This is also relevant here I think - https://www.akpress.org/against-the-fascist-creep.html
Thanks, Alan On Mon, Apr 9, 2018 at 6:12 AM, ruth catlow <ruth.cat...@furtherfield.org> wrote: > Of interest? > > -------- Forwarded Message -------- > Subject: [bgcon] open call: AMBIENT REVOLTS > Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2018 12:03:24 +0200 > From: Krystian Woznicki <k...@berlinergazette.de> <k...@berlinergazette.de> > Reply-To: k...@berlinergazette.de > Organisation: Berliner Gazette > To: digi-ya...@berlinergazette.de > > Hi, > > What does it mean to act politically when, like in this very moment, we > are confronting the spread of right-wing populism as an ambient force > that polarizes all of us? What, in other words, does it mean to oppose > the imperceptible power of an atmosphere that outrules a collectivity > that is inclusive of all? What does it mean to counter the > quasi-environmentalization of proto-fascist tendencies that further > foster segregation? > > Posing these questions in its 19th year, the Berliner Gazette continues > a long-term engagement with contemporary forms of political agency and > the common. In this open call for contributions, we wish to invite > activists, journalists, researchers, cultural workers, coders and > artists to join us looking for answers. > > We want to invite you to participate! There are two different formats of > participation: conference workshops (deadline: May 20, 2018 ) and online > newspaper (deadline: June 20, 2018). > > The structure of this email is as follows: > > 1. Development, context, goal > 2. Conference workshops | call for contributions > 3. Online-newspaper | call for contributions > > Links, that are implemented in the email text as footnotes, you will > find at the very bottom. > > 1. Development, context, goal > > *Development* > > The BG team [1] began developing the AMBIENT REVOLTS project in July > 2017. We started right after the G20 summit in Hamburg where some of us > joined the alternative media center FCMC [2] and witnessed with many > other journalists the most severe execution of preemptive state violence > in Germany’s recent history [3,4,5]. The ensuing recreation of the > political landscape echoed the authoritarian approach of the G20 police > force: a shift of politics to the right and even radical right, a > restriction of demonstration rights and of expressions of political > dissent, scaling and expanding security measures, etc. Against this > backdrop we developed the concept for AMBIENT REVOLTS, including the > general idea for our 2018 annual project consisting of a special section > in our online-newspaper and a series of events culminating with our > annual conference. > > Shortly after the g20-summer the BG annual conference FRIENDLY FIRE [6] > took place and provided many fruitful possibilities to reflect the > politics of citizenship under current conditions. Then, in December > 2017, the BG team contributed to the #LutherLenin festival at the Studio > Hrdinu in Prague [7]. Here we were able to test some of the ideas for > AMBIENT REVOLTS. Finally we launched the project with first > contributions to our online newspaper [8] and with a panel at the > transmediale festival [9] in February 2018. Documents of our > transmediale event are available in audio [10] and video [11,12]. > > After that few members of the BG team went on a month-log tour, visiting > some of the nodes of the BG network in Europe, including cities such as > Genoa, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Porto, Paris and Brussels. We learned > a lot about how the people who contribute to our online-newspaper or to > our annual conferences live and work in their respective local contexts. > This helped substantially honing some of the key ideas of the AMBIENT > REVOLTS project. > > *Context* > > When we returned to Berlin in the beginning of March 2018, the > atmosphere was literally spooky as the ghosts of the G20 summit came to > the fore again. Symptomatic of this was the career step of Olaf Scholz > [13]. Instead of paying for the consequences of his ‘bad management’ as > the mayor of Hamburg – we are, to reiterate, talking about the most > severe execution of state violence in Germany’s recent history –, Scholz > became finance minister and even vice chancellor in Angela Merkel’s > fourth cabinet. This disturbing move echoed the later day promotion of > many high ranking policemen and politicians who had been responsible for > the excesses of violence during the G8 in Genoa 2001 [14]. > > If such things can happen ‘in bright daylight’ and if they are taken to > be normal, rather than causing a public debate, then the public sphere > is in peril. After all, Scholz’s promotion was followed by a silence > that is telling inasmuch it expresses an implicit framework for > censorship. As such this silence is a constitutive condition for the > post-G20 public sphere: while (left-wing) criticism of the government > and its interpretation of democracy is quelled, right-wing populists are > elevated, e.g. when readily given stages, even by liberal media. > > If, in other words, the broader spectrum of the Left is delegitimized > while the far Right is legitimized, then the public sphere is being > constricted through two simultaneous moves. Both moves, as different as > they are, have in common that they contribute to closing the public > discourse for opposition, for dissent and, above all, for the biggest > possible plurality of contributions – the latter would also include > marginalized, invisibilized and illegalized actors for whom discursive > openings generally tend to be highly precarious. > > Needless to say, the aforementioned features have always been the vital > basics of any democracy, yet, remarkably, it is in this historic moment > – in Germany, Europe and beyond – that the greatest collective courage > needs to take hold to actually perform any of such basic democratic > engagement. As it is we are challenged to explore how this courage can > manifest itself in many different ways. > > *Goal* > > Against this backdrop the AMBIENT REVOLTS project takes an international > approach, foregrounding cross-border exchange and cooperation. More > specifically, the project aims at accompanying and advocating an > engagement with the public sphere at the molecular level. There are two > reasons for that. > > Firstly, we wish to understand better how ambient forces operate today, > meaning: how they colonize the micro-textures of the everyday, how they > enable the contagion of bodies and the modulation affect, and, more > concretely, how they foster right-wing populism. Secondly, we wish to > explore possibilities for interventions upon the ambient forces at their > operational level. Hence the AMBIENT REVOLTS project focuses on > micro-politics in the expanded micro-worlds of the networked public > spheres: small acts and minor gestures in the everyday – be it when > engaging in the class room or chat room, on the street or online, with > friends or colleagues. > > 2. Conference workshops | call for contributions > > Who: activists, journalists, researchers, cultural workers, coders and > artists > What: responses, ideas, commentary, material, links > Deadline: May 20, 2018 > Email: info(at)berlinergazette.de > > The AMBIENT REVOLTS conference will take place November 8-10, 2018 at > the Center for Arts and Urbanistics (ZK/U) in Berlin. There will be five > workshop tracks bringing together civil society actors from more than 20 > countries. We are now inviting activists, journalists, researchers, > cultural workers, coders and artists to submit ideas, questions, > material, links. All of this will contribute to the shaping of the > respective five workshop tracks. Please respond to the questions below > by May 20, 2018. > > Workshop Track: Rebooting Populism? > Keywords: Populism, Authoritarianism, Social Media, Liquid Democracy > Questions: If right-wing populism (and populism in general) today hinges > upon social media, are then the top-down logics of demagogy reversed? Is > populism nowadays a bottom-up affair? If so, can this reversed logic be > deployed for emancipatory and, ultimately, democratic ends? > > Workshop Track: Hacking the Urban Backend > Keywords: Smart City, Programmed Environments, Appropriation, Hacking > Questions: If in today’s smart city the urbanite is becoming one element > of the programmed environment, then how are the boundaries for political > action being redefined in the course of this? What happens to public > space as a realm in which political actors voice their concerns? Is the > arena of political intervention being relocated to the invisiblized > backend of the city? > > Workshop Track: Involuntary Community > Keywords: Interconnectedness, Disruption, Social Networks, Community > Questions: If under today’s conditions of all-encompassing > interconnectedness right-wing populist moods can spread in a viral, > quasi-contagious fashion, then what role do system errors, glitches and > other (planned or unplanned) disruptions play? Can the surprise element > of involuntary connectedness or disconnectedness gain a political > valence? What forms of community can emerge, when technologies such as > "Near Sensing" are deployed for unexpected social ends? > > Workshop Track: Challenging the Capitalocene > Keywords: Capitalocene, Automation, Dehumanization, Racism > Questions: If capitalism in the current stage is a quasi-automated > matter, then what role can human actors play? If algorithms operate > according to racialized categories, then how does racism play out in > quasi-automated capitalism? What are possible strategies against > dehumanization? > > Workshop Track: Unlearning Learning > Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Self-Learning, Politics of Learning > If self-learning systems define our age, if, at the same time, AI-driven > social media come to provide pseudo-classrooms while traditional media > lose their authority as ‘educational institutions’, then what is the > present and future of pedagogy? What kind of unlearning needs to be > done? What, if at all, do we need to learn from self-learning systems? > In what kind of networked public spheres (and atmo-spheres) do we want > to be learning tomorrow? > > 3. Online-newspaper | call for contributions > > Who: activists, journalists, researchers, cultural workers, coders and > artists > What: essays, interviews and reports (9.500 chars) > Deadline: June 20, 2018 > Email: info(at)berlinergazette.de > > At the beginning of this year we have started publishing essays, > interviews and reports in a special section of the Berliner Gazette > dedicated to AMBIENT REVOLTS [15]. We are planning to publish > approximately 50 contributions by the end of the year. Assembling this > material we would like also to elaborate a concept for a book with a > selection of texts on our annual theme – expanding the BG series of by > now eight books (5 of them anthologies/readers). > > If you have not heard about the BG annual projects before, please have a > look at our most recent projects UN|COMMONS [16], TACIT FUTURES [17] and > FRIENDLY FIRE [18]. > > Please spread the word about this open call for contributions. And > please let us know if you have any questions regarding the call. > > Stay tuned, > > Krystian (for the BG team) > > Links > > 1. https://bit.ly/2GK2LQb > 2. https://fcmc.tv/ > 3. https://bit.ly/2IEJH6i > 4. http://berlinergazette.de/g-20-gewalt-aus-der-zukunft > 5. https://g20-doku.org > 6. https://berlinergazette.de/friendly-fire > 7. https://studiohrdinu.cz/en/predstaveni/lutherlenin > 8. https://bit.ly/2HiFdTu > 9. https://bit.ly/2uZV6M8 > 10. https://voicerepublic.com/talks/ambient-revolts > 11. https://vimeo.com/262355303 > 12. https://vimeo.com/262354951 > 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_Scholz > 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27th_G8_summit > 15. https://bit.ly/2HiFdTu > 16. https://berlinergazette.de/uncommons > 17. https://berlinergazette.de/tacit-futures > 18. https://berlinergazette.de/friendly-fire > > -- > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > BG – Berliner Gazette | since 1999 | http://berlinergazette.de > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > BG BOOKS OUT NOW @ DP: > > FUGITIVE BELONGINGhttps://diamondpaper.net/title_27 > > A FIELD GUIDE TO THE SNOWDEN FILES http://diamondpaper.net/title_26 > > AFTER THE PLANEShttp://diamondpaper.net/title_25 > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > CHECK DOCU OF LATEST BG EVENTS: > > FRIENDLY FIRE – BG Annual Conference 2017 > https://berlinergazette.de/friendly-fire > > SIGNALS – Exhibition of the Snowden Files http://berlinergazette.de/signals > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > > > _______________________________________________ > Digi-yards_berlinergazette.de mailing > listdigi-yards@berlinergazette.dehttps://ml06.ispgateway.de/mailman/listinfo/digi-yards_berlinergazette.de > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org > https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > -- *=====================================================* *directory http://www.alansondheim.org <http://www.alansondheim.org> tel 718-813-3285* *music/sound http://espdisk.com/alansondheim/ <http://espdisk.com/alansondheim/> * *email sondheim ut panix.com <http://panix.com>, sondheim ut gmail.com <http://gmail.com>=====================================================*
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