On Oct 21, 2011, at 10:49 AM, Chris Maisano wrote:
> So the anarchist types who have been running the show behind the scenes and actively disrupting the meetings of the working group crafting the jobs for all demand (so much for leaderlessness and self-organization) have finally unveiled their Liberty Square Blueprint - and it is utter rubbish. Not a single word about the tens of millions of unemployed and underemployed, the tens of millions without health insurance, and the tens of millions in poverty. Instead, we read about bartering, urban farming, and charities. Amazing.
>
> Here's the link: http://www.freenetworkmovement.org/commons/index.php?title=Liberty_Square_Blueprint
>
> The only good thing about this is that its obvious limitations could create an opening for socialists to contend for a greater degree of political and ideological influence within the movement and raise demands that might actually resonate with a broadly-based constituency.
Holy shit, that's awful. Among many things, they seem poisoned by the belief that open source software can save the world. (Apparently their open-source software doesn't have a spell checker, unless they think there's something revolutionary about spelling it "Correlary."
The wish list - which they weirdly refer to as bullet point visions - is incredibly vague. How do we "Empower marginalized people to express themselves, build community, and engage systemic/cultural discrimination"? Who are the "we" that grant "them" this power?
The economic planks:
> • Create an economy in harmony with nature - by
> • Researching, developing and implementing economic models that pursue thriving, abundant and prosperous outcomes for humanity and life - growing beyond the dichotomy of unsustainable and sustainable development. These economic models must be based on sound ethical assumptions and observed individual and market behavior through behavioral economics and econometrics
> • Implementing and improving community currencies, barter, sharing, and trade systems Building the support and precedence for local and large scale production of renewable energy and food resources
> • Eliminating financial/resource speculation that supports the current economy at the expense of future generations
> • Learning from and empowering indigenous people in the transition to an economy in harmony with nature - as we
> • Make NYC a pioneer of urban farming, renewable energy, grass roots urban/rural exchange, quantitative economic policy and indigenous leadership
are close to meaningless. Who are the "we" that would eliminate speculation, and how? Presumably not state bodies, so who then? What the fuck kind of econometrics do they have in mind? Vector autoregressions will set us free? Community currencies and barter are ludicrous - evidently they never consulted Graeber on the nonexistence of barter societies.
Did "Ketchup" have anything to do with this?
Doug