wade tillett on Thu, 31 Jan 2002 00:37:01 +0100 (CET) |
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[Nettime-bold] wartime stratagem: cut out the middle |
Look at the opposition of words taken from a recent Village Voice article (out-take below): The mainstream, the reformists, the unions, the nonviolent (separated from) the radicals, the anarchists, the direct action types, the violent (vandalizers), the revolutionaries (implied). A binary has been inherently set-up in the preparations for the nyc wef protests. There is an actual division that is occuring WITHIN the preparations for the protest. The radicals are separated from the reformists. That is, a saturation of radicals free from reformists has been encouraged and established. Perhaps this will aid in the painting of all protesters as a unified group of terrorists that cannot be appeased. The middle, the left, the neoliberal element, the bridges to the mainstream have been cut off. I am not lamenting the absence of the neoliberal factions. I am simply saying that, consciously or unconsciously, an explosive situation is being encouraged through and by not only painting the protestors as radicals, but by actually facilitating a division within the protestors between the reformers and the radicals. In other words, the empire's stratagem is one of divide and conquer: Divide into two factions: one for appropriation, one to conquer. Divide the radicals from the reformers, incite the radicals, portray their violence and crush them, appearing justified. Appropriate the reformers with petty facades of moral righteousness and minimal concessions, and further colonize the world with this newly acquired and appropriated moral justification. ... from the VILLAGE VOICE : ... The cries of the anarchists may echo loudly in this post-9-11 world. In a climate where dissent has been called un-American, and the Patriot Act has granted the government new powers to eavesdrop, arrest, and detain, many of the global justice movement's more mainstream players have decided to lie low. The Sierra Club has completely bowed out, while at the fair trade outfit Global Exchange, says cofounder Kevin Danaher, "we are still dusting ourselves off" from the blow of 9-11. The group will conduct only teach-ins. The AFL-CIO had hoped to march, but was denied a permit. So the anarchists and direct action types like Warcry have been left to lead the charge.... The reformist perspective is likely to retreat further with groups like the Sierra Club absent from WEF week and the AFL-CIO presence reduced from a march to a rally. Danaher says Global Exchange will focus instead on the alternative World Social Forum in Brazil. Shooting more from the hip, Public Citizen staffer Mike Dolan, an architect of Seattle, says his group has not yet endorsed the one permitted march because the sponsor, Another World Is Possible, "can't guarantee that the event will be nonviolent, and that the movement won't be marred by vandalism." At press time, Drop the Debt, Earth First!, Rainforest Action Network, and the Ruckus Society had all not signed onto the march, either. With these significant players sitting it out-or penned in by overzealous police-who's left to distribute schedules, run listservs, host spokescouncils, paint banners, and coordinate legal and medical support, food, and housing? The anarchists are making do.... ... As Moderate Groups Turn Down the Heat, Anarchists Light a New Way for Dissent Keepers of the Flame by Esther Kaplan Week of January 30 - February 5, 2002 _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold