hmm...the way I see it, it is about as cool...as flying off to the moon where I can play among the stars...as cool as knowing what spring is like on Jupiter or Mars. 
And that, is very cool, very cool, indeed!
Networks Rising
Networks Rising
Two years ago this web site, operated at the time by a union reform group within UFCW Local 1518, came within a few minutes of extinction. But it didn't disappear. Within about a week it was reconceived with a much expanded focus - the community of workers - and an ambitious purpose - the empowerment of that community through the dissemination of knowledge and direct communication among working people.
How did this happen? It was pretty simple. Over its relatively short lifespan, the small union reform site spawned a network of contributors and supporters. When its originators dispersed in the summer of 2001, the network lived on, its members driven by a heightened interest in worker empowerment and a strong sense that the Internet held great potential towards this goal. After only a few days of intense (but fun) online discussion, the conceptual groundwork for the current MFD web site was done. It looked something like this:
We are living in a pivotal time for our community - the community of workers. The kind of future we will have depends a lot on how involved we are in shaping it. We need to engage the future rather than follow those who exploit us into it blindly. In order to do that we need to know what's going on. Knowledge is power. We need to know the lies that we are fed and the games that are played with our heads. We need to know how we are betrayed and manipulated. More importantly, we need to understand that we have power and that we have options. We need to accept that it's OK to want a better life and we should be the ones to define what that's going to be. When we know the score, we can decide what we want, how to achieve it and how to keep it from getting away from us.
In order to get to this, we need to communicate among ourselves, to share our knowledge, exchange ideas and engage each other directly - free from the controlling hands of the powerful. If we are to emerge as a community and engage the future we need to be our own media.
Within a few days, the concept was on the screen. We did not know exactly where it would go but there was no doubt in our minds that it would, in some way, help our community. For this reason alone it was worth doing. No further justification was needed.
We've come a long way since the summer of '01. Our community has grown as has the range and depth of material on our site. We are more confident than ever that our efforts are worth it and we've followed with much interest and excitement the emergence of a growing network of worker-oriented communities on the Internet.
When word reached us late last week that the administrator of www.retailworker.com had pulled the plug on a thriving Internet community of retail workers, it seemed perfectly normal for us to help RetailWorker members re-establish their community. On July 3rd www.retail-worker.com was up and running, less than a week from the day the former site disappeared. Forty-eight hours later a core group of members has found its way to the new site, more determined than ever to thrive.
This is no fluke. The re-emergence of RetailWorker, like that of MFD two years ago, is a testament to the resilience and strength of networked communities. Follow the chain of events from crash to rebirth and you will see the actions of empowered communities emerging: The drive to seek out others with whom we are common cause, the speed with which our messages spread, likeminded others are found and new alliances are formed. The solidity of those alliances, the energy that comes from engaging each other, the willingness to collaborate but not dominate.
In the mainstream world, these things aren't supposed to happen. In our emergent world they happen, quickly, almost effortlessly (although our web administrator might disagree) and inevitably. How cool is that?
Besides the obvious empowerment of information exchange at the group level, empowerment at an individual level can't be overlooked.
Individual empowerment is the root of positive change and it can spread like wildfire. Everytime an individual connects with like ideas, it is empowering and network rising confirms the change has begun. 
You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool workers anymore.
Holy links Batman!
Like a trip down memory lane.
quote:
Holy links Batman!
And they all work too! 
I'm just so excited by the experience with the RW community. It bears out a lot of what we've been saying about the implications of working people being able to communicate widely, quickly, directly and in venues that encourage focussed discussion and exchange of ideas. I think this has the potential to break us out of the mental stagnation and resulting disempowerment that has been imposed on us by our overseers.
I am struck by what happens when like-meets-like on the www. The connections are immediate and firm and the desire to communicate in an ongoing and meaningful way is evident right from the beginning. Mainstreamers dismiss us as anti-social Internet addicts but hey, who care what they think. Better I suppose that we should all be staring aimlessly at the TV or rotting our brains at the shopping mall or other trivial and resource-wasting pursuits.
We're anything but anti-social. Our enthusiasm for the net is just because it's what we use to socialize.
quote:
We're anything but anti-social. Our enthusiasm for the net is just because it's what we use to socialize.
RV, you're really on a roll!
The net is one of the most powerful tools which has been made available to the workers in ....err.........uh.....forever I suppose! Never have we been able to communicate to such an enormous and continually growing audience of working people. The 'sharing of thoughts and ideas' is definitely empowering, both collectively and individually, and we are just beginning to scratch the surface of the potential this new avenue offers!