[p2p-research] A proposal seeking your Endorsement

[Edward Miller]

I am a utilitarian above all else, and thus I only support actions with the
highest marginal utility. While I think much can be done in the political
sphere, I don't feel that this has the highest marginal utility for the
majority of people, at least at the international level. Clearly for those
already in positions of influence, the amount of effort to effect change is
minimal. Yet, for most of us we can probably do much more just by doing a
handful of things in our own lives to re-organize society from the
bottom-up. Moving your money to community banks and credit unions, going
vegetarian, participating in local politics, reducing wasteful consumption,
contributing to open source projects, etc. These are things that average
people can do that are meaningful.

Organizing conferences and even attending conferences is a lot of work, and
even big ones like the World Social Forum are often not much more productive
than would-be revolutionaries sitting around in coffee shops. I like the
global citizenship aspect of international/transnational organizing, and I
like the civil society aspect. However, I don't think one should attend
these thinking they are any more meaningful than attending an international
anime conference. Getting together is good simply because it provides some
much needed relief from the constant atomization of our daily life, but this
has more to do with personal gratification than changing the world.

If, in the unlikely event that it did amount to something, the fact that it
is so tied up with Chavez and the history of previous attempts should
clearly give us pause. What evidence do we have that these people have
learned anything whatsoever from previous revolutions-turned-tyrannies?

Perhaps attending as a dissenting voice, in the spirit of Baukunin's
participation at the First International, is worthwhile. Other than that,
what's the point? Take the time and money you would have spent on travel
expenses, and donate it to Factor e Farm, CubeSpawn, RepRap, or any of the
other wonderful projects that are poised to change the world.

If you are already a freegan off-the-grid open source fanatic with some
spare income and a modest amount of influential capacity, perhaps you could
consider international political activity.
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