<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Against the World Bank Gateway Project -- launching on</title></head><body> <div><font color="#000000">Comrades!</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">The World Bank is launching its new web initiative tomorrow.</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Read the declaration, and -- if you agree -- please follow the instructions, sign and forward...</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">***</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Knowledge is power.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">The World Bank's Development Gateway is a way of centralising and entrenching their power.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Don't let them.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">PLEASE CIRCULATE AND SIGN THE DECLARATION BELOW.</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">The declaration below has been written and endorsed by a spectrum of 'knowledge workers' - an unlovely term for people who research or discuss development issues in the media, in education and in other areas - who are deeply concerned with the implications of the Bank's new internet project.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">This declaration is unlike previous petitions against the Bank's initiative. There is no attempt to lobby the World Bank or alter the Gateway's structure or content. Previous such attempts have resulted in only marginal or cosmetic changes. Rather, this letter encourages people not to contribute to or use this Bank-backed scheme. The signatories of this letter have pledged to avoid any contact with the Bank's development gateway, and to push forward with their own diverse research and publication agendas, including independent internet schemes.<br> <br> This is a declaration that can be signed by anyone. Please mention any institutional affiliation when you sign -- which will be for informational and identification purposes and won't imply the endorsement of your organisation. Send a message to</font><font color="#FF0000"><u> gateway@voiceoftheturtle.org</u></font><font color="#000000"> with your name and organization in the subject line.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Please distribute this call widely to your comrades, colleagues and contacts. If every recipient sends it to at least five people or lists, then we can soon achieve a broader coverage than the World Bank's hired PR company. This letter is mirrored at</font><font color="#990000"><u> http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/topic<span ></span>/knowledgebank/gateway/</u></font><font color="#000000">, where a recent Bretton Woods Project briefing on the Gateway is also available.<br> <br> Raj Patel<br> for<i> The Voice of the Turtle</i></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">-----------------------------------------<span ></span>-------------------------------</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">The Development Gateway: A Declaration from Concerned Knowledge Workers</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Dear friends,</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">In July the World Bank will launch a multi-million dollar internet-based development knowledge initiative at</font><font color="#FF0000"><u> www.developmentgateway.org</u></font><font color="#000000">. Trumpeted as a place to find diverse perspectives on development, the Bank argues that its Development Gateway will be a convenient tool for civil society groups, officials, journalists and independent researchers. We disagree. On closer scrutiny, the Development Gateway initiative looks less like an attempt to encourage debate than a means to stifle, moderate and control dissenting opinion. We wish to warn colleagues of the perils of associating with or supporting this project.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">There are three fundamental objections to the Gateway project. First the gateway privileges certain voices over others. The Gateway does not prioritise poorer people as site contributors, editors or viewers. The Bank's heavy English-language bias exacerbates the dominance of official "development knowledge". You will not find topics on "political economy" or "inequality" or "discrimination", just concepts like "governance" and "human development". Moreover the Gateway's 130-issue taxonomy ghettoises cross-cutting issues such as gender and climate change.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Second, the claim that the site is independent is untenable. This is a clear attempt by the Bank to consolidate itself and its allies as the main authorities on "development knowledge". This is reflected in both the content and process of the Gateway. For instance, in order to provide local content, the Gateway has its own country portals. These will be run by government officials, private business and civil society groups appointed without any clear criteria of representativeness. The content of these gateways will be policed. Within these country gateways, site contributors are told to avoid "country/locale specific events", and not to use metaphors, puns or irony in order "to aid machine translation".</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">The Bank is appointing individual or institutional "topic guides" to filter and organise material in each of the site's subject areas. The Gateway is supposed to represent all perspectives and all types of analysis. The only reason to exclude items is if they fail to meet the site's "quality" criteria, yet it remains extremely unclear as to how this quality threshold is determined. And given the volume and diversity of information posted on the internet daily, it is unlikely that the guides' coverage will be comprehensive. With the best will in the world, then, the topic guides' selections will be biased in favour of the intellectual tastes of themselves and their contacts.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">The third, and most pernicious, effect of the development gateway is to undermine alternatives. Instead of encouraging existing initiatives, the Bank has chosen to centralise internet coverage of development issues in a bid to sift and control the flow of ideas. This is likely to distract from and damage the development of diverse, independent internet sites on these issues.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">This is why, in our individual capacities, we pledge to avoid all contact, whether official or otherwise, with the World Bank's Development Gateway. We encourage our colleagues to undertake a similar pledge, and to support alternative sources of knowledge.</font><br> <font color="#000000"></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Signed (as individuals, organisation names provided for reference only)<br> <br> <u>Initial signatories:</u><br> <br> Yash Tandon, International South Group Network, Zimbabwe<br> Patrick Bond, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa<br> Phil McMichael, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA<br> Chris Brooke, Magdalen College, Oxford, UK</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Rutendo Kambarami, Communications Officer, Mwelekeo waNGO, Zimbabwe</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">Further signatories</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#000000">1.Raj Patel, SEATINI, Zimbabwe</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">2.Jamal Bouamama assahafa.com Morocco</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">3.Tony Burdon Oxfam International</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">4.Glyn Everett, University of Bristol</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">5.Neil Watkins, Center for Economic Justice, Washington, DC, USA</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">6.Tristi Tanaka, CorpWatch.org</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">7.Christina Neall,Surrey BC,CA</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">8.Debra Oliver, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">9.Jon Nissenbaum, Harvard University Dept. of Linguistics</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">10.Alastair Thompson - Scoop Media - New Zealand</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">11.Kathleen Williamson, Jubilee NW USA?</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">12.Sarba Raj Khadka Executive Director Rural Reconstruction Nepal-RRN</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">13.Deb Lagutaris</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">14.Camille Chalmers - Haitian Advocacy Platform for an Alternaitve Development (PAPDA) - Ha�ti</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">15.Dianne McQuillen ACLU, Amnesty International, Nation Associate and Peace Center</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">16.Uddhav Raj Bhattarai ActionAid Nepal, Kathmandu</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">17.Allison Dinsmore, ACT UP Philadelphia</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">18.Katriona Street ActionAid Nepal.</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">19.Cosmas Obote, Clare College, Cambridge University</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">20.Rasigan Maharajh, University of Manchester, UK</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">21.Richard Worthington Earthlife Africa Jhb, South Africa</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">22.Nicolas Dieltiens, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">23.Carina van Rooyen, RAU, South Africa</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">24.Alex Lopez, International Society for Ecology and Culture, UK</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">25.Susan George, TNI Network, Netherlands</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">26.Deborah Stern, School Administrator, United States</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">27.Alejandrina Pliego</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">28.Elisa Van Waeyenberge, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK...</font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div> <div>-- <br> <br> ==========<br> Chris Brooke<br> Magdalen College<br> Oxford OX1 4AU<br> <br> http://users.ox.ac.uk/~magd1368/</div> </body> </html>