Changes between Version 11 and Version 12 of technologists_congress

Timestamp:

Mar 19, 2010, 8:36:58 PM (15 years ago)

Author:

alfredo

Comment:

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technologists_congress

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 The connection between the current, global progressive movement and the Internet was made manifest in the success of the World Social Forum process. A sustained convergence of this scope would never have been possible without the Internet. Yet, as global crisis depletes the resources required to sustain geographical convergences of large numbers of people, the possibilities available with the Internet ensure the progressive movements' continued collaboration world-wide.
 
-[the past 10 years of the forum versus the use of the internet and how this can be improved in many ways with a few examples]
+At the same time, the converging crises in the major capitalist economies, the precarious state of the world environment, the political crisis in government in so many of the world's countries and the usurpation of government authority by international banks and committess have brought humanity to a point of urgency and the Internet, a community of more than 1.4 billion people world-wide, is one of its responses. When all else fails, human beings come together to communicate and figure out how to survive. That's what's happening today with the Internet.
 
-At the WSF 2009 in Belem, Brazil, an expanded format to the Forum process was introduced. Organizers for all corners of the globe were encouraged to participate in the Belem Forum from their local communities via Internet media. At the first United States Social Forum in 2007, technologists collaboratively developed a progressive approach to maintaining the Internet as a secure and open platform for movement building. These two processes have merged in what is known as a Techie Congress, an open virtual space led by progressive technologists. The ultimate goal of the Techie Congress are to address issues related to problem-solving global crisis, building bottom-up strategies through local representation, and building sustainable social movements by organizing the Internet; maintaining an open virtual space.
+In that context, the role of technologists becomes critically and centrally important. Techies are the leaders of the Internet because we run its technology and lead the work on its software. Progressive techies have a very special role to play: our political perspective prioritizes the use of the Internet and development of its software for organizing (rather than merely commerce); our commitment to Free and Open Source Software makes us central to a struggle that is fundamental to the Internet's future; the fierce opposition we have long had to controlling and interventionist government policies help assure the Internet's essential independence and freedom; and our politics gives the progressive movement a leadership position within the Internet.
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+The impact of our work, and the importance of the Internet, has never been clearer. It has drawn together all kinds of organizations (the Association for Progressive Communications, for example) and has driven the World Social Forum to its current situation. And, as the progressive movement has outgrown the Forum structure, an expanded format to the Forum process, first used at the Belem, Brazil WSF, is emerging. At Belem, organizers from all corners of the globe were encouraged to participate in the Belem Forum from their local communities via Internet media. 
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+Simultaneously, a new concept in collaboration on-line became popular: used all over the United States and at various world and localized Social Forums. The "Collaborative Democracy Workshop" was first used at the first United States Social Forum in 2007 where technologists collaboratively developed a progressive approach to maintaining the Internet as a secure and open platform for movement building.
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+These two processes have merged into what is known as a Techie Congress, an open virtual space led by and involving progressive technologists. The ultimate goal of the Techie Congress is to discuss and establish some principles about progressive techies responsibilities toward our movement, our rights in relationship to that movement and the social and political rights of all Internet users.
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+Because of the traditional isolation techies have had within the movement (and from each other), this type of gathering has been very infrequent and an international movement of these gatherings is unprecedented.
 
 Principles: Create accountability. Respond directly to the causes of global crisis enabling fully collaborative and democratic problem-solving in response to late-capitalism crisis. The format and nature of social forum versus civil responsibility. Fortify the movement in the face of deepening crisis, severe rationing of resources, and reducing costs for communications and convergences.