[LINK] Revolution in the Over-Developed World

Tom Worthington tom.worthington at tomw.net.au
Fri Oct 21 09:06:17 AEDT 2011


Professor McKenzie Wark, from the New School NY, talked on avant-garde 
movements and implications of Occupy Wall Street at Greetings from the 
University of Canberra, on 19 October 2011. He had strong competition, 
with an interesting lecture on 1930s European architecture in the next 
room. The introduction included a poem on the state of the USA and 
status of the indigenous embassy outside Parliament House.

Professor Wark started by pointing out that many thinkers of the 20th 
century were not formal academics, but on the periphery of academia. He 
then read "Square du Vert-Galant" from his graphic novel "The Beach 
Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the 
Situationist International". He then outlined the Street Ethnography of 
Paris in the 1950s, with the delinquent end of Bohemianism and Unitary 
urbanism.

Professor Wark discussed the reclaiming of the common cultural property 
through (or in denial of) plagiarism. In a way this is a precursor of 
thinking about open access and creative commons. Somehwere in here The 
Society of the Spectacle (La Société du spectacle) by Guy Debord was 
mentioned.

Professor Wark then asked what it means to create groups. Those of the 
1950s avant-garde movement were volatile, with groups forming, expelling 
members and reforming (reminds me of the factions of the modern 
political parties). He suggested that self organismic groups could be a 
useful part of modern pedagogy, teaching students that not all 
organizations are designed as a hierarchy.

After some readings from his latest book, Professor Wark came around to 
the occupy wall street movement. He argued that the modern commodity 
world was boring. There is an urge to break through the boundaries and 
simply occupy the public space. The Occupy Watt Street Movement was not 
making specific demands, simply "occupying" public open space. He 
pointed out that the open space occupied is not Wall Street and does not 
disrupt the stock exchange.

Professor Wark related Wall Street to the occupation of Tiananmen Square 
in Beijing. He also suggested Twitter was not useful for revolution, as 
it can be used to spread false rumors.

Parts of Zuccotti Park have now been zoned by the occoupiers, with one 
area for non-denominational worship, and one near the library for 
information services. Professor Wark commented that many of the people 
at the protest in the park were at a loss to know what to do, as there 
was nothing to buy and no one to confront. He suggested that while the 
current movement has no clear political aim, the movement could be 
channeled to some aim (and that there may be some establishment reaction 
to this).

Professor Wark pointed out that most of the trading at "Wall Street" 
takes place on-line, with traders at distributed workstations. As a 
result the protest at Wall Street perhaps has the wrong symbolism. It 
occours to me that there has so far been no move to occupy the on-line 
manifestations of Wall Street. That would be more likely to result in a 
confrontation with authorities, as there are much clearer laws making it 
a crime to interfere with a networked computer system. The ACS is 
assisting the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) with 
Cyber Policy consultation. It is an interesting question as to the 
extent to which legitimate protest can be recognized and allowed for. 
Simply banning anything which looked like a protest would be very 
dangerous.are du Vert-Galant" from his graphic novel "The Beach Beneath 
the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist 
International". He then outlined the Street Ethnography of Paris in the 
1950s, with the delinquent end of Bohemianism and Unitary urbanism.

Professor Wark discussed the reclaiming of the common cultural property 
through (or in denial of) plagiarism. In a way this is a precursor of 
thinking about open access and creative commons. Somehwere in here The 
Society of the Spectacle (La Société du spectacle) by Guy Debord was 
mentioned.

Professor Wark then asked what it means to create groups. Those of the 
1950s avant-garde movement were volatile, with groups forming, expelling 
members and reforming (reminds me of the factions of the modern 
political parties). He suggested that self organismic groups could be a 
useful part of modern pedagogy, teaching students that not all 
organizations are designed as a hierarchy.

After some readings from his latest book, Professor Wark came around to 
the occupy wall street movement. He argued that the modern commodity 
world was boring. There is an urge to break through the boundaries and 
simply occupy the public space. The Occupy Watt Street Movement was not 
making specific demands, simply "occupying" public open space. He 
pointed out that the open space occupied is not Wall Street and does not 
disrupt the stock exchange.

Professor Wark related Wall Street to the occupation of Tiananmen Square 
in Beijing. He also suggested Twitter was not useful for revolution, as 
it can be used to spread false rumors.

Parts of Zuccotti Park have now been zoned by the occoupiers, with one 
area for non-denominational worship, and one near the library for 
information services. Professor Wark commented that many of the people 
at the protest in the park were at a loss to know what to do, as there 
was nothing to buy and no one to confront. He suggested that while the 
current movement has no clear political aim, the movement could be 
channeled to some aim (and that there may be some establishment reaction 
to this).

Professor Wark pointed out that most of the trading at "Wall Street" 
takes place on-line, with traders at distributed workstations. As a 
result the protest at Wall Street perhaps has the wrong symbolism. It 
occours to me that there has so far been no move to occupy the on-line 
manifestations of Wall Street. That would be more likely to result in a 
confrontation with authorities, as there are much clearer laws making it 
a crime to interfere with a networked computer system. The ACS is 
assisting the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) with 
Cyber Policy consultation. It is an interesting question as to the 
extent to which legitimate protest can be recognized and allowed for. 
Simply banning anything which looked like a protest would be very dangerous.

More at: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2011/10/revolution-in-over-developed-world.html


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards 
Legislation

Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/



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