Re: CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

[hans christian voigt]

I’d say the verdict "an excellent example of [..] 'left’ thinking that has 
completely fallen for the government and big-pharma propaganda" was the end of 
any critical discussion. 

That and further indication that Florians doubts don’t seem far fetched.

chr.


>  
>  
> From: Florian Cramer  
> Sent: Thursday, 20 January 2022 13:00
> To: Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid) 
> Cc: nettim...@kein.org
> Subject: Re:  CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: 
> left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques
>  
> 
> - Government propaganda and censorship around lockdown and vaccination
> [...] 
> - The role of mass and social media in anti- or pro-lockdown or vaccine 
> propaganda, political polarization and forms of media virality (eg. via 
> covid-19 memes)
> [...] 
> - Mandatory vaccine rollouts as assaults to the feminist appeal to bodily 
> autonomy
> [...] 
> - Ethical considerations regarding mass experimentation, moral shaming and 
> lateral citizen surveillance
> [...]
> - Teleological and theological narratives of science as salvation (eg. via 
> vaccinations)
>  
> All beautiful examples of a "Querfront" discourse where extreme right 
> positions are packaged  in left-wing rhetoric. Not a single point, however, 
> on minorities and vulnerable people and communities endangered by anti-vaccer 
> egoism, and neo-Darwinist politics - for example in the UK, Sweden and the 
> Netherlands, of "herd immunity" through survival of the fittest.
>  
> You should invite Dutch experts Willem Engel and Thierry Baudet as keynote 
> speakers.
>  
> -F
>  
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Re: CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

[Ted Byfield]

This kind of 'concern trolling'–esque appropriation of leftish discourse in the 
service of rightish agendas is becoming pervasive in the US at least — and 
elsewhere, I'm sure, albeit with less detail.

As with most of these discursive tendencies it's first and foremost impersonal, 
which can make it hard to counter without opening oneself up to charges of 
relying on ad hominem. I think that helps to account for its rise as a 
rhetorical strategy: it 'works' mainly because it lays basis for a scripted 
form of pseudo-argument — pious platitudes about science, openness, debate, 
democracy, whatever. But, as I think you suggest, Florian, it would be a 
serious mistake to see it as merely rhetorical: it has concrete consequences.

It might be useful to think of this turn in terms of rightist 
'culture-jamming,' 'overidentification,' and related ideas.

Cheers,
Ted

On 20 Jan 2022, at 7:00, Florian Cramer wrote:

>> - Government propaganda and censorship around lockdown and vaccination
>>
> [...]
>
>> - The role of mass and social media in anti- or pro-lockdown or vaccine
>> propaganda, political polarization and forms of media virality (eg. via
>> covid-19 memes)
>>
> [...]
>
>> - Mandatory vaccine rollouts as assaults to the feminist appeal to bodily
>> autonomy
>>
> [...]
>
>> - Ethical considerations regarding mass experimentation, moral shaming and
>> lateral citizen surveillance
>>
> [...]
>
>> - Teleological and theological narratives of science as salvation (eg. via
>> vaccinations)
>
>
> All beautiful examples of a "Querfront" discourse where extreme right
> positions are packaged  in left-wing rhetoric. Not a single point, however,
> on minorities and vulnerable people and communities endangered by
> anti-vaccer egoism, and neo-Darwinist politics - for example in the UK,
> Sweden and the Netherlands, of "herd immunity" through survival of the
> fittest.
>
> You should invite Dutch experts Willem Engel and Thierry Baudet as keynote
> speakers.
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Re: CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

[mp]

On 20/01/2022 15:54, Florian Cramer wrote:
> Any critical discussion ends here.

Amen!

...
..
.
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Re: CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

[Stefan Heidenreich]

Science thrives with doubts and diversity. And ends with apodictic calls 
to stop discussions.
Sorry to say, Florian: your statement sounds to me like an attempt to 
block a very much needed debate. The comparison with intelligent design 
is itself a propagandistic trope. Even being "provax", I'd stilll feel 
much safer in a scientific environment that allows for doubts and 
discussions.


Best
Stefan


Am 20.01.2022 um 16:54 schrieb Florian Cramer:

I feel there exists a distinct and problematic form of boundary
policing from what identifies as 'the left' today, resulting inany
critique of lockdowns and provax sentiment starting from left-wing
values being too easily dismissed as 'right-wing.' A better critique
of class in relation to all this is especially sorely missing. Hence
my retort of 'knee-jerk.'


The word "provax" itself is a propaganda framing, similar to framing 
evolution as 'just a theory' next to 'intelligent design', and a 
complete giveaway of your ideology; just as your list of research 
questions was, in its sum, rhetorical.


Any critical discussion ends here.

-F



Cheers, Ingrid.

Get Outlook for Android 

*From:* Ana Teixeira Pinto
mailto:a.n.a.t.e.i.x.e.i.r.a.p.i.n@gmail.com>>
*Sent:* Thursday, January 20, 2022 2:00:52 PM
*To:* Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid) mailto:i.m.ho...@uu.nl>>
*Cc:* nettim...@kein.org 
mailto:nettim...@kein.org>>
*Subject:* Re:  CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic
politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques
I would not call Florian's response a knee-jerk reaction, and also
find it difficult to sketch out an anti-racist position without
addressing vaccine equity, or the adjacency of anti-vaccine rhetoric
to narratives of reverse colonialism entailing the subjugation of
white people; not to mention their rabid antisemitism. I would not
foreclose a left-wing critique of government policy but would agree
with Florian that its dangerous to couch far-right sentiment in left
wing discourse.




On Thu, Jan 20, 2022 at 1:06 PM Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid)
mailto:i.m.ho...@uu.nl>> wrote:

Your knee-jerk response is an excellent example of elitist and
false-oppositional ‘left’ thinking that has completely fallen
for the government and big-pharma propaganda, and forgets to
think critically about power structures, knowing very well that
right-wing and left-wing, while also entertaining huge
differences, are not pure opposites. Baudet would be proud of
you; he can rake in the spoils.



Cheers, Ingrid.

__ __

__ __

*From:*Florian Cramer mailto:flrnc...@gmail.com>>
*Sent:* Thursday, 20 January 2022 13:00
*To:* Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid) mailto:i.m.ho...@uu.nl>>
*Cc:* nettim...@kein.org 
*Subject:* Re:  CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic
politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

__ __


- Government propaganda and censorship around lockdown and
vaccination

[...] 

- The role of mass and social media in anti- or pro-lockdown
or vaccine propaganda, political polarization and forms of
media virality (eg. via covid-19 memes)

[...] 

- Mandatory vaccine rollouts as assaults to the feminist
appeal to bodily autonomy

[...] 

- Ethical considerations regarding mass experimentation,
moral shaming and lateral citizen surveillance

[...]

- Teleological and theological narratives of science as
salvation (eg. via vaccinations)

__ __

All beautiful examples of a "Querfront" discourse where extreme
right positions are packaged  in left-wing rhetoric. Not a
single point, however, on minorities and vulnerable people and
communities endangered by anti-vaccer egoism, and neo-Darwinist
politics - for example in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands, of
"herd immunity" through survival of the fittest.

__ __

You should invite Dutch experts Willem Engel and Thierry Baudet
as keynote speakers.

__ __

-F



#  distributed via : no commercial use without permission
#    is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l

#  archive: http://www.nettime.org 
contact: nett...@kein.org 

Re: CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

[Florian Cramer]

>
> I feel there exists a distinct and problematic form of boundary policing
> from what identifies as 'the left' today, resulting in any critique of
> lockdowns and provax sentiment starting from left-wing values being too
> easily dismissed as 'right-wing.' A better critique of class in relation to
> all this is especially sorely missing. Hence my retort of 'knee-jerk.'
>

The word "provax" itself is a propaganda framing, similar to framing
evolution as 'just a theory' next to 'intelligent design', and a complete
giveaway of your ideology; just as your list of research questions was, in
its sum, rhetorical.

Any critical discussion ends here.

-F




>
> Cheers, Ingrid.
>
> Get Outlook for Android 
> --
> *From:* Ana Teixeira Pinto 
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 20, 2022 2:00:52 PM
> *To:* Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid) 
> *Cc:* nettim...@kein.org 
> *Subject:* Re:  CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics:
> left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques
>
> I would not call Florian's response a knee-jerk reaction, and also find it
> difficult to sketch out an anti-racist position without addressing vaccine
> equity, or the adjacency of anti-vaccine rhetoric to narratives of reverse
> colonialism entailing the subjugation of white people; not to mention their
> rabid antisemitism. I would not foreclose a left-wing critique of
> government policy but would agree with Florian that its dangerous to couch
> far-right sentiment in left wing discourse.
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 20, 2022 at 1:06 PM Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid) 
> wrote:
>
> Your knee-jerk response is an excellent example of elitist and
> false-oppositional ‘left’ thinking that has completely fallen for the
> government and big-pharma propaganda, and forgets to think critically about
> power structures, knowing very well that right-wing and left-wing, while
> also entertaining huge differences, are not pure opposites. Baudet would be
> proud of you; he can rake in the spoils.
>
> Cheers, Ingrid.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Florian Cramer 
> *Sent:* Thursday, 20 January 2022 13:00
> *To:* Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid) 
> *Cc:* nettim...@kein.org
> *Subject:* Re:  CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics:
> left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques
>
>
>
>
> - Government propaganda and censorship around lockdown and vaccination
>
> [...]
>
> - The role of mass and social media in anti- or pro-lockdown or vaccine
> propaganda, political polarization and forms of media virality (eg. via
> covid-19 memes)
>
> [...]
>
> - Mandatory vaccine rollouts as assaults to the feminist appeal to bodily
> autonomy
>
> [...]
>
> - Ethical considerations regarding mass experimentation, moral shaming and
> lateral citizen surveillance
>
> [...]
>
> - Teleological and theological narratives of science as salvation (eg. via
> vaccinations)
>
>
>
> All beautiful examples of a "Querfront" discourse where extreme right
> positions are packaged  in left-wing rhetoric. Not a single point, however,
> on minorities and vulnerable people and communities endangered by
> anti-vaccer egoism, and neo-Darwinist politics - for example in the UK,
> Sweden and the Netherlands, of "herd immunity" through survival of the
> fittest.
>
>
>
> You should invite Dutch experts Willem Engel and Thierry Baudet as keynote
> speakers.
>
>
>
> -F
>
>
> #  distributed via : no commercial use without permission
> #is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
> #  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
> #  more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
> #  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org
> #  @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
>
> #  distributed via : no commercial use without permission
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> #  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
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Re: CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

[Frédéric Neyrat]

The difficulty from the oppositional left - I do not speak about the left
that dissolved itself into the neoliberal discourse and practice - to
clearly stand out from the extreme-right discourse, to courageously refuse
the terms imposed by the extreme-right hegemony, is one of the most
worrisome symptoms of our time, it will lead to war actually. Thus, we have
two ennemis, not one, that is to say two fronts: the neoliberal one, and
the neonationalist one. Facing both would require two clear lines of
demarcation.

Fortunately there are some excellent texts, I recommend this one:
https://lundi.am/Sur-la-catastrophe-en-cours-et-comment-en-sortir
and this excerpt, for instance:

"C’est à cet endroit précis que nous avons commencé à perdre la partie.
Alors que le virus venait révéler la faillite évidente de notre
civilisation depuis ses fondements mêmes, nous nous sommes laissés traîner
sur le plan de la gestion, bonne ou mauvaise, moins pire ou catastrophique.
Au moment où l’idée même que l’on se faisait de la vie se trouvait acculée
à être repensée et réinventé, on a critiqué les politiciens. Quand le
gouvernement masquait si difficilement sa panique et son incapacité à
exercer sa fonction fondamentale et spirituelle, prévoir, on a entendu
certains gauchistes même anarchistes caqueter : si tout cela arrive, c’est
qu’ils l’ont bien voulu ou décidé. Ironie cruelle, même lorsque l’État se
retrouve dans les choux avec le plus grand mal à gouverner, il peut compter
sur ses fidèles contempteurs pour y déceler sa toute puissance et s’en
sentir finauds."


[translation DeepL] "It is at this very point that we started to lose the
game. While the virus was revealing the obvious bankruptcy of our
civilization from its very foundations, we let ourselves be dragged down to
the level of management, good or bad, lesser or catastrophic. When the very
idea of life was forced to be rethought and reinvented, we criticized the
politicians. When the government was having such difficulty masking its
panic and its inability to exercise its fundamental and spiritual function,
to foresee, we heard some leftists, even anarchists, cackling: if all this
is happening, it is because they wanted it to happen or decided it to
happen. Cruel irony, even when the state finds itself in the cabbage with
the greatest difficulty in governing, it can count on its faithful
contemptors to detect its omnipotence there and feel finicky about it."


See also when they speak about the necessary "mise à dispositions des
techniques de fabrication du vaccin" / the provision of vaccine
manufacturing techniques.

My best,

FN
__



On Thu, Jan 20, 2022 at 7:05 AM David Garcia <
d.gar...@new-tactical-research.co.uk> wrote:

> There are certainly important questions to be asked about the ways in
> which the science is being framed and sometimes manipulated at a time when
> ‘knowledge’ is increasingly being seen as central in what we take
> democratic politics to be. Boris Johnson’s original attachment to the
> ‘herd immunity’ (famously declaring let the bodies pile high) was being
> justified at the time as “guided by the science”.
>
>
>
> Richard Horton, the editor of the respected medical journal the* Lancet*,
> worried that “the relationship between the scientific advisers and
> politicians in the early phase of the epidemic was strangely collusive”.
> And James Wilsdon, (professor of research policy at Sheffield University)
> has been arguing for some time that “The entire science advisory system
> feels as if it has been fundamentally – perhaps fatally – compromised by
> the pandemic.”
>
>
>
> I don’t know how the data was communicated in the Netherlands but I
> certainly shared Wilsdon’s discomfort that from the very first moment I saw
> those press conferences “with Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and
> Patrick Vallance, the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, flanking the
> Prime Minister” [like a pair of praetorian guards] “which rang all sorts of
> alarm bells, in terms of lines of accountability and the blurring of the
> distinction between advice and decision-making.”.
>
>
>
> These questions will only increase in importance as we move into a new
> political phase where the science behind of net zero target will become the
> new frontline of politics..
>
>
>
> David Garcia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: * on behalf of "Hoofd, I.M.
> (Ingrid)" 
> *Date: *Thursday, 20 January 2022 at 12:07
> *To: *"nettim...@kein.org" 
> *Subject: *Re:  CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics:
> left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques
>
>
>
> Your knee-jerk response is an excellent example of elitist and
> false-oppositional ‘left’ thinking that has completely fallen for the
> government and big-pharma propaganda, and forgets to think critically about
> power structures, knowing very well that right-wing and left-wing, while
> also entertaining huge differences, are not pure opposites. Baudet would be
> proud 

Re: CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

[David Garcia]

There are certainly important questions to be asked about the ways in which the 
science is being framed and sometimes manipulated at a time when ‘knowledge’ is 
increasingly being seen as central in what we take democratic politics to be. 
Boris Johnson’s original attachment to the ‘herd immunity’ (famously declaring 
let the bodies pile high) was being justified at the time as “guided by the 
science”. 

 

Richard Horton, the editor of the respected medical journal the Lancet, worried 
that “the relationship between the scientific advisers and politicians in the 
early phase of the epidemic was strangely collusive”. And James Wilsdon, 
(professor of research policy at Sheffield University) has been arguing for 
some time that “The entire science advisory system feels as if it has been 
fundamentally – perhaps fatally – compromised by the pandemic.”

 

I don’t know how the data was communicated in the Netherlands but I certainly 
shared Wilsdon’s discomfort that from the very first moment I saw those press 
conferences “with Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the 
Government Chief Scientific Advisor, flanking the Prime Minister” [like a pair 
of praetorian guards] “which rang all sorts of alarm bells, in terms of lines 
of accountability and the blurring of the distinction between advice and 
decision-making.”. 

 

These questions will only increase in importance as we move into a new 
political phase where the science behind of net zero target will become the new 
frontline of politics..  

 

David Garcia

 

 

 

From:  on behalf of "Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid)" 

Date: Thursday, 20 January 2022 at 12:07
To: "nettim...@kein.org" 
Subject: Re:  CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: 
left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

 

Your knee-jerk response is an excellent example of elitist and 
false-oppositional ‘left’ thinking that has completely fallen for the 
government and big-pharma propaganda, and forgets to think critically about 
power structures, knowing very well that right-wing and left-wing, while also 
entertaining huge differences, are not pure opposites. Baudet would be proud of 
you; he can rake in the spoils.

 

Cheers, Ingrid.

 

 

From: Florian Cramer  
Sent: Thursday, 20 January 2022 13:00
To: Hoofd, I.M. (Ingrid) 
Cc: nettim...@kein.org
Subject: Re:  CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: 
left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

 


- Government propaganda and censorship around lockdown and vaccination

[...] 

- The role of mass and social media in anti- or pro-lockdown or vaccine 
propaganda, political polarization and forms of media virality (eg. via 
covid-19 memes)

[...] 

- Mandatory vaccine rollouts as assaults to the feminist appeal to bodily 
autonomy

[...] 

- Ethical considerations regarding mass experimentation, moral shaming and 
lateral citizen surveillance

[...]

- Teleological and theological narratives of science as salvation (eg. via 
vaccinations)

 

All beautiful examples of a "Querfront" discourse where extreme right positions 
are packaged  in left-wing rhetoric. Not a single point, however, on minorities 
and vulnerable people and communities endangered by anti-vaccer egoism, and 
neo-Darwinist politics - for example in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands, of 
"herd immunity" through survival of the fittest.

 

You should invite Dutch experts Willem Engel and Thierry Baudet as keynote 
speakers.

 

-F

 

# distributed via : no commercial use without permission # is a moderated 
mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural 
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#  @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:

Re: CfP: Critical reflections on pandemic politics: left-wing, feminist and anti-racist critiques

[Florian Cramer]

>
>
> - Government propaganda and censorship around lockdown and vaccination
>
[...]

> - The role of mass and social media in anti- or pro-lockdown or vaccine
> propaganda, political polarization and forms of media virality (eg. via
> covid-19 memes)
>
[...]

> - Mandatory vaccine rollouts as assaults to the feminist appeal to bodily
> autonomy
>
[...]

> - Ethical considerations regarding mass experimentation, moral shaming and
> lateral citizen surveillance
>
[...]

> - Teleological and theological narratives of science as salvation (eg. via
> vaccinations)


All beautiful examples of a "Querfront" discourse where extreme right
positions are packaged  in left-wing rhetoric. Not a single point, however,
on minorities and vulnerable people and communities endangered by
anti-vaccer egoism, and neo-Darwinist politics - for example in the UK,
Sweden and the Netherlands, of "herd immunity" through survival of the
fittest.

You should invite Dutch experts Willem Engel and Thierry Baudet as keynote
speakers.

-F
#  distributed via : no commercial use without permission
#is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
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#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org
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