I wonder if this does make a difference to anyone in power, ultimately; I don't see vulnerabilities emerging, but, yes, retrenchment, deeper and more private channels. In the US, the stock market continues to rise; in my book the banksters are equally villainous, but they'll continue to escape - look at Obama's backing down on Bush's tax cuts. I tend to think that Mike Davis' City of Quartz draws the line well, or as Trump's kids said from their new hideous tower in Soho, we can look down on all the little buildings.
Then again, even unbelievable, let's say, total, transparency, doesn't mean that bribes don't have their targets, that capital doesn't continue as usual. I'm amazed at politics in the US, with the Republican poor constantly voting, knowledgably, against their own best interests - given the relative unease of populations, symbolic capital becomes all the more important. We see signs of this across the street, where Ratner is building a stadium after razing buildings he seized by 'eminent domain' - after having the city declare the area 'blighted' (the area included new buildings etc.). All this in full view of the neighborhood; we brought suit after suit, and nothing worked except capital, lawyers, the violence of power on the other side. Apparently all of this is now featured in a musical, which is the best we can do, uselessly play while people are evicted. - Alan On Tue, 7 Dec 2010, Simon Biggs wrote: > It should be Assange arresting all the governments and their cronies. They > have it the wrong way round. > > Wikileaks has revealed, with concrete evidence, how so-called "democratic" > governments are little more than criminal cartels who are happy to > incarcerate those who seek to lift the veil on their activities. There is no > difference between China or the US, the House of Saud or the UK, Burma or > Germany. Each of these Mafia-like organisations recognises themselves in one > another. This is no surprise to them, only to us suckers who vote for them > (if they allow us this crumb of illusory comfort). > > We are obligated to do something to remove these criminals - but what? It > seems difficult when they have convinced us that they run the planet. > However, the Wikileaks approach looks a good option. If you pummel > government with evidence of their own lies they will retrench to their > safest ground, as all the paranoid will. Once retrenched, with a smaller (if > trusted) footprint, they are more vulnerable. This pressure has to be > sustained to work (that is why the leaks are let out slowly). Eventually the > circle of trust will be far smaller than the ring of threat that surrounds > it. Assange is quite brilliant, although this is basic anarchist theory. > > However, like a cornered animal, the government will, when the pressure is > at its most intense, be vicious and dangerous. The seizure of Asssange is > symptomatic of this and thus evidence they are on the run. I imagine Assange > might be quietly pleased by how this is playing out. However, the question > now is how to push the advantage? If that doesn't happen the veil will again > be lowered. But if the attack is pursued the power of these criminal elites > will evaporate in the harsh light of day. > > The next few days, perhaps weeks, will be critical. Any vestige of freedom > depends on it. > > Best > > Simon > > > Simon Biggs > [email protected] [email protected] > Skype: simonbiggsuk > http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ > > Research Professor edinburgh college of art > http://www.eca.ac.uk/ > Creative Interdisciplinary Research in CoLlaborative Environments > http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ > Electronic Literature as a Model of Creativity and Innovation in Practice > http://www.elmcip.net/ > Centre for Film, Performance and Media Arts > http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/film-performance-media-arts > > >> From: "xDxD.vs.xDxD" <[email protected]> >> Reply-To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity >> <[email protected]> >> Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2010 23:58:16 +0100 >> To: <[email protected]> >> Subject: [NetBehaviour] arrested >> >> Julian Assange arrested >> http://julianassangearrested.tumblr.com/ >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > > Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number > SC009201 > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > == email archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ webpage http://www.alansondheim.org music archive: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ current text http://www.alansondheim.org/qu.txt == _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
