<div dir="ltr"><div>dear Andreas,</div><div><br></div><div>nobody has made that critique, on the contrary, about every postmodern scholar has made it ..</div><div><br></div><div>it is in my opinion a quite superficial critique ..</div>
<div><br></div><div>the flok was not about a bunch of foreign experts advising people what to do at all</div><div><br></div><div>it was a process that combined input from local civic groups (70 at least, 24 seminars ect ..) and global commoners</div>
<div><br></div><div>at the invitation of the local government, which sees itself as anti-colonialist</div><div><br></div><div>originally the project was meant to combine 7 foreigners and 7 local researchers ..</div><div><br>
</div><div>the foreigners in case were not experts dispatched by MNO's but activists</div><div><br></div><div>if calling a coworking between local and global commoners as 'colonialist' then the only other solution is pure localism</div>
<div><br></div><div>there was no research from outsiders of indigenous society ... the indigenous scholars wrote their own paper</div><div><br></div><div>that is not to say the flok can not be critiqued for colonialist or post-colonial elements, but this requires a bit more than just blanket condemnation because foreigners are involved,</div>
<div><br></div><div>it's a kind of atavistic reaction, not a critique I would say, based on a very superficial understanding of the project</div><div><br></div><div>Michel</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><< <span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Message: 1</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2014 19:15:21 +0100</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">From: Andreas Wittel <</span><a href="mailto:andreas.wittel@gmail.com" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">andreas.wittel@gmail.com</a><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">></span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Subject: Re: [P2P-F] an evaluation of the flok</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">To: P2P Foundation mailing list <</span><a href="mailto:p2p-foundation@lists.ourproject.org" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">p2p-foundation@lists.ourproject.org</a><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">></span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Message-ID:</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"> <CAOAyO5Trem8P7nVoXYQCCz=</span><a href="mailto:wzFpdYPwxXSVcR3s1La2vSq-ACg@mail.gmail.com" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">wzFpdYPwxXSVcR3s1La2vSq-ACg@mail.gmail.com</a><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">></span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">I hesitate to comment on this project, as I have only followed this from a</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">distance. However a good number of comments in this threat make me really</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">nervous. I am reading that 'seeds have been planted', that the FLOK</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">research papers can become part of the commons movement in Equador, that</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">lessons have been learnt and that it is all about doing it better next time.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">I'd rather see this as a one-off project and hope sincerely there is no</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">next time where a bunch of experts are aiming to create profound changes in</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">a society they are not really familiar with. This is a post-colonial</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">approach and should be rejected. It is as easy as that.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Every undergraduate anthropology student knows that it is highly</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">problematic to conduct western research in non-western spaces. This is</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">about otherness and authority, about who speaks and who is being</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">researched. All this is common knowledge since the 'writing culture' debate</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">in the mid 1980s.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">How much more dubious and arrogant is the FLOK approach, which was not just</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">about researching another (indigenous) society, but about so called experts</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">giving advice for a better living in a country they don't know well. This</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">is so na?ve, it is actually embarrassing. It is us who should learn from</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">them.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">Sorry for these harsh words addressed to researchers that I respect a great</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">deal. But nobody has made this critique so far. I cringe at the idea that</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">lessons are being learnt so we can do it better next time. For me this</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">project was politically and ethically wrong. Digital technologies don't</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">make localities disappear. Let's please support p2p structures and the</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">commons movements where we live and where we struggle.</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">
<span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"> All best,</span><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">andreas</span><br clear="all">
<div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div><b>Please note an intrusion wiped out my inbox on February 8; I have no record of previous communication, proposals, etc ..</b></div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br>
<br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br>
<br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div>
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