Second Life Activists Solidarity across sims

Second Life has become a fantastic tool to link people across the world in activism. Alice Walker said, “Activism is my rent for living on this planet.” Lots of people became activists after joining in the SL solidarity demonstrations over the past week. Friendships were forged by people from all walks of life as their AV’s held hands across sims.

SLLU activist Eremia Woodbury said, “How incredible it was to be standing in a human chain with people from the UK, Europe, USA and Japan and how encouraging that that many people were motivated to take a stand within SL.

HiggleDpiggle Snoats, who was also on the demonstrations said, 'the demos were held in various sims throughout the day, and were really well attended - with hundreds of avs dropping by, many staying for hours on end. The idea was that avs could form a 'symbolic human chain' by linking hands in a line in order to show their solidarity with the courageous demonstrators in Burma. I hadn't come across this device in SL before, and I think it really did create an added sense of camaraderie and an atmosphere of unity amongst disparate people, scattered across the world, who might otherwise have felt isolated in their responses to the violence and oppression on peaceful protestors they had been hearing about in the news. I left the events with the feeling that this is an issue which touches a very wide range of people. It also forced me to reflect on whether I could ever be as brave as the Burmese protesters.'

Plot Tracer said, "this has been a victory for the awareness raising power of Second Life. This is the kind of education and communication that Second Life should be used for. People who took part in these demonstrations should now ensure their voices are heard in Real Life. Contact your politicians and call for boycotts of Burmese goods and of Western Companies who are buoying up this disgusting, brutal regime."

Details of what can be done in real life are below.

Burma: ‘world looks other way’

The ruling military junta in Burma was still ‘working’ on its transition to democracy, reconvening its constitution talks while the world’s eyes were upon it last year.
That this is a farce of the highest order goes without saying, not least because Burma, now known as Myanmar, remains the bloodiest dictatorship in the world, where rape and torture are used routinely by government forces, where children are forcibly recruited as soldiers, where ethnic minorities are murdered en masse, where at least hundreds of thousands are internally displaced, and where people are enslaved in the tourism industry, the biggest source of income for the military government.
Not only that, but the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won the country’s last General Election in 1990 yet has never been allowed to govern, has been excluded from these constitutional talks.

Their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in detention, having been held under house arrest on and off for 18 years. On 9 October last year, she clocked up 4,000 days in detention. On 24 October, that will come to 12 years.

Says Yvette Mahon, of the Burma Campaign UK:
“These milestones come and go, yet still most of the world looks the other way.”
The United Nations, however, has at least put Burma on the agenda. But this may prove as useless as last years so called constitutional talks.
UN under-Secretary General Ibrahim Gambari, leader of the UN delegation, is worryingly naïve when it comes to Burma. Following a visit there last May, he appeared to have swallowed the junta line about moving towards democracy. He thought that Aung San Suu Kyi would be released shortly. In fact, a few days later, she was sentenced to a further year in detention.
On 29 September last year, he reported that progress was being made as two political prisoners had been released. Unfortunately, five pro-democracy leaders were arrested around the same time, “to prevent instability of the state and to prevent terrorist attacks”, according to the government.
This article originally appeared here: http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net/lg%20back%20issues%2006/issue%20282_lg.htm


Resources:

http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/726/37664

http://www.newsdeskspecial.co.uk/burma/

ACTION ON BURMA

What can we do to bring the Burmese military to the negotiating table?
Plenty, says activist Simon Billenness.
The story so far...
Using the tactics of the anti-apartheid campaign, activists in the US and Canada have caused Amoco, Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne, Macy’s and PetroCanada to withdraw from Burma. In 1995 three US cities – Berkeley, Madison and Santa Monica – passed laws boycotting companies doing business in Burma. The US Congress is currently considering the ‘Burma Freedom and Democracy Act’ that would impose economic sanctions. Meanwhile the European Union is discussing imposing tariffs on Burmese-made goods.
Challenges ahead...
But many companies continue to ignore Aung San Suu Kyi’s call for sanctions. They include ARCO (US), Texaco (US), Total (France), UNOCAL (US), Premier (UK) and Heineken (Holland). The latter plans to open up a brewery in partnership with a military-owned company.
What can I do?
� Join your national Burma Action group. Form a local Burma Action group with your friends and local activists. Brainstorm ideas for local campaigns in co-operation with your national Burma Action group.
� Boycott companies that do business in Burma. Write to the companies to tell them of your boycott and ask them why they refuse to respect the clearly stated wishes of the Burmese democracy movement.
� Organize demonstrations outside Texaco and Total gas stations. Return for a full refund any clothes marked ‘Made in Myanmar’ or ‘Made in Burma’ and tell the store why you won’t wear them.
� Ask your local councillors to join other cities in boycotting corporations in Burma. Work for the passage of a law barring the city’s purchasing managers from buying any goods or services from companies doing business in Burma. Such laws in the US have already cost these companies thousands in lost contracts. The laws also deter companies from going into Burma in the first place.
� Write to top management if you own stock in companies in Burma and attend the annual meeting to ask why they are supporting the Burmese military junta. Support shareholders’ resolutions that ask companies to withdraw from Burma.
� Ask your national parliament representatives to introduce and support legislation imposing South Africa-style economic sanctions on Burma. Ask your prime minister or president to press for economic sanctions at the United Nations.
� Do not holiday in Burma until democracy has been restored. Boycott travel agents advertising Burma holidays and tell them why you are doing so.

GROUPS

AOTEAROA
New Zealand Burma Support Group,
14 Waitati Place, Mt Albert, Auckland. Tel: (64) 9828 4855
AUSTRALIA
Australia Burma Council, PO Box 2024, Queanbeyan NSW 2620.
Tel: (616) 297 7734
E-mail: azappia@spirit.com.au

CANADA
Canadian Friends of Burma,
145 Spruce Street, Suite 206, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6P1. Tel: (613) 237 8056 Fax: (613) 563 0017 E-mail: cfob@web.apc.org Web: http://www.cfob.org/

THAILAND
Burma Issues, PO Box 1076,
Silom Post Office, Bangkok 10504.
E-mail: durham@mozart.inet.co.th
Web: http://www.signposts.uts.edu.au/contacts/Burma/Media/491.html

UK
The Burma Campaign UK
Third Floor, Bickerton House
Bickerton Road
London, UK
N19 5JT7
Tel: (20) 7281 7377
Fax: (20) 7272 3559
Email: info@burmacampaign.org.uk
Website: www.burmacampaign.org.uk

US
Franklin Research and Development,
711 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA 02111.
Tel: (617) 423 6655 Fax: (617) 482 6179
E-mail: simon_billenness@cybercom.net
Human Rights Watch/Asia, 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: (1) 212 290-4700, Fax: (1) 212 736-1300 E-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org Web: http://www.hrw.org/asia/index.php

INTERNATIONAL
Free Burma Coalition website (with links to other Free Burma websites) http://www.freeburmacoalition.org

Worth Reading
Outrage: Burma’s struggle for democracy by Bertil Lintner, White Lotus, London and Bangkok, 1990.

Burma in Revolt: opium and insurgency since 1948 by Bertil Lintner, White Lotus, Bangkok, 1994.

Freedom from Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi, Penguin, London, revised 1995.

Guide to Burma by Nicholas Greenwood, Bradt Publications, UK, 1996.

Burma: The Challenge of Change in a Divided Society ed. Peter Carey, MacMillan Press, Basingstoke, 1996.

Ethnic Groups in Burma by Martin Smith, Anti-Slavery International, 1994.

Burma Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity by Martin Smith, Zed Books, London, 1991.

Burma’s Revolution of the Spirit by Alan Clements and Leslie Kean, White Orchid, Bangkok, 1995.

John Pilger’s 1996 documentary Inside Burma: Land of Fear can be purchased on video from Video Resource Unit, Central Broadcasting, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2JP, UK. Tel: (121) 643 9898.

This originally appeared here: http://www.newint.org/issue280/action.htm

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

(from http://secondlife.techsoup.org/node/154 )

1 - Protest - Look below for details of worldwide protests. Contact US Campaign for Burma to sign up to hold a march, vigil or any sort of event in your area- thelma@uscampaignforburma.org there is also a protest being held on Burning Life sim today.

2 - Spread the word - Invite your friends to this group, email all your family and friends, write to local newspapers

3 - Write to your elected official - they will respond if enough people contact them.

4 - Wear red clothes on Friday. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=18267307704

5 - Email the companies that still operate in Burma, their email addresses are listed here http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=24957770200&topic=3071

6 - Sign up for the petition!

•http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/action/action.html
•http://www.petitiononline.com/BUR_2007/petition.html
•http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/h.php/?cl=20589575

The business of oppression
How British companies fund the Burmese junta

http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1724311.0.0.php

http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1724312.0.0.php

'Hypocrisy Rules the West'

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18485.htm

More photos on flickr of demos:
http://flickr.com/photos/sl-adventures/sets/72157602215612773/

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Second Life Burma Protests - Hi Rez Photo Resources

Dalinian Bing has uploaded 28 edited hi-res photos taken at yesterday's Burma protests, 10 from the 'Myanmar-Protest' in Odyssey and 18 from the 'Human-Chain-for-Burma' in Commonwealth -- they can be accessed and downloaded at full resolution from folders of those names, inside a '29sep07' folder at http://www.4shared.com/dir/4039211/bf62ee73/Burma-Protests.html They're all public domain, so please feel to use them in any way you see fit to build the Free Burma movement. In International Solidarity, DB

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Free Tee-shirt - FREEDOM FOR BURMA

In RL and SL, wear red to show solidarity with the brave people in Burma fighting for their freedom. In world, contact HiggleDpiggle Snoats for a free copy.


Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 18 years. Cry Freedom for democracy!

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The Gift...

Dalinian Bing and I met up as a result of the planned IBM strike. I mentioned during our chat, that the SLLU is in the process of creating a freebie shop.Coincidentally it turns out she had written this article and it dovetails fantastically with the philosophy SLLU are trying to promote in Secondlife with the freebie store. Dalinian wrote the article, "Partly for newbies, who dash around asking "How can I get L$s???" and "Where can I get a job??? The other motivation was to challenge folks' idee fixe that SL 'must' be like RL, financially, and that appreciating the Gift Economy aspects of SL by experience, might start changing their economic relations IRL."

“A Gift Economy for Second Life”

Photos by Dalinian Bing and Plot Tracer, article by Dalinian Bing.

The gift economy idea seems very well suited to Second Life, in that it should allow all residents to enjoy the widest possible range of useful, artistic and fun items, from Animations to Textures, avatars to zebras, collaborative artworks to cubic zirconia, Alfa Romeos to Omega watches. [1] And the social benefits come as a free added bonus, from the satisfaction of donating time, attention and creativity to the community, via the encouragement of international cooperative collaboration and solidarity, to the money-free stress-free circulation of free-to-all items.

"The first step toward a sustainable sense of success is taking pride in the value of our contributions to others rather than taking pride in the value of our possessions."

Gifford Pinchot [2]

Many of the limitations of first life gift economies arise because the 'cost' of duplicating a useful item has usually been around the same as creating the original item. For instance, the labour and materials that go into making another chair like the one you just finished making are pretty much identical. But technological advances (especially in information technology) mean that some item duplication costs are falling rapidly, often to a trivial amount. For instance, the quantity of labour time invested in projects like Linux or OpenOffice software is huge, but the copy you have on your computer's hard disc probably 'cost' no more than the price of a DVD-R or the time needed to download it from the web.

Making a copy of a useful, artistic or fun item in Second Life is simple, easy and 'cost' free to the residents of Second Life -- copy-and-paste inside your Inventory, or drag from your Inventory and drop on another resident's avatar (or on the 'Drop inventory item here' box in their Profile). And in principle, making any item as free to copy as possible is simple and easy to do too: just make sure the item and each of its component items have three Properties boxes ticked: 'Allow anyone to copy', 'Next owner can: Copy' and 'Next owner can: Resell/Give away'. And I highly recommend the socially creative benefits of ticking the 'Next owner can: Modify' box as well -- to paraphrase Isaac Newton, "If I have created further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".

"Let's all change the world in SL and RL by helping each other!"

Brett Dumont [3]

Gift Economies in First Life: Three Examples

> Health care provision -- blood banks and organ donation systems

> Regiving networks -- such as the Freecycle Network: "a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns" [4]

> Parties -- small-scale, temporary gift economies, where food, drinks, entertainment and a gathering place are provided freely, with all party goers making their own contribution

Information Gift Economies in First Life: Three Examples

> Scientific research -- where scientists produce research papers and give them away through journals and conferences

> Wikipedia -- the web-based collaborative encyclopedia, constructed entirely out of gifts, which gives information freely

> Open-source software -- a community where programmers make their source code available, allowing anyone to copy and modify/improve the code (with obvious parallels to scripting in Second Life, and modify/copy/transfer items)

"Labor should not be sold like merchandise but offered as a gift to the community."

Che Guevara [5]

Gift Economies in Second Life: Seven Examples

> Freebies -- useful, artistic or fun items, freely given to the community of all residents, freely distributed between friends and by freebie outlets; try [Search] > Places tab > 'freebies' and Groups tab > 'freebies'

> Help groups -- where experienced residents volunteer time and attention to help others, especially newbies; for examples, try [Search] > Groups tab > 'help'

> Exchange groups -- where members freely give useful items to those who ask for them, and get them too; for example, 'Animation Exchange', 'Builders Exchange', 'Sculptie Exchange', 'Texture Exchange'

> Education groups -- dedicated to help residents learn more about the creative skills in Second Life; for example, 'Linden Script Tutorial Group', 'Second Life Learning'

> Tutorials and classes -- where residents experienced in particular aspects of Second Life (such as building, scripting, texturing) volunteer time and attention to teach others; for examples, try [Search] > Places tab > 'tutorials' and 'classes' and [Search] > Events tab > Category: Education (leave the Name/Desc: field empty and click on the [Search] button)

> Second Life Volunteer Program -- by which experienced residents volunteer time and attention to mentor others; see http://secondlife.com/community/volunteer.php

> Open-source scripting and building -- where residents give freely of their skills, so that the whole Second Life community may benefit; usually done by including explicit copyleft statements [6] in accompanying Readme files or script comments, such as 'public domain', 'free to copy', or by reference to the GPL (GNU General Public License) [7] or a Creative Commons share-alike license. [8]

"In many cases information gains rather than loses value through sharing. While the [UD$ or L$] exchange economy may have been appropriate for the industrial age, the gift economy is coming back as we enter the information age."

Gifford Pinchot [9]

Unfortunately, for most new residents, the most likely first impression of Second Life is that it is like a microcosm of the entrepreneurial free-market money-based exchange economy, much beloved by the capitalist ruling classes and their right-wing politicians in first life. So instead of the free association of independent creators, the free production and circulation of free useful, artistic and fun items, and the social solidarity that a gift economy would encourage, most residents will take for granted that their Second Life will be saddled with the stresses that citizens suffer in first life within decadent capitalist economies: where can I get L$s?; where can I get a job, so I can work to earn a living wage?; how can I balance my income with my expenditure?; where can I get credit or a loan?; where am I going to live?; how will I ever afford to pay the rent?; will I get kicked out by the landlord?; how will I ever save enough L$s to buy land?; why is everything I want so expensive?; how can I protect my intellectual property rights?; why are so many environments blighted by large scale advertising?; why is there so much competition and so little cooperative collaboration?; how will I ever get enough L$s to buy all the possessions I need?; is being a worker in the sex industry my best option?; why am I being ripped off by scammers and snake oil salespeople?; is that the best way to get L$s?; how can I trust any other resident not to try ripping me off?; just why has the dog-eat-dog, 'every resident for themselves and the devil take the hindmost!' attitude I have to overcome daily in first life been imported into Second Life?

"To be clever enough to get a great deal of money, one must be stupid enough to want it."

George Bernard Shaw (or possibly G. K. Chesterton)

"As for being discontented, a man who would not be discontented with such surroundings and such a low mode of life would be a perfect brute. Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.”

Oscar Wilde [10]

Phew! Thankfully, there are also plenty of residents who have also seen through the multiple downsides of capitalist-mimicry in Second Life, or there wouldn't be such a huge range of useful, artistic and funny freebies already in circulation; so much social solidarity between friends and within groups; so much internationalism, transcending national and linguistic barriers with real-time translators like Babbler; so many good examples of gift economies in Second Life already; and just so many people really deriving fulfillment, enjoying free association, and actually having loads of fun despite of, rather than because of, the 'official' economy -- all without holding down a job, paying rent, balancing their budget, or chasing after the accumulation of ephemeral and virtual land, possessions and L$s.

"The decentralization of [peer-production] processes underlies agents’ capacity to retain a great degree of individual autonomy within the social interaction. This autonomy — to choose to participate, to select opportunities for action, and to act when the participant wishes and in the fashion that she chooses — is central to the informational advantage of peer-production efforts over firms."

Yochai Benkler [11]

I hope this goes some way to explaining why all the items I create in Second Life will be given away for free, and why I'll have as little to do with the 'official' economy as I possibly can. And why I'm really having a fulfilling, enjoyable, and fun-filled Second Life. I'd like to hope that if you can also see the great advantages of cooperating in a stress-free collaborative gift economy, rather than colluding with a stressful competitive 'official' economy, you'll maybe get involved with the 'Gift Economies in Second Life: Seven Examples' noted above, and freely donate your time, attention and modify/copy/transfer creations to our wonderful international community.

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopia."

Oscar Wilde [12]

Share & enjoy, peace & love

Dalinian Bing

Comments & corrections, contradictions & criticisms, always welcome by IM or notecard.

NOTES

[1] The gift economy idea -- see, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy

[2] Gifford Pinchot, 'The Gift Economy': http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm

[3] Brett Dumont, founder of the 'Help People!' group in Second Life

[4] Freecycle Network: http://www.freecycle.org See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regiving

[5] Cited in Lewis Hyde, 'The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property', 1983

[6] Copyleft statements: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft

[7] GNU General Public License: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License

[8] Share-alike license: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share-alike

[9] Gifford Pinchot, idem

[10] Oscar Wilde, 'The Soul of Man Under Socialism',1891: http://libcom.org/library/soul-of-man-under-socialism-oscar-wilde

[11] Yochai Benkler, ' "Sharing Nicely": On shareable goods and the emergence of sharing as a modality of economic production': http://www.benkler.org/SharingNicely.html

[12] Oscar Wilde, idem

THANKS

All the authors mentioned in NOTES above, Wikipedia, Aceius Hax for proofreading

COPYLEFT

'A Gift Economy Readme' is free to all to modify, copy and transfer to others under the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0" copyleft license:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

...where Attribution = 'Original by Dalinian Bing'

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Reminder...

SLLU Exhibition - in collaboration with Luna Box

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isla%20Montevideo/234/88/33

Watch the stream and then enter the building for the exhibition about worker exploitation in the past and now!



After you have been to the exhibition, please go to the Tribute Garden on the island to place your tribute to the exploited. Build ANY SUITABLE tribute you want and place it.



The Tribute Garden is at the top left of the island...


Interesting blog on "Workers Control" http://workerscontrol.blogspot.com/

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PARTY DETAILS...

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Reply to Laura Gagliano

A reply to the interview with Laura Gagliano from second life resident and
Uruguayan, PastoraPier Ferrentino:

"I read your interview. It's really good, I really enjoyed it. But i think Laura
mixed our situtation with the Argentina situation, economically speaking.
It's not true that:

"The French energy company have bought the service for Uruguay.....
etc....".

This is what happened in Argentina, when Menem (one person from the
right side of politics) was President. Here in Urguay in those years (1995) we
also had one neo liberal president (Luis Alberto Lacalle), but he
couldn't sell any of our amenities off, because the left parties (in the
government now) asked for a "referendum", and won the NO to the
privatizations.

In another part of the interview, Laura said that the owners of the
land are Europeans. I know quite a few Uruaguayans with land who have
European heritage, but a lot are Uruguayan 100%.

I really think the good times are arriving now for this part of the
world. I am sad for the Iraquis, for the USA population, and for all
the countries that are in war now, but here, finally, we are in peace
and growing up."

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IBM STRIKE IN SL

For your information:

Il primo sciopero virtuale al mondo e' stato sospeso in attesa della prossima riunione del Coordinamento Nazionale RSU IBM Italia
che avverra' il 24 settembre.
In tale data verranno decise tutte le iniziative
di supporto alla vertenza aziendale.


Tutte le ulteriori informazioni nella sezione
OCCHI APERTI SU/ SCIOPERO VIRTUALE dal menu' in alto.

IMPORTANTE: per ricevere successive informazioni,
registratevi subito al sito http://www.uniglobalunion.org/SecondLife
IMPORTANT: to receive further information, join the mailing list on the above website.

for contacts/info/join from outside Italy please write with urgence to info@rsuibmvimercate.it


Dear Colleagues,

IBM workers will go on strike in SecondLife this month.

The plan is to get IBM strikers and union friends (you are all asked to
come!) to install SecondLife on their computers and get accustomed to using
their avatar before September 12th.

As of September 12th, all future strikers will be offered a "Strike Kit"
and instructions at UNI's house on the Commonwealth Island in SecondLife (
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Commonwealth%20Island/99/163/23 - - This link
only works if you've already installed SL).

For SL beginners, we will be offering:
1. Instructions to get started in SL on our website:
http://www.uniglobalunion.org/SecondLife
2. Training courses to use the Strike Kit, that will take place from
September 12th to September 16th at 9pm Rome, Italy time, at UNI's house in
SL (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Commonwealth%20Island/99/163/23)
Extra courses will be organised all day on the 12th, every hour from 9am to
9pm Rome, Italy time (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/).

Thanks ahead of time for showing your solidarity and participating in this
first world virtual strike!
We'd appreciate if you pass the word on to your members, colleagues and
friends.

Finally, please also note UNI holds short meetings every Thursday in
SecondLife in its house on the Commonwealth Island at 10am and 4pm Rome,
Italy time, which all are welcome to attend.

Best regards,

UNI web in SL: "uniglobalunion oh"
UNI global union
8-10 ave Reverdil
1260 Nyon
Tel: +41 22 365 21 30
Fax: +41 22 365 21 21
visit: http://www.uniglobalunion.org

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Luna Box - Laura and Krisp...

Plot Tracer Investigates the Luna Box Collective...

Krisp and Laura asked me to meet them on their Red Boat on their island of Montevideo. (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isla%20Montevideo/234/88/33 )

[13:26] Plot Tracer: aha - this red boat?

[13:26] Krisp Alexandre: yeap

[13:26] Krisp Alexandre: hello

[13:27] Plot Tracer: hi laura

[13:27] Laura Gagliano: hello;-)

[13:27] Plot Tracer: i like the boat!

[13:27] Krisp Alexandre: :-)

Laura had materialised in the sea just off the bay in which the Red Boat and their submarine sits. From my vantage point I could see the large exhibition centre of Luna Box and the SLLU “Exploited” Factory installation.

[13:27] Laura Gagliano: I always take a sea bath before interviews! Lol!

[13:27] Krisp Alexandre: :-p

[13:27] Plot Tracer: will we go aboard?

[13:27] Laura Gagliano: sure, lol;-)

[13:28] Laura Gagliano: i've been palying to the little barbies dolls for hours, lol;-)

I know Laura must have a busy real life as she has children… SL/RL – I have a lot of questions!

[13:28] Laura Gagliano: i want to go in my red boat ;-)

[13:28] Krisp Alexandre: :-)

On board, there is a fire burning in the middle of the boat, the fumes and smoke funnelled through the roof. Krisp and Laura sit side by side. They are a couple in RL as well as SL.

[13:29] Laura Gagliano: the journalist can take the nice Charlotte Perriand lounger!

I take my place in what seems like a psychiatrists lounger – am I to be the interviewed?

[13:29] Plot Tracer: i like this - what a great space!

[13:30] Laura Gagliano: this is gonna be my home when i'm older

[13:30] Laura Gagliano: lol

[13:30] Laura Gagliano: and rich;-)

[13:30] Krisp Alexandre: :-)

[13:30] Plot Tracer: your retirement home?

[13:30] Laura Gagliano: lol

[13:30] Laura Gagliano: what is retirement?;-)

I know what she means – Laura is a busy woman. She has been busy building Luna Box for most of the year – from the humble beginnings most people start with in SL – to the fantastic island it is now.

[13:30] Plot Tracer: ok will we start?

[13:30] Laura Gagliano: yup;-)

[13:31] Plot Tracer: The 'Exploited' exhibition seems to be drawing a lot of visitors so far - congratuations! and many thanks to Luna Box for agreeing to curate and host it. To begin with, can you give our readers some brief background information about how the idea for 'Luna Box' was conceived?

[13:31] Plot Tracer: don't worry about making long answers...

[13:31] Laura Gagliano: hehe, me? making long answers?;-) never! Lol!

[13:32] Laura Gagliano: Ah, it was conceived as a cooperative, a visual cooperative. A sort of alternative to free lancing and slavery. We are 4 in Rl, with various specialisations....web, modelling 3d, photography, rendering scenography....

and we work also with others perons, in network

[13:33] Plot Tracer: Who are the main avs involved?

[13:34] Laura Gagliano: inworld Krisp Alexandre, Saajuuk Bogomil, Neener Keats and me, for the real life and in sl, antib milo, wildo hoffman....

[13:34] Plot Tracer: And what was your vision behind creating this co-operative?

[13:35] Laura Gagliano: The cooperative is dedicated to communication, in many ways.....fictional as well. But in terms of contents, we are specialized in virtual exhibitions, culture, education in priority. We are in installation in Montevideo Rl...

[13:38] Plot Tracer: How else does Luna Box impact on your rl?

[13:38] Krisp Alexandre: euh....

Krisp is the quiet one of the partnership. Quiet, though skilled in his work – and very obviously politically dedicated to what they have created.

[13:39] Krisp Alexandre: meet some new peoples

[13:39] Laura Gagliano: and we really would like to cooperate with institutions. Luna Box is a reality;-) we are presents in second life to explore the potentialities of metaverses in terms of educational technologies.....

[13:39] Krisp Alexandre: and opening to other perspective in/out sl

[13:39] Laura Gagliano: at all nivels. And yes.....sure, to meet people with the same interests, exchange ideas....creativity.....

[13:40] Plot Tracer: cool

[13:40] Krisp Alexandre: yes... evolution

[13:40] Laura Gagliano: levels* nivels is a spano english word! Lol! sorry;-)

[13:42] Plot Tracer: np - that is great - that leads me on to this question - In RL, Laura, you make no secret of the fact you are from Uruguay but living in France. You were very prominent in the fight against Front National setting up in Second Life – in fact it was you and SLLU who helped to popularise this fight against the organisation of fascist groups in SL. What do you think of current French Politics?

[13:43] Laura Gagliano: Ah....the question would be what do I think about French society evolution.....

[13:43] Plot Tracer: yes

[13:44] Laura Gagliano: I think it's a society working at his own poorness.... economical and cultural- front National is just an epiphenomenon of the fact..... Also, I actually think that the actual president is a representation of something maybe worse than extremist and intolerant parties..... he's popularizing at a no return point, making official the same ideas in a light version..... but the audience is bigger.....

[13:46] Krisp Alexandre: honourable looking but same ideas than extreme right

[13:46] Laura Gagliano: sincerely....I'm happy to come back to Montevideo in a couple of months.....

[13:47] Plot Tracer: like blair - sarkozy an expert at spin?

[13:48] Laura Gagliano: But i cannot stop to think that is an inncredible waste, erosion of all a culture.....

[13:49] Plot Tracer: yes - i would nsay the same for the British culture - and especially the Scottish and working class cultures in the UK... Thatcher and then Blair have caused havoc....As a native of Montevideo, politically, what do you think of recent events on the South American continent?

[13:50] Laura Gagliano: Well.... it happens a lot of things there;-) South America popular and intellectual have ever been with a leftist sentiment..... it was one of the reasons of the Condor Operation in the past..... [see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor]

[13:51] Laura Gagliano: But in a very different way of Europeans, just for historical reasons.... it have most the face of a search of freedom..... we've been colonies for a very long time, remember.....lol and the responses to that are locals also.....

[13:53] Plot Tracer: yes -as have the places i have lived - Ireland and Scotland. there is a "colony culture" don't you think?

[13:53] Laura Gagliano: personally.....i'm not a Chavez lover, for the simple reason that is a very authoritarian government..... More near of the politic of a Lula.... which with errors, almost desenvolve something..... it participes of a consciousness process.....not so bad. Yes ireland and Scottland sure.....;-)

[13:54] Plot Tracer: What has been the impact of SL in Uruguay?

[13:54] Laura Gagliano: maybe is for this reason that I’m living in Britain, before France lol! : the Uruguayan community in sl is very little.....but with some great talents...really..... but i think that the bigger interest of metaverses in south America is to use it like a resource for education.....

[13:58] Plot Tracer: yes - i agree with you on that point - i would say that is sl's greatest asset...

[13:58] Laura Gagliano: the worse problem is the matter of inexistence of individual access.....so it's necessarely to desenvolve the collectives and institutionals ones

[13:58] Plot Tracer: yes - and sl is now being seen more and more as a way to create financial gain...

[13:59] Plot Tracer: Do you think Uruguayans will be more into SL as more people come online - now capital in Uruguay is starting to be spread out to people because of fairer progressive tax laws (a friend of mine from Uruguay told me she was happy to see coin operated phones in her town recently – as these were a good sign that the economy was becoming steady)?

[14:00] Laura Gagliano: Well, sincerely, i've founded the reaction of Argentines workers very intelligent in many ways....

[14:00] Laura Gagliano: the matter is not the absence of capital, there's a lot of money in circulation in the Rio de la plata- is more to stop the run all around, and the localization of capitals.....most of them have NEVER been south American.....

[14:02] Plot Tracer: i dont understand you answer... what do you mean most of them have never been south American?

[14:03] Laura Gagliano: I mean they have never been possession of south American states, or private enterprises..... they're Europeans half a part

and USA for the rest.....The French energy company have bought the service for Uruguay..... etc.....

[14:04] Plot Tracer: there is a denial on their behalf of their south American ness? Do the majority not share the want of Simon Bolivar - a "united states of South America"?

[14:05] Laura Gagliano: Well, not really.....the big families who own the lands and fabrics where inmigrated here like colons.... and it don't have changed a lot;-)

[14:06] Plot Tracer: it is unusual for immigrants not to become part of the local culture...

[14:06] Laura Gagliano: just the terms , but it's the same mechanism..... and all is for sale to the bigger offer, lol

[14:07] Plot Tracer: yes - like all of the now neo-liberal world...

[14:08] Laura Gagliano: Yes....but curiously the 500 years {anniversary] of the discovering of America seems to have awaked some sentiments.... i'm happy of that

[14:08] Plot Tracer: cool

[14:08] Plot Tracer: ok.... moving away from politics a small way... Are family involved – and do many of your family understand or know about Luna Box and SL?

[14:09] Laura Gagliano: ah yes, for me everybody, knows almost. After.....who knows who understand what? lol

[14:10] Plot Tracer: do they "approve" - I ask as someone whose family don't see the value in sl as i do...

[14:11] Laura Gagliano: No, apart my grand mother, but she never have understood the value of a computer lol so it's normal

[14:11] Plot Tracer: cool

[14:11] Plot Tracer: how do you think Luna Box impacts on visitors rl’s?

[14:13] Laura Gagliano: Sincerely, like a link, a network.....I've meet really interesting people in Sl.... We're just trying to show parts of our realities, lol I’ve never believed in only one reality and it was a few years ago, i've never touched a computer yet, lol

[14:14] Plot Tracer: Do you feel sl is a different reality - or as lawyers have recently said - part of real life?

[14:15] Laura Gagliano: Both things;-) imagination is it part of reality, reality is it part of imagination, good question, lol we can stay since tomorow with, but....i'm not sure that is a special problem of metaverses and virtuality;-)

[14:17] Plot Tracer: yes - but i feel there are concrete - real - things here - relationships, communication, education and erm... money. My opinion is that the sub-reality of sl is secondary to these things... what do you think? And Krisp, what do you think?

[14:19] Krisp Alexandre: I think virtual reality is a part of reality... you don’t have 2 worlds closed... there is a lot of link and bridge between both. As human, you project your reality in virtuality with all sort of thing

[14:20] Plot Tracer: absolutely. I think it became very obvious when "pig bombs" were impacting in the rl media for example... and the fact that we are sitting in a boat, but divided by a sea...

[14:20] Krisp Alexandre: and SL is a copy of RL for a lot of people I would like that sl not becoming a clone of real world.

[14:21] Plot Tracer: yes

[14:21] Laura Gagliano: but it's also support of totally deslinked experiences for others....

[14:21] Krisp Alexandre: in sl like in rl you can make friendship and meet other peoples,

[14:22] Laura Gagliano: imagination is no restrictive, even when we talk of money.....

[14:22] Krisp Alexandre: but it's more simple in sl, you dont have the distance problem

[14:22] Laura Gagliano: and all sorts of dirtiness’s.....lol But Sl is putting a light more on some collectives inconscients ;-)

[14:22] Plot Tracer: with "dirtinesses" you mean the porn?

[14:23] Laura Gagliano: no, the money, lol

[14:23] Laura Gagliano: no money, no prn;-)

[14:23] Laura Gagliano: lol

[14:23] Plot Tracer: yes - i agree - personally I have learned a lot from sl by talking to people from all over the world about their experiences...

[14:23] Krisp Alexandre: yeap, agree

[14:23] Plot Tracer: ok - 'Exploited' opened only last week and already seems to have generated a lot of buzz and interest. Do you know how many visitors has the expo received so far? The feedback I have received has been very encouraging - What has been the feedback you have been receiving?

[14:24] Krisp Alexandre: all peoples i talked to, were very enthusiastic - very good feeling, it seems

[14:24] Laura Gagliano: Yes, the feed back it's very simpatic and friendness.....i still have to put the notes in the exhibition…shame on me;-)

[14:24] Plot Tracer: lol -

[14:25] Laura Gagliano: but I really would like to instaure the oficialisation of an interactive space her....

[14:25] Plot Tracer: "instaure"?

[14:25] Krisp Alexandre: i saw some guys take and sit and passed a long time between the video

[14:25] Laura Gagliano: I mean, the garden is open to all collaboration in relation with the thematic;-) install?

[14:26] Plot Tracer: ah ok

[14:26] Plot Tracer: yes - i have been here when people have sat at the video the whole way through - it is a very powerful video.

We talk about the technicalities of compressing video and streaming on SL.

[14:29] Plot Tracer: ah ok - this was a "collaboration" between sllu and luna box - Do you think these kind of collaborations are a good idea – that is, collaborations between different left individuals and organisations?

[14:29] Krisp Alexandre: yes, a very good idea. Errcheck helped us too

[14:30] Laura Gagliano: and Antib Milo with the radiations;-)

[14:30] Krisp Alexandre: working in network is more powerful than stay lonely

[14:30] Krisp Alexandre: lol

[14:30] Laura Gagliano: Well, i like collaborations quiet natural, and it was the case ;-)

[14:30] Plot Tracer: absolutely - my opinion as well... and you all seemed to work fantastically together.

[14:31] Laura Gagliano: It's incredible to see how the best things we do in life needs no organisation, lol

[14:31] Plot Tracer: absolutely.... no bosses!

[14:31] Laura Gagliano: And the time we spent trying to organize thing who never works. I found it fun.

[14:31] Krisp Alexandre: collaborating is a natural thing... no ?

[14:32] Plot Tracer: yes krisp... i agree

[14:32] Plot Tracer: This exhibition is the second collaboration between Luna Box and SLLU. The first was the anti-G8 'Cre-8' tribute garden, which you also hosted at Isla Montevideo, and which was unique in that it invited SL residents to come and place their own exhibits, and freely express their opposition to the injustices of globalisation, and share these tributes with others, in solidarity. This second collaboration also appears to be a fairly unusual event in SL, in that it is utilising the multimedia capacities of the platform, which is often a very 'cartoony' environment, in order to highlight serious RL social justice concerns surrounding an overlooked subject - that of global workers' exploitation and suffering. This is possibly the first exhibition on this subject in SL history. What do you say to people who believe there is no place for highlighting RL social issues within SL - that RL and SL should be kept 'separate'?

[14:33] Laura Gagliano: I said to them that the most importants messages in terms of society and politics

[14:33] Krisp Alexandre: we can keep sl and rl separate... sl and rl is part of life

[14:34] Laura Gagliano: was given in the 70 in usa by the cartoons, the science fiction, etc.....

[14:34] Krisp Alexandre: and wee only have one life !

[14:34] Plot Tracer: i agree krisp - make the most of the one life we have!

[14:34] Plot Tracer: in what way, Laura?

[14:35] Laura Gagliano: The American subculture was great....and very cartoonist.... I don't see those envirinonments like a problem… it don't hurts the force of information..... also....the biggers lessons and morals were given in the chidren's stories in the past..... isn't it?;-)

[14:37] Plot Tracer: yes - i see - information and politics can be taught through these environments like the popular culture of the past - yes - these places are the new "fairy tales!"

[14:38] Laura Gagliano: maybe....;-)

[14:38] Krisp Alexandre: sl is a media with strength and weakness... we must use it to expose real and imaginary things

[14:38] Plot Tracer: yes - well put, Krisp.

[14:38] Plot Tracer: ok - Tell us about the other politically themed exhibitions Luna Box has hosted in SL previously – and any on going projects.

[14:39] Laura Gagliano: Well, we've made an exhibition in our anterior sim about revolutionary graphics - signs, paints ....

[14:40] Krisp Alexandre: we also had a 'revo video stream' ;-)

[14:41] Plot Tracer: tell the blog readers what that was?

[14:41] Laura Gagliano: it was a multi space exhibition, with Roots Camps and Errcheck

[14:42] Plot Tracer: cool. Roots Camp is a good organisation. Are you going to do further collaborations with them?

[14:42] Laura Gagliano: Yes, Errcheck is a very good collaborator, he have an immense graphic culture;-) Sl is made to learn, also and I've learned a lot with him;-)

[14:43] Plot Tracer: yes - he had a lot of original stuff in the first tribute garden...

[14:43] Krisp Alexandre: yeap, very instructive collaboration

[14:43] Laura Gagliano: yes, he's impassioned by his subject and a good searcher.

[14:43] Plot Tracer: Do you believe that there is a hunger for this kind of content in SL, in contrast to the platform's more ubiquitous 'consumeristic' culture?

[14:44] Krisp Alexandre: yes, i hope

[14:44] Laura Gagliano: Well, the artistic platform in sl is becaming very interesting.... I cannot say a lot about the malls and shops platforms...... I spent my lindens uploading

[14:45] Laura Gagliano: lol

[14:45] Krisp Alexandre: and for 1 or 2 dresses ;-)

[14:45] Plot Tracer: aha! lol

[14:46] Laura Gagliano: yep, when the grey is trashy, i put the orange

Laura has the “orange” on now. Her AV is one she has taken lots of time over – she has created a unique AV. Krisp’s AV looks a lot like this rl picture in his profile. Another way of communication, unique to this kind of environment.

[14:46] Plot Tracer: What most inspires you in SL?

[14:46] Plot Tracer: both of you?

[14:47] Laura Gagliano: the same in sl and rl, lol the possibilities and the search;-) the communication

[14:47] Krisp Alexandre: liberty and open mind of peoples we can meet

[14:47] Plot Tracer: i am totally with you on those points! I agree wholeheartedly...

[14:47] Plot Tracer: How would you like to see the potential of the platform further developed, in terms of using it to promote social justice in RL?

[14:48] Laura Gagliano: the voice....the sound.....

[14:48] Laura Gagliano: lol

[14:48] Laura Gagliano: wildo!!!!!

[14:48] Plot Tracer: yes wildo is great...

[14:49] Plot Tracer: but in the sense of educating others to the injustices of the world - has sl got the impact to influence peoples thought?

[14:49] Krisp Alexandre: a greater access to all sort of information, photos, sound, video, and meeting

[14:50] Laura Gagliano: hum.....i simply think that it's a little bit young to said....

[14:50] Laura Gagliano: for an impact in Rl i mean..... but he have the charm to be a new possible way..... but i've the impression that the communities with a good activity a growing up......

[14:52] Plot Tracer: well - it has brought all of us "together" in some way - the world has become smaller.... do u think our being here is impacting on rl? I was at a socialist meeting last night at which i kept saying things like, 2my friend from the Us" or "my friend from Denmark" "my friend from London" and my friend from France" all of whome i met here on sl...

[14:53] Krisp Alexandre: yes, i think... facility of communication with people around the world...

[14:53] Laura Gagliano: yes;-) it makes possible impossible meetings

[14:54] Krisp Alexandre: internet made this possible... and SL is a simple way to do it

[14:54] Laura Gagliano: i agree with you plot;-)

[14:55] Laura Gagliano: yes....the interest of sl is the space of expressivity......

I CRASH ….

[15:01] Plot Tracer: aha - a problem with sl.... crashing, eh? lol!

[15:02] Krisp Alexandre: :-/

[15:02] Laura Gagliano: lol

[15:02] Krisp Alexandre: :-p... interview is safe !

[15:04] Plot Tracer: oh - what was beatbeatwing?

[15:04] Plot Tracer: beatbeatwing kidd?

[15:05] Laura Gagliano: A grafist from Hong Kong, descovered in sl nad invited for an exhibition.-)

[15:05] Laura Gagliano: he makes a very interesting work, i like it.....in the gallery, luna box

[15:08] Plot Tracer: cool. ok to finish off - what do you see as the future of collaborations with sllu? Laura - you were a member of sllu from near to the beginning - and sllu has been going for nearly a year - do you see sllu as moving onwards with its project of helping to unite left groups and individuals?

[15:09] Laura Gagliano: well, i would like to develop an activity of conferences;-)

[15:11] Laura Gagliano: it could of a common interest, i'm sure;-)

[15:12] Krisp Alexandre: live audio conferences...

[15:13] Laura Gagliano: and for the rest of the question....yes

[15:14] Laura Gagliano: Sllu in sl.....where could you meet a Mexican socialist?......in london?.......lol;-)

[15:15] Krisp Alexandre: :-D

[15:15] Plot Tracer: certainly not in (the town i live in outside Glasgow...)

[15:15] Plot Tracer: audio conferences - hmmm some people do not like the idea - me included - think about trying to understand each other - accents etc... it could turn out to be a night mare - though i have seen that some universities are offering language courses in second life - so i might try Spanish ( or French!) ok - thank you both for this interview!

[15:16] Krisp Alexandre: yeap... but you can have traduction

[15:16] Laura Gagliano: yes, i deending in what form it's organized;-)

[15:17] Laura Gagliano: i don't like the idea of nightmare too, but there's no obligation to assist in conferences in a language that you don't understand, lol

[15:17] Krisp Alexandre: thanks a lot Plot, it was a pleasure to answer your questions

[15:17] Laura Gagliano: translators are bad, buerk

[15:17] Laura Gagliano: lol

[15:17] Laura Gagliano: oh, you can arrange my English, lol;-)

[15:18] Krisp Alexandre: lol... my few words too ;-)

[15:19] Plot Tracer: yes - i agree, laura. i think the mind of a colonised person believes that the language forced upon him is the only one people need to speak. Neruda is a poet i have a lot of respect for - he liked to range from mighty language, to common language... and i think we all need to TRY to communicate. The British Govt have been very bad at teaching language - and the British peoples are very bad at thinking they need other languages. i hope to learn another language soon...

[15:21] Krisp Alexandre: si...

[15:21] Krisp Alexandre: no hablo castellano... tambien !

[15:21] Plot Tracer: lol! cool! very good!

[15:22] Plot Tracer: bien!

[15:22] Krisp Alexandre: gracias

[15:22] Laura Gagliano: ah, lol, i feel the iteacher behind that

[15:22] Plot Tracer: lol - i WISH i could speak French or Spanish! lol

[15:22] Laura Gagliano: "always encouraging"

[15:22] Laura Gagliano: lol

[15:22] Plot Tracer: aha!

[15:22] Krisp Alexandre: oui :-)

[15:23] Plot Tracer: ok... got to go. aurevoir for now - i will speak to you both soon! I appreciate this. I think this interview will be of interest to a lot of people who read the blog. see u both soon!

[15:24] Krisp Alexandre: see you Plot, and bonne nuit :-)

[15:24] Laura Gagliano: kiss, plot;-)

[15:24] Krisp Alexandre: à bientôt

[15:25] Plot Tracer: bon nuite! and see u soon! as the northern irish say, keep 'er lit!

Oi - GO! - http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isla%20Montevideo/234/88/33

Questions by HIGGLEDPIGGLE SNOATS and Plot Tracer

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