17 | | 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. |
| 17 | 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 increasing certainty that something must be done to save humanity. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | The Internet, a community of more than 1.4 billion people world-wide, is one of humanity's responses. When all else fails, human beings come together to communicate and figure out how to survive; that is our legacy as a species. That's what's happening today with the Internet. |
27 | | 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. |
| 29 | Progressive techies have a very special role to play: |
| 30 | |
| 31 | our political perspective prioritizes the use of the Internet and development of its software for organizing (rather than merely commerce); |
| 32 | |
| 33 | our commitment to Free and Open Source Software makes us central to a struggle that is fundamental to the Internet's future; |
| 34 | |
| 35 | the fierce opposition we have long had to controlling and interventionist government policies helps assure the Internet's essential independence and freedom; |
| 36 | |
| 37 | and our politics give the progressive movement a leadership position within the Internet. |
| 38 | |
| 39 | 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. |