From emv@umich.edu Sun Apr 25 22:13:16 1999 Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 20:24:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Edward Vielmetti To: vacuum@egroups.com Subject: [vacuum] Net Strike 2000-2003 Welcome to Vacuum. Occasionally I run pieces that are sent in by others, without necessarily agreeing with all portions of the discussion. In response to some recent events on the net this work surfaced, forwarded to me by someone who wishes not to be publicly identified with the work. Replies can go to 'xists@vacuum.mi.org' and will be passed on with discretion. Please forward as you see fit. thanks Ed Edward Vielmetti / emv@umich.edu / +1 734 332 7868 Net Strike 2000-2003 Networkers engaged in political struggle act in two key areas: the use of the Internet for direct social change; and actions to change the structures of the Internet world. It needs to be understood that this activity is necessarily of a reformist, rather than revolutionary, character. Indeed this political activity often serves to consolidate the existing order, in the West, and in the East. The use of the Internet for social change is bedevilled by the close integration of the Internet and society. The state supports the Internet, it needs the Internet as a cosmetic cloak to its horrifying reality, and uses the Internet to confuse, divert and entertain large numbers of people. Even when deployed against the interests of the state, the Internet cannot cut loose the umbilical cord of the state. The Internet in the service of revolution is unsatisfactory and mistrusted because of the numerous links of the Internet with the state and capitalism. Despite these problems, networkers will go on using the Net to change society. Throughout the decades, networkers have attacked the prevailing methods of production, distribution and consumption of Internet services. These attacks on the organisation of the Net have gained momentum in recent years. This struggle, aimed at the destruction of existing commercial and public ownership and control systems, can be brought to a successful conclusion in the course of the next decade. The refusal to labour is the chief weapon of workers fighting the system; networkers can use the same weapon. To bring down the Net it is necessary to call for years without the Internet, a period of three years - 2000 to 2003 - when networkers will not send electronic mail, permit their words to be exhibited in the electronic sphere, and refuse collaboration with any part of the computing machinery of the electronic world. This total withdrawal of labor is the most extreme collective challenge that networkers can make to the Net. The years without the Net will see the collapse of many private businesses. Universities and cultural institutions handling contemporary analysis will be severely hit, suffer loss of funds, and will have to reduce their staff. National and local government institutions will be in serious trouble. The technology press will collapse. The international ramifications of the capital/market/broker complex make for vulnerability; it is a system that is keyed to a continuous juggling of ideas, finance, works and information - damage one part, and the effect is felt world-wide. Three years is the minimum period required to cripple the system, whilst a longer period of time would create difficulties for networkers. The very small number of networkers who live from the practice of networks are sufficiently wealthy to live on their capital for three years. The vast majority of people who use networks have to bide their time by other means; they will, in fact, be saving money and time. Most people who practice networking never sell their work at a profit, do not get the chance to exhibit their work under proper conditions, and are unmentioned by the publicity organs. Some networkers may find it difficult to restrain themselves from electronic communications. These networkers will be invited to enter camps, where computing is forbidden, and where any work produced is destroyed at regular intervals. In place of the practice of computing, people can spend time on the numerous historical, esthetic and social issues facing computing. It will be necessary to construct more equitable forms for marketing, exhibiting and publicising discourse in the future. As the twentieth century has progressed, capitalism has smothered the network - the deep surgery of the years without the network will give it a new chance. (Thanks to Gustav Metzger and Karen Eliot) Replies: xists@vacuum.mi.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SIGN UP NOW FOR FREE HOME IMPROVEMENT HOW-TO'S Receive seasonal how-to's and climate-specific advice via e-mail. http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/131 eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/group/vacuum Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com