David Bollier

AP quotes White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:  “‘The way Egypt looks and operates must change,’ which is why there needs to be more open communication, on the Internet and elsewhere, he said.  But he also said it was not the U.S. role to determine exactly what that freedom looks like.”  (February 1, 2011).

Now I understand why the White House has failed to rebuke PayPal, MasterCard, Apple Computer and Bank of America for crippling WikiLeaks’ ability to communicate with American citizens!  The U.S. gets to decide what freedom of speech looks like.  If that means watering down “net neutrality” rules and still calling it an "open Internet" (as the FCC does) or letting corporate allies stifle embarrassing types of free speech while keeping an arm's distance (as the Obama administraiton has done), that’s apparently okay. 

The U.S. State Department has declared that an open Internet is a basic human freedom and a foreign policy goal.  Tinny words so long as the vendetta against WikiLeaks continues.  Meanwhile, this image is making the rounds (via P2P Foundation and Chris Pinchen).

The automobile has long been celebrated as a preeminent symbol of individual freedom.  Whenever a politician or citizen group calls for redirecting our tax monies toward public transit, inter-city trains, walkable communities, bike lanes, and so forth, the automobile and highway lobbies sneer that such choices are “politically motivated” and threatening to our “freedom.” 

Moreover, the lobbies say, spending more money on transportation alternatives would betray a long-time “social compact” that federal and state gas taxes be earmarked for highway construction and improvements.  Gas taxes make roads and highways self-funding, the argument goes.  This deeply entrenched – and erroneous – mythology has long prevented a re-thinking of how Americans should finance transportation and of the more ecological, socially attractive alternatives.

The women of Erakulapally – a small village two hours west of Hyderabad, India – spread a blanket onto the dusty ground and carefully made thirty piles of different seeds:  their treasure, the symbols of their emancipation.  A rich aroma wafts through the air. 

For these women – all of them dalit, members of the poorest and lowest social caste in India – seeds are not just seeds.  They are the vehicle for a remarkable transformation in their lives, local farming and their ecosystem. 

Over the past twenty-five years, thousands of women in small villages in the Andhra Pradesh region of India have escaped from working as low-paid, bonded laborers, to become self-reliant farmers able to grow enough to feed their households.  Food was once unaffordable and hunger common.  Now the women can feed their families, often without having to buy anything in the market.  Despite their status as dalits, they are no longer filled with fear and anxiety, but rather show great confidence and pride in themselves.

A group of us attending the recent conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons drove out to meet the women last week.  We were welcomed with a tasty millet-based drink and a short chorus of joyous singing.  Our meeting was hosted by the Deccan Development Society (DDS), a grassroots organization that is helping the poorest rural women of India recover their rich traditions of sharing seeds and community-managed farming.  The foyer of the building in which we met featured a “seed shrine” -- dozens of small clay pots filled to the brim with colorful seeds.