[P2P-F] an evaluation of the flok

[Kevin Carson]

I think this is a good general observation on the likely result of
most successor economy projects carried out in cooperation with state
agencies: the most important outcome will be the horizontal functional
connections (including with state personnel working within the belly
of the beat) that persist after the state itself decays.

On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 10:54 PM, Michel Bauwens
<michel at p2pfoundation.net> wrote:
> 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
>
> Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>
> #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
>
> _______________________________________________
> P2P Foundation - Mailing list
> http://www.p2pfoundation.net
> https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation
>



-- 
Kevin Carson
Senior Fellow, Karl Hess Scholar in Social Theory
Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org

"You have no authority that we are bound to respect" -- John Perry Barlow
"We are legion. We never forgive. We never forget. Expect us" -- Anonymous

Homebrew Industrial Revolution:  A Low-Overhead Manifesto
http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com
Desktop Regulatory State http://desktopregulatorystate.wordpress.com