In the first part of this interview Michel Bauwens, the creator of The Foundation for P2P Alternatives, explained why he believes the various free and open movements should be viewed as part of a larger P2P movement; and why this larger movement offers the potential for creating an alternative to the current political and economic order.
http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html
I’ve entertained similar thoughts about the truly revolutionary power of decentralized networks combined with freedom of information and people from around the world going ‘online’ in numbers never seen before.
Every new form of media has once been touted as the trigger to spark change and new forms of communication. However, those media have always been co-opted and mediated by governments and corporations with powerful interests of their own, mostly in the status quo.
The most vulnerable and abused people who have the greatest interest in changing the status quo are the ones manipulated by those with power to converge against other countries with vulnerable and impoverished people with whom they share more in common with the elites of their own country.
If unmediated information and authentic personal experience has a way of bypassing the powerful intermediaries and connecting together the people of the world who’s interest is in change then maybe, just maybe, another world is possible.
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/
From the Global Voices Manifesto:
We believe in free speech: in protecting the right to speak — and the right to listen. We believe in universal access to the tools of speech.
To that end, we seek to enable everyone who wants to speak to have the means to speak — and everyone who wants to hear that speech, the means to listen to it.
Thanks to new tools, speech need no longer be controlled by those who own the means of publishing and distribution, or by governments that would restrict thought and communication. Now, anyone can wield the power of the press. Everyone can tell their stories to the world.
We seek to build bridges across the gulfs that divide people, so as to understand each other more fully. We seek to work together more effectively, and act more powerfully.
We believe in the power of direct connection. The bond between individuals from different worlds is personal, political and powerful. We believe conversation across boundaries is essential to a future that is free, fair, prosperous and sustainable - for all citizens of this planet.
While we continue to work and speak as individuals, we also seek to identify and promote our shared interests and goals. We pledge to respect, assist, teach, learn from, and listen to one other.
We are Global Voices.
Recent Comments