 A Capital Friendly Culture for Further Education
Academy Chains
After the Hillcole Group
Against What We Are Worth
Ambassadors of Capital in Schools
An Educational Mansion House for Business
Apprenticeship and the Use-value Aspect of Labour Power
Artistic Outlook
Ayers Rocked In His Own Universe
B Generation
Bourdieu on Capital
Bourdieu on Cultural Capital
Bourdieu on Social Capital
Brown PFI Monster
Business Sponsorship of Schools
Business Takeover of Further Education
Cambridge University Occupation
Caught in the Storm of Capital
Co-payment in Hospitals and Schools
Cold Hands and Quarter Moon
Communitarianism for Schools
Compulsory Consumption and Uni-Nanny
Conforming Schools Conforming Kids
Copy/South Dossier
Creating Monsters
Creeping Privatisation in Higher Education
Critical Mass
Critical Pedagogy and Capitalism
Critical Space in Education
Delivering E-Learning
Digital Rights Management
Distillation
Dorothy L. Sayers
Douglas Kennedy: best-selling novelist
E-learning for Free at the BBC
Edison Schools in the UK
Education and Inspections Bill (2006)
Education As Culture Machine
Education Fireworks
Education for Debt
Education Incorporated
Education Markets and Missing Products
Education Repetition
Education the HSBC Way
Education White Paper
Education, Globalisation and the Learning Society
Employers and School Leavers
Evaluating Different Teaching Methods
Everything Louder Than Everything Else
Finance and Fear
Five Endings of Desires
Foibles, Frolics and Phantasms
Freedom
Freewill
French New Wave Cinema
Full Report Ruth Rikowski's Book Launch for Globalisation, Information and Libraries
Gender and Spokesperson in Group Work Issues
Global Trading
Globalisation and Education Revisited
Habituation of the Nation
Higher Education and Confused Employer Syndrome
Hitchcock: classic auteur
Human capital, the knowledge economy and business
In Retro Glide
In the Dentist's Chair
Kids in the Land of No Dreams
KM Critique
Lazy Brit Kids
Learning in the Earthworks of Capital
Learning Investments
Learning to the Max
Librarianship and Human Rights
Lifelong Learning and the Political Economy of Containment
LSBU Strategy
Marketisation of the Schools System in England
Marx and Education Revisited
Marx and the Future of the Human
Marxism and Education Revisited
Marxist Educational Theory Unplugged
Maturity and Freedom
McDonaldization and Education
Michael Jackson
Michele Roberts
Miss Allison and Novel Writing
Moneythought in Higher Education
Mrs Thatcher and Holes in the Kitchen Floor
Multiculturalism and Faith Schools
My Tony Blair
New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 1
New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 2
New Labour Policy for Schools
Nietzsche's School
Nihilism and Educational Values
No Learner Left Unhassled
Notes on the Confessions of John Denham
On Education for Its Own Sake
On Education Studies
On the Capitalisation of Schools in England
On Transhumanism and Education
Open Access
Outsourcing Public Services
Peter Wilby on School Privatisation
Planet of the Capitorg
Plato
Playgound Risks and Handcuffed Kids
Poems by Gregory Rikowski
Poems by Victor Rikowski
Post-Fordism and Schools
Post-Fordism in Primary Schools
Postmodern Dereliction in the Face of Neoliberal Education Policy
PowerPointlessness in Higher Education
Private Schools as Charities
Privatisation of Schools in England
Privatisation of Student Debt
Races in the Imperial War
Readings for Teaching Course
Recruitment and Labour Power
Revealed Recruitment Criteria through the Use-value Aspect of Labour-power
Robotic Ethics
Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives)
Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives)
School Fees and the 1944 Education Act
Schools: Building for Business
Science Fiction Films and Horror
Second Time as Farce
Snowballs and Risk in Schools
Social Contract Theory and Political Obligations
Socialism is not Dead
Speed of Life - Part One
Speed of Life - Part Two
Stroppy Individuals and Oppositional Cultures in Schools
Sustainability Policy at London South Bank University
Ten Points on Marx, Class and Education
The Business of Becoming a Business for Academies
The Capitalisation of Schools - Federations and Academies
The CBI and the Business Takeover of Schools
The Commodification of Education
The Education White Paper and the Marketisation of Schools
The Evolution of Federations of Schools
The Last Parents Evening
The New Japanisation of Schools
The Profit Virus - The Business Takeover of Schools
The Standards Language-game for Schools in England
The Which Blair Project
Three Types of Apprenticeship - Three Forms of Mastery
Tony and Caroline Benn
Tony Benn: Letters to Grandchildren
Transport
Turney's and PPU
Uninspiring Towers
Universe of Capital and My Space
Universities in a Neoliberal World
Utopia and Education
What Can Nietzsche Teach Ya
When Bullies Roam the School
When the Bowers Break
Why Employers Can't Ever Get What They Want
Will Hutton and His E-Foss
Wolf on Marx Without Sparks
Women in World Wars
| Report on the Book Launch for Ruth Rikowski’s book Globalisation, Information and Libraries:
the implications of the
World Trade Organisation’s
GATS and TRIPS Agreements
Chandos publishers: Oxford, 2005
ISBN 1 84334 084 4 (pbk);
1 84334 002 5 (hbdk)
Globalisation, Information and Libraries by Ruth Rikowski
Held at London South Bank University, Keyworth Centre,
on 26th April 2005
CONTENTS
1. General Introduction to the Report
2. Introduction by Professor Deian Hopkin, Vice-Chancellor, London South Bank University
3. Ruth Rikowski – talking about her book, Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS Agreements
Speakers congratulating Ruth and paying tribute to her and then focusing on an area of interest of their own that overlaps with Ruth’s work
4.Dr Leburn Rose:
Area of personal interest - Knowledge Management (KM) and intellectual capital and Ruth’s Marxist analysis of KM
5.Dave Black:
Area of personal interest - a theoretical understanding of Marx’s analysis of value and the commodity and Ruth’s contribution in this regard
6.Linda Kaucher:
Area of personal interest - how trade is largely confined to being a development issue and how Ruth’s book brings the trade agenda to the developed world
7.Professor Dave Hill:
Area of personal interest - the impact of the GATS on schools
8.George Bell:
Area of personal interest – critical pedagogy, transferring knowledge across cultures, and how Ruth’s book has provided the opportunity for some of the people in his department to refocus
9.Matti Kohonen:
Area of personal interest – CopyLeft, Creative Commons, the Free and Open Source Software Movement and the World Social Library
10.Tom Lines:
Area of personal interest – trade and development; preservation of public services in UK. Ruth has looked at implications of GATS for libraries; others need to look at implications of GATS in their own public sectors
11.Dr Glenn Rikowski:
Area of personal interest – impact of the WTO and the GATS on education and relating this to Marxism
1. General Introduction
Ruth Rikowski got her first published with Chandos publishers in February 2005, and had a very successful book launch for it, that was held at London South Bank University on 26th April 2005. About 70 people attended and this included academics, activists, writers and editors, information professionals and librarians, consultants, students, friends and relations. Her book builds on her many published articles on the topic of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). She started writing about the topic shortly after she joined Information for Social Change, where she edited a special issue on Globalisation and Information, in Winter 2001/02 (Issue No.14) – (see http://libr.org/ISC.) However, she first started getting her writing published 5 years ago, and her first article appeared in the monthly Aslib magazine, Managing Information – (see www.managinginformation.com). This article was about the relationship between I.T./computer departments and library/information departments.
Martha Spiess, who has worked with Indymedia Maine, came over from the States to video the launch, primarily for the purpose of sharing the information and ideas with interested folks in the US and Canada. Thus, Martha has provided a wonderful opportunity to enable the information and issues raised at the book launch to be disseminated widely and effectively. The tape quality is such that it can be cut into media programmes and local cable channels. The DVD of this is now available on this website. The speakers on the book launch programme included Dr Lee Rose, Dave Black, Linda Kaucher, Professor Dave Hill, George Bell, Matti Kohonen, Tom Lines and Dr Glenn Rikowski.
The Vice-Chancellor at London South Bank University, Professor Deian Hopkin, introduced the launch and he said that it is the longest programme for a book launch that he had ever seen, and that it looked very exciting.
This document is a summary of what the speakers said at the book launch and can be read in conjunction with the DVD of the launch on this website, or can be read as a document in its own right. It also includes a substantial piece about the new ideas that Ruth formulated in her book – ideas which she was not really able to expand on at her book launch, and which were not highlighted as a separate category in the book itself.
However, it is very important to draw peoples’ attention to these new ideas, in order to progress social scientific theory and our understanding and analysis of global capitalism. Thus, these ideas are highlighted in this report.
2. Introduction by Professor Deian Hopkin,
Vice-Chancellor, London South Bank University
The launch was introduced by Professor Deian Hopkin, the Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University. Professor Hopkin welcomed everyone and spoke about the wonderful Keyworth Centre building that the launch was held in. He said that the other side of globalisation is about trying to build a community and that South Bank was trying to build a resource for the community and that it has a regeneration programme. Thus, they have the new Keyworth Centre and now they are about to demolish another old building, which is next door, and to replace it with a new building for health, as they think that is pretty crucial as well! He said that he would not speak for very long, as it is about the longest programme for a book launch that he has ever seen, and that it is all very exciting.
Professor Deian Hopkin then went to say how he first properly got to meet Ruth at a David Gurteen Knowledge Café, on an occasion when there was lots of knowledge but no café! Then, he spoke at the next Knowledge Café. He said that Ruth has a very good record, and is a distinguished writer with an eclectic range. She started working at London South Bank University with Dr Lee Rose in the area of information a few years ago, which was then in a department called SCISM – School of Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics. This computing department has now merged with the business department, and Ruth has continued to work with them in this new department. He said that he is delighted that Ruth has continued to work with them and also with the University of Greenwich. In the latest elections he noted that often not much consideration was really being given to some of the important issues, such as the issues contained in Ruth’s book, and that we are often powerless against overwhelming forces.
He said that Ruth has a lot to say about issues and that the book is very topical. He described Ruth’s book as being handsome, and then noted that it is probably quite controversial and will stir a few pots! He said that the book has lots of data and information but more importantly, powerful arguments. He said that Ruth’s book brings an understanding about issues not just about libraries, but about the wider issue of intellectual property rights and that these commodities can make or break a community. He went on to say that libraries today also include the management of information. He said that he is sure that Ruth’s book will do well, that he is glad of Ruth’s association with them and he congratulates Ruth. Deian Hopkin also congratulated the publishers, Chandos, and hoped that Chandos would be able to have more book launches at South Bank for Ruth’s future books! He concluded by saying that, hopefully, we can discuss these various issues at London South Bank University, even if in the political arena they do not do so.
3. Ruth Rikowski – talking about her book,
Globalisation, Information and Libraries
Ruth then spoke herself. She said about how exciting it all was – getting her first book published. She started getting her writing published 5 years ago. She emphasised the fact that her book was controversial, and that she was basically saying that she does not like global capitalism. She said that she had always wanted to write but various things were stopping her, including the fear of taking risks. Furthermore, that if she was ever going to write, then she was going to write from this radical standpoint. So, that discouraged her from writing for a long time but then she thought, ‘to hell with it - you only live once’, so she started writing. It has been a very exciting experience, and she has not regretted it at all, she said. Many different exciting things have happened to her, such as connecting with the Vice-Chancellor and going on a radio programme, and just that day, a news item went up on the Red Pepper (the monthly Red/Green journal) website. She has many different published articles on the GATS and TRIPS, including articles in Managing Information, Business Information Review and a piece in the House of Lords Report on Globalisation. She thought that was particularly good and that, indeed, today the House of Lords often seems to be more of a debating chamber than the House of Commons. She noted that she had a very clear project in her head when writing her book. She said that she is very proud of her book, and that she put ever such a lot of work into it.
Ruth dedicated her book to her aunt (her Aunt Olive), because if it had not been for her aunt encouraging and giving her that initial inspiration as a child (her aunt had been a teacher) she would never have gone to university and she would never have written her book. The second impetus was her friend Elaine, who when they were in the sixth form said to her – ‘why don’t we go to university?’ Ruth went, and she said that it was wonderful. Ruth comes from the East End of London and not many people from the East End went to university at that time (in the 1970s). The third impetus was her husband, Dr Glenn Rikowski, who has always encouraged her to write, and he wrote this small but important book The Battle in Seattle: its significance for education. He had lots of published material out, but this was his first actual book.
She then joined a group called Information for Social Change, which challenges the dominant paradigms of library and information work. Ruth told John Pateman, the editor of ISC about Glenn’s book, who thought it sounded fascinating and he suggested that Ruth edit a special issue of ISC looking at the implications of the GATS for libraries and information. So, this was what she did. The issue was entitled Globalisation and Information. Ruth then said she has been in the library and information profession a long time and that although there are some wonderful people in the library and information professions she finds some people in the profession rather conformist. So, she was delighted to find that there were some librarians around the world that had investigated the topic of the GATS and TRIPS – GATS standing for the General Agreement on Trade in Services and TRIPS standing for the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. There are many agreements that are being set up at the WTO, but these 2 agreements affect libraries and education, in particular. Thus, librarians and information professionals around the world had taken up the topic of the WTO in general, and the GATS and TRIPS, in particular. This included the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA) and Canada (particularly the British Columbia Library Association and the Canadian Library Association).
Whilst editing the special issue for ISC Ruth connected with someone from the World Development Movement (Clare Joy) the result of which was that she got a phone call out of the blue from the BBC inviting her on to a radio programme, on the You and Yours programme on Radio 4. On the programme Ruth emphasised her fear that public libraries might be turned into private companies at some point. A lot of people say this is scare-mongering talk, but Ruth said that she has given the example so many times of the private company Instant Library Ltd that ran the library service in the London Borough of Haringey for 3 years. This was the first time that a private company had taken over the running of a whole public library service (taking it over from the local authority) in England. This happened after the public library service was deemed to have failed its Best Value Regime under the local authority. Then, it was said to have been successful and has now gone back to the local authority. But once it has happened once, there is nothing to stop it happening again. It is a slippery slope, Ruth says. She fears that such scenarios might result in poor and disadvantaged people having to pay to go into their local library. Going back to her childhood, she loved her public library and was a passionate reader, and the thought that this might be under threat greatly disturbed her.
As part of her book project Ruth then went on to look at TRIPS – the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, which is a lot more complicated subject than the GATS. She looked at the TRIPS agreement in some detail. Various intellectual property rights are covered in the TRIPS agreement, including copyright, patents, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs and trade secrets. However, what she discovered was that the TRIPS is purely interested in the trading of these intellectual property rights, and is not really concerned about anything else much apart from that. It is not concerned with issues such as the balance in copyright, for example.
It then came to Ruth, in a ‘flash of inspiration’, that services and intellectual property rights were being transformed into international tradable commodities and that these commodities were being sold in the market place for profit. So, items that had been outside of the trade agenda that were dear to our heart were suddenly being pushed on to the trade agenda. In this way, global capitalism was being perpetuated, and Ruth fears about how this will affect ordinary people.
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and various other groups on the left have looked at the implications of these agreements in other areas. A lot of consideration has been given to how herbs in the developing world have been patented and turned into drugs by private companies, for example, but libraries, specifically, have not been examined before. So, Ruth’s area is new. Libraries can often be marginalised, but surely they are crucial as part of a civilised society, Ruth emphasised, and that surely we need to try to preserve them. We need to put libraries back at the forefront, Ruth said, and she hopes that her book will contribute to this.
Ruth said that her book proved to be a very large project and very demanding. It also had a very clear political message. Thus, she provided lots of references and got lots of evidence together in an endeavour to try to persuade people of her political message, and to show that she had put a lot of thought into it, and that she was not just scare-mongering. This is why the book ended up being so big. Also, she rather poured herself into it, as it was her first book! She then spoke about the Chandos Series for Information Professionals in general, and how the Series has been built up very quickly over the last couple of years. There were just 11 titles in the first year, but already there are now some 80 titles in the series, on a wide range of subjects, such as digitisation, information technology, knowledge management and public libraries.
Ruth emphasised that there is a need to try to break out of conformist politics, and this can be done by writing and having meetings and discussions. Hopefully, little by little we can start to make people think again. She said that traditional politics is more or less dead and that there is nothing to choose between the two main parties in the UK. The Labour Party is now a Tory Mark II party. She finds the election very boring – Tony Blair or Michael Howard. It is like choosing between Daz and Persil – it makes no difference, she said.
We need more vehicles for debate, and she said that ATTAC an anti-globalisation movement which another speaker, Matti Kohonen will be telling people more about later on at the launch, has been very good in regard to encouraging more debate (see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=links&sub=ATTAC for further information). So have the Gurteen Knowledge Cafes. They have provided forums for debate and she has been able to participate in them. Ruth organised a successful knowledge café at South Bank, for example, and they had a very interesting discussion. David Gurteen has a website -(David Gurteen website) and a newsletter and organises these Knowledge Cafes at different organisations. One person says – ‘I can put on an event at my organisation’. Then have coffee and a chat. They are knowledge consultants, not radicals, but they are open to ideas. Ruth said that there is a need for more such organisations, events and for more such debate.
Ruth then thanked various people, including Professor Deian Hopkin, Dr Leburn Rose and George Bell (who both lecture at London South Bank University), Dr Glyn Jones, the owner of Chandos and Graham Coult, the editor of Managing Information. She said that there are so many people that she could thank, but she had thanked them all in her book really.
The book had an international perspective, and Ruth examined a number of different countries in it, including USA, Canada, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, the developing world in general, India, South Africa and the UK. She then placed all her findings within an Open Marxist theoretical perspective and argued that we need to make Marxism applicable for the global capitalist world that we live in today. Marx began his analysis of capitalism with the commodity, in Capital, Vol. 1. This is where our analysis must begin. We need to go back to Marx’s basic understanding of capitalism, and then make it applicable for the global capitalist world that we live in today, she said. The logic of capitalism is the commodification of all that surrounds us. The GATS and TRIPS assists with this commodification process, Ruth said, as services and intellectual property rights are being transformed into international tradable commodities. And this is why we have to try to take hold of the situation and look for an alternative.
Ruth spoke at a conference recently at Cambridge, and George Monbiot was also on the programme. One of the other speakers on the programme was a representative from the WTO. This man seemed quite ‘down’ that people were not currently negotiating/discussing issues around the GATS, and that they could not move the GATS programme forward. It is at stalemate. So, to this extent, Ruth says that the left and the anti-global capitalist movement etc. have been successful. First of all, people argued that our public services were safe from the GATS. The agreement is complex. But today, there are many elements of competition in our public services, and so they become vulnerable to the GATS and it is now generally recognised that our public services do, indeed, fall under the GATS, and that this threatens our way of life.
Ruth emphasises how the media is forever trying to pull the wool over our eyes. She says that we need to get beyond the soap, froth and rubbish and that writing a book provides a wonderful vehicle to enable us to do this, and to expose all this rubbish, and to be able to write, discuss and debate. She ended by thanking everyone for coming.
4. Dr Leburn Rose, Head of the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Foundation Studies, London South Bank University
Introduction
Dr Leburn Rose worked for several years in manufacturing and engineering before moving into academia. He is deeply committed to teaching with a portfolio that now includes management education in information technology and business. His PhD is in the area of economic evaluation of human platelet dosing.
Lee said that he was there to pay tribute to Ruth for her hard work leading up to the culmination of this wonderful book (and that he will not be talking about trade agreements, because others who are far more eloquent than him will do that). He said that Ruth and him go back 4-5 years. Ruth was looking for work at South Bank and gave them a call, and Lee called her in for a chat. He said that he found himself talking to this “infectious, tenacious, intelligent and bright individual” – and that, of course, they took her on! She worked with them on the knowledge management (KM) masters course and Ruth was instrumental in implementing that course. So, their professional relationship goes back that far.
He said that Ruth is a wonderful conversationalist. Furthermore, that they have discussed a number of issues together, particularly in the area of her Marxist perspective on knowledge management and intellectual capital. He agrees with what Ruth said earlier, that there is a real absence of debate today and a counter balance to capitalist ideas is needed, and that a Marxist approach provides us with this opportunity. He said that we definitely do need more debate, and that he hopes that Ruth’s book will help to open up that debate, and he is sure that it will. He values what Ruth has said on this issue.
Lee said that what is also quite exciting is that Ruth is now starting work on her second book, that she is a very energetic person and that he does not know where she gets the energy from! She is editing a book on Knowledge Management and she has co-opted him on to the project. He said that it will be good to be able to document some of the concepts and ideas that they used when designing and teaching the KM course. He concludes by congratulating Ruth, and says that he thinks that this is the beginning of great things for her.
5. Dave Black Author of Helen MacFarlane: a feminist, revolutionary journalist, and philosopher in mid-nineteenth century England (Lexington: Maryland, USA, 2004) and Co-Editor of Hobgoblin, a Marxist Humanist journal
Introduction
Helen MacFarlane translated the first edition of the Communist Manifesto into English in 1850 and Dave Black’s recently published book is an endeavour to rescue her from obscurity. Dave is also one of the co-editors of Hobgoblin, a Marxist Humanist journal, and they got the name of Hobgoblin from Helen MacFarlane. This is because she said in her translation of the Communist Manifesto, that a “…frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe. We are haunted by a ghost, the ghost of Communism”.
Dave began by pointing out that the latest issue of Hobgoblin has ‘Marx Reloaded’ as its caption. This is slightly referencing the Hollywood movie – ‘The Matrix’. One of the characters in ‘The Matrix’ says that the Matrix is everywhere and it is all around us. You see it when you go to work, when you watch TV, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes etc. This is a world that has been pulled over your eyes, in order to blind you to the truth. Capital is a bit like that, Dave says. But humans are not virtual entities of someone else’s imagination, but are flesh and blood, whose power to labour is extracted by capital and prevents us from being truly human. Only in capitalism is there a never-ending drive to produce ever more value (rather than real wealth), rather than satisfying human need. As Andrew Kliman points out in the latest issue of Hobgoblin, when referring to Raya Dunayevskaya’s writing on Marx’s Capital, this fetish of commodity production can only be properly understood in terms of its opposite: the aggregation of the law of value by freely associated labour, which makes the products of their work serve them rather than the other way around.
Dave also referred to the contents of the previous issue of Hobgoblin, which included an analysis of antiglobalisaton by Werner Bonefeld, a reprint of Raya Dunayevskaya’s essay on Gramsci and an article by Cyril Smith on Dunayevskaya. There was also an article by Peter McLaren and Valerie Scatamburlo-D’Annibale on the anti-war movement. Professor Peter McLaren is a good friend of Ruth and Glenn Rikowski. When they started the online version of Hobgoblin they were delighted to receive an article by Ruth, about globalising intellectual property rights, Dave said.
Dave points out the fact that in her book, Ruth offers us various explanations for TINA (the There is No Alternative philosophy), including religion, human nature and the death of communism. Dave points out that Ruth then goes on to focus on Marx and Postone in her book, and argues that services and intellectual property rights are being transformed into international tradable commodities, and that value that is being extracted from labour becomes embedded in these commodities. Furthermore, that the logic of capitalism is the commodification of all that surrounds us.
A leading European opinion former refers to Marx’s dream of freedom in a communist society, and refers to Marx and Engel’s famous quote in The German Ideology, where they say that:
"For as soon as the division of labour comes into being, each man has a particular, exclusive sphere of activity, which is forced upon him and from he cannot escape. He is a hunter, a fisherman, a shepherd, or a critical critic, and must remain so if he does not want to lose his means of livelihood; whereas in communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic." (Marx and Engels, 1846, p. 53)
This leading European opinion former says that this is exactly the same the way in which average opinion spontaneously understands freedom. So, we do just what we want to do, and do not do what we do not to do. He also says that Marxism can be related to liberation theology: that Marxism can be seen as a power by which the Christian doctrine of redemption could finally be transformed into a process of liberation, whereby, the Kingdom of God could be concretely realised as the true Kingdom of Man.
This European opinion former is Cardinal Joseph Ratsinger, who wrote this in the spring 1996 issue of Communal and is now Pope Benedict XVI. He also says that there has never been an absolute ideal state of things in history. Instead, there has been a false, liberated view of the future. But we can only strive to a best possible approximation, he argues. He says that the definitive order of freedom will never be realised and that whoever claims that it will is not telling the truth; though faith in progress is not false in every respect. What is false however is the liberated view of the future in which everything will be different and good. We can only erect relative orders, Cardinal Ratsinger says. We must strive for the best possible appropriation of what is truly right. Change is not a good thing in itself. Whether it is good or bad depends on the concrete contents and points of reference.
So, this is Pope Benedict’s XVI version of TINA. There is an Alternative – but it is not in this world. He says that there will never be an ideal state of things within our human history. However, he concedes that the political and economic collapse of Eastern Europe has not been matched by any real intellectual defeat.
Never-the-less, as Dave points out, as a good student of Marx and the Frankfurt school (which he is), Ratsinger should know that capital, as Ruth points out, is concerned with value, and not with good or bad: not with concrete contents but with abstract labour, and its only point of reference is itself. For as Postone points out, Marx said that capital is a self-moving substance, and a self-referencing entity with self-expanding value. In this way, Postone points out, it is like the Hegelian absolute and the development of thought; though, as Peter Hudis also points out (another Hobgoblin contributor), the idea of total philosophy does not necessarily express the capitalist value form. For just as alienation is a central theme of Hegel’s philosophy so also is the transcendence of that alienation, which for Marx means mediations of freely associated labour, whereby:
"From each according to his ability to each according to his needs!" (Marx, 1972, p. 17)
Dave concluded by saying that no doubt this debate will continue, and that Globalisation, Information and Libraries is a tremendous contribution to making these ideas concrete. He is also grateful to Ruth for explaining what happened to his local library in Haringey!
6. Linda Kaucher,
Research Student, London School of Economics
Linda has given a lot of talks about the GATS and, indeed, about the trade agenda in general, and has attended many important trade-related meetings. Ruth and Linda have discussed trade and gender issues together and have worked together on GATS issues, and given GATS talks. Ruth also pointed out that the feminist debate needs to be invigorated in some ways, and that everything was not solved in the 1970s.
Linda begins by saying that she was very glad to be there, to be able to support Ruth’s book launch. Furthermore, that they both have been keen to take up the free trade agenda. Linda says that Ruth’s book is important because it brings the trade agenda to the UK and to the developed world in general. Trade and development are usually put together in the same breath. Trade is seen to be ‘over there’. Mandelsson as the Commissioner for Trade in Europe, for example, only talks about trade and development. This might all sound nice and kind but this approach keeps trade off centre stage, Linda emphasised. This focus on trade and development runs across many areas such as the EU Services Directive and the Trade Justice Movement. Basically, civil society in general supports the view that trade is a development issue.
Trade is not something that the developing world are interested in, on the whole. MPs are not interested in it, there is no debate about it, and it is not in the media much, Linda says. It is a trick, to keep it as a development issue, and it is in the interest of big business to do this, but it is not just a development issue. This is why Ruth’s book is very important as it brings the trade agenda to the developed world, Linda says.
Linda is of the opinion that TRIPS is actually the anti-thesis of free trade, but that this is one of the quirks of the neo-liberal agenda, she says. (Ruth disagrees with her comment here though, and has made it very clear in her book that despite surface appearances, TRIPS is very much part of trade).
Linda was at the WTO in the last few days. She said that there were quite a few parliamentarians from the UK there and they wanted more information about the UK trade agenda and that Ruth’s book provides them with this information.
In regard to parliamentary scrutiny, there is a parliamentary committee that watches each department, but it is only the International Development Committee that looks at the trade agreements, Linda said. The Department of Trade and Industry does not focus on the international trade agenda. Thus, parliamentary scrutiny also keeps trade off the agenda in the developing world.
Linda says that on the BBC the night before the book launch universities and business were calling for support for innovative ideas, especially from Imperial College. It pointed out that no political party will look at technical innovation because it is considered protectionist and protectionism is considered to be a dirty word. Linda says that we need to question the notion that protectionism is a dirty word.
Linda says that Ruth’s book could be a definitive start on a questioning of the whole neo-liberal agenda. She concludes by saying that, perhaps with what has been happening at the WTO, these comments from the BBC and Ruth’s book – something will start to roll.
7. Professor Dave Hill,
Professor of Education Policy, School of Education, University College Northampton and Director of the Institute for Education Policy Studies
Introduction
Dave was a Borough and a County Councillor during the 1970s and 1980s and the Leader of East Sussex County Council Labour Group of Councillors from 1983-1987. He stood for Parliament for Labour in the 1979 and 1987 General Elections in Britain (when it had a socialist wing - before Labour was New Labour!). He was also an elected union representative in most of his jobs, and, for a time, Southern Regional Chair of the higher education section of NATFHE, the lecturers union. He co-founded the Hillcole Group of Radical Left Educators in 1989. Today, he is a Professor of Education Policy at University College Northampton, Director of the Institute for Education Policy Studies and Chief Editor for the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies
Dave began by saying that Ruth and Glenn Rikowski have had a real impact on him.
He said that he went deaf 15 years ago. Before that, he was a ‘streetfighter’, an agitator, a politician and a trade union organiser. Then he went deaf and so he decided to become an academic! Moreover, he has been moved on from most of his jobs because of his political and trade union activities.
Together with Mike Cole he set up the Hillcole Group of Radical Left Educators in 1989. The Hillcole Group used to meet at various venues- including, for a time, in Tony and Caroline Benn’s front room. They would discuss and collaboratively analyse and contest Conservative and New Labour education policy - and develop radical education policy proposals. The Hillcole Group published two books and thirteen booklets between 1989 and 2002.
Dave said that he has no grand illusions about what is in his head. He recognises that he benefits enormously from working with and discussing issues with others, and in that way he develops. Thus, in the Hillcole Group, the members all learnt from each other. It was a fantastic and stimulating and productive collaboration!
At the same time as setting up the Hillcole Group, Dave set up the Institute for Education Policy Studies (http://www.ieps.org.uk), and then, more recently, in 2003, the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (http://www.jceps.com) - valuable in particular in its international perspective- enabling Marxists and socialists to learn from developments and resistances worldwide.
During the time of the Hillcole Group and when Tony Green was teaching at the Institute of Education, University of London, in 1992, Dave found himself sitting next to Glenn Rikowski and Marxist theory was being discussed. Dave knows how to rabble rouse and organise and lead groups and actions, but he did not know much theory, other than at pamphlet level and through a lifetime of political activism and reading Marxist and other Left political leaflets, newspapers and magazines. And Glenn pushed him, in terms of Marxist analysis. Then, through Glenn, he met Ruth. He read Glenn’s work and then he read Ruth’s work. And all this made him think. And it affected his writing, his articles and his books. He subsequently, in 2003, became a Marxist Professor of Education- and there are not many of those around!
Thus, Glenn and Ruth pushed him. He has learnt a lot from them, particularly in regard to Marxist analysis of society and education, and they have also become good friends. After 11 years of study he got his PhD. It is not always a quick process, but sometimes it is more important to get involved in, to participate in, the agitation and current developments and campaigns, he said, `to get involved, to try to make a difference’. He was delighted when Glenn and Ruth were there to celebrate it his PhD with him, along with some other friends and comrades.
Dave then went on to pay testimony to what Ruth has done in the library and information profession, and said he has tried to do a similar job in the area of education. It is a direct parallel. He said that there is nothing brilliant in what he does. He just tries to do it, to do the best he can. Dave continued by saying that recently, Glenn passed up on opportunity to carry out a project for the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Dave has now been working on this area for the last six months and he has been looking at the impact of neo-liberalism on schools. Other writers for the same ILO project have looked at other areas, such as prisons, health and insurance services. So, Dave has been looking at the impact of neo-liberal policy on schools, school meals, school access etc. He said that working for the ILO has been very instructive, because, for their publications, you cannot use words like proletarianisation and Marxism and you cannot attack George Bush-since the USA is one of the funders of the ILO. His work for the ILO It has been heavily edited: for example it is not permitted to use some material that identifies some of the main people behind neo-liberalism.
His work for the ILO falls under three main categories. Firstly, it considers the impacts of neoliberalism on education workers. Secondly, the impact on access, particularly in regard to who gets frozen out by race and class. Thirdly, issues around democracy – who makes the main decisions in regard to schools? Is it the WTO, is it big business or is it local schools or is it local communities or what?
Dave concludes by highlighting the fact that there are gross and increasing inequalities in the world, both within countries and between countries, and that as Nico Hirrt has said, a third of the population are confined to a third rate skills training and that we have an increasingly casualised workforce.
Dave says that capitalism has a number of plans for education. These include:
a. Capitalism plan for education. This is about what capital want schools and colleges to produce – i.e. obedient, trained, non-thinking workers
b. Capitalist plan in education – this is about making money out of education
c. Capitalist plan for education corporations – this is about enabling private companies to privatise or sell services to schools and make profits from education in different countries
Dave sees the immense riches that the ruling class have and how the rich get richer, whilst the poor get poorer and are consigned to third rate health and education in a neo-liberal world.
He concludes by saying:
“This is why I fight. I do the best I can. And what I do has been influenced by the work of Glenn Rikowski and by the work of Ruth Rikowski.”
References
Dave Hill’s work for the ILO will appear as,
Dave Hill, (2005) Education Services Liberalization. In Ellen Rosskam (ed.) Winners or Losers? Liberalizing public services. Geneva: International Labour Organisation.
A forthcoming extended book will appear as
Hill, Dave (ed.) (2006) Globalisation/ Neoliberalism/ Education:Policies/ Impacts/ Resistance! Brighton: Institute for Education Policy Studies
Recent articles available online are:
Hill, Dave, (2004) Books, Banks and Bullets: Controlling our minds - the global project of Imperialistic and militaristic neo-liberalism and its effect on education policy. Policy Futures, 2, 3 (Theme: Marxist Futures in Education). http://www.triangle.co.uk/pfie/
Hill, Dave (2004) Educational perversion and global neo-liberalism: a Marxist critique Cultural Logic: an electronic journal of Marxist Theory and Practice. Online at http://eserver.org/clogic/2004/2004.html
Hill, Dave (2003) Global Neo-Liberalism, the Deformation of Education and Resistance, Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 1 (1) http://www.jceps.com/index.php?pageID=article&articleID=7
Two other recent articles are
Hill, Dave (2002) The Radical Left and Education Policy: Education for Economic and Social Justice, Education and Social Justice, 4 (3), (pp.41-51).
Hill, Dave (2001) State Theory and The Neo-Liberal Reconstruction of Schooling and Teacher Education: A Structuralist Neo-Marxist Critique of Postmodernist, Quasi-Postmodernist, and Culturalist Neo-Marxist Theory, The British Journal of Sociology of Education, 22, (1) pp.137-157.
8. George Bell, Programme Director of Management Programmes and Principal Lecturer in Human Resources Management, London South Bank University
Introduction
Prior to University lecturing George Bell was a Research Officer with the Fair Employment Commission Research, dealing with issues of religious and political discrimination. For 12 years he was a full time Trade Union official dealing with Public Sector Local Government and Civil Service negotiations. His current research interests include learning across cultures. He is also examining the expectations of both learners and lecturers on post graduate masters courses which recruit heavily from international markets.
George has been looking at how education can enhance students for themselves, rather than as a vehicle for enabling others. He says that there is a need to challenge more and in particular to challenge the existing paradigms. Often today it is also a question of relabelling older paradigms in a new economy, he says. George argues that we need to be constructive participants. He is teaching international management and looking, in particular, at transferring knowledge across a borderless world. George is trying to take some of Ruth’s ideas, and to place them, in particular, into the areas of international culture. Furthermore, he says that MBAs (Masters in Business Administration) in themselves are becoming commodities.
Having spoken to Ruth he now feels a depth of responsibility in particular in regard to the way in which students at university are taught. We need to challenge students and to develop a critical pedagogy, he argues. George then refers to the need for some corporate social responsibility and talks about the branding of corporate ethics.
George concludes by saying that Ruth has given them an opportunity and that they now need to take the debate forward. He thanks Ruth for helping them to refocus in the publication of her book.
9. Matti Kohonen, Doctoral student, London School of Economics and one of the Founding members of ATTAC, UK
Introduction
Matti Kohonen is a Doctoral student at LSE who is researching into social enterprises as a practice for citizenship and development in Ghana. Matti is one of the founding members of ATTAC UK. ATTAC has campaigned on a number of different issues, including tax financial transactions and the GATS. More recently he has been involved with the Tax Justice Network, which campaigns against the banking secrecy and tax evasion of multinationals.
Matti begins by saying that he has just got back from Ghana, where he has been undertaking some research there, working towards his PhD, which he is studying for at LSE. He is examining social enterprises – non-profit making entities. He said that there is an interesting difference in regard to libraries in Ghana and UK. In Ghana you cannot enter a library unless you can pay for it. That is, apart from the university library. But in the university library some of the pages in some of the books have been ripped out, because the students are poor and are so desperate to be able to take the information home with them. So, these are some of the problems that Ghana faces.
But in the university library some of the pages in some of the books have been ripped out, because the students are poor and are so desperate to be able to take the information home with them. So, these are some of the problems that Ghana faces.
Matti then asks – ‘Where does radical politics take place these days’? For him, the most interesting political debate recently did not take place in the UK elections or the USA elections, but instead in Porte Alegro at the World Social Forum (WSF). He was not able to go himself this time, but other members of ATTAC were there, he said. There were many different groups of people there, such as NGOs, academics, trade unionists, activists, people in the peace movement etc. He says that these people are thinking about the foremost issues that are happening today and that Ruth discusses some of these issues in her book.
He then says that, perhaps, because he is a bit young, he likes to consider what the alternatives are and to look ahead. We do not like the commodification of knowledge, but despite the GATS and TRIPS – what can be done? This interests him a lot, he says. He then offers some innovative, creative alternatives.
CopyLeft and the Creative Commons. With CopyLeft and the Creative Commons Institute the author reserves and lists certain rights that they want to protect and then they say that, apart from that, their work can be used and shared. Matti thinks that this is a significant movement. This was launched in the UK at the beginning of this year. An Oxford law department made sense of the Creative Commons for the UK law profession and now, it is part of the Creative Commons movement.
Free and Open Source Software Movement – this is involved with keeping the source code open, so that it can be improved, if you want to. It says – ‘please, do have a look at my software and make it better if you want to. But leave the source code open so that other improvements can also be made.’ So, you can have a peer-review of how the programme was made. This is knowledge creation in a non-commodified way, Matti says, or at least, it opens up the opportunity for it to be non-commodified. It allows for that possibility.
At the World Social Forum various issues arose. In particular, there were questions around what is the anti-globalisation movement’s methodology for creating social change, Matti said. In essence, they need to consider how to ‘walk the walk’. There have been disagreements in regard to this both at the WSF and the European Social Forum (ESF). The ESF took place in London last year. Basically, the problem was in regard to who is running the program. Designated leaders designed the programme. At Porte Alegro, for example, 19 intellectuals had hold of the program, although loads of others wanted to be involved in making decisions about the programme. Whilst at the ESF the Program Committee dominated. But creative stuff often happens in alternative and open space, Matti said, with free and open discussion. The person that books the room should not be the person deciding the agenda. So, there are many issues that the anti-globalisation movement needs to address, he says.
Matti then spoke about ATTAC - the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens. He was one of the founding members of ATTAC, UK, and Matti and Ruth met through ATTAC. ATTAC was a response to a perception within Europe that the market had taken over democracy. That market forces were dominating rather than elected politicians and elected governments. Then, there was the Asian financial crisis which wrecked 10 economies. Many people could not pay their mortgages and unemployment increased. This made people think. ATTAC then emerged from an editorial in the newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique, a French left newspaper. People in ATTAC wanted to disarm the market. They decided that one solution to this was to impose a tax on currency transactions, and they thought that, by that means, they could help to restore democracy, and give control back to elected governments. Then, ATTAC went on to take on other issues, such as the GATS. ATTAC was quite new in the UK in 2001/2002. Ruth became involved with ATTAC and then said –‘Let’s start a working group on GATS’. They all thought it was a good idea, and so that is what happened. Matti said that it was a good event, and it was held at LSE, where at the time he was studying for his batchelors degree, and now he is studying for his PhD there. He said that he is really glad that a lot of us are thinking about these issues, and thinks that the book will contribute in a great way.
Another project that interests Matti is the World Social Library that is being set up at the World Social Forum. The idea here is that people take a book along on a topic that is relevant to the issues that are being discussed, and that from this a ‘Library of Alternatives’ is developed. Also, the idea is to ensure that there are books in a variety of languages, including Latin American languages, and not just in English or French. Furthermore, the library wants to go online. The plan is to have a global scanning mechanism. So, there is now a need to get authors to give their consent, so that these books can be put online. Then, lots more people will be able to read the books and benefit. In the developing world ebooks are often more accessible than hard copy books. It is often more difficult to get access to a printing house than is to obtain a PC, which can just be recycled from London, Matti says. So, having a World Social ELibrary could really help the developing world.
Matti concludes by saying that he is glad that Ruth’s book is out and that he congratulates Ruth.
Afterword:
ATTAC GATS event at LSE – Ruth then spoke briefly about the ATTAC GATS events at LSE, that was held there in November 2002. There were about 70 people there altogether and it was a very successful event. There were various workshops and people looked at the implications of the GATS for a variety of different public service sectors, such as libraries, education, health, security and pensions. For more information about this event, see the ejournal Information for Social Change, (which Ruth is co-editor of), at http://www.libr.org/ISC/articles/17-Rikowski-3.html, Issue No. 17, Summer 2003.
10. Tom Lines, Consultant in Trade and Development
Tom started by saying that today, he had been at an election hustings for the Green Party – he left the Labour Party a long time ago. Or rather – it left him! He also said that he has known Dave Hill himself for a long time, as they were both in the Labour Party in Brighton at one time. But then they both went their separate ways.
However, he says that we are here today to celebrate Ruth’s book and her work. Tom explains how he and Ruth got to know each other a few years ago, when they were both concerned about the impact of the GATS on our public services, and that they had both worked together on the area. This was shortly after the World Development Movement began its campaign on the GATS (but it could only focus on the developing world) and the Green Party then took up the issue.
Then, Tom went to work at Oxfam and now he is an independent trade consultant and has been working on the area of trade and policy more broadly. He has been focusing, in particular, on commodity prices and export issues for poor countries. There is a lot of pressure on developing countries to open up their markets, which further impoverishes them.
Tom emphasised just how pervasive all these questions can be. At the hustings today, there was a question about education, for example. The Green Party is very concerned about protecting our public services. The question was about getting rid of junk food in schools. They could not get rid of junk food because of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Sometimes, under PFI, you cannot even have kitchens, Tom said, which would also make it impossible to provide nutritious meals. With a 25 year contract, they have to accept whatever food is offered, until the contract has expired.
Tom says that we are heading for a serious political crisis, with this 2-party system. We have a multi-party system but the electoral system and the media has not caught up with this. Sorry if he is getting a bit political, but as he has been heavily involved in campaigning, and this is what he has been talking about over the last few days, he said. But it is a very serious issue.
Tom emphasises how we are here to celebrate Ruth’s important contribution. The GATS operates in many different fields and there are many complexities. It is very important for people in their own public service sectors to consider the implications of the GATS for their own sectors, he says, and this is what Ruth has done for libraries. He ends by commending her book to everyone.
Afterword
Following on from Tom’s talk, Ruth, Glenn and Tom exchanged thoughts about how they were both involved in a very effective picket outside the Department of Trade and Industry on the GATS. An A5 leaflet was produced which explained what the GATS was, what it implied, and then asked people to write to their MPs about it. They handed it out to people outside the DTI in Victoria Street and civil Servants were walking along the street, reading the flyer.
(N.B. Tom, Ruth, Glenn and Linda Kaucher all spoke at a session entitled GATS: the global threat, that was held at Sussex University on 23rd May 2002)
11. Dr Glenn Rikowski
Senior Lecturer in Education Studies, School of Education, University College Northampton and author of The Battle in Seattle: its significance for education, 2001, Tufnell Press: London
Introduction
Ruth explained how she had been inspired by her partner Glenn Rikowski’s book The Battle in Seattle: its significance for education, and it was reading this that lead to her consider the implications of the GATS for libraries and information. And all this culminated in the writing of her book Globalisation, Information and Libraries.
Glenn said that in late November/December 1999 he suddenly found himself watching the news and seeing that amazing events were happening at the World Trade Organisation Ministerial meeting in Seattle. It was going out all over the airwaves and it was on various Internet sites etc. At the time, he did not know where Seattle was (he had to look on a map!), and he did not even know what the WTO was. But there were students, trade unionists, NGOs etc – people from 98 different countries were bringing the WTO Ministerial to a full-stop. Amazing! People were fighting back against the rule of capital and this was happening on an international basis. Trade unionists, NGOS and activists etc were getting together and in an innovative and creative way, Glenn said. There were, for example, giant puppets moving through the streets, but the police were using tear gas to try to control the demonstrators.
However, what did Seattle have to do with education, Glenn pondered? This question was important given the fact that he was working as an Education Researcher at the University of Birmingham. This was the other issue that he had to address. He also had to find out what the GATS was, and he looked at the actual agreement. He discovered that in 1994 we had signed away our primary, secondary and higher education services (and some aspects of further education, but not all of them) to the WTO and had committed ourselves to the GATS. But after Seattle a poll was undertaken and only 12% of the population had heard of the GATS. This was how little was known about the GATS. So, we were selling off our education services as international tradable commodities. At that time, China and some other countries had not joined the WTO, but now membership covers most of the globe.
What has this got to do with the commodification of everyday life, Glenn then asked? To answer this, he went back to Marx. He needed to understand about value and the commodity and how that related to education. Some people said at the time, that he should not be looking at Marx, Glenn said.
The first part of The Battle in Seattle is about the WTO and the GATS and the second half is a Marxist analysis of this – to try to understand what was going on. So, the final product, The Battle in Seattle, is a mixture of the personal, political, theoretical and a detailed analysis of events, Glenn said. It was also a very emotional period. His mother had just died. And Caroline Benn, who had been an important part of the Hillcole Group of radical left-educators that Dave Hill had been talking about earlier, had cancer. He wanted to complete the book before she died, but was not able to achieve that in the end. Caroline died in November 2000 and the book came out in the following March 2001. So, this was a personal and an emotional piece of writing for Glenn. Caroline Benn read Glenn’s book on her death bed and wrote the following about his book (she was working right up until the end):
"It’s a wonderful outline of the new anti-capitalist activity…It pulls together all aspects of changes to all levels of education, as it is drawn into the profit business – and ever further away from wider concepts of education."
After this, he got involved in a lot of activist stuff. This included picketing outside the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) with Ruth and Tom, and giving speeches at various universities and trade unions etc. This lasted for about 2 years, and Ruth was also involved with all these activities.
Ruth then looked at the implications of the GATS for libraries, and then went TRIPS – he has not looked at TRIPS at all. He then spoke about the importance of freedom of information, publicly funded library services and freedom of thought and expression. He said that being part of an educated society is being able to have access to libraries and information. It is a fundamental part of becoming an educated person.
Glenn this poses the question – ‘What does all this say for an alternative way of life’? Companies making profit out of services. What does this tell us about society? Do we want to live in a society where companies run schools and libraries for profit? Are we happy to live in such a society, or do we want something much better than that? Do we want to say that our aspirations are much higher than that and that we want an alternative form of society?
He ends on a semi-autobigraphical note. “I am in Haralambos!”, he says. What is Haralambos, you might well ask. It is the Bible for A’ Level Sociology students. In the 6th edition there is a summary of The Battle in Seattle. Glenn’s work. So, as Glenn emphasised, what is certain is that A’ level Sociology students will be reading something about what happened in Seattle in late 1999. He concludes by saying that, may be, this will help students to start to think of alternative ways of living and to some kind of realm of human freedom.
Glenn Rikowski – author and co-editor of the following books:
‘Silence on the Wolves: what is absent in New Labour’s five year strategy for education, by Glenn Rikowski, University of Brighton, Education Research Centre Occasional Paper May 2005
‘Marxism against postmodernism in educational theory’, edited by Dave Hill, Peter McLaren, Mike Cole and Glenn Rikowski, Lexington Books: Maryland, USA, 2002
‘The Battle in Seattle: its significance for education’ by Glenn Rikowski, Tufnell Press: London, 2001
‘Red Chalk: on schooling, capitalism and politics’, edited by Mike Cole, Dave Hill, Glenn Rikowski, in discussion with Peter McLaren, The Institute for Education Policy Studies: Brighton, 2001
‘Postmodernism in Educational Theory: education and the politics of human resistance’, edited by Dave Hill, Peter McLaren, Mike Cole and Glenn Rikowski, Tufnell Press: London, 1999
For further information about Glenn Rikowski’s other publications, see the ‘Publications’ section of this website - http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub
For further biographical details about Glenn Rikowski, see the ‘About Us’ section of this website- http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=about&sub=Glenn%20Rikowski
MUSIC
There was music by Victor Rikowski (guitar and singing) and Alexander Rikowski (singing). Les Levidow also played the violin.
Victor composed a song especially for the launch which he entitled Life of a Genius, which he said was because his mother, Ruth, was a genius!! (laughter all round)
Victor also sang ‘Parallel Universe’ by Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Alex and Victor sang ‘Polly’ by Nirvana
An abridged version of this report of Ruth Rikowski’s Book Launch is available on the ‘Performances’ section of this website, under ‘Ruth Book Launch’ – see http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=perform&sub=Ruth%20Book%20Launch
There is also a report in Managing Information, which focuses on Professor Deian Hopkin’s introduction and Ruth Rikowski’s talk. It is entitled, A report of the recent launch of Ruth Rikowski's book: Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the World Trade Organisation's GATS and TRIPS Agreements. This is in Managing Information, July 2005, Vol. 12, No. 5, pp. 15-16
Ruth Rikowski:
Author of Globalisation, Information and Libraries: the implications of the
World Trade Organisation’s GATS and TRIPS agreements
Visiting Lecturer, London South Bank University and
University of Greenwich
Commissioning Editor for Chandos Publishers
Co-Editor of Information for Social Change
On Editorial Board of Relay, the Journal of the University, College and Research Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)
This document was compiled in May 2005 from information obtained from the DVD of the book launch that Martha Spiess from the State made
See also New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's book - Parts 1 and 2 in the Articles section of this website
New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's book - 'Globalisation, Information and Libraries', Part 1
New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's book - 'Globalisation, Information and Libraries', Part 2
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