Re(2): question

From: Diane Hodges (dhodges@ceo.cudenver.edu)
Date: Tue Jan 23 2001 - 15:26:10 PST


>>"when the outcome of the action matters more than individual positions,
>>collective action becomes possible. "

judy sez
>
>Now that is well said. But I still see a problem of communication as well
>as action -- identifying the object that matters --- Unless this is a
>matter of which collective has more might...?
>
well in the examples of collective action that i was referring to,
Hungary, China (Tiannamen Square), Romania, more recently in Serbia,
there was an object-of-hatred, perhaps,
more to oust a particular regime, or despot,
in contexts where personal freedoms are quite literally at stake -

the collective actions taken in Seattle, during the World Trade
conferences (last year?) for example,
are about "other" people's freedoms,
and the collective is gathering of smaller groups with diversified
investments in kinds of "causes" - there, the questions of individual
positions and negotiation are taking place - the violence fragments into
conflicts of interest;

in Serbia, there was no ambiguity about what had to be done, (uphold the
results of the vote, oust the war-mongers)
in Tianneman, there was also no ambiguity about what had to be done,
(freedom to gather, freedom to protest, to make public ideals of
democracies, etc),
Romania = ousting the despot; Hungary, resisting the invasion,
and so on -
the outcomes here are greater than the individual's interests.
civil wars, actually, are a form of collective action where individual
positions are not as important as the "fight for freedom" so to speak.

does that make sense? what kinds of collective actions are you thinking
of, ? like, how to oust George Bush Jr. ? :)
seriously: what kinds of collective actions are you thinking of? it's an
important question.
diane

   **********************************************************************
                                        :point where everything listens.
and i slow down, learning how to
enter - implicate and unspoken (still) heart-of-the-world.

(Daphne Marlatt, "Coming to you")
***********************************************************************

diane celia hodges

 university of british columbia, centre for the study of curriculum and
instruction
==================== ==================== =======================
 university of colorado, denver, school of education

Diane_Hodges@ceo.cudenver.edu



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