Note that i am only forwarding this for your information, I know no more
about it than what is in the text. ylva
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 14:25:08 -0700
From: International Bicycle Fund <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
To: us-afr <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [AfricaMatters] FW: WB Development Gateway Boycott
-----Original Message-----
From: Elaine A. Hickman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2001 9:29 AM
Subject: Please distribute
PLEASE CIRCULATE AND SIGN THE DECLARATION BELOW.
The declaration below has been written and endorsed by a spectrum of
"knowledge workers" - an unlovely term for people who research or
discuss development issues in the media, in education and in other areas
-who are deeply concerned with the implications of the Bank's new
internet project.
This declaration is unlike previous petitions against the Bank's
initiative. There is no attempt to lobby the World Bank or alter the
Gateway's structure or content. Previous such attempts have resulted in
only marginal or cosmetic changes. Rather, this letter encourages people
not to contribute to or use this Bank-backed scheme. The signatories of
this letter have pledged to avoid any contact with the Bank's
development gateway, and to push forward with their own diverse research
and publication agendas, including independent internet schemes.
This is a declaration that can be signed by anyone. Please mention any
institutional affiliation when you sign -- which will be for
informational and identification purposes and won't imply the
endorsement of your organisation. Send a message to
[log in to unmask] with your name and organization in the
subject line. Or add your name below, forward the message to others and
return the open letter to: [log in to unmask] if you are
the 100th , 200th, etc. signatory.
Please distribute this call widely to your colleagues and contacts.
If every recipient sends it to at least five people or lists, then we
can soon achieve a broader coverage than the World Bank's hired
PR company.
This open letter will be posted (with signatories) at
www.voiceoftheturtle.org/gateway/ and
at www.brettonwoodsproject.org/topic/knowledgebank/gateway/. The Bretton
Woods Project site also has a recent briefing on the Gateway.
Raj Patel
for The Voice of the Turtle
------------
The Development Gateway: A Declaration from Concerned Knowledge Workers
Dear friends,
In July the World Bank will launch a multi-million dollar internet-based
development knowledge initiative at www.developmentgateway.org .
Trumpeted as a place to find diverse perspectives on development, the
Bank argues that its Development Gateway will be a convenient tool for
civil society groups, officials, journalists and independent
researchers. We disagree. On closer scrutiny, the Development Gateway
initiative looks less like an attempt to encourage debate than a means
to stifle, moderate and control dissenting opinion. We wish to warn
colleagues of the perils of associating with or supporting this project.
There are three fundamental objections to the Gateway project. First the
gateway privileges certain voices over others. The Gateway does not
prioritise poorer people as site contributors, editors or viewers. The
Bank's heavy English-language bias exacerbates the dominance of official
'development knowledge'. You will not find topics on "political economy"
or "inequality" or "discrimination", just concepts like "governance" and
"human development". Moreover the Gateway's 130-issue taxonomy
ghettoises cross-cutting issues such as gender and climate change.
Second, the claim that the site is independent is untenable. This is a
clear attempt by the Bank to consolidate itself and its allies as the
main authorities on "development knowledge". This is reflected in both
the content and process of the Gateway. For instance, in order to
provide local content, the Gateway has its own country portals. These
will be run by government officials, private business and civil society
groups appointed without any clear criteria of representativeness. The
content of these gateways will be policed. Within these country
gateways, site contributors are told to avoid "country/locale specific
events", and not to use metaphors, puns or irony in order "to aid
machine translation".
The Bank is appointing individual or institutional "topic guides" to
filter and organise material in each of the site's subject areas. The
Gateway is supposed to represent all perspectives and all types of
analysis. The only reason to exclude items is if they fail to meet the
site's "quality" criteria, yet it remains extremely unclear as to how
this quality threshold is determined. And given the volume and diversity
of information posted on the internet daily, it is unlikely that the
guides' coverage will be comprehensive. With the best will in the world,
then, topic guides' selections will be biased in favour of the
intellectual tastes of themselves and their contacts.
The third, and most pernicious, effect of the development gateway is to
undermine alternatives. Instead of encouraging existing initiatives, the
Bank has chosen to centralise internet coverage of development issues in
a bid to sift and control the flow of ideas. This is likely to distract
from and damage the development of diverse, independent internet sites
on these issues.
This is why, in our individual capacities, we pledge to avoid all
contact, whether official or otherwise, with the World Bank's
Development Gateway. We encourage our colleagues to undertake a similar
pledge, and to support alternative sources of knowledge.
Signed (as individuals, organisation names provided for reference only)
Initial signatories:
Yash Tandon, International South Group Network, Zimbabwe
Patrick Bond, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Phil McMichael, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Chris Brooke, Magdalen College, Oxford University
Rutendo Kambarami, Communications Officer, Mwelekeo waNGO, Zimbabwe
Further signatories
1. Raj Patel, SEATINI, Harare
2.
To sign, send a message to [log in to unmask] with your name and
organization in the subject line. Or add your name here, forward the
message to others and return the open letter to
[log in to unmask] if you are the 100th , 200th, etc. signatory.
*** Please circulate widely, though with apologies for crossposting ***
----------
Raj Patel
SEATINI, UNDP HQ,
Takura House,
67-69 Union Avenue, PO Box 4775
Harare
Zimbabwe
t: +263 4 792681-6 x255
f: +263 4 251648
m: +263 91 305684
e: [log in to unmask]
SEATINI : http://www.seatini.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Neil Watkins
World Bank Bonds Boycott
Center for Economic Justice
1830 Connecticut Ave., NW, 4th floor,
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: (202) 299-0020 / Fax: (202) 299-0021
Web: www.worldbankboycott.org
To receive occasional updates on the World Bank Bonds boycott, join our
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