TagPolitics

Geeking that matters

Here are a few sources for tech and design related volunteer work, either virtual or based around Seattle (mostly for my reference):

On “Rich Progressive” Kenneth Cole

And speaking of “rich progressives,” here’s an interview with Kenneth Cole:

“It’s hard to ignore the hand that feeds you,” Cole said, “and today our communities are far more needy than they’ve ever been, and governments neither have the will nor the ability in many cases to provide the services that they need to. So, if the private sector doesn’t step forward, I don’t know who will.” […]

“I’m actually in the process of running from office,” he said in Chicago. “I’ve got so much access and ability to do so much great social outreach and public service as a private person. I think I can do much more where I am.”

Makes me want to read Footnotes.

And then, on the other hand, is this. I’m pretty skeptical about anti-sweatshop people, but the situation in Burma sounds pretty grim. But as always, the question remains… would Burma be better off without these jobs? I wonder what Cole’s reaction to this was, I can’t find any follow up.

Can the Left Trust George Soros?

After this week’s announcement that Soros has donated $5 million to MoveOne, I’m doing some research on George Soros:

From George Soros: Open Society Crusader in Retreat? (via Wikipedia):

Of course, the real lesson from Soros’s experience may be that civil society building efforts in countries with few strong civil society institutions requires a much larger and longer term commitment of resources than that which the West made to the former communist world. Soros never claimed to be able to do this job by himself, and he often criticized Western governments for not duplicating his efforts on much a greater scale. Through his own heroic efforts, Soros sought to shame the overly cautious policymakers of the United States and Western Europe. As time passes and major transition problems persist in parts of Eastern Europe and in many of the New Independent States, most notably Russia, Soros the philanthropist stands as an ever larger figure of late 20th century history while the leaders of the West look ever more ineffectual.

Bill Seitz’s Open Societies Node (also includes Seizt’s ” priorities for making the NYC/USA society more open”)

An anti-Soros article on Indymedia (haven’t read this yet… via Wikipedia).

The digital divide, organized labor, and smart mobs

The “digital divide” is being discussed on Margin Walker right now.

Josh says:

a) Is the digital divide problem worth becoming involved in?
b) If so, is it something we can actually help with?
c) If so, what do we do?”

My response:

The digital divide, in non-post-industrial Western capitalist societies, is being bridged as we speak, through programs like GeekCorp (just one of many similar projects), the spread of cell phones, and other mobile computing devices.

The results, as mentioned earlier, will probably include even more outsourcing of our current jobs. But other results will include new information driven businesses, more productivity in agricultural industries, and people organizing on a global level in new ways.

I expect to see a new global organized labor movement. As Abe said on his site, “Organized labor still has the potential to be a vital force in the world. They can present a strong counteracting force to maneuvers of corporations, governments, and other mass groups.”

American companies started outsourcing their manufacturing work because it was cheaper to pay people in third world nations than to pay union workers. Workers in these countries were generally happy to have steady work, even if the pay and conditions were appalling by our standards. And they were afraid to organize because these companies could move to another impoverished nation. But as tech becomes cheaper, it will become possible for people from around the world to organize and create large, global unions.

Is there something we can do? I dunno. Volunteer with organizations to be build the infrastructure, teach some literacy. It won’t take a whole lot, private industry is building the cell phone infrastructure, and kids don’t need a lot of tutoring to learn the basics of computing. The revolution will have to come from the people in these countries, and not from us. It won’t be American consumer activists that get Starbucks to serve only fair traded coffee, it will be coffee pickers who finally say “enough is enough” and get together and quit picking coffee until they get paid more.

In America, we’re adapting to the loss of a lot of manufacturing, call center, and programming jobs. Many of these people displaced by outsourcing are moving into the service industry. Rob Walker says: “…you could argue that no-benefits line cooks, bike messengers and temps add up to new blue-collar equivalents.” We’ll probably see more service industry unions. These are more prevalent in other countries than in America right now, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing them grow more powerful in America.

What can we do here? I guess keep on doing the stuff that we (the sort of people who read Margin Walker) do. Make art. Make social software. Come up with stuff to do with social software. Keep trying to get this stuff into people’s hands.

Beyond that, I don’t know. Next time we go to Starbucks we can suggest to the kid who makes our latte that she start a union.

Ten Chapters on Tchkung

Adam Greenfield has posted his review of a 1994 Tchkung show. I saw them a few months ago, 8 years after this review was written, and it still holds true.

What did I want them to do with that energy? What might I have done with it myself? Alternately, what might I have done if only it was asked of me in that interval before the showbuzz wore off? Part of the problem here is that Tchkung is playing with fire, in more ways than the merely literal. The piercing, the firebreathing, the dervish-dancing, the relentless rhythms: these are all shamanic techniques for the alteration of consciousness, and there is no doubt but that they work. In their original contexts, they are all used by people undertaking specific initiatory journeys, when guided by others steeped in the traditions of their use. Of course, none of these conditions obtains at a Tchkung show. What happens when you put several hundred people into a suggestible state, in an environment filled with extraordinarily powerful signs of no fixed meaning?

v-2: Ten chapters on Tchkung

See also: Tchkung’s Post World Manifesto

New Robort Anton Wilson Material

Robert Anton Wilson’s new book TSOG: The Thing That Ate the Constitution has been released. Also, a documentary about Wilson called Maybe Logic is scheduled to be released this spring.

The film company, Deepleaf Productions, also plans to release a new documentary called Utopia USA featuring Noam Chomsky, Tom Robbins, Robert Anton Wilson, Riane Eisler, RU Sirius, Douglas Rushkoff, John Zerzan, Raymond Smith, Ralph Abraham, David Loye, John Mohawk, Lyn Gerry, John Kekes and Howard Zinn.

Ted Nugent May Run for Governor

“Outspoken rocker and outdoor enthusiast Ted Nugent said Wednesday he will run for Michigan governor in 2006 if Democrat Jennifer Granholm is elected next month.”

Link

(via American Samizdat)

Youths’ Views Differ from Parents

Though the Sacramento Bee‘s story leads with “Berkeley study finds youths more conservative than parents,” the study actually finds that youth are more “conservative” on some issues (such as abortion and school prayer), and more liberal on others (such as gay rights and environmental protection).

Sacremento Bee: Berkeley study finds youths more conservative than parents

(via Drudge Report)

Political Statements in Runway Fashion

If runway fashion is an art, then I suppose it makes sense that it’s being used as an avenue for political expression.

David Delfin presented a show in Madrid with hooded designs resembling “burqa head-coverings that women in Afghanistan had to wear when the Muslim fundamentalist Taliban were in power.” CNN: Death hoods bring fashion protest (via Drudge Report)

Saudi haute couture artist Yehya al-Bashri created a bloody stained dress with a picture of a tank on it to protest Israel’s treatment of Palestine. NY Post: Dressed to Kill on Day Terror Returns to Israel (via Drudge Report).

Words of Wisdom from an Armor Master

Since the media has decided to scare everyone with predictions of chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare on our turf I decided to write a paper and keep things in their proper perspective.

Chemical, Biological & Nuclear: The Real Deal

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