Re: <nettime> Inside Networked Movements: Interview with Jeffreyi Juris

["> ! <" <gonzo@quadrantcrossing.org>]

Sure, but if you went too far down that route of 'non linear history',
you'd completely misunderstand the series of networks that arose
between Vancouver and Seattle between 1996 and 1999. Saying that
a 1998 event is the 'start' of alter-globalization before a 1997
event is not only silly, it's bad research. Getting lost in 'history
is a spiral' land, 'hope in the dark' or otherwise, will get you
nowhere in understanding the way in which various technologies and
media were utilised and repurposed to coordinate strategic street
movements as well as broadcasting alternative stories to the public.
This didn't happen in a round-a-bout way. People knew each other,
shared information, created networks of machines & flesh.

In the case of Juris' research the question is not about the
'spiritual origin' of the alter-globalization movement; the question
is understanding the person-to-person connections, the uses of
technologies, the development of strategic protest, and so forth,
that made Seattle & Indymedia happen, and for that, you have to turn
to APEC '97 and its networks (notably, http://tao.ca/ ), and sure,
above & beyond to the Zapatistas and so forth. But we're talking about
a local PacNW history here. Vancouver and Seattle are three hours
apart, and the people involved in both events -- heavily involved
-- were of the same networks. And if you want to know how that went
down, it's not about writing metaphorically about crabs, it's about
getting dirty in unveiling the ideological origin that 'Seattle' has
become. In fact all the lights shone on Seattle have only obscured the
greater networks involved and the earlier events in the history of
alter-globalization, which gives the effect that Seattle came out of
nowhere. It didn't; and the history that has yet to be told deserves
its time, if anything, to learn from it. Keeping Seattle as the
'first event' only serves the powers-that-be in obscuring the greater
comprehension of the downsides of corporate-globalization long before
1999.

best / turtle.




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tobias c. van Veen -----------++++ !
http://www.quadrantcrossing.org --
McGill Communication & Philosophy
resistance . through . rhythm .
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