May Day

30 Oct 2021 02:15 - 17 Nov 2022 10:21
Open in Logseq
    • The most recent labor controversy in tech arose from a decree from the managers of Basecamp (a small but highly visible company whose founders are also writers of various manifestos on how work should be organized) that political discussion was to be banned in the workplace. This did not go over well; about a third of the company quit in response.
    • Opinions in my circles seem highly polarized; some people think it was obviously a good idea because political discussion can be toxic and interfere with productivity; others are equally convinced that work is part of life and can't be separated from the political and any effort to do so is an exertion of privilege (because ignoring politics is only an option for the privileged). I had both reactions! But it's about 80% for the latter and 20% for the former. I spend a lot of time defending the political (see antipolitics) but I'd also rather spend time thinking about technical problems than attend diversity training sessions. If it's not obvious, a lot of my arguments for the primacy of politics is an attempt to convince myself.
    • IOW: I believe strongly that the technological and the political are inseparable, and that it is important for the laboring part of technology (developers) to take back some power from the capitalists who rule us. This incident is obviously a part of that ongoing struggle. However, it's also a painful and boring process and the sort of messy human thing that most of us got into computers to avoid. Too bad!