Brian Holmes on Thu, 2 May 2013 04:50:01 +0200 (CEST)


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Re: <nettime> No Soap! Radio?


Much of the frustration felt by today's *activists* about how whatever
they try to do it just seems to be "commodified" and absorbed by
"late-stage capitalism" is the result of trying to  apply radio-era
tactics in an age dominated by television sensibility. If you don't
*understand* media, then you are doomed to make the same mistake
over-and-over!

Long long ago (almost fifteen years!) Indymedia activists said "don't hate the media, be the media." They weren't worried about being commodified or coopted. What they wanted was proliferation through a multidirectional network where every receiver is also potentially a sender. The Egyptian revolution, 15-M and Occupy proved they were right: this media proliferation can become the basis for networked grassroots political action on massive scales.

The idea that *NOBODY* has understood media since Marshall McLuhan is just absurd, Mark. The transformations of the media environment brought by the Internet - and the emergence of a full-fledged media ecology - have been the hottest subject in the world over the past fifteen years. A tremendous amount of experimentation has occurred and a tremendous amount has been learned, both by those who seek to control the media ecology and by those who seek its potentials for liberation and social change. Not only that but I'd even say, despite everything, that life has gotten sweeter along the way.

best, Brian


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