Geert Lovink on Mon, 26 Jul 1999 03:42:46 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Hippies from Hell? |
From: jo van der spek <jojovds@hotmail.com> Pristina 24th of July Reporting Jo HIPPIES FROM HELL? People in Prishtina are still massively cruising the mainstreets of Kosov@'s capital. Celebrating their liberation, relaxing after a hard days work of rebuilding their homes, or trying to get over whatever they have suffered. I am not sure if the joy and energy many of them show on first sight is a way of repressing trauma, or a sign of true optimism. I can't stop asking myself though, what are the dark sides of this situation. Although much less than in Bosnia and parts of Croatia, the level of death and destruction in Kosov@ is immense. Far more so in the countryside than in Prishtina. The capital always gives you a distorted picture of reality in any country, but especially in these circumstances, where a massive presence of military and civil international agencies creates a weird mix of expectations, manipulations and confusions. Meanwhile, 14 people were killed last friday on a dirt-road not far from Prishtina. There are instances of the UCK openly threatening aid-agencies to stop helping Serbs. And of course the Roma continue to be an easy target for Albanians with a desire to settle scores. And nobody really seems to care enough to undertake serious action to stop it. The international agencies are still in the process of finding out where they've landed, carving out their piece of territory, competing for the best skilled locals, and of course digging bureaucratic trenches, from where they hope to sustain their own existence or make it on the scale of best performing agent of the year. Anyway, in the middle of all this a bunch of crazy, dream-driven and extremely dedicated persons, is working like hell to realize a digital revolution, preferably before any of the above mentioned obstacles gets in the way and kills this darling. The taskforce, basically consists of Teresa Crawford, Paul Meyer and Ilir Zenku. Teresa is a project-manager doing human rights stuff with The Advocacy-Project, Paul Meyer is a young lawyer from New York with a mandate of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to develop technology for post-crisis management and Ilir Zenku came to Kosov@ after working for years as the Internet project-manager with OSI (Open Society Institute) in Tirana. While I was dreaming up RIKS in Macedonia, two months ago, as an Internet-based project to reconnect refugees, now returnees with the aim to reconstruct or even re-invent Kosov@ Society, the technical taskforce started to get together a complete Internet Network for Kosova: a satellite dish, microwave connections for UN, KFOR and Aid Agencies and for a free-access provider to serve the local community. First in Prishtina, and then to be expanded alover Kosov@, including USAID setting up nodes in 7 cities. Whether or not this will materialize this coming month remains to be seen. There are lots of loose ends and pitfalls on the way. But so far the response from the internet-wise part of Albanian society, which like the rest of Balkania is a people of engineers, has been tremendous. And international agencies may not really be aware that this project is of huge significance for Kosov@ and for their own practice, they tend to be scared of things they think may be beyond their grasp, or add so much to the state of anarchy and multi-layered administrative chaos reigning here. And thus they tend to stop it off or create obstacles. Although fortunately there is a circle, maybe a generation of aid-professionals who dig this piece of independent non-governmental action, and happily jump on this wild-card game of adding digital freedom to sinister history and an opaque attempt at world-government. Is this a post-governmental project or is it not? To come now to the point: suppose that we manage to get the technical infrastructure on and off the ground, how can we create an environment for it to blossom, a culture of digital regeneration, a blossoming of events, projects, campaigns,. contests and conferences to give substance to this network? To create a human infrastructure of stakeholders, trustees and creative minds to keep the network out of the strangling hands of bureaucrats, politicians and commercializers. In other words how to create a free-zone of connectivity, communication and content that will hold against the inevitable mechanisms that tend to occupy these zones. I am working out the idea of setting up internet-workspaces for local people and projects to develop, present and project themselves and their future on the Internet. Of course the profits of the network should partly be channeled to non-profit providers and clients: universities and schools, community-services, creative subcultures and communicators in diaspora. Of course there is additional money to be generated from international donors and sponsors. But the hardest part is how to start up a climate for producing content, using it for creating this free zone and giving it sustainability through substance and dedication: the critical mass, as Paul calls it. I think we need people, projects and inspiration too from abroad. This has to know no borders. So I invite you to share this experience: come here to Prishtina, Prizren, Peja and Djakovo and see who is living and dying here. Come forward with ideas and projects that can be part of this enterprise to invent a Virtual Kosova of flesh and blood. We must create multimedia events, organize contests for networkers or architects (how to house hundred thousand people before winter), create wild and innovating websites, organize workshops, meetings and conference to release imagination and prevent stagnation. We can just do it: campaign for countries without borders, a world without man-inflicted misery ( a dangerous dream I'm afraid) and a globe of free expression. Jo van der Spek radio-journalist and RIKS-coordinator jo@xs4all.nl phone +31.20.6718027 www.an.org/riks/ mos ban luft ban dashuri! # distributed via nettime-l: no commercial use without permission of author # <nettime> is a moderated mailinglist for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # un/subscribe: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and # "un/subscribe nettime-l you@address" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org/ contact: <nettime@bbs.thing.net>