[Blake_Stimson,_Gregory_Sholette]_Collectivism_aft(z-lib

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Do-It-Yourself Geopolitics 291Weld of possibility, where artists, alongside other social groups, can regainthe use of political freedom.A few questions, to close. Can the tactics of the early counterglobalizationmovements be thoroughly discredited and repressed by theabusive equation of direct-action practices and terrorism? This has beenattempted, in both the United States and Europe; but the repression itselfhas made the fundamentally political nature of the informational economycrystal clear; and the outcome may still depend on the ability to combinethe communicative value of humor, invention, and surprise with the forceof ethical conviction that comes from putting one’s body on the line. Can theInternet be normalized, to become a consumer marketplace and a mediumof passive reception or carefully channeled “interactivity”? It’s an importantpublic space to protect, through unbridled use and free exchange as well asbetter legislation; and the chances for entirely muzzling it, and thereby totallyvoiding the First Amendment and similar constitutional rights to free expression,look relatively slim. Do events like the Mayday parades, with theirfocus on urban living and working conditions, represent a fallback fromthe early ambitions of the counterglobalization protests—a retreat from theutopias of do-it-yourself geopolitics? The fundamental issue seems to be Wndingconcrete political demands that don’t block the transversal movementof struggles across an unevenly developed world. The work of cartography,on both the spatial and subjective levels, may contribute to a continuingextension of the new experiential territories, in search of a deeper and broaderprocess of resymbolization and political recomposition, able to link the scatteredactors and construct the situations of social change. It’s hard to thinkthere could be any other meaning to the word “collectivism.”NOTES1. From a cover of the early punk fanzine SnifWn’ Glue (1976–77), reissued in theanthology edited by Mark Perry, SnifWn’ Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory (London:Sanctuary Publishing, 2000).2. From “DeWnitions,” by the Situationist International (1958), available onlineat Ken Knabb’s excellent Bureau of Public Secrets Web site: http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/1.deWnitions.htm; translation slightly modiWed.3. See Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990).4. On punk appropriation politics, see Dan Graham, “Punk as Propaganda,” inRock My Religion (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1993), 96–113.5. For the Art Strike and Plagiarist movements, see the books and sites by StewartHome, particularly Neoism, Plagiarism & Praxis (Edinburgh: AK Press, 1995) andMind Invaders (London: Serpent’s Tail, 1997). For the Luther Blissett Project, seehttp://www.lutherblissett.net, or a collectively written novel like Q (Arrow, 2004).

292 Brian Holmes6. What’s written here is mainly based on participation, retrospective conversations(especially with John Jordan), the Web sites of Reclaim the Streets (http://rts.gn.apc.org) and People’s Global Action (http://www.agp.org), photos by AlanLodge at http://tash.gn.apc.org, and a superb text entitled “Friday June 18th 1999”in the ecoanarchist journal Do or Die, no. 8 (1999), online at http://www.eco-action.org/dod/no8/index.html.7. The full mask text can be found in the Do or Die text cited above; the lasttwo sentences reproduced here are in fact from the famous “First Declaration ofLa Realidad” by Subcomandante Marcos, online at http://www.eco.utexas.edu/Homepages/Faculty/Cleaver/Wrstrealidad.html.8. André Gorz, “The Social Ideology of the Motorcar,” can be found on theRTS Web site, at http://rts.gn.apc.org/socid.htm.9. At least one video, J18, First Global Protest against Capitalism, is distributedat http://www.cultureshop.org.10. See active.org.au and the diagram where one of the programmers sketched achain of cooperation in the invention and use of the software, online at http://www.active.org.au/doc/roots.pdf.11. For a record of the direct-action side of the counterglobalization movement,see the illustrated book We Are Everywhere (London: Verso, 2003).12. See Hakim Bey, T.A.Z. The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy,Poetic Terrorism (New York: Autonomedia Anti-copyright, 1985, 1991), onlineat http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html.13. See the Nettime Mailing Lists at http://www.nettime.org and the bookReadMe: Ascii Culture and the Revenge of Knowledge (New York: Autonomedia, 1999).14. See the Next 5 Minutes Web site at http://www.next5minutes.org.15. David Garcia and Geert Lovink, “The ABC of Tactical Media,” quoted fromhttp://thing.desk.nl/bilwet/Geert/ABC.txt.16. See Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life (Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of California Press, 1988).17. See Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt, Multitude (New York: Penguin, 2004);Paolo Virno, Grammar of the Multitude (New York: Semiotexte, 2004).18. Garcia and Lovink, “ABC of Tactical Media.”19. This and the following two quotes are from Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri,Empire (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 23–25, online at http://www.angelWre.com/cantina/negri.20. Sources for all the material in this paragraph can be accessed at the ®arkWeb site, http://www.rtmark.com.21. Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,”New Left Review 146 (July–August 1984).22. See http://rtmark.com/new.html.23. Bureau d’Etudes produces multiples, including the map “World Government”in English (2000). Extensive documentation can be found at http://utangente.free.fr/index2.html.24. This and the following two quotes are from Bureau d’Etudes, “ResymbolizingMachines: Art after Oyvind Fählstrom,” Third Text 18 (June 2004): 609–16.25. Thomas Frank, Matt Weiland, et al., Commodify Your Dissent (New York:Norton, 1997); Naomi Klein, No Logo (New York: Picador, 2000).26. See Maurizio Lazzarato, Les révolutions du capitalisme (Paris: Les empêcheurs

292 Brian Holmes

6. What’s written here is mainly based on participation, retrospective conversations

(especially with John Jordan), the Web sites of Reclaim the Streets (http://

rts.gn.apc.org) and People’s Global Action (http://www.agp.org), photos by Alan

Lodge at http://tash.gn.apc.org, and a superb text entitled “Friday June 18th 1999”

in the ecoanarchist journal Do or Die, no. 8 (1999), online at http://www.eco-action.

org/dod/no8/index.html.

7. The full mask text can be found in the Do or Die text cited above; the last

two sentences reproduced here are in fact from the famous “First Declaration of

La Realidad” by Subcomandante Marcos, online at http://www.eco.utexas.edu/

Homepages/Faculty/Cleaver/Wrstrealidad.html.

8. André Gorz, “The Social Ideology of the Motorcar,” can be found on the

RTS Web site, at http://rts.gn.apc.org/socid.htm.

9. At least one video, J18, First Global Protest against Capitalism, is distributed

at http://www.cultureshop.org.

10. See active.org.au and the diagram where one of the programmers sketched a

chain of cooperation in the invention and use of the software, online at http://

www.active.org.au/doc/roots.pdf.

11. For a record of the direct-action side of the counterglobalization movement,

see the illustrated book We Are Everywhere (London: Verso, 2003).

12. See Hakim Bey, T.A.Z. The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy,

Poetic Terrorism (New York: Autonomedia Anti-copyright, 1985, 1991), online

at http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html.

13. See the Nettime Mailing Lists at http://www.nettime.org and the book

ReadMe: Ascii Culture and the Revenge of Knowledge (New York: Autonomedia, 1999).

14. See the Next 5 Minutes Web site at http://www.next5minutes.org.

15. David Garcia and Geert Lovink, “The ABC of Tactical Media,” quoted from

http://thing.desk.nl/bilwet/Geert/ABC.txt.

16. See Michel de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life (Berkeley and Los Angeles:

University of California Press, 1988).

17. See Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt, Multitude (New York: Penguin, 2004);

Paolo Virno, Grammar of the Multitude (New York: Semiotexte, 2004).

18. Garcia and Lovink, “ABC of Tactical Media.”

19. This and the following two quotes are from Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri,

Empire (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 23–25, online at http://www.

angelWre.com/cantina/negri.

20. Sources for all the material in this paragraph can be accessed at the ®ark

Web site, http://www.rtmark.com.

21. Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,”

New Left Review 146 (July–August 1984).

22. See http://rtmark.com/new.html.

23. Bureau d’Etudes produces multiples, including the map “World Government”

in English (2000). Extensive documentation can be found at http://utangente.free.

fr/index2.html.

24. This and the following two quotes are from Bureau d’Etudes, “Resymbolizing

Machines: Art after Oyvind Fählstrom,” Third Text 18 (June 2004): 609–16.

25. Thomas Frank, Matt Weiland, et al., Commodify Your Dissent (New York:

Norton, 1997); Naomi Klein, No Logo (New York: Picador, 2000).

26. See Maurizio Lazzarato, Les révolutions du capitalisme (Paris: Les empêcheurs

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