[P2P-F] an evaluation of the flok

[Michel Bauwens]

Here is a nice ecuadorian and in my view balanced evaluation of the flok,

in order to avoid inflaming, I removed the name of the author and most of
the persons cited

Since I have been repeatedly threatened and intimidated in an attempt to
avoid any independent political evaluation of the flok, I don't see any
point in continuing to be careful about some of its unfortunately realities:

from an ecuadorian person who participated in the flok process

<<

It's sad but the failure of something like FLOK is just another part of
life. Big picture, what mattered in Ecuador was introducing revolutionary
ideas to the population, and I think the way your team decided to carry out
research did impact many key people and foment important connections
in-country. What mattered for the P2P movement worldwide is learning from
failures, and you're more in tune with how that is going to move forward.
The case of Bernardo is very sad ... the case of Daniel V. somewhat sadder.

I do understand Ecuador much more than Bernardo or Daniel V. do, and I can
predict what FLOK is going to mean in the political landscape: the word
FLOK will eventually mean nothing. The papers it produced will mean
nothing. What will last will be the connections between people that it left
behind. This is why it saddens me that within the category of the people
who met via FLOK, some of them don't see the value of the others, and the
strength that the organism that coalesced in Quito could have. I'm sorry
that they're treating you the way they are. It's despicable. I think that
people that know you will see through the vitriol and judge you for your
actions rather than the words of others.

 I don't think "FLOK" as it was imagined in Ecuador can be rescued. I think
if there's a power struggle over the idea or the papers produced at the
summit, that will just sink it faster. My opinion (and keep in mind that I
don't know much about what happened at the summit) is that you would
benefit from even more distance between yourself and Daniel V's project,
that you should continue to be open to the public and continue to process
the "whys" of your split and critique of the project, but move on without
the label "FLOK" on what you do. There's a measure of pride and ownership
in not wanting something that you loved, i.e. the idea of FLOK, to be
completely taken over by people whose ideas you hate, but that's how open
source stuff works, I suppose :) I don't think the way Daniel V. and co. do
things is going to conquer Ecuador. Actually, I'm positive that he will
continue to fail. Ecuadorians are not fond of being ruled by centralized
power, especially not from abroad. He's successful when he operates in the
shadows and when he uses Ecuadorians like Andres or Isabel as puppets to
speak to the locals, and foreigners with more cache, like yourself, to
speak to the international community. On his own, operating in Ecuador,
he's pretty harmless. And since he continually alienates people, I think
he'll always end up alone.

So, take heart, I suppose? "

-- 
*Please note an intrusion wiped out my inbox on February 8; I have no
record of previous communication, proposals, etc ..*

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

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