File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_2001/aut-op-sy.0109, message 233


Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 11:46:58 +0200
From: Peter van Heusden <pvh-AT-egenetics.com>
Subject: Re: AUT: War and Terror in the age of Global Empire


On Thu, Sep 20, 2001 at 04:24:25PM +0000, Neil (practical history) wrote:
> shamass wrote:
> 
> >no impact? pardon the gratuitous pun, but if you think that the attack on 
> >the WTC is just your garden variety attack on an institution of capital 
> >with no appreciable affect on social relations (as if anything is played 
> >out at such alevel of abstraction), then perhaps you should think again.
> 
> Obviously the consequences of the attack will have a tremendous impact on 
> people worldwide, especially in Afghanistan and the Middle East. All I meant 
> was that on September 10th I got up, went to work for a wage, worried about 
> having enough money. On September 12th, despite the destruction of the 
> biggest global symbol of capitalism, I did the same, with the addition of 
> new worries like my children having nightmares about war. This is what I 
> mean by 'capitalist social relations' - not an abstraction but the lived 
> experience of daily life under capitalism. 

While I agree with your general point, I think commie00's points about
class recomposition / decomposition are VERY important right now. Thanks,
commie00, you gave my brain the kick in the right direction it really needed
right now. :)

Anyway... I think the point I'd like to make is that while we live lives
mired at every turn in capitalist social relations, those are *not* the
only social relations we engage in. Leaving aside the reformists / NGOs 
for a second, it seems to me that a big part of the 'anti-globalisation'
movement was concerned with exploring different social relations. This
came through in a number of ways: 

Firstly the impetus that Zapatista uprising gave to the movement, which 
was significant not because the Zaps are a 'third world' movement against
'imperialism', but rather they put forward a compelling linkage
between the everyday self-creation of new social relations (both in
terms of the 'autonomous municipalities' and in terms of putting dreams,
rainbows, desire back in the political centre stage) and the fight
against the global imposition of the capitalist social relation.

Secondly, in various ways, the conditions of life in the 'capitalist
core' (decline of the 'mass worker', expansion of credit and resultant
expansion of the 'wage' problematic beyond the workplace, etc) have
meant that the 'anti-globalisation' movement necessarily talks a 
language of lifestyle, the conditions of life, social relations, rather
than simply one of social inclusion, wages, needs, rights, etc. Not
all of it, of course, but from what I can see, at least some of it.

And now I see a lot of things happening: as commie00, the sacrifices
of war are demanded, in terms of layoffs and no doubt wage freezes, 
benefit cuts, etc. Also, this is happening at a time of massive
working class indebtedness - credit card debt, etc. now combines
with the 'sacrifices of war' to enforce a harsher form of 'money as
command'.

The news is now about 100% about 'the war'. Forget the racism
conference, forget Kyoto, forget Mumia Abu-Jamal, forget anti-globalisation
- it's now war, and which side you're on.  And now the language 
is all about government's - even much 'leftist' language falls into
the talk of pro- / anti-US.

I think it is vitally necessary at this point to try and sustain the
anti-statist language that flourished as part of the 'anti-globalisation' /
anti-neoliberalism movement. That's the thing that's changed, for me:
I feel that the political space I was operating in is threatened
by the fact that 'the war' is taking up much more of people's 
'brainshare', the political centre of gravity is shifting, in a very
threatening fashion.

An idea I had was rocking up at a US embassy and doing a 'Food Not Bombs'
style action (as always, the concern is resources, resources!). Many other 
ideas are possible, slotting in and developing
the 'self-activity' that commie00 says is visible in their end 
of the woods. I think many people worldwide (myself included) feel
that the 'texture' of everyday life is about to change. We need to 
not leave this change uncontested.

Peter
--
Peter van Heusden <pvh-AT-egenetics.com>
NOTE: I do not speak for my employer, Electric Genetics
"Criticism has torn up the imaginary flowers from the chain not so that man 
shall wear the unadorned, bleak chain but so that he will shake off the chain 
and pluck the living flower." - Karl Marx, 1844                 k*256^2+2083
OpenPGP: 1024D/0517502B : DE5B 6EAA 28AC 57F7 58EF  9295 6A26 6A92 0517 502B


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