Radical media, politics and culture.
January 24, 2003 - 12:17pm -- Uncle Fluffy
Analysis & Polemic
In the Streets

hydrarchist writes:

This essay was first presented at the Dark Markets conference at Public Netbase in October 2002. You can watch the full presentation on video in real player here.


"The Dark Side of the Multitude"

Arianna Bove & Erik Empson


New Left politics began to see capital itself as
the subject of history, we only react to capital as an alien power and construe
the political defensively, organisation amounts to havens and enclaves of
resistance against this totalisation - this is a fundamentally negative
conception of politics which takes place through the adoption of the existing
paradigms of Power. Hence in addressing our needs and desires the reaction
is: we need more democracy, more rights, more freedoms, more juridical/
legalistic defences against the corporate face of this Subject who sticks
his nose into an otherwise uncomplicated terrain of liberal freedoms.



In this view of capital as Leviathan
resistance is limitation, the preservation of the public or its reconstitution.
Within this framework and within the institutions of the public some powerful
struggles of re-appropriation do take place. Yet these spaces are no longer
the real basis of power; they allow for only a symbolic resistance. Clearly
this is what has become of the street (but the same goes for parliament
or the mediatic figurehead of a state). The general dissatisfaction with
this situation pushes for a re-territorialisation of the 'public' from the
real to the virtual.

January 24, 2003 - 9:42am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

Diane Ludin writes "Hello,
Just got this from Cyber Society List and thought to post it as
Wolfgang Staehle is one of the artists in the show. Diane

[Hi all, here is Paul Virilio's foreword from his "Unknown Quantity"
exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain. It is available on the Net at the Fondation Cartier site. John.]

================================================== ====

Foreword

by Paul Virilio

"Contemporary civilization differs in one particularly distinctive feature
from those which preceded it: speed. The change has come about within a
generation," noted the historian Marc Bloch, writing in the
nineteen-thirties. This situation brings in its wake a second feature: the
accident. The progressive spread of catastrophic events do not just affect
current reality, but produce anxiety and anguish for coming generations.

January 24, 2003 - 8:29am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

Brian Holmes writes:
"[There follows the lecture I gave at the expo "Geography - and the
Politics of Mobility" in Vienna. It revists the gift economy debates,
via Karl Polanyi, with some new ideas thanks to the talks at the
WorldInfoCon, all in the hope of understanding networked
mobilizations. Plenty of things for nettimers to disagree with
anyway! -- BH.]"

"The Revenge of the Concept:

Artistic Exchanges and Networked Resistance"

Brian Holmes

Since June 18, 1999, I have been involved in a networked resistance
to the globalization of capital. This resistance has been
inextricably connected to art. It has taken me from London to Prague,
from Quebec City to Genoa and Florence. It has given me an interest
in experimental uses of advanced technology, like the Makrolab
project. It has pushed me to explore new organizational forms, like
the research network developed by Multiplicity. It has encouraged me
to support cross-border solidarity movements, like Kein Mensch ist
illegal. And it has resulted in collaborations with Bureau d'Ètudes,
in their attempts to map out the objective structures of contemporary
capitalism. But the experience of the movement of movements has also
led me to ask a subjective question. What are the sources of this
networked resistance? And what exactly is being resisted? Is
revolution really the only option? Or are we not becoming what we
believe we are resisting? Are the "multitudes" the very essence and
driving force of capitalist globalization, as some theorists believe?

January 22, 2003 - 8:03pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
In the Streets

hydrarchist writes: This essay was published recently in the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest.


"Absurd Responses vs. Earnest Politics:

Global Justice vs. Anti-War Movements; Guerrilla Theater and
Aesthetic Solutions"

by Ben Shepard


“Start the bombing now!!!!!” “Start the bombing
now!!!! “Two four six eight, we are people who hate, hate,
hate!!!!” A cacophonous block of church ladies in drag
calling themselves ‘Perms for Perma-War” screamed
with the formally earnest crowds throughout the anti-war march
in Washington DC on October 27th. What was going on? Different
people had different explanations. But for most involved, the
feeling was the world was witnessing an absurd situation – a “war on terrorism” a sitting vice president predicted
could last 50 years – which required an absurd response.
1984 slogans, “war is peace” and “freedom
is slavery,” had skipped from civics lessons to the front
and center of a national political consciousness. The notion
that ‘ignorance is strength’ had ceased to be seen
as a cautionary tale but was now considered an asset. “When
I was coming up, it was a dangerous world, and you knew exactly
who they were… it was us vs. them and it was clear who
them was,” the future president explained on the campaign
trail back in 2000, continuing, “Today, we are not sure
who they are, but we know they are there.”

January 22, 2003 - 10:32am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
The State

hydrarchist writes:

"Revolutionary Action: Until Now"

A Discussion with Michel Foucault

Under the auspices of Actuel


MICHEL FOUCAULT: What is the most intolerable form of repression for those of you currently enrolled in a lycee [high school]:
family authority, the impact of the police on ordinary life, the
organization and discipline imposed by the lycee, or the passive role
encouraged by the press (and this may include a journal like Actuel)?

January 22, 2003 - 5:33am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

Anonymous Comrade writes:

The Vertigo of Philosophy:

Deleuze and the Problem of Immanence

Christian Kerslake

One of the few terminological constants in Deleuze's philosophical work is the word "immanence" and it has therefore become a foothold for those wishing to understand exactly what 'Deleuzian philosophy' is. That this ancient and well-travelled notion is held to have been given new life and meaning by a Deleuzian approach is evidenced in much recent secondary literature on Deleuze, and, significantly, in one central theoretical section of Hardt and Negri's Empire, which takes up the theme of 'the plane of immanence'. Yet on closer inspection it becomes clear that what is at stake in Deleuze's contribution to the history of this term is actually quite elusive. I will claim here that 'immanence', despite appearing to connote philosophical transparency, is in fact a problem for Deleuze; indeed perhaps it is the problem inspiring his work. Not for nothing does Deleuze suggest that 'immanence is the very vertigo of philosophy.'

January 16, 2003 - 11:17am -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
News

Louis Lingg writes "The London Times published the following polemic by John le Carre:

"The United States of America has gone mad."

America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War.

January 13, 2003 - 3:12pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
News

hydrarchist writes:


"World Forum Movement: Abandon or Contaminate?"


Linden Farrer


November 2002 saw 60,000 activists from all over Europe converge on Florence for the European Social Forum (ESF) at the same time as the neoliberal elite met at the TABD in Chicago (1).


In opposition to neo-liberalism that sees increasing inequality of wealth, environmental destruction, rolling-back of
'civil liberties' and a perpetuation of wars of aggression as central to its
operation, the ESF promised to be a meeting space for 'in-depth reflection,
democratic debate, free exchange of experience and planning of effective
action among movements of civil society engaged in building a planetary
society centred on the human being'(2).

January 12, 2003 - 7:58pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Culture

hydrarchist writes:


"Rick Prelinger is a tireless agitator against copyright laws, and is responsible for the placing on line of a huge volume of public domain films that others can appropriate for their own ends. This essay is his contribution to The Anti-Capitalism Reader, edited by Joel Schalit."


"Yes, Information Wants To Be Free, but How's That Going To Happen?:

Strategies for Freeing Intellectual Property"

Rick Prelinger


Why Worry About IP While Chaos Rules?


As I write in late February 2002, the United States has declared itself to be in a state of war. But even as our government asserts anti-terrorism as its first priority, corporations hustle to make the world safe for business. The courts are clogged with intellectual property lawsuits. Lawyers are busy churning out cease-and-desist letters to alleged copyright infringers. Entertainment conglomerates are consolidating their control over the fibers, cables and switches on which programming is distributed. Hackers are equated with terrorists and are forced to defend their ability to explore, reengineer and retool hardware and software. Content and advertising continue to combine into a tediously promotional happy meal. The limits of permissible speech in the mass media tighten every day. Not a quiet time, not a happy time, and under wartime cover decisions are now being made that will affect all our futures as producers and consumers of information, culture, and the arts.

January 12, 2003 - 7:54pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Theory

hydrarchist writes:


"Intellectuals and Power"

A Conversation between Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze

MICHEL FOUCAULT: A Maoist once said to me: "I can easily
understand Sartre's purpose in siding with us; I can understand
his goals and his involvement in politics; I can partially under-
stand your position, since you've always been concerned with
the problem of confinement. But Deleuze is an enigma." I was
shocked by this statement because your position has always
seemed particularly clear to me.

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