<nettime> Re: (Fwd) NGO Alert No. 2

["cisler" <cisler@pobox.com>]

I thought that the netaid letter forwarded by Ivo was rather strange. Both
Annan and netaid make assumptions that are easily challenged.

First: "Oppressors cannot hide inside their borders any longer."
Well, I can think of far more examples where they are doing just that, even
if there is some outcry because word of abuses leaked to Amnesty
International or some poor devil dragged his family out of a political
hell-hole.

If you think about repression in Sudan or Cuba or Burma or China or Mexico,
the government still has a great deal of power not afforded to in-country
organizations.  In Mexico, for all the clever communiques of Mr. Marcos and
the Zapatistas, there is the feeling that the Mexican army backed by a
great PR effort, is going to isolate and do something drastic in Chiapas.
Flood networks, streaming video, trips by sympathizers is not going to do
too much to stop this.

I am wondering what the origin of the term CSO is. The term 'civil society'
has a very fuzzy sound to it, sort of like the popular phrase used during
the war in Kosovo,  "international community."

Second: a number of groups in Seattle told me that the face to face
organizing was still paramount, no matter what attention might be given to
web sites for N30 or IFG or other groups protesting against the WTO. I
think the Net is important but not THAT important.

As for netaid being a clearing house for thousands of non-profit orgs, in
the US we are already getting a lot of charity clearinghouses like the
hunger site where you watch a banner ad, and a few cents goes to a grain or
other food shipment. I think these efforts may last about as long as push
technology, I'm wondering if any nettime readers find themselves returning
every so often to make donations or search for a new cause.

Steve Cisler

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