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Re: [ox-en] Free Software and social movements in South America



Hi Raoul,

thanks so much for that considered response, which I
find altogether convincing and realistic ...

I'd like to refract, copy it in the
blog.p2pfoundation.net

Is that okay?

Michel


--- Raoul <raoulv club-internet.fr> wrote:


On  March 18, 2007 12:55 PM
Stefan Merten wrote:
* What kind of connection is there between social
movements and Free
Software exactly? What is the nature of this
connection? How strong is it
really?
Very interesting questions. But I think it would be
useful to pose them in a
more general way, trying first to clarify what can
be meant by "Free
Software" and by "social movements".

As Michael Bauwens, I think that Free Software is
only a part of a more
global reality. A reality which could be specified
as the new non market
practices allowed by the ICTs. I don't know whether
there is a term to name
that. Michael put the emphasis on P2P, but giving to
that term a very
general meaning, as he put-it: "the open/free
(input), participatory
(process/governance) and commons-oriented (output)
solutions". That reality
can be also seen through other (non contradictory)
dimensions, as for
example, different ways of "sharing" without
commercial relationships:

sharing efforts: free software;

sharing digital goods: P2P;

sharing material means (computer power): Grid
computing, (Stanford Folding,
etc.)

In any case, I think it is more fruitful to take
this global new reality to
be analyzed in its links with the "social movements"
and not only FLOSS.




About "social movements". The first reality
considered by Stefan's is what
he calls the "classical" social movements, in Latin
America and in the
more industrialized countries. Michel Bauwens
conceives a more global social
movement as he implicitly considers a movement
leading to "the new society".

A social movement could be defined as a movement
involving a more or less
extended part of the society acting in order to try
to have an effect on a
specific aspect (or even on all aspects ) of social
life. As such, they may
be more or less conservative or opposed to the
reigning social order. Of
course, those we are the most interested in are the
second ones.

I will not enter here into questions as: is there a
revolutionary class?
Which one? etc. I just want to make two remarks: one
on the term
"(classical) social movement" and another on the
reality of the "social
movement" linked to FLOSS in Latin America.

It is common to assimilate the working class
movement (low wage blue or
white collars) to the official unions. Michael does
it when he writes:
"Could it be that the 'classic' social movements, of
the labor movement,
have not only been weakened, but are totally
integrated in the state, and
have been themselves in power for so long."

Official Unions have indeed since long become
"totally integrated in the
state". But that is not the case for the millions of
workers who live under
the power of that state. In the countries where
unionization is not
compulsory or "officially" recommended, even in some
with a long tradition
of social unrest like Spain and France, the
unionization rate is below 10%.
More important: during most of the most important
and radical workers
fights, the clashes between the rank-and-file
movement and the unions
machines are almost systematic.

This question takes all its relevance when you see
that the ICT (specially
Internet and mobile phones) played and important
role during the social
movements in France, in 2003 (against the pension
reforms) and specially in
2006 (against a new low cost contract for young
workers), helping the
attempts of people trying to self-organize outside
the control of the
unions. The monopole of information and the
representation of unions, these
powerful weapons of the unions to keep their control
over the movements has
been questioned and some times openly contested.
IMHO, this is something
that will develop in the future.

By the way, I just read that beginning March, in
Copenhagen, during a week
of fights between the police and youths defending
the symbolic Ungdomshuset
(House of youth) sold by the new mayor, Internet and
mobile phones played
also a useful role. The police draw the conclusion
that it was necessary to
find a way to trouble that kind of communication,
specially a network of
Internet sites.







About Latin America: Stefan asks how true is that
Free Software has a
"rather strong connection" with "(classical) social
movements". AFAIK, what
you can see in Brazil and some other countries like
Venezuela is a
"movement" of people defending the need to adopt
FLOSS within the economy.
Some parts of the leftist nationalistic parties in
power (but non only them)
see in FLOSS a way to save money that otherwise
would go to Microsoft (or
other foreign corporations), and a way to stimulate
the national informatics
industry. To a certain extent you can call that a
sort of "social movement",
since they act for a specific change in society, but
it is not a "classical"
social movement, nor a "mass" or very
"anti-capitalistic" one. That is why
Kasper Souren can write in his mail commenting
Stefan's one: "During my
travels I haven't seen stronger connections [between
FS and social
movements] in non-industrialized countries." That is
why Rafael Evangelista,
when trying to quote examples of FS presence in
Brazil, writes: "The 3st
largest supermarket chain of the country is using
(you can see the penguin
in the cashier's computer screen). Some big
department stores too. The
largest state owned bank is using in some servers
and starting to adopt in
desktops." (1)




Going back to the original question, the connection
between social movements
and FS et al, I would, like Michael, see as most
important what he calls
"the embedded values, and about prefiguring the new
society by present
actions... new values such as sharing and non
proprietary relationships".

The most important weakness of all social movements
provoked by the inhuman
aspects of capitalism is the conviction that there
is nothing beyond
capitalism. You are then condemned to accept the
capitalist logic as
"natural" and to accept with fatalism your almost
total impotence.

Social practices that may show that humans can
organize themselves in a
different way, in a non capitalist way, is thus a
vital element to overcome
that deadlock. Helping to develop the visibility of
what could be a non
capitalist society is certainly one the most
important 
=== message truncated ===


The P2P Foundation researches, documents and promotes peer to peer alternatives.

Wiki and Encyclopedia, at http://p2pfoundation.net; Blog, at http://blog.p2pfoundation.net; Newsletter, at http://integralvisioning.org/index.php?topic=p2p 

Basic essay at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499; interview at  http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html; video interview, at http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/09/29/network_collaboration_peer_to_peer.htm


       
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