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The CEOS - Critical Engagement with Open Space - process was launched at a successful workshop on 'In Defence of Open Space' organised by CACIM and CCS (Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban) at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 23 2007. More Details @ www.openspaceforum.net
The objective of the CEOS process is to critically interrogate and engage with the key contemporary political-cultural concept of open space which underlies, for instance, the World Social Forum even as we defend and promote the concepts underlying it, of open access, free association, and freedom of expression, among others.
To reiterate what we from CACIM have now said in various places, we believe that the need for this critical engagement with open space is today urgent and that this urgency comes from two directions. First, because of the rising debate internal to the World Social Forum and more generally to the global movement regarding the need for a more clearly defined political programme. Can articulating and adhering to a given programme be consistent with the idea of openness, horizontality, and open space ? And second, also because of the current juncture of world history, post 9/11, where under the regime of exceptionalism a wide range of steps have been taken and are being taken by nation-states, both in the North and the South, and even in liberal democracies, to curb and to suspend civil liberties and freedoms purportedly in the public good. These steps accompanied by widespread mendacity on the part of their proponents - are radically invading privacy, community, and culture, in particular through the articulation of a homeland security with all its ramifications, and also through increasing world alarms around pan-epidemics; but worse, these steps are also being widely internalised and propagated within and by civil societies across the world. At this level, all practices of open space; must be recognised as also being significant and radical polemical challenges to empire and to hegemonic politics.
Although there were a wide range of opinions expressed at the workshop, it was clear from the debate that the concept of open space is, while important, full of paradoxes and contradictions, and that it now needs to be critically interrogated and understood. But on the other hand, it is equally true that the concept of something like open space is organic to our times, and therefore that the critical defence and promotion of open space is also of crucial and growing importance at this stage in history - in terms of the future of the WSF, of the still-emerging global social justice movement, and more generally for open and free association in societies across the world.
The Nairobi workshop, and now the CEOS Process, are in continuation of the EIOS - Explorations in / of Open Space process initiated in 2005 and of meetings organised by CACIM and its associates, at various Social Forums over the pat several years (for details, see http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=WsfOpenSpaceEvents).
In particular, this listserve is an attempt at creating a space to carry forward critical engagement with the idea of open space as well as to share information on and experience with open space activities and experiments across the world and as a means to coordinate, where and as necessary.
Some of the questions on open space that we believe need to be explored are :
- What is open space ?
- What are the potentialities of open space, and what are its limitations, contradictions, and paradoxes ?
- What does Open Space mean for notions/practices of ideas, systems, networks, and organisations ?
- What is the political relevance of Open Space for social transformation?
- What does Open Space mean for personal transformation ?
A preliminary statement of the objectives of this list might be as follows :
To share information, experience, and analysis on the concept of open space;
- To critically examine how open space plays out in different social, cultural, and political institutions and projects, including but not only in the World Social Forum;
- To articulate a critical understanding of the concept of open space
- To explore the relationship between open space and other related political-cultural concepts such as :
Open source, open access, Commons, Open Society, Public Space, Governance, Autonomous spaces, Horizontality, Fractal spaces, Borders and boundaries;
And
- To meet and engage with other activists, artists, media and other professionals, IT workers, and researchers, in terms of the concept of open space and related ideas, and to assess how relevant they are to their work.
In support of the above, we at CACIM have established a dedicated webspace for exploration of the idea of open space and the emerging global movement, OpenSpaceForum, @ www.openspaceforum.net. The webspace also provides the following :
Space for uploading your own content : OpenSpaceForum provides individuals and organisations the option of being able to upload your own content such as photos, documents, etc onto the site which will then be available worldwide.
Blog space : OpenSpaceForum provides blog space for people to report on and from activities you are undertaking, and also provides individuals the option of creating your own blog rather than writing onto the common blog.
Help for those less familiar : OpenSpaceForum also gives Help to those less familiar with using cyberspace, such as blogging, in case you would like to use this opportunity to do this.
Welcome to Open Space Forum and once again, to CEOS@openspaceforum.net !
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CACIM : Critical Action - Centre in Movement
A-3, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
Ph : +91 11 4155 1521
E-mail : cacim@cacim.net
Web : www.cacim.net
Also : Subscribe to WSFDiscuss, an open and unmoderated forum on the World Social Forum and on related social and political movements and issues. Simply send an empty email to worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe@openspaceforum.net
To see the collection of prior postings to the list,
visit the CEOS
Archives.
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