Published on Tue, 2006-09-19 20:47
International Solidarity Through Software Development
A practical example.
Right now in Hungary, there's serious civil unrest because of a bad economy and a president who admitted lying about it. Who cares, right?
Well, as I'm working on this site (and getting my job done for a client) I had to ask a Drupal security question, so of course I had to ask chx, the undisputed heavyweight champion on such issues.
He's Hungarian, and in and around answering my question he mentioned how glad he is to get away from mounted police beating the shit out of people and off to Antwerp for the Drupal conference (where, incidentally, my business partner Zack will be, along with some other friends).
Global projects shrink the globe.
International solidarity
Fri, 2006-09-29 11:49 — You Know Who I AmInternational solidarity through software development?! Think about what you're saying, man!!! Most people in the world have never even touched a computer. Moreover, the people who have are, outside of North American, more interested in securing basic necessities than working on making cool new programs.
First, get a good grasp on reality, then write something that sounds catchy....not the other way round.
BTW: It's nice to hear from you.
~AMB
Oh yeah
Fri, 2006-09-29 20:49 — Outlandish JoshFor sure, but you know I think that these things are connected. In the present moment, you don't need to be on the internet to have your life improved by it, and a deepening sense of international solidarity -- aided and abetted by the net -- does help people get clean water.
Going forward, as this stuff gets cheaper and more rugged and takes less energy, it spreads out. Today's gold farmer is tomorrow's underground journalist, community organizer, international aid wrangler, social entrepreneur, etc.
These connections we build matter. It makes it harder to have wars and easier for people to help one-another out.
So software development isn't the only way to develop international solidarity, not by a long shot, but it works. I meant it as a concrete example of how the internet is helping to connect the world positively (something you hear a lot but without any real specifics). Chx is the only hungarian I know, but one is infinitely more than none.
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