Funferal

Resisting digitally, in Paris

On 2 April I attended a conference at the American University in Paris titled ‘the Other Internet: Exploring Digital Resistance.’ Sabryna and I were presenting a version of our work on MoveOn, which examines how MoveOn compares to previous manifestations of mass political action.

The conference began with a presentation by Brian Holmes and Trevor Schultz, who collaborated in examining institutionalized power and how it can be, and is, being challenged by collaborative practices. Brian took the first half of the topic, drawing on the work of Castelles, Negri and Hardt, and others. One interesting note was Thomas Barnett’s map of the war on terror, which shows US troops ‘turning up’ in places “that are somewhat disconnected from the rest of the globalised world.”
Trevor outlined a number of projects with which he has been involved, such as the ’79 days’ site which, using 3 years of images from Kosovo, uses a live image search from Google to place images from the Kosovo and Iraq conflicts side by side. He also looked at Reclaim the Streets, Critical Mass, Free radio and grafitti projects, and others. Since 1995, he claimed, more artists have adopted the internet as a space for operation. Art institutions, he argues, have not been in favour of this type of collaboration or operation, preferring to have the artists as a ‘suffering individual.’ The fact that online art allows a multitude of copies also causes difficulties for curators and those hoping to cordon off art.
In the first panel Richard Barbrook examined the ‘high-tech gift economy’ arguing that the Notting Hill might provide a useful model – where commercial operations and state sponsorship operate side-by-side in a hybrid model. Gifting need not be antithetical to commercial viability. Ken Wark of Net Time outlined his various projects, arguing that it is a mistake to see information as disconnected from material aspects, and coining the phrase “progress is possible, plagiarism implies it.” Finally, Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men introduced a short video documentary on the (hilarious and uplifting) work of that group. It’s soon going to be a full-length movie, so look out for it!
The afternoon contained not only the panel with Sabryna and myself, but another on the use of the internet by dissident groups (such as ‘Human Rights in China’ and Tamil separatists). In our panel there was an interesting paper on Indymedia, looking at how it perpetuates a Westernised vision of liberal democracy, and another on the responses to an online editorial.