Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
... 'Power' or relations of facilitation?
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I understand why you would ask the question, and I like to think in terms of facilitation, too, as an alternative to command or domination. But the distinction assumes there is a fascilitation that would be free of interpersonal power. It's really almost impossible to have such a strong distinction, especially in situations of really significant power differences. Those workers in the Suame Magazine have an autonomy that is attractive (though it comes with dangerous working conditions and poverty). But when wealthy Dutch filmmakers and designers show up talking about developing an African car and promoting it to other even wealthier people in Europe, these workers will turn their attention to the project. Facilitation therefore can no more escape the context of power than could efforts to command the labor directly. See what I mean?
A question I would have for these Dutch artists: were the workers in the Suame Magazine paid for developing and building the car? Depending on the answer, I would have followups... most importantly, how did the SMATI Turtle project develop? What are the details of the story?
I think a cooperative collaborative formal company with such workers that would return big benefits to them if successful would be cool. That does not seem to be what happened here[, but I think it would have been better "critical engineering" practice].