Cory Doctorow has posted his slightly-odd ‘impressionistic transcript’ of Bruce Sterling’s talk at SXSW. It’s a little difficult to absorb, but worth reading for its random wisdom:
There’s a spinning wheel on the
Indian flag — Ghandi’s wheel, with which he made his own clothes
to frustrate multinational English clothes corporations. Not only
was he relentlessly against offshoring, but in order to effect
change, he spun his own fibres. Always! He was always making his
own clothes with his own hands all the damn time: he made that
simple cruddy loincloth with his own hands.
I’ve always wanted to go to this festival/conference, but have never actually gotten around to doing it. Next year, I think I’ll go. Is it always in Austin? I suppose I could do worse in terms of an American city.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
The spinning wheel is called a charkha, an ingenious but peculiar looking device.
The British Raj would do spotchecks on homes looking for the more traditional spinning wheels, and haul off the occupations for daring to earn an independent income. Enter Ghandi with his clever little spinning wheel that the British never looked twice at.
http://www.urbanspinner.com/charkha/