this is the more expanded evaluation of the flok process, to be published on the 17th after a review of the typo's, I long hesitated about the assessment of the internal process, but after showing it internally in the network, most people find it important that this is shared as well, Michel On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 1:10 PM, Michel Bauwens <[email protected]> wrote:
ok, if you resend me the text you want to be clarified (you can do it privately), I'll see what I can do,
Michel
On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 1:14 AM, peter waterman < [email protected]> wrote:
Michel:
Thanx for posting this. I would not, however, want to post it further (or even see it further posted) since it would require considerable inside knowledge to make sense of it. I myself cannot do so, tho I do have some background knowledge of Ecuador and a sceptical posture towards the '21st century socialist', or whatever, process occurring there.
So, I am wondering whether you would not be able to 'translate and improve'* your own account. That would mean making the information available to the wider community - even if this is taken only to be the NetLab and p2p lists.
Best,
P
*this is the phrase on a poster advertising a performance in Yiddish of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', in an isolated Jewish community of 19thC Poland. It was signed by the translator, Shmuel Cohen.
On Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 11:24 AM, Örsan Şenalp <[email protected]> wrote:
Michel, many thanks for this detailed response.
Actually my intention was posting on the networked labour list only the personal or official reports coming from or about the FLOK project which you led it's research part and concluded last month in Ecuador.
As for the request you replied below, actually I meant to address the impotence of adopting open or participatory budgeting practise in general. Otherwise did not mean to question anybodies' integrity or so. I believe, as you do, for building p2p or distributed ethical economies figuratively, and for especially these kind of projects this is an essential point.
Besides, in my opinion, it may be useful for those who are on the networked labour list so not very much aware of the exchanges going on about the project process so on; so who were not able to read the whole email in which I made the request from you and others. If you agree and find it useful or necessary to give a brief background please feel free. So it is up to you.
Thanks again, Orsan
On 7 July 2014 06:43, Michel Bauwens <[email protected]> wrote:
Orsan, you write:
<To avoid any negative impact for all the sides, I would humbly suggest, especially in terms of financial aspects, providing full transparency (Flok, P2P-F, Cook Consultancy, Ecuadorean ministries so on). And without practicing a sort of participatory budgeting, IMHO, there will always be shadows of doubts and questions hanging on these kinds of state-capital-funded projects.>
Orsan, the budget was highly secretive and tightly controlled by the flok mgt team; in fact, AD was removed (though they are claiming he removed himself, so I'm not sure), largely because he tried to get a regular and open budget done controlled by the institution. It was the key area of contention and why he has been called a spy.
Here is my guesswork:
* the project was tri-funded by the Min of Knowledge, the Senescyt innovation secretariat and the IAEN institution
* the entire process with wages may have reached $400k , with an additional $300k plus for the summit
The wage issue was highly contentious, from before I reached the project. The rector wanted to pay intl' level wages to foreign researchers, and this was not taken well by the locals. On the other hand, the institution payed some people very well who never showed up, and trying to get rid of them is one of the causes that caused him the loss of his job. The ratio of staff to students is incredibly skewed at the IAEN but I can't remember the ratio, but much more staff than students.
My understanding is that most of the research team got $4k and I got $5.x as 'director'. There is no doubt that this is well paid, but it is still less for a month than a private consulting gets for a day. So, if the FLOK is a genuine transition project, that was not outside of decency. There is a lot of discussion about the other salaries, which are shrouded in secrecy. One of the most often expressed critiques directed at me and the research team: how can you guys make so much noise when you are paid so well, 'aren't you ashamed'; on the other hand, 'flok mgt works tirelessly for nearly nothing'. This is the mythology, used again and again, but I'm not sure it is the truth; from very good accounting sources, I was informed that they earned four times their claims, but I can't prove this. But as I've learned not to trust anything said coming from the flok mgt, I tend to give credence to my source.
As for me, yes, I was well paid, after living under the minimum wage for seven years. We had to pay our own tickets, rent and rent guarantees, all internal job-related travels, and because of the length of the engagement, I had to bring my family for two months (this was a stated condition of my employment, even if I had to finance it myself). Because of the structurally late payments, I had to pay 40% more for these tickets, and on average, since we all had to take loans, 20% interest fees. So, just to say, despite appearances, none of us got rich from this, and we worked tirelessly, in very tough circumstances, 12 to 14 hours a day, including many weekend days. So, we are certainly not victims, privileged for sure, but not getting rich on this assignment either. Neither of us asked for anything, we accepted an invitation with its conditions, so I think the whole wage controversy is really a side issue.
I'm not suggesting any budget malfeasance, the opacity of the budget was exclusively an issue of political control. You should also take into account that due to the structural non-payment, the flok mgt had to make superhuman efforts for the project to merely survive. Two full-time staff were engaged just to speed up our payments (they achieved a 6 week average delay due to superhuman efforfts): I was told, but can't verify this, that 26 signatures were needed each month for each wage, a sign of terrible bureaucracy. (while I critique the hierarchical aspects of the mgt process we should not forget the extreme structural stress they were facing day in day out).
Also, apart from the real work, we were forced to produce partly fictitious 'products', taking 2-3 working days to produce, as proof of our work. These had to be delivered 10 days before the end of each month, hence having a 10 day 'future narrative' included. You have no idea of the level of dysfunctional bureaucracy that was prevalent. This is not exclusively a flok and IAEN problem, as the young and mosty precarious Prometheo researchers also are routinely not paid for the first four months of their work. Unless you have strong reserves to withstand such delays, I would not recommend any foreigner to work as a scholar in Ecuador for the moment. But if you have reserves and go for the experience and engagement with local people, it's worthwhile, it's a spectacular place. The structural situation in Ecuador is that most of the education funding goes to Yachai, a rather terrible neoliberal experiment in a green desert, signing secret deals with Microsoft, etc .. There is really nothing there, and won't be, for a very long time. While the existing universities are being underfunded, this artificial place, which will be structurally incapable of atracting the creative class (even richard florida thinks it's a terrible idea), is getting all the attention and funding. It's a little bit like the anti-FLOK project, though funded by the same Ministry, one of the many contradictions of the project and the political situation in Ecuador. Just as it was impossible to find a single civic mvt with a positive view of the government (at least amongst the 70 we spoke with); it was equally impossible to find a single university administrator or scholar that supported the current education policy. It's part of the divorce between the intellectual class and the government that I discussed earlier,
Michel
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1. *EBook, November 2012: Recovering Internationalism <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/recovering_internationalism/>. [A compilation of papers from the new millenium. Now free in two download formats] <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/> <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/>* 2. *EBook (co-editor), February 2013: World Social Forum: Critical Explorations http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/ <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/world_social_forum/> * 3. *Interface Journal Special (co-editor), November 2012: For the Global Emancipation of Labour <http://www.interfacejournal.net/current/>* 4. *Blog: http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman. <http://www.unionbook.org/profile/peterwaterman.> * 5. *Interface Journal Special (Co-Editor) Social Movement Internationalisms. See Call for Papers <http://www.interfacejournal.net/>, (Deadline: May 1, 2014). * 6. *Needed: a Global Labour Charter Movement (2005-Now!) <http://interfacejournal.nuim.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Interface-1-2-pp255-262-Waterman.pdf>* 7. *Under, Against, Beyond: Labour and Social Movements Confront a Globalised, Informatised Capitalism <http://www.into-ebooks.com/book/under-against-beyond/>(2011) Almost 1,000 pages of Working Papers, free, from the 1980's-90's.* 8. *Google Scholar Citation Index:* *http://scholar.google.com.pe/citations?user=e0e6Qa4AAAAJ <http://scholar.google.com.pe/citations?user=e0e6Qa4AAAAJ> *
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