| Miguel Afonso Caetano on Wed, 31 May 2006 08:04:09 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> Technologies of Resistance: Transgression and Solidarity in Tactical Media |
Dear Nettimers:
I have recently finished a M.A. dissertation about
Tactical Media that I've talked about here a few years ago
(www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0311/msg00063.html).
I'm sending you here the English version of the abstract
and the table of contents. In the thesis, I make some
criticisms of the concept of tactical media in terms of
its current validity. Also, in the second part I cover in
detail some projects of the vibrant brazilian tactical media
scene: Metareciclagem (www.metareciclagem.org) - who has
received an honorary mention in this year's Ars Electronica
(www.aec.at/en/prix/honorary2006.asp) and the now deceased
Projeto Metáfora (http://ogum.metareciclagem.org/metafora).
Since Nettime's 10th aniversary meeting is happening right now
in Montreal, I think it would be good to start a debate here in
the list about the actual relevance of tactical media in the
age of Web 2.0, which has embraced (co-opted?) much of the same
DIY ethos in places like Flickr and MySpace. On the other side,
we're also living in the midst of the "state of exception"/War
against terrorism where every subversive activity is considered
suspicious - the bioterrorism paranoia case against CAE.
Judging from the brazilian example, I think that it is becoming
more adequate to think about tactical media in peripheral
countries like Brazil and India where there's a sense of more
severe urgency in social transformation, of reappropriation of
technology by the people.
Best regards from Portugal,
Miguel Caetano
Technologies of Resistance:
Transgression and Solidarity in Tactical Media
Miguel Afonso Caetano
Resulting from the convergence between media, technology, art
and politics, tactical media are a set of cultural practices
and a theoretical movement which started in Europe during the
first half of the 90s, having spread to North America until
the end of the millenium and, afterwards, to the rest of the
world. Initially taking advantage of video camcorders but also,
later, of digital technologies such as CD-ROMs and the Internet,
the producer of this kind of media acknowledges himself as as
a hybrid, performing simultaneously the role of an artist,
activist, theorist and technician.
These subversive and/or creative uses of information and
communication technologies by individuals who normally don't
have access to them are characterized by experimentalism,
ephemerality, flexibility, irony and amateurship. Based on the
distinction between tactics and strategies developed by Michel
de Certeau and continued by David Garcia and Geert Lovink, this
dissertation examines the way tactical media present themselves
as "media of crisis, critique and opposition". By applying
a theoretical analysis of some collectives, we intend to
demonstrate that the protest tactics of these media production
forms represent a position of permanent struggle against a
concrete and explicit opponent (nation-state, supranational
institution or transnational corporation).
After addressing the dangers that this antagonist model of media
as a weapon of resistance can lead to, we propose an alternative
perspective of tactical media built on an empirical analysis of
two brazilian projects, Metáfora and MetaReciclagem. Finally,
we argue that these and other grassroots initiatives adapt the
practices of subversion and resistance visible in the activist
collectives of developed countries to the local settings of
a peripheral country like Brazil. By fostering technological
reappropriation for social transformation, these groups unleash
the creative and communication capacities of these communities,
towards their self-sustainability and autonomy.
Keywords: tactical media, strategies, media activism, alternative
media, hacker, free software, technological reappropriation,
recycling, Brazil.
Table of Contents
Introduction
9
Methodological and Epistemological Notes
12
Dissertation Plan
17
1 - Elements for The History and Characterization of Tactical Media
21
1.1 - Genesis of The Movement
21
1.2 - Main Definitions
25
1.3 - Theoretical Approaches
27
1.4 - Distinction Between Alternative Media and Tactical Media
35
2 - Genealogy of Informational Mobilizations
42
2.1 - 70s and 80s
45
2.2 - 90s
51
2.3 - Mediactivism: From The Right to Information to The Right to The
Self-Management of Communication 54
3 - The Influence of The Free Software Movement and of The Hacker
Ethic 60
3.1 - The Free Software Development Process
69
3.2 - The Hacker Ethic
72
4 - Tactics and its Theorerical Metaphors
75
4.1 - Tactics and Strategies in Michel de Certeau
76
4.2 - Tactics as Détournement
79
4.3 - Tactics as Rhizome
83
4.4 - Tactics as Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ)
87
4.5 - Tactics as Swarming
92
4.6 - Tactics as Multitude
98
4.7 - Tactics as Smart Mob
103
5 - Tactical Media Practices
110
5.1 - Culture Jamming: Semiological Guerrilla
110
5.2 - Hacktivism: Cyberspace's Counter-power
117
5.3 - Artivism: Crítique and Subversion in net.art
129
5.4 - The Indymedia Information Network: Open-Source Journalism
144
5.4.1 - IMC-Portugal: A Small Case Study
152
6 ? Contributions For a Critique of The Concept
168
6.1 - "The Alt.Everything of Culture and Politics"
168
6.2 - The Specter of Cooptation by Capital
170
6.3 - The Eternal Return of The Technological Sublime
172
6.4 - The Impossible Subversion of Media
175
6.5 - The Rhetorics of The Enemy and The Terrorist Metaphor
178
SECOND PART
1 - The Brasilian Digital "Jeitinho": "Gambiarras", "Mutirões" and
"Puxadinhos" 188
1.1 - Mídia Tática
189
1.2 ? Contratv
195
1.3 ? Re:combo
195
1.4 - Free Radios: Rádio Muda
196
1.5 ? CMI-Brasil
198
1.6 - Brazil, A Hacker Nation
201
2 - Metáfora Project: Chaos and Order in a Collective Intelligence
205
2.1 ? Events and Projects
210
2.2 - The Participation in Midia Tática Brasil
216
2.3 ?The Attempt to Create a NGO and The End
217
2.4 - Leadership and Motivation in a "Chaorder"
222
3 - MetaReciclagem: Reappropriation of Technology for Social
Transformation 226
3.1 - The Replication of MetaReciclagem's Methology
233
4 - Analysis of Survey Data
239
4.1 - Profile of Metáfora's and MetaReciclagem's Collaborators
239
4.2 - Opinions Towards Metáfora and MetaReciclagem
243
4.2.1 - Political Motivations of The Projects
243
4.2.2 - Distinction Between Digital Inclusion and Social
Reappropriation of Technology 244
4.2.3 - Evaluation of Strenghts and Weaknesses
247
4.2.4 - Personal Visions About Metáfora and MetaReciclagem
249
Final Conclusion
251
Bibliography
258
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