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www.geocities.com/odysseygroup2006/ljubljana. Big Pharma, international labour, social movements and the internet: coordination and critical perspectives on international business Stephen Little Open University Business School, UK Margaret Grieco,
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www.geocities.com/odysseygroup2006/ljubljana Big Pharma, international labour, social movements and the internet: coordination and critical perspectives on international business Stephen Little Open University Business School, UK Margaret Grieco, Napier University, UK and Cornell University, USA
The new political space - ICTs and the globalising of labour and social movements • Global business imperatives for web infrastructure • Interaction with globalized client base • Distributed Global IT = Open IT • Accessibility at household and individual level • Collective development of existing public communicative skills, • http://www.angelfire.com/co3/NCFS/campaign.html • http://www.actupny.org/ • Internet as the ground for the globalised coordination of labour • http://www.labournet.de/branchen/auto/vw/mx/index.html • http://www.icem.org/?id=4&doc=808 • Internet as open source communication home for social, political and labour movements • mirrors open source software movement
The new political space - ICTs and the globalising of labour and social movements • Social shadowing • The remote monitor the central • Global discourse repositions local discourses • http://www.healthgap.org/ • www.treat-your-workers.org • Social movements plus labour movement • http://www.autocluster.co.za/id214.htm • http://www.tac.org.za/ • http://squat.net/cia/gp/docs/fighting_pharma.rtf • Diffusion of skill creates reverse panopticon
Social shadowing of Big Pharma • Effectiveness of coordinated political pressure • http://www.global-campaign.org/bigpharma.htm • http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0903-11.htm • Key concessions from global operators • http://www.speakout.org.za/medical/main.html • http://in.news.yahoo.com/031210/137/2aae0.html • Big Pharma Response: • Self Exposure online • GSK Employee Guide to Business Conduct • http://www.gsk.com/about/corp-gov/Employee-Guide-2004.pdf • Co-optation • Overt and covert engagement within patient led campaigns • http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1742168,00.html
Conclusion:the new structure of global challenges • Contradictions of connectivity • Transparency and ease of information access • Suppression of information replaced by tapping of information flows • ICT and social movements brings new pedagogy of the oppressed • Key challenge for the labour movement • Relay and support for the messages of the vulnerable and oppressed in the area of health and beyond • Alignment with grass-roots responses