Resistance.