geert lovink on Tue, 6 Jan 2004 08:46:05 +0100 (CET) |
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<nettime> world social forum digest |
(official homepage of the World Social Forum (Mumbia, January 16-21): http://www.wsfindia.org/. I wonder who from nettime will be attending the wsf in Mumbia (I am not...) and if someone would like to a report or diary from there and if others perhaps would like to co-compile this nettime digest with me. I am in particular interested in discussion papers, such as the one from Peter Waterman. /geert) 1. New Digitised System for Translation 2. Dialogues on the Knowledge Society Workshop 3. Democratization of Information with a Focus on Libraries 4. Networking the Free Media (Ciranda) 5. Archaich Left Challenges WSF (PeterWaterman) 6. Sarai @ WSF 1. MUMBAI WORLD SOCIAL FORUM A NEW DIGITALISED SYSTEM FOR TRANSLATION During the next World Social Forum, which will be held in Mumbai, India, 16-21 January 2004, a new translation system will be used. The interpreters are volunteers: Babels guarantees this service, as it did with success during the last European Social Forum. For the first time, we will not have to rent equipment at exorbitant rates thanks to the combined use of FM transmitters (for Indian languages) and a computer based system that will digitalise the translation. This system, called Nomad Interpreting Free Tools (NIFT) uses a simple computer which is able to make an interface between the speakers, the translators and the audience. NIFT is a joint effort of several groups, including APO33 and Babels, together with free-software actors in various countries. This is an ongoing process needing support from a wider variety of actors and groups. NIFT reduces the costs, enables the debates and conferences to be broadcast via audio streaming in all the languages translated, and to archive and index, by speaker, the contents of these debates and conferences through different media, such as DVD, CD and websites. Today, we have three different propositions to make. The first is to offer the possibility to diffuse, by Internet, languages that will not be officially translated in Mumbai. The second is a request to make your website available as a mirror site to broadcast the conferences and debates during the WSF. And third, we are inviting you to join the NIFT project that will be developed using free software and GNU licence. This is a proposal for those who want to translate the debates of the WSF into languages that will not be officially translated in Mumbai. (The official languages are Hindi, English, Marathi, Castillian, French, Japanese, Thai and Korean.) For this to happen, the interested organisations or institutions need to provide one or more translators and to help share the costs. The cost is probably about $200 to rent a computer for one conference room and to contribute to the costs of the internet connections, but the cost will be much less if the translators has his/her own laptop able to work with linux. If you are interested, please let us know very soon to wsf_stream@ras.eu.org with: The language you want to translate The number of ?channels? you want to use. A ?channel? is a conference room where translations is in place, but it is possible to change the ?channel? from room to room with minimal delay at no additional cost. The number of translators you will have for the job. 2. This is a request to set up mirror sites to stream and to archive the translated conferences. As you know, streaming uses a lot of band space and by sharing we can resolve this problem. Each site that wants to be part of this mirroring system can do it in one or several languages and will take the stream directly from the provider installed for the WSF in Mumbai. The mirror sites will be linked to www.wsf.india.org. If you are interested, please send the following information to: wsf_stream@ras.eu.org Organsiation Country Languages you want to broadcast Are you in India for the WSF? Name of the technical contact Email Telephone Url of your site: Does your provider allow streaming? Have you done it before? What is your available bandwidth? 3. Third is an invitation to join the NIFT project. This software will be available on 2 January at http://sourceforge.net/projects/targ/. We welcome any comments, suggestions of new functions or help to get rid of the bugs In solidarity NIFT -- 2. From: <indigen@vsnl.net> Dear Friends, The Dialogues on the Knowledge Society workshop has been allotted two sessions: January 17--------------------------------- 1P.M. to 4.P.M. January 19----------------------------------5P.M. to 8.P.M. You can get more details at http://www.wsfindia.org/event2004/search.htm Search by typing <Indigen Research Foundation> in the text box . There will be presentations by Krishna Gandhi, Jhansi Tenzin Gigzin, Pune Ananya Vajpeyi, Bangalore Sunil Sahasrabudhey, Varanasi Krishnarajulu Naidu, Hyderabad Jinan K.B., Aruvacode Amit Basole , Durham Avinash Jha, Delhi WSF2004 is being held at NESCO grounds in Goregaon East, Mumbai. You can see the map at http://www.mumbainet.com/cityinfo/citymap.htm Please send mail for any more information. Surendran -- 3. TISS/LIB/WSF 29th Dec 2003 World Social Forum (WSF) is taking place in Mumbai 16-21, January 2004.On this occasion Network Institute for Global Democratization (NIGD), Bytes For all, and Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial Library, Tata Institute of Social Sciences are jointly organizing a library focused International Workshop on Sunday 18th January 2004 at Mumbai. Details of the workshop can be found on the website: www.nigd.org/libraries/mumbai. Theme: Democratization of Information with a Focus on Libraries Date: Sunday 18th January 2004 Timing: 09.00am Registration Venue: Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial Library, TISS, Mumbai IFLA Chair Ms.Kay Raseroka will be delivering the Key Note Address. Sub themes for Panel Discussions 1. The Right To Memory 2. Library Paradigm - Library Power 3. Alternative Knowledge Formation 4. Information Literacy And Capacity Building 5. Open Source Systems In The Library And On The Net Dr.Muttayya Koganuramath Librarian and Coordinator Sir Dorabji Tata Memorial Library Tata Institute of Social Sciences Deonar, MUMBAI-400088 Tel:022-25563290 Extn.285 Fax:022-25562912 Email:journalslib@tiss.edu -- 4. Indymedia's Radio Group - D.R.O.P. project will Produce a Live Internet Broadcast: Thursday January 31st - Monday February 4th. For Immediate release, Monday, January 28th, 2002 Contact: imc-audio@indymedia.org http://radio.indymedia.org 1. The World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil 2. The World Economic Forum and protests in New York City 3. The Munich Conference on Security Policy protests in Munich 4. Additional Programming from India, the UK, San Francisco and Seattle, among others. The World Economic Forum Some very important people are missing from the headlines and the stories of the world's most influential economic institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Free Trade Area of the Americas. The real players--corporate representatives--meet for the World Economic Forum (WEF) this year in New York City with minimal remote press access. Teach-ins and protests planned in New York City get to the heart of corporate globalization and US economic power. http://www.weforum.org http://www.anotherworldispossible.com The World Social Forum Also missing from the headlines are the alternatives devised by grassroots organizations and the world's non-elites. Set to happen at the same time as the WEF is the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, a conference exploring such alternatives to an increasingly standard corporate agenda. http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/eng/index.asp The Munich Conference on Security Policy This annual meeting brings together the government officials and the military of NATO and the EU. Much of the coalition behind the military coalitions that brought us the wars in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq are forged in conferences like this security conference. The last few months have seen military coalition involvement from Japan and Germany unprecedented since WWII. European activists are planning to bring their message held by most of the world: not to expand the "War on Terrorism" to more countries. http://www.carneval-against-nato.de/ http://www.anti-nato.de.vu/ During our broadcast, Stations can: 1. Stream the live broadcast any time 2. Download audio highlights from the live stream for broadcast; or 3. Download produced MP3 programs giving background, updates, headlines, stories and wrap-ups. The live internet stream will begin on January 31st and last through February 4th from stations in Seattle, San Francisco, Vermont, New York, Munich, Porto Alegre, and India. To View a Schedule of the Broadcast please go to http://www.Protest.Net/drop/ To broadcast or listen to the Stream link to one of the following url's: http://freeteam.nl:8000/drop - 24kbps http://live.waag.org:7800/drop -24kbps http://xaos.pvl.at:8000/drop - 24kbps http://radio.uk.solpsists.org:8000/drop - 24kbps http://www.autistici.org:8000/drop - 24kbps http://radio.us.solpsists.org:8000/drop - 24 kbps http://notowar.com/blast.m3u - 16kbps For archived mp3's of the broadcast go to +http://radio.indymedia.org/drop/archive.html Some portions of the stream may be in Portuguese, Spanish, French, or German. If you have any questions about playing the broadcast, please email imc-audio@indymedia.org For more details, go to: http://radio.indymedia.org Since the WTO protests in Seattle, 1999, the Independent Media Center (IMC) has been covering the voices of those critiquing these global institutions and their impact on democratic structures, then streaming it over the internet. Likewise, the IMC will produce live breaking coverage of the forums and protests in Brazil, New York, and Munich. Hundreds of media activists will be calling in reports, conducting phone interviews and collecting audio on the front lines, in workshops, and at teach-ins. For more about the IMC, go to: http://www.indymedia.org http://www.indymedia.org/about.php3 See also Microradio.net for more information about live web streaming: http://www.microradio.net -- 5. World Social Forum 2004: Networking the Free Media Information is a public service, not merchandise. To build another world, we need to make another media possible-- a media that is not subjugated by the interests of corporate controlled media and one that operates outside the realm of market and financial considerations. This is an initiative to build a strong independent press. We call all political and not-for-profit publications and independent journalists who want to join hands against the increasingly evident association between media firms and political and economic power. This initiative will give publications the right to freely publish each other's work, provided the source and the authors are acknowledged. WSF 2004 at Mumbai will have a mosaic of 1200 conferences, panels, seminars, workshops and cultural and political activities with journalists reporting on debates, the progress made in the design of alternatives, limitations, consensus building and other controversial aspects. In practical terms, this is a sure way to ensure wider coverage of WSF. The initiative has a name-Ciranda-and a history, that is two World Social Forums old. What is Ciranda? It is an international independent form of information exchange, a copyleft[1] exchange among alternative press publications and journalists (reporters, broadcasters, photographers) worldwide that has become a trademark of this platform searching for global alternatives. It brings together hundreds of journalists and dozens of independent print and electronic publications from all over the world and offers a special coverage of the WSF meeting in several languages through the Internet (www.ciranda.net). During the previous two WSF's, the information distributed by Ciranda over the web was reproduced by dozens of printed publications and other media throughout the world. Who's already on board: Le Monde Diplomatique and Media Solidaire in France; The Nation and Zmag from the US; Il Manifesto, Liberazione and Carta from Italy; TaZ from Germany; One World from England; Rebelion from Spain; Focus on the Global South from Australia/Thailand and dozens of publications of Brazilian union and social movements among others. The gaps? Media from Africa and Asia. The run-up to WSF Mumbai will see us pulling Ciranda's net over these gaps. Just as the World Social Forum's move from Brazil to India has mobilised a different half of the world. Last year's hits: 60,000 a day. Nature and Scope: The vast majority of alternative media initiatives in this part of the world are in the print medium that need to be drawn into this initiative. We perceive our role as initiators and expect alternative media organisations particularly net based initiatives to come forward and take a lead role. Our long term vision perceives this initiative as a step towards building an independent alternative news wire service from South Asia that could continue even after WSF moves on to a different locale next year. Who can register? All journalists of the alternative, independent press who intend to come to WSF 2004 may join Ciranda. Publications can become partners (their logo and link will be featured on the Ciranda website) and can assist in the pre-event planning as well as during the event along with the existing Ciranda team and members of the WSF communications group. How do I join Ciranda? Only accredited journalists will be able to cover events at WFS 2004. As the first step you will have to: 1. Register on line for free (or fill the two enclosed press accreditation forms) at the official WSF site: http://wsfindia.org/pressroom.php 2. Downlload the registration form(available in the press room of the website), fill it and mail it to us at office_communication@wsfindia.org. Or, post the enclosed form to us at the address provided below. Note: Those who participated in the previous meetings, must register again. Submitting Articles: Articles/images will be uploaded by journalists by way of a password which will be provided by the Ciranda organising team. With the use of the document sharing program Publique!, the information is posted immediately. Registered journalists will receive information on the training courses available for the use of specially designed software Publique! which will be offered in Mumbai one day before the start of the forum. Ciranda editors: Articles will have to go through a group of editors, who will review titles and lead-ins, only in cases where the text exceeds the number of characters set by the graphic design. The content of the articles will not be altered. Participants are completely free to choose what activities and themes they are interested in covering at the Forum. The Ciranda staff will indicate activities where coverage is still in need of support. Translation: Ciranda will publish articles in the original language, unless authors themselves provide translations. WSF 2004 will provide a meeting and workspace( including computers& Internet access) for this project. Those interested in finding out more write to us at World Social Forum 2004 Bhupesh Gupta Bhawan III Floor, Leningrad Chowk, 85 Sayani Road, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400 025 Telephone: + 91 22 2421 6249 / 2421 6251 Fax: + 91 22 2421 6382 E-mail: office_communication@wsfindia.org Website: www.wsfindia.org Contact Persons: Minu Jose: 9820052377 Damayanti Bhattacharya: 98190 28409 -- http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-6-91-1576.jsp Archaich Left Challenges the World Social Forum By Peter Waterman In early November 2003, the coordinating committee of farmers' organisations from across India decided not to associate themselves with the World Social Forum. Instead, they are creating a separate 'Global Peasant Forum under the banner of Mumbai Resistance-2004 along with other genuine anti-imperialist forces in India and abroad'. Mumbai Resistance-2004 (MR2004) describes itself variously as a 'genuine', 'anti-imperialist', 'class', 'activist', 'socialist', 'revolutionary' forum (see http://www.mumbairesistance.org). It is a counter-hegemonic movement from the period of national-industrial-colonial capitalism. This was a machine-age capitalism, and it gave rise to mechanical interpretations of Marxism. MR belongs, more specifically, to the 'Marxist-Leninist' (Maoist) tendency and is linked (in more than a cyberspace sense) with the International League of Peoples Struggles, (ILPS) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). This movement considers discussion and analysis of the rights and wrongs of globalisation to be a derogation from a 100-year-old Leninist theory of imperialism. It is therefore suspicious of or hostile to the anti-globalisation movement. The only concession it will make to the new movement is that it has managed to capture a widespread and multifarious discontent internationally. It therefore becomes a suitable object for penetration and/or competition. This movement pursues a Marxism of binary opposition, a Manichean Marxism with oppositions like these: Capitalism/Socialism Reform/Revolution Bourgeoisie/Proletariat Imperialism/Nationalism NGO/People's Movement WSF2004/MR2004 Mass/Vanguard Civil Society/Class Struggle Post-Modernism/Marxism Revisionist Marxists/Revolutionary Marxists Reflection/Action Communist Party of India (Marxist)/CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Workers Party in Brazil/Shining Path in Peru Lula/Fidel Ideology/Science Globalisation/Imperialism False anti-imperialism/Genuine anti-imperialism ATTAC/International League of Peoples Struggles In such a Manichean Marxism, the Proletariat is either 'suffering from false consciousness' (misled by Reformism, Bourgeois Ideology, a Labour Aristocracy, a Union Bureaucracy, a Wavering Petty-Bourgeoisie, Imperialism), or led correctly by a Vanguard (representing Science, Revolution, the long-term general interest of the international Proletariat). It has little or nothing to do with a dialectical Marxism, which recognises internal contradiction (for example, within each of the apparent opposites above), interpenetration (socialism within capitalism, capitalism within socialism) and, I would suggest, mutual dependency (that 'reform' and 'revolution' are part of each other's meaning). Nor does it have much to do with a historical Marxism (specific to a time and place, developing over time, such as Marxism-Feminism, or Libertarian-Marxism). Rather it is one that is Essential (fundamental, already present in Marx-Engels, or Immanent and later revealed by the speaker's favoured prophet), Universal (applicable worldwide) and Infinite (true for ever). This tendency was well represented by Lenin when he said that 'Marxism is All-Powerful Because it is True'. This can, did and does lead to unfortunate corollaries, such as 'I am all-powerful, therefore what I say is true is Marxism'. Whilst it is easy to recognise, and satirise, the discourse linking those associated with MR2004, it is more difficult to decide what attitude one should take toward them. There is a matter of who they meaningfully represent (as distinguished from their customarily-inflated claims, and their problematic notions of 'representation'), and what kind of threat they represent to the healthy development of the process of which the World Social Forum is a central part. The best example - the major example - of Manichean Marxism on these sites is where they engage with the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). Within their discourse, the NGO occupies the position of Extreme Evil - even if the speaker's particular party is not named as representing Highest Virtue. NGOs, in this view, are agents of imperialism, confusing, corrupting and misleading the masses. Much evidence and argument is mustered to drive home these points. Statements from the World Bank, MNCs and other agents of imperial power are quoted to show how shamelessly these promote NGOs. Figures are provided revealing the extent to which the Ford Foundation in the US, or the ICCO in the Netherlands, may be funding or otherwise supporting the WSF. All this evidence may be accurate, if not particularly new. But the general interpretation of them is somewhat problematic. Earlier this year, there was created in the USA a body called NGOWatch. The neo-conservatives behind this project share a Manichean - although not, of course a Marxist - view of NGOs, seeing them as unrepresentative, agents of communalism, and even enemies of major US corporations! One awaits with some interest the Manichean Marxists's response to NGOWatch. To be consistent with the Conspiratorial Manifesto, they would have to say that NGOWatch has been created in order to mislead the masses into believing that NGOs are not agents of imperialism! What this confirms, in my view, is that 'NGO', like 'Civil Society' is a fiercely disputed term (like all the interesting ones), and that what they are or mean can only be understood according to how they are articulated with other phenomena and discourses, such as those of class, capitalism, patriarchy, imperialism and - today particularly - globalisation. This means, I guess, that we need to consider such concepts relationally, historically and concretely. And then to discuss different understandings so as to be able to achieve effective emancipatory action internationally. A dialectical and historical approach to the NGO phenomenon (Marxist or not) must come to terms with its complex and contradictory nature (see, for example, Mary Kaldor on accountability), and to surpass, rather than simply accept, a negative definition which only tells us what these are not. In the meantime I would like to suggest that the rise of NGOs is simultaneously an indication of an ideological/political crisis of capital and state (increasingly challenged from civil society) and an attempt to circumvent or dominate this (through the creation, surveillance and discrimination of NGOs). To assume that because those with power favour, fund or legitimise something, it is reduced to their mere instrument is to underestimate both the social forces working in another direction and the sophistication of the bourgeoisie. If, for example, the Ford Foundation is funding the World Social Forum, as it is, this suggests to me that the Ford Foundation is cleverer than the Manichean Marxists. Do contradictions hold up when they reach the doors of the Ford Foundation? I don't think so. Contradiction is everywhere. I recall, in 1970, asking a US radical, researching workers in Northern Nigeria, how he could possibly be funded by Ford. He said: 'I am the internal contradiction in the Ford Foundation!'. I do not recall his consequent PhD as being notably functional to US imperialism. Lisa Jordan, who works for Ford, has produced a thought-provoking, if telegraphic, slideshow on NGO accountability. This could, again, be considered functional to Ford, but it actually raises democratic challenges to NGOs where the Manichean Marxists simply issue rhetorical condemnation. The Ford Foundation has to also legitimate itself in the public eye. It is a rich, powerful and quite obviously unaccountable force (except for such legal requirements as may apply in the US), funding the WSF, or participants therein. But to assume that what it is, or does, or wishes, will express a unique interest (or function on behalf of a similarly single capitalist interest) is to engage not in dialectical analysis but in conspiracy theory. Indeed, I would like to suggest that both Kaldor's and Jordan's pieces on NGO accountability could and should be used in relationship to the vanguardist political parties, the unions and women's organisations, and the WSF itself! At least until and unless the latter produce more appropriate criteria and practices on the matter. The World Social Forum is a field in which many forces are at play. It combines features of a 'new' politics with those of an 'old' politics (see Sen, Jai, Anita Anand, Arturo Escobar and Peter Waterman - eds - The World Social Forum: Challenging Empires. New Delhi: Viveka, forthcoming). So, it may talk about equality, horizontality, transparency, accessibility, accountability and plurality, whilst itself practicing hierarchy, verticality, secrecy - and being heavily influenced by the culture of the international NGOs of the 1990s. This is where the pejorative concept of 'NGOisation', or ongización, comes from. But the critics are themselves involved with the new social movements, the NGOs and global civil society, and seek to remedy the problems. Nevertheless, many of the criticisms being made by MR supporters hit home. It is, for example, true that Prakash Karat, then an activist of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) produced a major tract in the 1980s - of the 'NGOs = Imperialist Agents' genre. This was called Foreign Funding and the Philosophy of Voluntary Organisations. It is also true that the CPI(M) today, a major force within WSF2004 in India, has pragmatically abandoned this position, and thrown itself energetically into the funding practices it previously demonised. Without, as far as I am aware of any similar major - or even minor - tract, explaining and justifying its reversal of position. Karat is now a national Politburo (Soviet language) member of the CPI(M). Indeed, he recently participated in an event in West Bengal which not only referred, neutrally, to (state- or party-approved?) NGOs, but implied that such were to be subject to CPI(M) supervision: "The NGO office-bearers must remain accountable to the state/district/zonal/local committees in accordance with their geographical area of operation; in the task of organising festivals and fairs, Party's committees concomitant to the location/area of the event must be consulted with and the event must be organised under the supervision of the concerned Party committee." (This report is worth reading in full, in so far as the bureaucratic-authoritarian style, of ''criticism and self-criticism' reproduces that of Stalinist parties, whether in power or not). The failure of the CPI(M), or Karat, to publicly qualify or reverse a major theoretical/strategic option of the past, is unsurprising. Power (however petty) has its reasons, which do not require justification or even explanation, to the Powerless - or even to those with simply Less Power. It is also true that those with power within the World Social Forum - or such regional emanations as the European or Asian Social Forums - are both willing and able to interpret WSF Charter principles (e.g. on the presence and role of political parties, or their front organisations) at will, and customarily without explanation or justification. There even seems to be, within the WSF, a more particular sensitivity toward the 'threat' from the old militarist left and the new libertarian one, than toward those on the right. Even leaders of the activist Call of Social Movements within the WSF, are less transparent, less open to challenge, less willing to engage in dialogue than they might claim to be - or to urge on others (see Waterman 2003). A final problem is formed by the endorsement of the Mumbai Resistance boycott/alternative by a whole range of Indian organisations, including at least one major network of farmers. In so far as this network seems to similarly raise a question about its relationship with the 'International Farmers' Movement' - for example Via Campesina - the matter goes beyond the WSF to affect the global justice and solidarity movement more generally. Via Campesina is a new international network of peasant and small farmer organisations, independent of the World Social Forum and taken to be an example of the new social movement internationalisms. This piece is not intended to provide an adequate response to the Forward March of the Manichean Marxists. It merely provides some evidence, attempts some analysis, and raises some problems. If MR2004 is now reproducing, with respect to the global justice and solidarity movement in general, a traditional vanguardist politics (which can include 'entryism' as well as condemnation and external competition), then the WSF is going to have to draw on all the resources of the new counter-hegemonic movements in order to surpass the challenge of the old. -- 6. SARAI @ WORLD SOCIAL FORUM, MUMBAI Panel discussion: Crisis Media of the Millennium January 20, 2004, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm Venue to be announced shortly Speakers: Ravi Sundaram, Sarai-CSDS (Chair) Toby Miller, New York University Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Sarai-CSDS Lawrence Liang, Alternative Law Forum A Bookstall, at the WSF venue, will also sell our publications, and take advance orders for Sarai Reader 04. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net