Path: mit!news Newsgroups: mit.apsintl Subject: ECN/UK: ECN UK internal developments Message-ID: Date: Tue, 22 Dec 92 20:41:20 +0100 Sender: news@mit.hacktic.nl from: ECN London November 1992 (this text was produced for the international info-shop meeting in Berlin. The first part is about the development of ECN in the UK. The second part consists of notes from a critical discussion of ECN) ECN in the UK In Spring 1992, a group of us in London began discussing establishing a connection with the European Counter Network. The initiative came from people involved in the 56a Info Shop and the 121 Bookshop in south London. This is a report of our progress so far. Where we are now The situation at present is that we have an IBM PC clone, a modem, and telix software, which allows us to call other groups in the ECN and exchange information. We do not yet have a bulletin board system however, which mean that people can only call us up if they first contact us to arrange a time to make a connection. To date we have had contact with APS (Amsterdam), Infoladen Omega (Berlin) and ECN (Padova). With Berlin and Padova we have now arranged a regular connection time, when they call us to exchange information. Other groups can get access to our files via these nodes. Our files are in English, ASCII format, compressed with PKZIP. Filenames begin with the letters 'UK'. We can receive files in English, Italian, or German. Circulating information We try to systematically collect information about struggles in Britain and Ireland to circulate in the ECN. Sometimes we circulate information about other countries if we think it might not otherwise be available to other ECN users. We have circulated information about anti-fascism, lesbian and gay struggles, squatting, prisoners, workers' struggles, and so on. We also try to circulate information we have received from the ECN within the UK. In May 1992 we produced a 22 page Info Bulletin, which included news of different struggles around the world, including news from the ECN. We plan to produce further issues of this bulletin, although at the moment we are having difficulty getting it printed (the duplicator we use is broken, and we have no money!). We helped to organize an anti-Columbus demo in October. Information from the ECN about similar struggles in other countries was used in a leaflet distributed during the demo. We also produced a special 6 page bulletin for a '500 years of resistance' conference in July. The next step A priority for us is to set up a network within Britain, so that different groups around the country can communicate with each other. We organised a meeting at the Anarchist bookfair in London in October where we discussed this project. Groups from several towns and cities expressed an interest in setting up such a network. Another collective in London is establishing a bulletin board called Fast Breeder (address: BM Jed, London WC1N 3XX). This aims to "combine an info and news service for anyone interested or active in grass roots political activity and any kind of alternative, subversive or experimental culture". We are working with Fast Breeder with the aim of establishing ECN as part of this project. Groups within the UK will be able to use Fast Breeder to exchange information, and other ECN groups will be able to send and receive information at any time, since this will be a 24 hour bulletin board. Fast Breeder should be in operation by March 1992. The main problem (as always) is raising money to pay for the project- about œ1000 is needed. contact: 56a Info Group/ ECN London, 56 Crampton Street, London SE17. * SOME NOTES ON THE ECN We think that our links with the ECN have already strengthened our sense of being part of an international movement, and have greatly speeded up the circulation of information. But we are also aware of potential problems with the ECN that need to be avoided. - Health problems: computers were developed by capital to process information for capital. The health of those using computers (traditionally mainly women office workers) is a less important consideration in computer design. Computers can be put to subversive use, but this does not stop them being bad for our health! Those involved with the ECN need to be aware of the dangers of Repetitive Strain Injury and other computer-related health problems. - New hierarchies: in groups in which technology is central, it is very easy for new hierarchies of specialists to emerge. Often there will be a few individuals who become 'experts' in the technology, while the others leave the computer work to them (and since in society men are socialised to look after machines, these experts are more likely to be men). All groups using the ECN should take steps to minimise this division of labour, through skill sharing and training of people with little experience. - Techno-fetishism: People can become too obsessed with technology as an end in itself. We need to remember that the ECN is only a tool to enable people to communicate with each other; it is no substitute for real human contact. Our nightmare is of the ECN becoming a sort of simulated international radical movement, in which all communication is mediated by machines, and in which information circulates endlessly between computers without being put back into a human context. - Information overload: We are already finding that we are receiving more information than we can use. When ECN groups are preparing information to circulate internationally, it would be useful if they could prepare documents summarising what's going on in a particular struggle. For instance if there is a big struggle going on somewhere it can be very interesting to receive lots of files looking at different local aspects of it. But it would also be good to have one file containing background information and identifying some of the most important points, so that people remote from this struggle can get a better understanding of it. - Who uses information? Whatever the quality of the information circulating within ECN, it is useless unless people get to read it. We need to think of ways in which we can distribute this information to people involved in the various social movements. For instance at the moment there are strikes and other struggles against austerity going on in different parts of Europe and beyond. For miners, health workers, and others involved in such struggles in the UK it might be very interesting to know about similar movements elsewhere (e.g. Italy, Greece). The ECN can be used to circulate such information, which not only helps to create an awareness of the international situation we face, but also prepares the ground for international co-ordination of struggles. As well as workplace struggles, there are many more examples of simultaneous movements in different countries, such as anti- fascist, refugees' and housing struggles.