[27631] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
FyiFrance: ideas, from France & the rest of The Outside World?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jack Kessler)
Wed Jun 16 20:20:56 2010
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Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:11:56 -0700
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FyiFrance: ideas, from France & the rest of The Outside World?
The conference held at Bel=E9m in the Amazon last year, "Global=20
Forum on the Sciences and Democracy", has produced an interesting=20
digital library book: part-print and part-digital -- multimedia,=20
a book plus a DVD plus a website -- nearly, as the World Cup=20
announcer keeps proudly intoning, "Available on your TV, online,=20
and on your phone"...
Entitled "Sciences et d=E9mocracie", from C&F =C9ditions, in Caen,=20
and in French, the book is a "doculivre", a document-book: [tr. JK]
-- it offers viewpoints from a number of minority positions --=20
minorities which collectively may compose a global majority, in=20
fact, at least at their overlaps and interstices -- on "science"=20
issues which currently a number of the world's largest=20
nation-states, or the polyarchies and elites which rule them,=20
seem to take for granted --
* "The role of the Amazon, in the Global Social Forum", by Mariza=20
de Melo Foucher -- the Amazon as, "this immense reserve of=20
natural richness... a continental region... and an ideal=20
laboratory for demonstrating the brutality of a capitalism both=20
avaricious and predatory... the Project for a New Social=20
Cartography, in universities in Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana,=20
Venezuela, Argentina, and in nations in Europe...";
* "Moving from ideas to projects", by Herv=E9 le Crosnier -- "a=20
common future for the planet... protecting the independence of=20
Research against the heavy hand of the State, the pressures of=20
popular 'opinion', the sensationalism of the media, and the=20
powers of focus and decision exercised by industry... the rupture=20
technologies, called BANG / Bits, Atoms, Neurons & Genes [cf.=20
Freeman Dyson, JK]... departures from Taylorization... an=20
independent 'science'..."
* "Structuring discussions about the sciences and democracy",=20
various attendees -- "control, of science and its innovations...=20
the needs of neo-liberal economics, which values short-term=20
gain... patents... HIV... the privatization of knowledge... the=20
struggle for a Knowledge-Commons as an 'umbrella' theme..."
* "What does 'the sciences and democracy' mean?", by Janine=20
Guespin -- "oxymoron?... 'science for what, not just science=20
how'... the greatest possible number of avenues, of experiences=20
and ideas... the participation of citizens at the level of=20
defining science priorities is the best means of effectively=20
countering the risks... of solely economic profit..."
* "Dialog between scientists and social activists", by Jean-Paul=20
Lain=E9 -- "the impact of science and of technology is ambivalent:=20
it is the beneficiary of political and economic choice -- applied=20
science and technology can produce both the good and the bad..."
* "Reflections on an idea passing by: between sciences and=20
democracy", by Jean-Michel Cornu -- "Michel Serres uses a=20
beautiful image... he loves exploring certain mountains with=20
guides who know every corner of them... sometimes though they=20
reach the summit to find a television crew which got there via=20
helicopter... who knows the mountain better?... the types of=20
knowledge are not the same..."
* "About the urgency, of the Global Forum on the Sciences and=20
Democracy", by Lionel Larqu=E9 -- it's urgent... "Ever since the=20
'Cancer Plan' launched by Nixon, up to the nanotechnology=20
promises, by way of the legendary Space programs... a linear=20
concept of development... 3% or 5% of GNP for research, but for=20
what? For whom? To what ends?..."
The Bel=E9m conference papers are included, in this "doculivre" --=20
the texte d'appel, d=E9claration, compte rendu...
And the DVD offers both discussion and imagery very difficult to=20
imagine, via printed text, both because of the subject-matter and=20
because this was the Amazon, at Bel=E9m, and that particular=20
scenery and its people really must be "heard" and "seen"...
And there are good websites:
http://cfeditions.com/sciences-et-democratie/
http://vecam.org/article1099.html
-- and the "doculivre" may be obtained from C&F =C9ditions at,
http://cfeditions.com/public/
-- and the discussions in it are to be continued and expanded, at=20
the next conference, at Dakar in January, 2011...
http://fm-sciences.org/ [en travaux]
--oOo--
A Note:
One need not "agree". Even more interesting than the "substance"=20
here, perhaps, is the "procedure" --
I was raised in Hans Kelsen's "positivist" world, in which=20
boundaries were clear, and hierarchies were set in stone. Little=20
did I realize -- little did any of us realize, back then -- but=20
that world was breaking down, already had broken, and a new one=20
was emerging. What John Dewey might have called that "Myth of=20
Certainty" was breaking up: like an old-fashioned ship, one with=20
rigid hull-plating, hitting a very large iceberg...
What emerged, from all of that 20th century radical change, was a=20
newly-international and even a trans-national world -- one=20
populated now by new international and trans-national ideas --=20
such as the notion that the workplace is migratory, that races=20
can blend, that women have a role, that nation-states are=20
artificial, that Global Cities have more in common with each=20
other than they do with their own hinterlands and nations, that=20
ideas can span all boundaries.
So nowadays we have NGOs, non-governmental organizations: we have=20
had these before -- not since the Treaty of Westphalia, though,=20
have we given them political power.
But now they are taking it. Groups like this "Global Forum on the=20
Sciences and Democracy" nowadays are countless -- they exist for=20
every issue, every interest, in nearly every nation on the earth=20
now -- they are co-opting much of the geopolitical agenda,=20
perhaps in light of the nation-states' failures to address that=20
agenda adequately since the second World War.
Certainly the nation-states have tried, and there have been some=20
successes: we had Bretton Woods, and GATT and the WTO, and the UN=20
and all of the wonderful things-international which such=20
institutions have brought us. But since the 1989 Fall of the=20
Wall, at least, there has been an increasing sense of failure, of=20
a need for something new -- due to oil spills, to the=20
questionable "independence" of some ex-colonials, and the=20
occasional if unforeseen successful independence of some others,=20
to the tragically-missed opportunity at "9/11", to ill-defined=20
"wars" on terrorism and piracy and migratory labor and HIV -- a=20
great need for better forms of what used to be called=20
international organization has emerged.
Are these NGO groups the answer? Is this "Global Forum on the=20
Sciences and Democracy" the way our geopolitical system is going=20
to be formulated and operated, going forward? It seems more open,=20
and more free, than the stultifying bureaucracies of the now=20
too-long-in-the-tooth United Nations appear to offer. The NGOs=20
have been dignified too, recently, with the appellation "soft=20
power", by no less than Joseph Nye and other distinguished=20
commentators. Which system will be more effective, then? That=20
remains to be seen...
In the meantime the NGOs are by far the more interesting. Whether=20
it is protecting whales using their little speed-boats, or=20
distributing vaccines in the desert sun, or disrobing to ban fur,=20
or fighting land mines or deep-water oil drilling, it seems there=20
is a role now for NGOs -- such as these folks involved in this=20
"Global Forum on the Sciences and Democracy" -- perhaps because=20
the UN and the nation-states are not addressing such issues=20
effectively, perhaps because they have "sold out" as their most=20
ferocious critics claim, perhaps simply because 2 approaches are=20
better than 1.
The other interesting angle in all this for me, then, is that=20
some nation-states seem to see these new developments better than=20
others do. Qua am=E9ricain, myself, I wish that my own nation did:=20
or I hope that it will -- "See better, Lear!" -- now that it has=20
made some recent political changes... I notice good work by=20
nationals from everywhere, in some situations -- Darfur, the Aceh=20
tsunami, Haiti -- many disaster responses are truly=20
trans-national now.
France, or people in it, has offered the world at least one=20
recent disaster-relief paragon, in the admirable and effective=20
M=E9decins sans Fronti=E8res. Perhaps this "Global Forum on the=20
Sciences and Democracy", likewise, will develop some new=20
approaches -- there were Canadians and Brazilians and all sorts=20
of other nationalities, at that Bel=E9m conference, see their DVD=20
-- which the old national-bordered and hierarchically-structured=20
governmental authorities have not discovered and would be unable=20
to operate. Perhaps it is time for some truly-"global" thinking,=20
and perhaps it now takes not nation-states and UN-models but=20
NGOs, to do that.
The other day, watching the World Cup, "on TV, online, and on=20
your phone" -- along with nearly a billion people in nearly every=20
nation of the world, I understand -- I heard the announcer=20
comment that one team was from Mexico and the other from South=20
Africa and, "The referees are Russians?!" -- "I suppose it=20
doesn't matter," the other announcer said.
=09=09=09--oOo--
FYI France (sm)(tm) e-journal ISSN 1071-5916
*
| FYI France (sm)(tm) is a monthly electronic
| journal published since 1992 as a small-scale,
| personal experiment, in the creation of large-
| scale "information overload", by Jack Kessler.
/ \ Any material written by me which appears in
----- FYI France may be copied and used by anyone for
// \\ any good purpose, so long as, a) they give me
--------- credit and show my email address, and, b) it
// \\ isn't going to make them money: if it is going
=09=09 to make them money, they must get my permission
in advance, and share some of the money which they get with me.=20
Use of material written by others requires their permission. FYI=20
France archives may be found at http://www.cru.fr/listes/biblio-fr@cru.fr/
(BIBLIO-FR archive), or http://listserv.uh.edu/archives/pacs-l.html
(PACS-L archive), or http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/Collections/FYIFrance/
or http://www.fyifrance.com . Suggestions, reactions, criticisms,=20
praise, and poison-pen letters all gratefully received at=20
kessler@well.sf.ca.us .
=09Copyright 1992- , by Jack Kessler,
=09all rights reserved except as indicated above.
=09=09=09--hjlm--
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