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15. Networked social movements: globalmovements for global justiceJeffrey S. JurisFacilitated by the greater speed, adaptability, and flexibility afforded by newinformation technologies, decentralized network forms are out-competing moretraditional vertical hierarchies. Nowhere has this trend been more apparent thanwithin the realm of collective action, where transnational social movementsreflect the broad decentered networking logic of informationalism, even as theyattack the roots of informational capitalism. Since bursting onto the scene inSeattle in 1999, and through subsequent direct action protests against multilateralinstitutions and alternative forums around the world in places such asPrague, Quebec, Genoa, Barcelona, and Porto Alegre, anti-corporate globalizationmovements have challenged global inequalities, while making new strugglesvisible. The more aptly named “movements for global justice” – activistsare actually building alternative globalizations from below – involve a politicsof articulation, uniting a broad network of networks in opposition to growingcorporate influence over our lives, communities, and resources. Movements forglobal justice can thus be viewed as signs indicating a democratic deficit withinemerging regimes of transnational governance, as well as social laboratories forthe production of alternative codes, values, and practices.Inspired by the Zapatistas and previous struggles against free trade, structuraladjustment, and environmental destruction, global justice activists havemade innovative use of global computer networks, informational politics, andnetwork-based organizational forms. Theorists have pointed to the rise ofglobal “Netwars” (Arquilla and Ronfeldt, 2001) or the emergence of an “electronicfabric of struggle” (Cleaver, 1995), but such broad descriptions tell usvery little about concrete networking practices or how such practices aregenerated. Manuel Castells (1997: 362) has identified a “networking, decenteredform of organization and intervention, characteristic of the new socialmovements, mirroring, and counteracting, the networking logic of dominationin the information society.” However, scholars have yet to explore the specificmechanisms through which this decentered networking logic is actuallyproduced, reproduced, and transformed by concrete activist practice withinparticular social, cultural, and political contexts. 1341
342 Jeffrey S. JurisFollowing Fredric Jameson (1991), who refers to postmodernism as thecultural logic of late capitalism, and Aihwa Ong (1999), who explores aspecific type of late capitalist cultural logic, transnationality, I introduce theterm “cultural logic of networking” as a way to conceive the broad guidingprinciples, shaped by the logic of informational capitalism, which are internalizedby activists and generate concrete networking practices. 2 This logicspecifically involves an embedded and embodied set of social and culturaldispositions that orient actors toward: (1) building horizontal ties and connectionsamong diverse, autonomous elements; (2) the free and open circulationof information; (3) collaboration through decentralized coordination anddirectly democratic decision-making; and (4) self-directed or self-managednetworking (Castells, 2001: 55). The cultural logic of networking reflects thevalues and practices associated with “open source” software development,incorporated in operating systems such as LINUX, or the World Wide Web. Itthus forms part of a broader “hacker ethic” explored by Himanen (2001),which is rooted in the values of free information, decentralized coordination,collaborative learning, peer recognition, and social service. However, thisnetworking logic represents an ideal type: it is unevenly distributed, andalways exists in dynamic tension with other competing logics, often generatinga complex “cultural politics of networking” within particular spheres. 3This chapter explores the dynamics of networking within movements forglobal justice along three main analytical planes – networks as computersupportedinfrastructure (technology), networks as organizational structure(form), and networks as political model (norm) – and the complex interrelationshipsamong them. 4 Global communication networks constitute the basic infrastructurefor transnational social movements, providing arenas for the production,contestation, and dissemination of specific movement-related discourses andpractices (Diani, 1995). These networks are, in turn, produced and transformedthrough the discourses and practices circulating through them (see Mische, 2003).Moreover, above and beyond the level of social morphology, networks areincreasingly associated with values related to grassroots participatory democracy,self-management, horizontal connectedness, and decentralized coordinationbased on autonomy and diversity. The network has thus become a powerfulcultural ideal, particularly among more radical global justice activists, a guidinglogic that provides both a model of and a model for emerging forms of directlydemocratic politics on local, regional, and global scales. 5THE RISE OF GLOBAL JUSTICE MOVEMENTSNearly 50,000 people took to the streets to protest against corporate globalizationat the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle on
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342 Jeffrey S. JurisFollowing Fredric Jameson (1991), who refers to postmodernism as thecultural logic of late capitalism, and Aihwa Ong (1999), who explores aspecific type of late capitalist cultural logic, transnationality, I introduce theterm “cultural logic of networking” as a way to conceive the broad guidingprinciples, shaped by the logic of informational capitalism, which are internalizedby activists and <strong>ge</strong>nerate concrete networking practices. 2 This logicspecifically involves an embedded and embodied set of social and culturaldispositions that orient actors toward: (1) building horizontal ties and connectionsamong diverse, autonomous elements; (2) the free and open circulationof information; (3) collaboration through decentralized coordination anddirectly democratic decision-making; and (4) self-directed or self-mana<strong>ge</strong>dnetworking (Castells, 2001: 55). The cultural logic of networking reflects thevalues and practices associated with “open source” software development,incorporated in operating systems such as LINUX, or the World Wide Web. Itthus forms part of a broader “hacker ethic” explored by Himanen (2001),which is rooted in the values of free information, decentralized coordination,collaborative learning, peer recognition, and social service. However, thisnetworking logic represents an ideal type: it is unevenly distributed, andalways exists in dynamic tension with other competing logics, often <strong>ge</strong>neratinga complex “cultural politics of networking” within particular spheres. 3This chapter explores the dynamics of networking within movements forglobal justice along three main analytical planes – networks as computersupportedinfrastructure (technology), networks as organizational structure(form), and networks as political model (norm) – and the complex interrelationshipsamong them. 4 Global communication networks constitute the basic infrastructurefor transnational social movements, providing arenas for the production,contestation, and dissemination of specific movement-related discourses andpractices (Diani, 1995). These networks are, in turn, produced and transformedthrough the discourses and practices circulating through them (see Mische, 2003).Moreover, above and beyond the level of social morphology, networks areincreasingly associated with values related to grassroots participatory democracy,self-mana<strong>ge</strong>ment, horizontal connectedness, and decentralized coordinationbased on autonomy and diversity. The network has thus become a powerfulcultural ideal, particularly among more radical global justice activists, a guidinglogic that provides both a model of and a model for emerging forms of directlydemocratic politics on local, regional, and global scales. 5THE RISE OF GLOBAL JUSTICE MOVEMENTSNearly 50,000 people took to the streets to protest against corporate globalizationat the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle on