transnational networks of radical labour research and hactivism

8/12/2019 Transnational Networks of Radical Labour Research and Hactivism

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u!risings, and assemblies, work grou!s as well as online tools !o!ularised have !la ed a ma"or

role in this !rocess+ .ince $%**, ra!id and massive involvements, not onl in such !o!ular

online social networks as


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!resented here is com!osed of innovative !ro"ects, organisational forms and communication

channels that functioning as interface between different networks' facilitating ex!ansion and

em!owerment b increasing interactions+ .ince it is sub"ected to the language (6nglish,

Turkish and Dutch s!oken and written) and s!atial sco!e we could cover, the list could give

onl a little glance to the reader+ Eowever, one can easil trace similar initiatives and networks

o!erating in other language s!heres and societies around the world as those initiatives and

networks take !lace throughout transnational social s!aces which are em!owered, if not

created, b the controversial 3nternet linkages and the new wave of social resistances and

u!risings ( uiterre#, $%*F)+

Knowledge proletariat hacking education and production in the city? 1

The wides!read neoliberal offences through deregulation and !rivatisation waves have brought

about increasingl !ro"ect based, com!etitive, flexible and insecure working conditions and

relationshi!s for the academic and technical !ersonnel at the universities of the lobal orth

(Gesso!, $%%4)+ onseHuentl , a stead !rocess of !oliticisation has linked radicalised

academic labourers and students to those existing la ers of radical labour research and

advocac networks+ 3nteractions between these la ers brought about im!ortant critical debates

and radical research, which in return endorsed the !roduction and distribution !rocess of a

large bod of innovative and emanci!ator knowledge that would hel! to understand the

com!lexities of globali#ing ca!italism+ .ince the late I%s and $%%%s, such large bod of radical

anal sis found its wa to flow faster and wider on the internet+ 3t became much easier for

activists to access the emanci!ator knowledge and turn them into 8transformative9 !olitical

!ractices ( ainwright, $%*2)+ /a be the most im!ortant outcome of this develo!ment and the

* .ee aterman ($%*%) for an anal sis of some of, and earlier similar labour related !ro"ects+

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radical-!oliticisation in the academia was the return of labour resistance and organisation in

and around various universit de!artments, es!eciall in social and human sciences, art,

architecture, !olitical econom , media, communication, informatics, c bernetics etc+ This has

turned the cam!us into a d namic s!ace of convergence between labour activism, research and

art once again (Boss et+ al, $%%&' ifo, $%*%)+

=nce emanated from the universit cam!uses, radical knowledge and !olitical !ractices have

also stimulated the interactions and mobili#ations in the cit + 3t9s worth mentioning that there is

still a great deal of class based theoretical a!!roaches to !olitical econom of contem!orarca!italism in academia+ Eowever, in the lobal orth, the main line of divisions among

theoretical7academic and !olitical7activist cam!s of /arxism(s) and Anarchism(s) became

much milder, which in return allowed s!ace for cross fertilisation and s nthetic anal sis+ The

recent fascinating debates such as those over the 6m!ire, international historical sociolog ,

critical global !olitical econom , new im!erialism, global ca!italism, cultural !olitical

econom , governmentalit , etc+ can be seen as good exam!les of such s ntheses+ Digital or

online !ro"ects and "ournals like ;rocessed orld, /ultitudes, /ute, /eta-/ute, 6!hemera,

3ncognito,


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artist backgrounds have also been contributing to the innovative and strong anal ses of the

contem!orar contradictions of ca!italist mode of !roduction+

uilding around innovative conce!tual tools and notions like !eneral intelle t , olle tive

intelli!en e , immaterial labour , a""e tive labour , "ree labour , playbour , ommons and

ommonin! , peer produ tion, p#p, distributed networks, networks ultures,and te hno$politi s ,

new anal tical and ontological !ers!ectives have drawn lines among cultural and media

studies, !olitics, economics, ecolog and gender+ These anal ses have attracted new generation

activists es!eciall in the late I%s earl $%%%s+ 3nternational mobilisations like 8 attle in.eattle9 in *III, and those 8 lobal .olidarit and Gustice9 movements flourished around .ocial


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=ther !ro"ects like bersaloon, lass ar ames, E !ermedia, and s!aces like Eistorical

/aterialism conferences and 1eft


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unionists focusing on struggles in and around manual labour intensive industries are

increasingl engaged with those communities that bear the histor , culture and consciousness

of radicalising 8!eer !roduction9 communities -often referred to as 8digital9 or 8on-line9

!roduction communities, digital commoners, !rod users, etc+ These radical communities, most

of the time built b ha kers , makers, !uerrilla translators so on, have been locall self-

organised in a similar wa with those alternative and autonomous Do-3t-Courself communities

of the 4%s and I%s+ Cet the have been increasingl connected at national, regional, and global

networks that create and articulate a feeling of simultaneous connectivit (/orel, $%%I and

$%*%' Jastokis, $%*F)+ These international communication and exchange channels and s!acesenabled interactions with networks of labour and social "ustice activists ( auwens, $%**)+

hile the !artici!ants of !eer !roduction communities have been tra!!ed in the 8ca!italist

mode9, the ex!ansion of transnational social s!aces -of exchange and sharing- allowed them to

!roduce and share use$value in radicall different wa s than ca!italism (5leiner, $%*%' Bigi,

$%*2)+ During the 4%s and I%s earl generations of such communities have been a com!osition

of self-em!lo ed hi!!ies and 8kitsch9 entre!reneurs, who were well-!aid waged artists,

"ournalists, architects, coders, s stem-administrators+ Together with amateur hackers, most of

the time with estern middle class origin, forming the basis of the c ber!unk sub-culture

( arbrook, *II0' erbaudo, $%*F)+ The colla!se of the dot+com bubble in the late I%s however

brought about the radicalisation of these communities, !aving a wa to the emergence of

!oliticised !$! movements+ ;ro"ects like K, o!tleft,


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with the dee!ening global recession and revival of authoritarian ca!italism+ Arrival of wide

s!read forms of digital activism or ha ktivism -like Anon mous, 1ul#.ec, and ;irate ;arties-

attracted worldwide !ublic attention+ Jariet of creative, digital and !oliticall driven !ro"ects

initiated b these communities challenging ca!italist forms and social relationshi!s became

!o!ular+ Therefore, hacktivism and !$! movements are, increasingl conceived as an

inse!arable com!onent of labour and social "ustice movements of the !revious decades

(Eimanen, $%%F' Dafermos and .oderberg, $%%4' interview with 5leiner, $%*F)+


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anarchist collectives such as sHuatters, it varied from the s!aces and culture of vertical labour

grou!s, left !olitical !arties or =s+ Therefore, there usuall were weak interactions

between these communities or networks+ Cet, during and after national and international

u!risings since $%** -in .!ain, K., K5, reece, /exico, Turke , ra#il and number of other

countries, existing ties between these networks ra!idl increased ( uiterre#, $%*2 and $%*F)+

;ro"ects like lobal Bevolution, =cccu! The omm, B=AB, uerilla Translation, lobal

K!risings, and man other !ro"ects were co-created b hackers, artists, digital media and video

activists, who either took active !art in the self-organisation of mobilisations or "oined in,

observed, or documented the u!risings+ This has o!ened broad channels for large scaleinterlocking among the activist networks+ =n the ground, former or current sHuads, social and

cultural centres, occu!ied factories, forums, cafes, and assemblies etc+ used to form s!aces to

gather face to face, and online communication tools allowed these grou!s to build la ers

serving for the convergence+

Eigh level access to 3nternet, advanced ex!erience with the develo!ment and use of new

communication technologies and tools, and the abilit to work with intellectual and creative

ca!acit (online and on the ground), those "obless and ho!eless and most of the time ounger

knowledge !roletarian have manifested their !oliticisation b "oining hacker grou!s,


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accounts and !ages, federated news feeds that !rovide in- and out- flux information between

local, national and international communities+ ;ro"ects like DBC-3nternational, lobal .Huare,

;eo!les9 Assemblies etwork, Take The .Huare, have been functional in harmonising the

information flow that allowed various networks to link u! with each other and ex!and+ 1arge

amounts of motivated and radicalised individual, either b getting involved in existing grou!s

and networks or !referring to act as individual, engaged in an intense, continuous, disci!lined,

distributed and collective !olitical action ( ennett et+ al+ $%*F' astells, $%*2)+

Mesh Networking the Un-Unitable?

The !henomenon of ex!ansion of online and real world s!aces, in and through which cross-

fertilisations have been taking !lace were creating an un!recedented exchange among all

existing radical theoretical and anal tical de!ositor + 5ind of o!en, distributed and

collaborative anal sis have underlined the new forms of collective action (;or, $%%4)+ Jarious

networks com!osed of radicalised sub"ectivities bearing creative insights that stem from

different ideological-theoretical !ers!ectives' and faster and !roductive interactions among

these sub"ectivities resulted in more s nthetic and d namic visions+ These visions were

ex!ressed through rich and re!roducible visual, artistic, and cultural !olitical !roducts' being

usuall downloaded, further im!roved, and u!loaded to the 3nternet again+ /assive amount of

shar! and cleaver images, videos and texts did transmit and articulated the vision of global

emanci!ation -from ca!italism, across borders in real time+ .uch an ex!losion in the volume of

transnational information exchange, was hel!ful in connecting different existential realities of

!artici!ants as well as observers+ .ince these new and wide channels were o!en to hundreds of

millions !ublic observers, that were not onl enabling large scale and !eer to !eer !olitical

*$


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exchange, but the were also extremel hel!ful to avoid ideolog or ego-based un!roductive

and sectarian conflicts+

There were interventions coming from organised labour from inside and outside the unions+

The s mbolic greetings between workers u!rising in isconsin and the workers "oining the

occu!ation of Tahrir .Huare in 6g !t released a strong message revived the vision of labour

internationalism+ The international /6 A .olidarit etwork, which connects inde!endent

union centres active in 6g !t, Tunis, K5 and K., as well as other countries in the

/editerranean region, have !la ed an im!ortant role+ estern and local video-activists on theground had develo!ed networks of live streamers+ 3ndividual media activists who live stream

mobilisations online from inside -b using mobile !hones or hand cameras connected to the

3nternet- formed international networks like the lobalBevolution network+ These networks

later on evolved into broader alternative media !ro"ects such as =ccu! the omm, 3- ithness,

lobal =ccu! ews, Babel/ouse, and B=AB+ These !ro"ects have been extremel

functional in terms of s!reading information and s mbols ex!ressing the renewal of labour

class struggle+ =ther online communication tools, like 3B channels (3nstant Bela hat),

social network sites (like -*, =ccu!ii, rab rass, 3nter=ccu! ) have been utilised to form

assemblies and workgrou!s, in order to facilitate exchange between national and international

action networks+ These tools !la ed ke a role, for instance in organising =akland eneral

.trike, est oast .hut Down, /a


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There is also the increase in the number of 8secure and alternative9 social networking tools

build b free-information activists and hackers, in order to serve those who need securit when

organi#ing under re!ressive conditions, or for those who are critical about using ca!italistic

!roducts+ Biseu! and -*, are onl two exam!les, serving more than * %+%%% activists and

collectives working on various issues b !roviding e-mail lists and social networking

!latforms+


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infrastructure !ublicl available has allowed knowled!e workers to interlinking among various

networks and worker&s knowled!e+

The activist-scholars have been dealing with the !roblem of converging between autonomous

labour and social "ustice movements on the one hand, and unions and !rogressive = on the

other (.en and aterman, $%*2)+ ;eter aterman have had a uniHue !osition, as an observer

and a re!orter, who has been adding the c bers!ace into the framework from his emanci!ator

labour internationalism !ers!ective ( aterman, $%**)+ aterman !resented a list of interacting

!ro"ects in his $%*% and $%** !a!ers, and he recentl u!dated his list ( aterman, $%*F), wherehe develo!ed a momentous anal ses on labour and trade union !ro"ects such as owto!ia,

1abour ets, 1abourTech, 1abour.tart, et#werk3T, etworked ;olitics, lobal 1abour

3nstitute, .3 TKB among others+ As we !ut forward in this !a!er, there has been an ex!losion

in the number of new visible and active !ro"ects and networks that are converging towards and

collaborating with each other+ As mentioned earlier, a com!rehensive collection of similar

initiatives are listed on ;$;


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kicked of the !oliticisation of the !$! movement in the 4%s+ /a


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im!ortant ste! has taken recentl b launching an online social network entitled 'he

(r!ani)in! *etwork + This network is built b using an alternative codification develo!ed b


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K.3, has the highest !otential in our o!inion, in terms of abilit to attract variet of radical

labour !ro"ects, unions, activists and =s+ 3t is alread connected to im!ortant ke

interlocking networks, eas to learn and use, it is tested and ex!ected user grou!s are alread

have ideas or even being trained on using social media to organise+ This means those labour

networks that alread meets at international s!aces like orld .ocial


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turned the uto!ia of


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collective worker, the general intellect, demarcated working classes could gain a self-

consciousness+ The could use their intellectual ca!acit to self-educate and develo! a clear

critics of global !olitical econom + eing informed b variet of rich insights and innovative

a!!roaches over the structural and sub"ective d namics sha!ing its fractioned realit it could

develo! creative and un!redictable strategies and tactics, action and governance models that

would make the best chance for the realisation of bottom u! and egalitarian radical social

change+ .uch conscious class agenc would be able develo! the !ers!ective for a realistic and

feasible 8econom for all9 from toda (/aret#, $%*2' /arsh, $%*2), b building on the same

egalitarian and direct democratic societal organisational forms, in and through which manualand mental labour functionall be fused, attention giving care and loving labour would

emanci!ate the men, and labour and other !roductive forces could be emanci!ated collectivel

from the gras! of an !rivileged classes+ e tried to demonstrate above that concrete signs,

s mbols, s!aces, tools and !olitics of the emerging global working class agenc + As Thom!son

thought us working class makes itself in its dail struggles+ Although it is demarcated and s

being tra!!ed into a miserable looking conditions and ho!elessness, we are observing the

collective worker gaining an global brain+ There are massive amount of conscious efforts being

!ut forward and moving further to the level of challenging the ca!ital and the state globall and

transnationall + ith a bigger !otential of winning, then the !revious generations, global

working class would have bigger chance of forming itself and win before the infighting ruling

classes !ush them into nationalisms and dissolution+ 6ven if this ha!!ens and humanit lose

again, it is certain that we are going to leave the most advanced ex!erience for the future

generations so the can learn from it for the next confrontation+

transnational networks of radical labour research and hactivism

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