<nettime> tensions within the digest [x5: geer, riemens, carvalho, mcgee, bard]

[nettime's_tensegrity_structure <nettime@kein.org>]

Re: <nettime> tensions within the bay area elites
     dan@geer.org
     "Patrice Riemens" <patrice@xs4all.nl>
     Alexandre Carvalho <tudoflui@gmail.com>

Re: <nettime> Gentrification - or a focus on income and wealth?
     Art McGee <amcgee@gmail.com>

Gentrification - or a focus on income and wealth?
     Alexander Bard <bardissimo@gmail.com>

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From: dan@geer.org
Subject: Re: <nettime> tensions within the bay area elites
Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 08:19:31 -0400

"Patrice Riemens" writes:

 | > I wish we were talking about governmental bureaucracies rather
 | > than corporations when discussing the id of institutionalized
 | > evil.
 | >
 | > --dan
 | 
 | Save for the trifling detail that corporations, the big multinational
 | ones, are our new ruling institutions. Governmental bureaucracies merely
 | function as their flunkies, though, like all bureaucracies, they do watch
 | their own interests.

Gov'l bureaucracies are immortal, with a monopoly on the use of force.

We now return you to your program already in progress,

--dan

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Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 15:15:16 +0200
Subject: Re: <nettime> tensions within the bay area elites
From: "Patrice Riemens" <patrice@xs4all.nl>

> "Patrice Riemens" writes:
>  |
>  | > I wish we were talking about governmental bureaucracies rather
>  | > than corporations when discussing the id of institutionalized
>  | > evil.
>  | >
>  | > --dan
>  |
>  | Save for the trifling detail that corporations, the big
>  | multinational | ones, are our new ruling institutions. Governmental
>  | bureaucracies merely | function as their flunkies, though, like all
>  | bureaucracies, they do watch | their own interests.
>
> Gov'l bureaucracies are immortal, with a monopoly on the use of force.

I'd be curious to hear how Haliburton/BlackWater fits in this 'monopoly'
model.

Cheerio, p+5D!

> We now return you to your program already in progress,
>
> --dan

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Subject: Re: <nettime> tensions within the bay area elites
From: Alexandre Carvalho <tudoflui@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 11:50:18 -0300

the answer is not that difficult:: Praxis, praxis, PRAXIS! ???ommuna!

meaning,, get your body on the frontlines and stand by the invisible
people; the ones that shouldn't exist according to capital. make their
voices and struggle known. we who calls ourselves left ought to
reconnect with the urgency of misery. the pain of not existing is loud. 

the undesirables of society are there for everybody to see. they are not
human debris to be pushed away by reals estate. it is a matter of
intention. 

words have power but without praxis their insurrectionary force is
weakened. we must become invisible ourselves ~ 

???
Atchu

Sent from my subjectivity

> On May 19, 2014, at 4:42 AM, Felix Stalder <felix@openflows.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm astounded. Nay, dismayed. There is clearly a lot going. On a
> historic scale.
 <...>

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From: Art McGee <amcgee@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 10:04:40 -0700
Subject: Re: <nettime> Gentrification - or a focus on income and wealth?

> And if gentrification is a particularly bad problem in the Bay Area,
> have you guys even heard of Mumbai, Shanghai or Istanbul? Doesn't seem
> so, or have I missed something here at Nettime?

What you missed is that nettime is not a generic political or cultural
discussion list, but one historically focused on cyberculture and
technology. The reason the California Bay Area was brought up is because of
it's geographic proximity to so much contemporary technology development,
e.g., Silicon Valley. It doesn't mean the rest of the world isn't in even
deeper crisis, this was just a jumping off point to talk about companies
like Google and Facebook and their impact on the region where they're
headquartered.

> The average nettimer earns 3x more than the average SF
> evictee, and we like it that way.
>
> Now back to the noble cause of helping the poor ...

You know, there are actual working class and relatively poor people on this
mailing list. Not all of us are tenured academics or corporate drones. Some
us aren't even white. Hard to believe, I know.

All sarcasm aside, I do often find the discussions in environments like
this to be fascinating, because it is mostly groups of semi-elites trying
to theorize about the actual lived experience of those who they know little
about.

Meanwhile, on platforms like Twitter, you have a huge critical mass of
working people, the majority of whom are marginalized in multiple ways, yet
their presence is often invisible to the theorists who try to make sense of
how technology impacts our world.

Art McGee

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Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 13:48:46 +0200
Subject: Gentrification - or a focus on income and wealth?
From: Alexander Bard <bardissimo@gmail.com>

Dear Alexandre

I have no doubts whatsoever that gentrification is a rightful concern to
those who suffer its consequences. Nor have I questioned why we should not
support the struggle to oppose it.
I have just raised the question that due to our limited resources in terms
of time and energy, we should perhaps concentrate more on the root cause of
gentrification as a problem, which is wealth and income distribution and
not gentrification in itself. To actually pragmatically improve the results
(supporting those who suffer from gentrification rather than those who
benefit from it).
Cities become gentrified because markets and lobbies use their resources
(wealth, income, social connections) to beat the shit out of the people who
live in areas that have become attractive to the wealthy and
well-connected. It is as simple as that.
It's all about the money. And increasingly the connections. Gentrification
is then not the root cause, but rather one of the many obvious symptoms of
capitalism in effect.
So when focussing on how to beat the enemy, my point is we should attack
the root cause and not obsess merely with the symptoms. As always.
As for the Sao Paulo vs San Francisco examples, this was precisely my
point. Bay Area gentrification is nothing compared to what goes in the
megacities of the south. Again, because income and wealth gaps are even
bigger.

Best intentions
Alexander

2014-05-18 17:17 GMT+02:00 Alexandre Carvalho <tudoflui@gmail.com>:

> Dear all;
>
> Gentrification has always been an issue to the people that suffer its
> consequences, namely people from the lower classes, not old ladies with
> eight-room apartments for herself and her cats. in Sao Paulo this is very
> clear in the neighborhood of Belenzinho, East of the city, where huge
> condos are rising up and driving people out of their homes. i am a
> physician working with homeless populations in this area, and i can tell
> you that even the shelters are closing up thanks to the massive power of
> the real estate industry there. there is even one avenue, Celso Garcia,
> where on one side you see the forces of capital pumping the condos, and on
> the other side the old buildings and favelas.
 <...>

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