Boomcrash

Seattle is dead, long live MultitudeSeattle is dead, long live MultitudeSeattle is dead, long live Multitude

One of the things that tires me to no end about left activists is the notion that we all have to be on the same page, all the time, about everything. Having weathered through a seemingly endless number of house meetings, groupthinks, clusterfucks and so on, I can personally testify to the incessant drum beat of such practices. Note that this includes anti-authoritarians, although for obvious reasons, not to quite the same degree as a centralized, cadre-driven Marxist-Leninist party: think vegans, punk rock/hipster conformity, and collective living.

In no small part, I think this hive-mind-as-potluck tendency is due to leftover – and in some cases, active – strains of 1960s/70s Leninist centrism within left activist circles; an approach that has its origins in a centralized vanguard controlling a mass movement via multiple satellites. Simply put, this approach has outlived its debatable usefulness, both culturally and practically. If anything, discussing this in anything other than the past tense reflects how much a large portion of the activist left is out of touch with the changes that are happening rapidly within global culture. A cursory glance over the political landscape in the US reveals many recognizable movements, and then there’s the thousands of internet-based groups, of which a small but notable minority are political in nature – and yet, if you were to take your information from your standard Usual Suspects, you would be under the impression that there’s a small scattering of such movements, if not a monolithically framed “The Movement” – as if working for social change was some sort of singularity for process freaks – while groups on the internet are dismissed as being escapist or dilettantish.

In fact, it is not centralized, factory-like apperatti that drive social change at this point; instead, it is the very same tendencies towards decentralization and spontaneous mass formation that are part of the culture as a whole, and that are frequently used to formulate mass opinion via crowd psychology. As awful as that may sound, this trend is enormously beneficial: as Rosa Luxembourg noted back in the day, revolution starts with the unconscious: the spontaneous forming of mass resistance to societal forces occurs when a critical mass of people can’t take the unbearable bullshit of it all and start to fight back. It is after this resistance starts to mature a bit that the need for some sort of organizational structure begins to take root. In addition, as Hardt and Negri note in their seminal books Empire and Multitude, the fomentation of a decentralized mostly rural resistance under a centralized command has started to give way to a urban one of a more autonomous nature, circa 1968 onward. As such, the formation of Empire through a decentralized web of semi-conscious individuals, wherein each person is a potential consumer (or if you will, an energy source within a Matrix-like socioeconomic framework) is also the same mechanism wherein individuals can wake up, creatively formulate and strategize with others, and start to resist their own subjugation.

This process of shifting from centralization to autonomy began as many things do: at the end of a cycle. As anarchists were still suffering from the defeat in Spain (as was everybody on the left who was within Franco’s purview), the beginnings of what would become the New Left were beginning to take shape, both culturally and politically. Possibly because of the psychological impact of World War II, as well as the eventual mass availability of the birth control pill and the personal computer, the progressive modernist ideals of the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century were giving way to postmodern ones. It is for this reason that what has matured throughout the latter part of the 20th century up to the present day is not a centralized, vertical apparatus, but a swarm of decentralized, horizontal pluralities with varying states of authority or autonomy on a case-by-case basis. Seen through a modernist lens, this may look like a regression; but in fact, it is a meaningful shift in tactics and strategies to the present-day virtuality of culture. What is now clear is that centralized organizing as a unitary movement-generating tool has long outlived its prime, and what the left – and in particular, the radical left – is currently suffering from is the last vestiges of that dying ember.

And now, we find ourselves in the midst of an even more articulated form of autonomous resistance yet again, thanks to the internet. The very technologies that are being used to monitor us all are also being used to coordinate the beginnings of mass resistance. As Clay Shirky notes in his seminal book Here Comes Everybody, what used to be the exclusive domain of governments and mainstream media is now potentially in the hands of all, or will be very shortly: from flash mobs in Belarus to internet-coordinated student walkouts in the US, people are using digital technology to assert their collective power in creative and unpredictable ways. (The irony of this to Star Trek fans should be evident: it’s as if the Federation – the government – had given the Borg – the resistance – a bad reputation by castigating it as mindless and hierarchal, when in fact the opposite is true.)

With time, hopefully the activist left will start to capitalize more effectively on this trend towards mass decentralization and empowerment, and act accordingly. As it presently stands, it appears that we’re going through a prolonged period of the left using these tools, but not necessarily being adept at manipulating them. (My own personal attempts to educate fellow activists on the usefulness of these technologies can stand as testament to this fact: having grown weary of debating the merits of the web with laptop-lugging luddites and patiently re-re-schooling “How do I use the internet?” newbies, I’ve taken to blogging instead.) While I do think this is a shame, I also contend that it is critical for people on the left to realize that people en masse are going to empower themselves, with or without activists to “help” them. Any other course of action would be a rather profane act of self-effacement, serving no real purpose other than adhere to antiquated notions about the nature of power in society, such as technology being exclusively in service to our supposed betters, rather than a multi-faceted manifestation of biopower that embodies as much as it oppresses. Most people do not have the sort of luxury that allows for such adherence, and the left should not delude themselves into thinking that they have that sort of cultural opulence either.

Hello, activism? I need my life back.Hello, activism? I need my life back.Hello, activism? I need my life back.

I ran into a friend of mine from grad school a while back, and as part of getting caught up, I mentioned that the people I was spending time with were holding up the works – I was starting to flounder a bit in terms of my creative process and life direction, and as a result, I was ready to pack up and move to LA or NYC. After pointing out the obvious fact that it’s far easier to change who you hang with than where you live, she asked who these meddlesome folks were.

I replied sheepishly, “Um, activists…”

Her jaw dropped. “Oh, honey…”

Needless to say, activism is not her game; she’s more into a combination of art and deal-making – but it definitely was mine. I got my head or other body parts banged around a few times, got arrested a few times more than that, sat through an endless procession of meetings, and pretty much was living the life on-again, off-again just prior to the first US-Iraq war, and all but full-time since 1999. I had paid my dues, and thoroughly was in the mix — between organizing and living collectively, my day-to-day life looked like a cross between The Real World and Battle in Seattle. I loved it tremendously – after a long period of vacillation between counter-culture and corporate “culture,” it was very refreshing to be true to myself and to my politics.

Then? I walked.

It wasn’t for lack of trying to make things work; if anything, I was stubbornly trying to hold it all together, as if activism was some sort of dysfunctional-but-the-sex-is-great relationship that was starting to spin out of control. The minor disagreements that had occurred over the years started turning into pitched confrontations with increasing regularity, and conversations were taking that “Sweetie, perhaps you should not mix Vicodin and Hennessy” tone in both directions. When I got booted out of yet another collective house, I packed it up and moved to LA…

…where I found myself in the middle of the May Day cop riots. I managed to not get my head beat in, but just barely. That sort of ended it for me right there, not so much because of the risk involved, but because I was putting it all on the line – and I do mean it all, people do die or end up with permanent injuries on occasion – for what, exactly? It felt like I was increasingly running counter to my life’s purpose; while I managed to make time for both art and activism, I was doing so at the expense of everything else, and was stressed to the eyeballs as well. So I stopped for good.

After I had packed up yet again and moved back to the Bay Area, humbled yet strong, I went about rebuilding my life without activism as a central fixture. I stopped going to protests, and gave up on meetings. I even managed to shrug off the resulting I’m-abandoning-the-movement feelings of guilt – which may seem uncalled for, until you realize that I had been involved in campaigns and organizing since the 4th grade – and set to work on finishing up a poetry manuscript, followed by designing social community sites. I also vowed to live with fewer people, even though that meant risking higher rent, which thankfully didn’t turn out to be the case. Life started to feel like something that was uniquely mine, rather than time-shared with an ever-changing cast of characters, all with hard-won opinions about everything. I was less stressed, and definitely a lot more happy. I was becoming human again.

So what’s the lesson here? Peoples, listen. The world needs more activists, and badly does it need them. But what the left seems to miss out on with a frightening level of consistency is that activism takes many forms, including things that don’t typically get labeled as activism at all – and socially-minded arts and media creation are two of those things. (Spirituality, relationships and in some circles, community building/organizing frequently get placed this way as well, which pretty much leaves activism as the primary option for social change agents, in terms of collective power. See how this works?) Never mind that activists are frequently active consumers of socially conscious media – but in my experience, activists in the US are as guilty as anybody else when it comes to entertaining the mistaken notion that music, writing, poetry, art, performance, social media and so on just create themselves out of thin air while also being tremendously important, which paradoxically enforces the supposition that creators of art and media are completely on the wrong foot and of critical importance at the same time. It’s a losing battle, and one that I got tired of fighting. I’d rather be creating it than debating it – so that is what I’m doing. End of story.

And yet…I still feel conflicted about it all. It’s as if I’m wanting approval from a tribe that I’m still a part of, but that I have a fundamentally different relationship with, post-capital ‘A’ activism. The problem with this line of somewhat irrational thinking on my part is that it tends to cloud the void-like well that creativity springs out of; in other words, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. So I do what I always do when pernicious doubt tries to sneak into the equation and suck my creativity dry: I ignore it, but make sure to throw it a bone on occasion (chocolate works, but long meandering walks work better) and tell it to pipe down when I need to. I also make sure to give it the love that it desperately wants, while not being ruled by it.

So let this serve as a warning to y’all, as the economy continues to spin and reel, and we all continue to look for answers – the solution that you find may just be the one that most closely mirrors your true desires, and not what your superego-like conscience tells you to do. Don’t listen to anybody who tells you otherwise! Trust yourself, trust your instincts, and together, we artists, activists, visionaries and so can start to build a sustainable future together, free of being ruled by guilt and shame.

How to survive the crash

The United States financial system is abandoning ordinary people at home just as it has throughout the world for decades. As a result, most of us are frustrated to the point that our upset is starting to turn into a clearly focused, highly determined anger. So how do we go from this place of anger to standing up and becoming the change we want to see, not just by voting, but by our actions as well? Read below for some ideas.

1. As Naomi Klein points out, the antidote to shock therapy is information. Share with others of like mind, and don’t be afraid to talk with those who aren’t.

2. Utilize your connections (friends, family, co-workers) to build active, engaged support networks, so when things really start to get tough, you’ll already have worked through the bulk of your interpersonal/cultural/ideological issues and conflicts while you still have the time to do so.

3. Don’t be daunted by fluidity — the world is changing rapidly. Be both flexible and immovable, depending on the situation.

4. Needless to say, use the Internet for all it’s worth.

5. If the people you work with are cowed into silence, regroup and find another way to keep the work going.

6. If “they” won’t let you do it, and it needs to be done? Do it anyway.

7. Promote and encourage as wide a range of responses as possible.

8. Don’t rely on the left-right dichotomy for your political anchor — but do know what you believe, and speak up if you are being messed with.

9. Read voraciously and live simply; learn about social movements throughout history, and take time to become fluent in social movements in the present. Read People’s History of the United States!

10. Recognize that there is a way to be a warrior for change. Key to this is getting your mind clear, as well as your heart.

11. Don’t get too stuck in the virtual. Trees are good — and I don’t just mean the virtual kind.

12. Be bold. Shout your truth from the mountain tops. Tell friends, talk with strangers, live the world you want to see.

13. Be really bold. During the elections, a Code Pink activist managed to get right up to Condi Rice and confronted her as a war criminal. We need to step up the heat, not turn it down.

14. Remember that organizations that don’t have clear goals that serve functional purposes become self-involved and self-interested. As such, focus on the work more than enterprise.

15. Horizontal organizing is more resilient than top-down organizing. As such, encourage forms of resistance that reflect this. Examples: Spokescouncils, APPO, Argentinian worker collectives and neighborhood councils.

Is this a technology blog or a political blog? Yes.

Back in early 2006, I had recently graduated with a MFA in Writing, and my life was on fire. My dad had died, I was increasingly at odds with my political community, and in a sign of things to come writ large, all my editing work was drying up. With the exception of a few crazed years during the 90s, I had careened between the lower rungs of the middle class and the upper rungs of poverty for quite some time, but this was looking downright scary in its proportions. I was crazed with grief, and struggling to hold my life together at a time when everything seemed to be coming apart.

Nevertheless, I managed to keep going -– keep writing, keep performing, always, always making music -– and then? I fell back into the technological soup in a way that even moi could not have foreseen.

Understand: After several years of juggling the tech industry, social justice politics and writing, I got laid off three weeks after 9/11. Still reeling from both that and a canceled east coast spoken word tour, I counted my blessings that at least I got a chunk of change from the process and went on tour elsewhere. As a result, while the whole social networking thing was taking shape, I was more concerned with getting from Chicago to Kalamazoo than musing over the benefits of fiber optics over DSL. As the corny joke goes, I was much too busy having a first life to worry about a second one.

In the two years and change that followed, I had gone through more stillborn “movements” than I could count, learned and relearned a whole slew of webtech, and last but not least, gave the aforementioned political community the heave-ho. After all that struggle, I was reborn…as an open source software/content nerd? It works for me, and in my own still-in-recovery way, I’m happy as well.

So, that’s the online story. Here’s the personal is political one: webgeek, author, musician, performer, sometimes video artist; feminist, queer, intersexed, black-and-brown-centric, all with a thick dose of open source advocacy. I also design and administer the new open source publishing platform Sharebook, which should be public any day now. (If you want to beta test, I’m still looking for help with the final touches, so drop me a note.)

Lastly, a few words about what to expect out of this blog. I’m envisioning this as a wedding of the more social/political aspects of online life with a varied range of issues and struggles on the real life tip, with a lot of commenting on events as they unfold. Sort of like Angela Davis meets Gonzo journalism, with a good dose of Huffpo for the measure, as well as a fair amount of Twitter integration. It’ll all reflect my overarching politics, but always with room for dialogue and discussion. Can’t get change without mutual support, amirite?

So that’s about it! Lucha sigue, peoples. See you soon.

All my best,

solidad