Monday 20th, 6PM: who makes the tea and who surfs the net?]

[dinesh]

Another IT/Society discussion gathering on Monday the 20th of March at
6PM. Location: Servelots, 3354 KR Road, Bangalore  Directions: see below

Networked politics and the everyday practices of activism: who makes the
tea and who surfs the net? by Sky Croeser

The small interactions and processes that make up a movement's everyday
work have a larger impact on its achievements than is popularly
acknowledged. This is particularly the case with the global justice
movement, which aims to show that 'another world is possible' through
activism that links local, national, regional and intercontinental
ideas, groups and individuals. The global justice movement is a fluid
and unbounded phenomenon, but it is bound together by two main projects:
to oppose neoliberal globalisation and - most importantly, I believe -
to build a better world here and now, through movement activities.

I argue that this cannot come about without paying attention to the
details of how we network, and how we communicate. Ideology is
important. The issues we address are important. But more important is
who is included in our growing networks and who isn't, because this
determines the kind of world we are building and whether we are simply
repeating the same old mistakes. Questions of inclusion and exclusion
are not decided purely in our pronouncements and overt decisions - they
are also decided by how we publicise meetings, what forms of protest we
use, our daily interactions with others, and whether we choose to use -
or not to use - particular technologies.

Related to this is the issue of information management. My work has made
it clear that there is a lot of productive and valuable work that is
going on that remains off the radar for those it might be most valuable
to. A project or campaign not only needs to be aimed in the right
direction, it also has to be self-propagating if it is to succeed -
others need to become aware of it in order to joinjoin or learn from its
successes.

I will be giving a short talk about some of these issues in relation to
my work on the opposition to genetically modified food in Karnataka, and
how it relates to the broader global justice movement. Afterwards there
will be a discussion and I invite debate, constructive criticism, and
especially thought on how we can improve the links between various
projects and groups.

Sky Croeser is a PhD student from School of Social and Cultural Studies
University of Western Australia, who one day landed in Bangalore and
started looking for groups involved in similar interests.

Directions to the Venue:
http://pantoto.com/p/UpLoad/tmdb/bhairava/f/Directions.gif