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Annual Mayday Report
for May 2004
Ben Seattle
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============================================================ 2) What I plan to accomplish in the coming year ============================================================
Unfortunately my ability to engage in political work is currently limited to a few hours a week--on a Saturday or Sunday. I hope that this situation will eventually improve. Considering my limited time--it is unclear if my plans for the coming year (see below) are realistic.
----------------------------------------------------------------- a) Make one post a week to the pof-200 discussion list -----------------------------------------------------------------
This is my main goal for the coming year. I hope that I can maintain this pace for at least the next six months if not the entire year.
The wiki: ---------
I will also occasionally make a contribution to the "wiki" (ie: software that allows a group of people to easily create and modify a set of interlinked web pages without needing to know html) that has been set up for use by pof-200 subscribers and other progressive activists. The wiki can currently be viewed at: http://203.219.153.46/tiki/index.php or (starting with one of the entries that I created) at: http://struggle.net/wiki .
The coming period may eventually witness forms of "wiki warfare" in which political trends fight over the entries for certain key terms. It is unclear how this will develop but people who use wiki's generally want to see disputes resolved in a democratic way where readers have access to the views of all parties and can play a role in determining which views may be given the most emphasis in a page summarizing a range of opposing views.
It will certainly be useful for progressive activists to gain experience in the use of wiki's and in both the collaboration and competition that will shape the appearance of wiki pages and topics.
----------------------------------------------------------------- b) Organize distribution (to email lists and Indymedia sites) of
Anarcho-Leninist Debate on the State (ALDS) installments -----------------------------------------------------------------
The ALDS installments have all been formatted for email. Comments I have received indicate that many serious activists who have read these installments consider them to be dynamite. However a number of obstacles currently block the way to the wider distribution to email lists and indymedia site which is necessary.
The first obstacle is that wider distribution of these installments will require that a core of activists conclude that such distribution is necessary and decide to help with this distribution. Related to this is the concern that was raised in 2003 by a number of subscribers to the pof-200 list that wide distribution of these installments would be perceived as a form of "political spam" and might be counter-productive.
Consideration of these concerns has led me to conclude that two measures will be needed in order to begin a gradual process of wider distribution:
(i) a joint statement, signed by a number of activists with
a range of political views, must be developed which
expresses the conviction that calm and scientific debate
focused on the ultimate goals of the progressive movement
is very much necessary at the current time and that
the ALDS represents serious motion in this direction.
Such a statement could then be included in the initial
post announcing the debate and requesting moderators
and/or readers to allow distribution to their elists and
forums.
(ii) the ability must be developed to meet a "service level
agreement" (SLA) to give an "initial response" within
48 hours and a "formal response" within 10 days to
every serious reply which requests a response.
By making use of these two measures I believe that distribution of ALDS installments to dozens of email lists, indymedia sites and online forums can take place in such a way that the opposition to debate distribution from readers of many email lists and web sites can be minimized. It will also be necessary to give thought to methods of scouting elists and web forums where receptivity to debate installment distribution will be high and opposition will be low.
Serious activists understand, at some level, that serious discussion and debate is needed in order for the revolutionary movement to once again be deserving of the respect and attention of millions of workers. I believe that the ALDS installments represent a step in this direction and that serious activists worldwide should have an opportunity to know about this debate and, if they so choose, to read the installments. This is part of building a revolutionary mass movement with an ability to talk about and focus on the real long-term goal of ending the system of bourgeois rule.
----------------------------------------------------------------- c) Create a functional specification for an interactive forum
that allows readers to rate and filter posts and comments
and which includes some of the features of wiki's and blogs -----------------------------------------------------------------
At this time there appears to be no forum software anywhere in the world that fully meets the needs of serious discussion of revolutionary politics. Such forum software may eventually appear. Rather than wait for this, however, I believe that we should take steps to help make it happen.
The poor quality of existing software is shown by many indymedia news sites where excessive work by a realtively small number of people is required to maintain a high signal-to-noise ratio. The contradiction here is that there exists a largely untapped pool of thousands of readers who would like to help rate and filter news and comments but are largely shut out of this process by software that rarely is better than the "randomly picked jury" system used at http://slashdot.org .
The kind of software we need will:
(i) make it easy to delete posts that contain threats
or which promote neo-nazi views or websites (ii) allow readers to rate and filter posts (including
software measures to make it difficult to cheat
the voting process) (iii) include many of the features of blogs and wiki's
(including the ability to send and receive email
or RSS feeds)
The emergence of such an app is only a matter of time. In some ways the current period is analogous to the period in the early 1990's, prior to the development of the first graphical web browser, when many communications theorists knew that some sort of breakthru in digital mass communications was near. Today farsighted observers recognize that some sort of "killer app" related to democratically-managed news and discussion with a high signal-to-noise ratio is overdue.
I have made a number of attempts to create such software. Most of my efforts failed to meet their objectives but in all cases I have learned some valuable lessons.
My next effort will involve the creation of a functional specification (ie: a description, from the point of view of the user, of how the software would function) and efforts to involve serious media, tech and revolutionary activists in the development of this spec.
One of the subscribers to the pof-200 list has created a wiki that, among other uses, would be perfect for developing a functional spec.
The software scripts that are necessary are not terribly difficult to write (the successful, if limited, forum at http://communism.org is proof of that). A collaborative effort to develop a spec may assist in developing software that has the features that are most necessary (and postpones the development of the features that are least necessary) and may help provide the emotional energy that allows the successful creation, testing and implementation of software scripts that step-by-step bring us closer to our goal.
----------------------------------------------------------------- d) Create a web site and discussion list focused on
the development of an interactive news site where
readers can rate and filter posts and comments -----------------------------------------------------------------
Refer to section "1c" (above). Media activists who want to end the domination of the news by bourgeois or liberal-labor-reformist sources need an email discussion list that goes beyond the email lists that can currently be found on: http://lists.indymedia.org/
Readers who are interested in indymedia ideas and processes may want to check out some of these indymedia wiki's: http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/WebHome http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/CommworkWg http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/CommWishList
============================================================ 3) Problems that came up in my work
and solutions that were developed ============================================================
----------------------------------------------------------------- a) Further postponement of efforts
to distribute ALDS installments -----------------------------------------------------------------
I was able to format the installments but encountered the problems described in section "2b" (above). I was able to sort out the solutions (see the same section above) but did not have the time to implement them.
----------------------------------------------------------------- b) Further postponement of my bulletin board infrastructure work -----------------------------------------------------------------
Again--there was a total lack of time for this.
============================================================ 4) An invitation to participate in the work to create
a mass movement directed at the overthrow of
the system of bourgeois rule ============================================================
(what follows is adapted from my previous annual report)
The antiwar movement has invigorated the general atmosphere of opposition to some of the worst abuses of the system of bourgeois rule. An increasing number of young people, in particular, are thinking about ways to oppose the current imperialist national mood. The necessity of a mass movement aimed at eliminating the system of bourgeois rule will eventually make itself felt.
For those who may have found my work of interest--I invite you to participate in this work. Check out my home page at http://struggle.net/ben . Join the pof-200 email list described at http://struggle.net/ben/pof-200.htm and join with a growing community of media, tech and revolutionary activists who are gradually developing a focus on the use of "information war" (as a struggle for ideas organized on a mass scale) as a powerful weapon to (i) raise the consciousness of millions, (ii) create a mass organization deserving of the respect of the working class--and (iii) coordinate the efforts of millions to bring about an end to the system of bourgeois rule.
And, if you are too busy for all that, send email to pof-100-subscribe at yahoogroups.com which will bring into your email box two emails a year describing my progress (or lack of progress) in discovering and applying the principles which will lead to the rebirth of a genuinely revolutionary movement that is deserving of the respect of the masses.
Sincerely and with revolutionary regards, Ben Seattle ----//-// 1.May.2004 http://struggle.net/Ben (my elists / theory / infrastructure)
Send email to: pof-100-subscribe at yahoogroups.com No Spam!--Just 2 emails a year to keep you updated about my work
----------------------------------------------------------------- Annual reports (and mid-year reports) can be seen here: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Annual report for May 2004:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-100/message/16
Mid-Year report -- December 2003:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-100/message/15 Annual report for May 2003:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-100/message/14
Mid-Year report -- November 2002:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-100/message/12 Annual report for May 2002:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-100/message/11
Annual report for May 2001:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-100/message/8 Annual report for May 2000:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-100/message/5 Annual report for May 1999:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pof-100/message/4