I sent this email to a group of initiators and participants of democratizingwork.org webinar, which was just concluded a few hours ago.
You would notice that the term ‘democratization’ is forever associated with jon in my mind. How i wish he is still with us here in this world so he could continue spearheading the effort of democratizing knowledge.
I am reminded of this song’s lyric. Rufus wainwright’s version was the first i heard of it. Fitting, don"t you think?
"The road is long
With many a winding turn That leads us to who knows where? Who knows where? But I’m strong Strong enough to carry him He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother
So on we go His welfare is my concern No burden is he to bear We’ll get there For I know He would not encumber me He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother
If I’m laden at all I’m laden with sadness That everyone’s heart Isn’t filled with the gladness Of love for one another
It’s a long, long road From which there is no return While we’re on the way to there Why not share? And the load Doesn’t weigh me down at all He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother"
Source: https://genius.com/The-hollies-he-aint-heavy-hes-my-brother-lyrics
Surya
Ps: i redact the ‘to’ part of the email below as i have not asked the recipients’ permission to share their email addresses.
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---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Surya Dalimunthe <surya@alumni.nus.edu.sg> Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2020, 03:48 Subject: three cheers for democratization To:
hi all (breakout room 1 discussants, democratizingwork initiators, respected scholars and activists),
peace be with us,
first cheer: knowledge.
when i first got to know the democratizing work initiative through prof. fadhel kaboub’s post which showed up on my facebook wall, i was instantly reminded by another initiative titled similarly.
the late jon tennant, a close friend and an open science scholar and activist, was commissioned by education international, the largest sectoral global union federation in the world, to write a report with the main title ‘democratizing knowledge’. (1)
a group of us from the indonesian open science team translated the report’s summary into indonesian. several of us wrote an op-ed with the same main title for jakarta post. (2)
at the moment, cooperating internationally but working at the national level, we are advocating for open science policies in our respective countries. (3)
second cheer: work.
this democratizing work initiative comes just at the right moment for another group of us in indonesia, who have been advocating for a national job guarantee and basic income policy (both enshrined in indonesian constitution), very actively during last year’s indonesian presidential election, and currently during the pandemic. (4)
unfortunately, i know at least 2 well-known mainstream indonesian economists who retweeted the initiative’s guardian op-ed, but neither sign nor participate in the follow-up, despite my sharing the indonesian translation with them (note: their english is fluent).
i am at a loss to explain this show of support-but-no-support, especially given the very large financial stimulus provided to indonesian enterprises, from small to large, from private to public, from financial-sector to real-sector. i’ve also sent the translated op-ed to an influential indonesian online media, to no response.
this is one reason why we are planning to travel to the capital city, jakarta, despite the pandemic-related travel restriction, to conduct somewhat of a ‘guerilla’ dialogues/discussions/debates regarding this policy with indonesian elites, whom almost if not all mostly resides there.
third cheer: money.
i mentioned in the given form during the webinar that the democratizing work initiative should be linked to the larger framework of economics (macro and micro). one such framework for macroeconomics is modern monetary theory (mmt).
in a moment of reflection after the webinar, i was reminded of the ‘democratizing money’ conference (5), held two years ago, with a broad participation across academic disciplines and ideological orientation, including a number of mmt scholars and activists.
at this very moment in indonesia, the fight is actually on this front, with the president having stated in his recent ‘national economic recovery’ (pemulihan ekonomi nasional) speech that mass-jobs (padat karya) provision must be a priority. this, along with other stimulus allocation, necessitates an even larger national debt and budget deficit.
the next day, the president’s very influential minister (indonesians or those who follow indonesia would know him) even issued a public challenge for those who dispute the debt and deficit to stop criticizing it on social media or television and come debate him in person.
so it is very ironic that the current government who is populated by economists and elites who before the pandemic adhered to debt-and-deficit discipline, is now seen as undisciplined, while the rest of indonesians (including almost all respected critical voices) are advocating the debt-and-deficit discipline.
i think a way to break this impasse rhetorically is to call for democratizing money in indonesia. it must be said that almost all indonesians, inside and outside the government mentioned above, still hold on to the idea that money is a ‘scarce, limited, and necessarily non-democratic’ ‘thing’.
towards the end of this email, i realize that i am sharing a lot of information about indonesia. i hope you don’t mind and i beg for your indulgence.
with best wishes
surya
numbered links:
(2) https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/02/27/democratizing-knowledge-for-our-dream.html
or https://mhs.blog.ui.ac.id/juneman/2019/02/28/democratizing-knowledge-for-our-dream/
(3) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L6q8hE12a7_KIH7jq8gAoWqfdg7M4_054_gLaxRj0AQ/edit?usp=drivesdk
and Let's start democratisingknowledge... :)
(5) https://sites.google.com/view/hls-money-as-democratic-medium/home