People's Embassy

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We need worldwide network of "People's Embassies!"

This would be a place where people from out-of-town (or in-town) could check in for contacts on community / activist / educational / cultural etc. There would be a cafe, meeting rooms, place for music, and (of course) the sky is the limit. These would be distinct from the commercial and governmental analogues.

To some degree it's a physical embodiment of some of the ideas / ideals that we've been advancing in the community networking arena. Certainly if they were linked in some way to each other there would be a lot more potential. One interesting candidate is the Common Ground Collective in New Orleans (http://www.commongroundrelief.org/).

And from Mark Gaved: I'd say for People's Embassies there's an existing model in the community activist cafes which I love (and I have a suspicion you probably visit similar ones too... ). Certainly the Forest Café in Edinburgh ticks all of the boxes you listed in your email.