Paul Otlet, An Omissum
This text is available for comments and reuse on: https://gitlab.constantvzw.org/diversions/paul-otlet-an-omissum
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NOTES
html version
https://diversions.constantvzw.org/paul-otlet-an-omissum.html
Left to do:
- print the actual insertion and publish PDF [FS]
- https://gitlab.constantvzw.org/diversions/paul-otlet-an-omissum > https://diversions.constantvzw.org/paul-otlet-an-omissum.html (+ some minimum css MM)
- email the people involved
Other possible locations:
https://www.mondotheque.be/wiki/ [MM] + paper [FS] publication -> FS printing 07/04
https://www.mondotheque.be/wiki/index.php?title=L%E2%80%99Afrique_aux_%E2%80%B9noirs%E2%80%BA [FS]
https://www.algolit.net/index.php/Data_Workers [AM] + paper publication [FS]
https://monoskop.org/Paul_Otlet (and/or add reference to Omissions + Validations!) [CC] DONE
https://www.valiz.nl/en/publications/lost-and-living-in-archives.html [FS] not sure how to do it, thinking about it.
http://efele.net/ebooks/livres/000399/index.html [AM]
http://www.wordsinspace.net/data_archive/fall2018/portfolio/october-9-intellectual-furnishings-containers/ - would it be an idea to contact Shannon to inform her of the Omissum? Yes! [CC]
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58828/58828-h/58828-h.htm Gutenberg's edition of L'Afrique aux Noirs [AM]
Algolit + Mondotheque mailing list [CC]
Together:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet + translations. -> add 'controversy'. Even if it does not stick! DONE
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1868
Subject: Update on Omissum
Dear Algolit & Mondotheque,
Over the last months we finalized the 'omissum' that we promised to write. The HTML-version is published here: https://diversions.constantvzw.org/paul-otlet-an-omissum.html
The source of the page is hosted on Constant's Gitlab: https://gitlab.constantvzw.org/diversions/paul-otlet-an-omissum
You are welcome to contribute/propose changes using the issue function: https://gitlab.constantvzw.org/diversions/paul-otlet-an-omissum/issues
Today we also inserted a paragraph into the Wikipedia page on Otlet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet
Even if the changes might be reverted over the coming days, you can see our attempt here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Otlet&type=revision&diff=950711784&oldid=949099522
If you know of any places that could make use of the Omissum, do not hesitate to link to the HTML page.
It is now on the Algolit website ( https://www.algolit.net/index.php/Data_Workers ), on the Mondotheque index page and there is a reference to Elodie Mugrefya's text Celebration and Omission on the Monoskop page for Paul Otlet ( https://monoskop.org/Paul_Otlet ).
We also made a physical printout for inclusion in physical copies of publications.
Thank you to Elodie Mugrefya and Julie Boschat Thorez, as well as everyone who joined the conversation for their generous contributions.
Martino, An, Cristina, Femke
Dusan [CC]
Mondotheque list [FS]
Algolit list [AM]
Marcell + Tomi [FS]
Michel Cleempoel [AM]
- - Translation to NL, FR, EN
- - Insert into wikipedia
Meeting 06. 04. 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet
Wikipedia Challenge!
Possible paragraphs to add
Where? Analysis of Otlet's Theories?
Final version
Political Views and Involvement
Otlet was a firm believer in international cooperation to promote both the spread of knowledge and peace between nations. A self-identified liberal, [[Universalism|universalist]] and pacifist, his endeavor to catalog and classify is an expression of the commitment to the [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] project to structure knowledge according to universal categories and taxonomies, of which the [[Universal Decimal Classification]] is an example.<ref name="Omission and validation"> {{cite document |last1=Mugrefya |first1=Elodie |title=Omission and validation |date=2019 |publisher=Constant |location=Brussels }}</ref> The Union of International Associations, which he had founded in 1907 with Henri La Fontaine, later participated to the development of both the [[League of Nations]] and the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, which was later merged into [[UNESCO]].
At several occasions, Otlet published racist statements dressed up as scientific facts, starting at the beginning of his career with "L'Afrique Aux Noirs" (1888)<ref name="‘L’Afrique Aux Noirs">{{cite book |last1=Otlet |first1=Paul |title=L’Afrique Aux Noirs |date=1888 |publisher=Ferdinand Larcier |location=Brussels |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58828/58828-h/58828-h.htm |accessdate=}}</ref> where he argued that white people or 'westernized' blacks were to be tasked with [[Civilizing mission|'civilising']] Africa. Similarly, in "Monde" (1935) <ref name="‘Monde">{{cite document |last1=Otlet |first1=Paul |title=Monde|date=1888 |publisher=Editions Mundaneum |location=Brussels |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Fichier:Otlet_-_Monde_-_1935.djvu |accessdate=6 April 2020}}</ref>, near the end of his life, he claimed the biological superiority of white people. His interest in advancing ‘The African Issue’ was fuelled by a firm conviction of the superiority of European culture and intelligence which fitted the [[Enlightenment]] project that he was dedicated to.<ref name="omissum">{{cite document |last1=Constant |first1 |last1 |title=Paul Otlet, an Omissum |date=2020 |publisher=Constant |location=Brussels |url=https://diversions.constantvzw.org/paul-otlet-an-omissum.html |accessdate=}}</ref> Otlet’s organisational support to the 1921 [[Pan-African Congress]] at the Palais Mondial (later: [[Mundaneum]]) therefore needs to be considered in connection with the racist statements that he published both before and after the event.
In 1933, Otlet proposed building in Belgium near Antwerp a "gigantic neutral World City" to employ a massive number of workers, in order to alleviate the unemployment generated by the Great Depression.<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744944-1,00.html Work for All the World], ''[[TIME Magazine]]'', 23 January 1933</ref>
First version
Otlet was a firm believer in international cooperation to promote both the spread of knowledge and peace between nations.
A self-identified liberal, universalist and pacifist, his endeavor to catalog and classify is an expression of the commitment to the [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] project to structure knowledge according to universal categories and taxonomies, of which the [[Universal Decimal Classification]] is an example.<ref>Elodie Mugrefya ‘Omission and validation’</ref> The Union of International Associations, which he had founded in 1907 with Henri La Fontaine, later participated to the development of both the League of Nations and the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, which was later merged into UNESCO.
Throughout his career, Paul Otlet has made explicit racist statements. In ‘L’Afrique Aux Noirs’ (1888) for example, he describes the ‘barbarism in Africa’.
<ref name="‘L’Afrique Aux Noirs">{{cite book |last1=Otlet |first1=Paul |title=L’Afrique Aux Noirs |date=1888 |publisher=Ferdinand Larcier |location=Brussels |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58828/58828-h/58828-h.htm |accessdate=6 April 2020}}</ref> In Monde (1935) Otlet refers to the supposed inferior size of the ‘negro skull’<ref></ref>. His interest in advancing ‘The African Issue’ was fuelled by a firm conviction of the superiority of European culture and intelligence which fitted the [[Enlightenment]] project that he was dedicated to.
<ref name="omissum">{{cite document |last1=Constant |first1 |last1 |title=Paul Otlet, an Omissum |date=2020 |publisher=Constant |location=Brussels |url=https://diversions.constantvzw.org/paul-otlet-an-omissum.html |accessdate=}}</ref> Otlet’s organisational support to the 1921 [[Pan-African Congress]] at the Palais Mondial (later: [[Mundaneum]]) therefore needs to be considered in connection with the racist statements that he published both before and after the event.
In 1933, Otlet proposed building in Belgium near Antwerp a "gigantic neutral World City" to employ a massive number of workers, in order to alleviate the unemployment generated by the Great Depression.[9]
Comment on the Talk page of Paul Otlet's Wikipedia article
Hello!
I just [[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Otlet&diff=950711784&oldid=949099522&diffmode=source|updated the paragraph]] Political views and involvement, because in conversation with a few colleagues that have been working on his legacy, we felt a more critical reading of Otlet's political views was overdue. I tried to formulate as precisely as possible but since I am not a regular Wikipedian editor I might have made a few mistakes. Please let me know and I will correct as soon as possible.
Meeting II: 14 February 14:00-18:00 Constant Rue du Fort
Meeting I: 10 December 14:00 @ Hacktiris Constant
Notes from discussion @ DiVersions, 25/10/2019: https://pad.constantvzw.org/p/omission
"Omissum is a term we invented for what we felt needed to happen in response to the omission in our work with/around Otlet (Mondotheque, Algolit and many other projects): we have been silent so far about how racism is part of it. I proposed 'erratum', but then we realised we needed a way to talk about what was missed out on, rather than terms that would suggest mistake and more importantly, correction. Hence: 'Omissum'!"
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58828
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58828/58828-h/58828-h.htm
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1868
Places to possibly annotate/intervene:
https://www.mondotheque.be/wiki/ + paper publication
https://www.mondotheque.be/wiki/index.php?title=L%E2%80%99Afrique_aux_%E2%80%B9noirs%E2%80%BA
https://www.algolit.net/index.php/Data_Workers + paper publication
https://monoskop.org/Paul_Otlet (and/or add reference to Omissions + Validations!)
https://www.valiz.nl/en/publications/lost-and-living-in-archives.html
http://efele.net/ebooks/livres/000399/index.html
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Paul_Otlet (we thought Monde was there?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58828/58828-h/58828-h.htm
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1868
'In 1921 Otlet wrote to W. E. B. Du Bois offering the use of the Palais Mondial for the 2nd Pan-African Congress. Although both Otlet and Fontaine offered a warm welcome to the Congress, these sentiments were not shared across all of Belgian society. The Brussels based paper Neptune stated that the organisers – particularly the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People were funded by the Bolsheviks and raised concern that it might lead to difficulties in the Belgian Congo by drawing together "all the ne’er-do-wells of the various tribes of the Colony, aside from some hundreds of labourers.”'
From Wikipedia, W. Boyd Rayward "Visions of Xanadu: Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Hypertext." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 4(4):235-250. May 1994
https://thecharnelhouse.org/2017/03/19/race-and-the-enlightenment/
From Alexia de Visscher:
What shape can take this omitted object, in comparaison of an addendum or an erratum?
As some of you probably remember, there was an omitted page in the Traité de Documentation which Otlet added at the end of the book as an "ERRATA (Page omise)”
Also I browsed the same book and I found 9 results of the word “omission” used in different contexts of book making. Otlet always associates the word to the notion of copy. He describes (and classifies) the different kind of omissions found in the process of copying: wrong translations, wrong spelling, wrong retranscription, wrong collation….
In this way, could we consider that in our matter, we were copying as a “replica” Otlet’s ideas omitting one part of his work and though? (In French “réplique” means reproduction (quote) and also means a riposte)
Like this, would copying parts (or the entirety) of L’Afrique aux noirs and annotate abstracts, be an option to talk about omission(s)? Copy to not omit?
Thinking also of "This Page Intentionally Left Blank"...
In Latin: omitto, omittis, omittere C, omisi, omissum ( https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omissus#Latin )
10.12.2019
https://www.mondotheque.be/wiki/index.php?title=Errata
The objective was missing!
The study of European canons such as Otlet or Kant, in the European context, functions by means of celebrations and omissions, revealing on the one hand the privilege of those who can afford to ignore hateful ideas, and on the other hand, the violence that acts on those who simply cannot close their eyes."
-------------------------------
Paul Otlet (23 August 1868 – 10 December 1944)
https://sci-hub.se/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24328489
Group portrait of delegates to the second Pan African Congress in Belgium. Caption: 2nd Pan-African Congress, 1921, Bruxelles.
https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-i0438
Session in the Palais Mondial (Mundaneum), Brussels, 1921
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Deuxi%C3%A8me_Congr%C3%A8s_Panafricain%2C_au_Palais_Mondial%2C_%C3%A0_Bruxelles_en_septembre_1921_01.jpg/2560px-Deuxi%C3%A8me_Congr%C3%A8s_Panafricain%2C_au_Palais_Mondial%2C_%C3%A0_Bruxelles_en_septembre_1921_01.jpg
More pictures
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pan-African_Congress
The Otolith group's essay-film on the Pan African Congress: In The Year of The Quiet Sun
http://otolithgroup.org/index.php?m=project&id=169
http://chimurengachronic.co.za/pan-african-philately/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acrVpgnjEYs
Kwame Nkrumah (21 September 1912. – 27 April 1972) - Africa Must Unite
http://chateaunews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Africa-Must-Unite-Kwame-Nkrumah.pdf
"The vast country of the Congo, about 77 times the size of Belgium, was between 1876 and 1908 the exclusive property of one man, King Leopold II of Belgium. He became one of the richest men in the world by mercilessly exploiting the country. African workers were mutilated or shot if they failed to bring in the required am ount of rubber or ivory, the two chief objects of value in the Congo at that time. A reliable source has put the cost of lives of Leopold’s regime at between five and eight million. In 1908, as a result of a Commission of Enquiry set up to investigate atrocities, the Congo Free State became a colony under the THE COLONIAL IMPRINT 13 Belgian Government. A Governor-General was appointed, responsible to the Belgian Parliament, bu the had no Legislative Council or Assembly to check his power, and no Congolese sat in the Brussels Parliament. Nobody in the Congo, white or black, could vote, and the Congolese had few, if any, civil rights. The essence of the Belgian colonial system, as later developed, was to buy off any discontent by giving a certain am ount of economic opportunity. Belgian district commissioners ruled their various localities in the same authoritarian manner as the Governor-General in Leopoldville. The Roman Catholic church and big business were the other, no less, powerful rulers of the Congo. The Belgian Government, in fact, shared considerably in the investment holdings of the interlocking combines which monopolized the Congo’s economy, often to the extent of as much as fifty percent. The belated attempts of the Belgians to prevent mounting national feeling in the Congo from expressing itself in violence, by holding carefully controlled and limited municipal elections, failed. The Congo became independent in June 1960, and tragic subsequent events showed th at the Belgians never intended that Congolese independence should, in fact, become effective. There were practically no experienced Congolese politicians or civil servants, and no African officers in the force publique. The persistent interference of Belgian big business interests in Congolese politics has further complicated an extremely difficult situation."
Suggestions of Paul Otlet regarding the Pan African Congress
https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/pageturn/mums312-b019-i033/#page/1/mode/1up
Response of Du Bois
https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/pageturn/mums312-b019-i035/#page/1/mode/1up
Final proposals: an international organization that will collaborate with the Palais Mondial, coordinating the Pan-African section
https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/pageturn/mums312-b019-i041
Specifics and description of such an organization..
https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/pageturn/mums312-b015-i029
W.E.B. Du Bois' report of the Pan African Congress in Brussels
https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/pageturn/mums312-b018-i242/#page/1/mode/1up
La couleur n'est rien, la civilisation est tout.
https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/pageturn/mums312-b015-i002
Newspaper clipping ( still confirming that Belgium 'spontaneously took on the civilization of blacks in Congo' )
https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/pageturn/mums312-b018-i162