The term "free culture" reminds me too much of "free speech<http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20100419121217658>", "free markets", "free trade", etc. Is there a word other than 'free' which encompasses more than just "anyone should be totally free to do whatever they want with any piece of culture"? Although in some contexts, like "free association<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_association_%28communism_and_anarchism%29>" (not to be confused with freedom of association<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_association>), "free" is not a neoliberal concept, I think it is in the way that we use it.
Of course, the state shouldn't have the power to employ broad censorship, nor should ideas be treated as private property, but there are more nuanced considerations of power that also need to be taken into account. Cultural misappropriation and racism, for one. I'm trying to consider the way that "anarchism" means "without rulers", not "without order/organization<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomie>". I want something that could potentially mean "without state or property regulation", not "without any social consideration for cultural appropriation". I don't want a free culture movement that is ignorant, agnostic to, or endorsing of the systemic inequalities that already exist by ignoring the histories and systems which privilege certain identity groups with access to participation in media independent of a singular axis of hierarchy (intellectual property). The assumption that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law or should be considered equal in the eyes of the law is naive and perpetuates oppression through more subtle means. Perhaps the term "free culture" can apply to the copyright/IP status of works themselves, but I don't know how I feel about it applying to the movement overall. Not that I think we should try to immediately get rid of a term that has a lot of momentum behind it-- I would just appreciate an alternative way to talk about it. -- Board of Directors, Students for Free Culture: www.freeculture.org Blog: http://thesilentnumber.me - StatusNet Microblog: http://identi.ca/kxra Email: [email protected] - SMS: +1.617.340.3661 Jabber/XMPP: [email protected] - IRC: kxra @freenode @oftc @indymedia
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