A Rift in Empire? 

The antiwar demonstrations of February 15, 2003 proved it: theself-organization of free singularities is possible on a planetaryscale. And that was an event, despite all that followed. In amanifesto-text written just after those demonstrations, I used thelanguage of Negri and Hardt to say that the multitudes could create arift in Empire. In a context where the Aristocracy (the greattransnational companies) had been weakened by a string of financialdisasters, where the Monarchy (the political and military command ofthe earth) had fallen apart in serious dissension, I wanted toencourage the democratic action of the Plebe, against the scorn of theAmerican, British, Spanish and Italian leaders. It was a moment thathad multiplied the world's political stages, overflowing thetraditional mechanisms of representation.

The antidemocratic makeover of the cultural scene in Hungary 

Recent legislative steps in Hungary point towards  the authoritarian transformation of the  institutional structures and funding system of  cultural life, by giving an ultra conservative  artist group close to the rightwing government,  the Hungarian Academy of Arts, an unassailable  position of power. As a result of these  decisions, the government has endangered the long  term autonomy, professionalism and democratic  procedures of Hungarian contemporary art.

• politics,
• art,
• propaganda

Moving Forest CODA - One Day Workshop 

This workshop follows on from the Moving Forest event on July 4 as a coda, giving a time for reflection and for developing the argument and experience of the work along other lines.  It involves participants, organisers and guests, and people from CCW, CCS, RADA and activists, artists and others from across the sprawl.

• art,
• urban intervention,
• theory,
• hybrid space,
• performance

Participationism (re: Re:Group: Beyond Models of Consensus) 

From: beka economopoulos
Date: June 10, 2010 6:07:12 GMT+02:00
Subject: [iDC] Participationism (was "why do we need physical campuses")

Hi all,
(...) Below is (one of) the curatorial statement(s) of a show that Not An Alternative has curated with Upgrade NY! and Eyebeam, called Re:Group: Beyond Models of Consensus, about the subjects of collaboration and participation. After constant debate, the curatorial committee never came to consensus about the thesis for the show, and so we've presented two distinct positions.
Below is that of our group, Not An Alternative. The opening is tomorrow, with a curators talk at 5pm, so if you're in NY and you're ready for a rumble join us there.
Best, Beka

• art,
• activism,
• participatory media

Hippy Cull 

from Underground, PO Box 3285, London, SW2 3NN, UK

1. Neo-hippyism is upon us: a bumper pack of seriously dumb tendenciesthat cripple processes of change. Some of these tendencies relate toideas, and some of them to action, they range from the 'political' tothe way people dress. They form the aesthetic, theoretical and materialdatabases people use to inform and develop what they are getting up to.This database needs reformatting.

Cybernetics & Entheogenics 

Abstract of the lecture by Peter Lamborn Wilson
For the 'Next Five Minutes" Conference, Amsterdam, january 1996

World-Information Amsterdam 

World-Information.Org is an trans-national cultural intelligence provider, a collaborative effort of artists, scientists and technicians. It is a practical example for a technical and contextual environment for cultural production and an independent platform of critical media intelligence.

• infopolitics,
• info-activism,
• World-Information.Org,
• world-information,
• surveillance

Security through InSecurity 

Increase the level of paranoia.....
bombs in the metro.....bombs in Oklahoma......
bombs in the World Trade Center.....bombs in Mururoa.....
Who are the real terrorists?

The Disappearance of Public Space on the Net 

The Internet was started in the 1970's by the U.S. Defense Departmentas a communications tool and is now being bought out by I.B.M., M.C.I.and other megaCorporations. April, 1995 marked the closing of theNational Science Foundation's part of the internet, and signaled thebeginning of the end of the publicly funded computer networkinfrastructure.

• network cultures,
• net.activism

Too Big Has Failed 

TooBigHasFailed.org consists of a group of activists who think Wall Street could be better.
In many ways we mirror the efforts of community banks and credit unions in wanting to end "too big to fail." That is, we support the basic idea of banking as it should be, but we oppose what Wall Street has become today - with all of its political favoritism, excessive size, and reckless speculation.
What's more, we believe that activist efforts can be a force for good in the world.

• activism,
• economics,
• finance

Unlike Us #3 - Social Media: Design or Decline 

On March 22nd and 23rd 2013 the Institute of NetworkCultures will organize the event Unlike Us #3. The aim of Unlike Us is to establish a research network of artists, designers, scholars, activists and programmers who work on 'alternatives in social media'. Unlike Us was founded in July 2011. Through workshops, conferences, online dialogues and publications, Unlike Us intends to both analyze the economic and cultural aspects of dominant social media platforms and to propagate the further development and proliferation of alternative, decentralized social media software.

• art,
• network cultures,
• activism,
• net.activism,
• design,
• theory,
• social sculpture,
• participatory media

NEURO networking Europe 

From February 27th to 29th young artists, filmmak- ers, musicians, theorists and activists from all over Europe and many other parts of the world meet at the Muffathalle in Munich for NEURO; a number of events, speeches, discussions, presentations, performances, concerts and actions reflecting the pulse of the age. About two years after the first make-world festival, NEURO will again interface with current debates around migration and mobility, racism and nationalism, civil society and global mobilisation, networking and new technologies, informatisation and precarious labour, education and control society, common organising, and digital culture.

• network cultures,
• infopolitics,
• net.activism,
• net criticism

Social Media and the UK Riots: "Twitter Mobs", "Blackberry Mobs" and the Structural Violence of Neoliberalism 

"One formula [...] can be that of the mob: gullible, fickle, herdlike, low in taste and habit. [...] If [...] our purpsoe is manipulation - the persuasion of a large number of people to act, feel, think, known in certain ways - the convenient formula will be that of the masses". - Raymond Williams

• social justice,
• participatory media,
• street protest

Tactical Media After 9-11 

It is tempting to portray '9-11' as a turning point. Gore Vidal warns that, since September 11, the US is in danger of turning into a "seedy imperial state." Make war, not politics. The new patriotism requires: "Disruption, including obstructing the view or hearing of others, will not be tolerated." The list of measures to restrict civil liberties, freedom of speech and privacy, or what?s left of it, doesn?t stop. A recent conference in Perth concluded that post-September 11 reporting adds to divisions and stereotypes. "The media's failure to provide more perspectives to news consumers and ask critical questions is fuelling a culture of fear and blame around the world, experts say."

• tactical media,
• 9/11

EuroMayDay Call Spring 2010 

Precarisation is the norm, temp work, low salaries, unemployment. Barbed wire, uniforms and camps that protect fortress-europe, excluding and persecuting thousands of women, men and children. Police and armies are in the streets, with their cameras and helicopters. Control is everywhere, terrorist laws are used to legitimize repression. The media keeps the lid on the pot that is starting to boil over. At the same time it is doing its best to convince us to keep up consumption. The serpent is eating its own tail. Our brothers and sisters in the south are paying the bill; and we pay too. Animals becoming extinct show the way to the future generations. And at the same time, the banks are throwing our billions out the window...

• campaign,
• activism,
• EuroMayDay,
• precarity

The Dangers of Co-optation with Corporations 

Over 2,000 Ogoni, including their leader, Ken Saro-Wiwa have died since they started their non-violent campaign against Shell. Many Ogoni are still imprisoned today. Their only crime was to campaign against the ecological destruction of their homeland by Shell and ask for a greater share of the oil wealth that had been drilled from under their land.

• environment,
• campaign,
• propaganda,
• globalisation

Occupy Los Angeles

Declaration of Occupation

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

• occupy

NYC General Assembly

The NYC General Assembly is composed of dozens of groups working together to organize and set the vision for the #occupywallstreet movement.

• street protest,
• tactical camping