{"id":15993,"date":"2011-11-28T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=15993"},"modified":"2015-03-13T18:30:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T18:30:06","slug":"social-opposition-in-the-age-of-internet-desktop-%e2%80%9cmilitants%e2%80%9d-and-public-intellectuals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2011\/11\/social-opposition-in-the-age-of-internet-desktop-%e2%80%9cmilitants%e2%80%9d-and-public-intellectuals\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Opposition in the Age of Internet: Desktop \u201cMilitants\u201d and Public Intellectuals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paper to Be Presented at the \u201cSymposium on Re-Publicness\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Ankara, Turkey, December 9-10, 2011<\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The relation of information technology (IT) and more specifically the internet, to politics is a central issue facing contemporary social movements.\u00a0 Like many previous scientific advances the IT innovations have a dual purpose<\/span>:\u00a0 on the one hand, it has accelerated the global flow of capital, especially financial capital and facilitated imperialist \u2018globalization\u2019.\u00a0 On the other hand the internet has served to provide alternative<\/span> critical sources of analysis as well as easy communication to mobilize popular movements.<\/p>\n

The IT industry has created a new class of billionaires<\/span>, from Silicon Valley in California to Bangalore , India .\u00a0 They have played a central role in the expansion of economic colonialism via their monopoly control in diverse spheres of information flows and entertainment.<\/p>\n

To paraphrase Marx \u201cthe internet has become the opium of the people\u201d.\u00a0 Young and old, employed and unemployed alike spend hours passively gazing at spectacles, pornography, video games, online consumerism and even \u201cnews\u201d in isolation from other citizens, fellow workers and employees.<\/span><\/p>\n

In many cases the \u201coverflow\u201d of \u201cnews\u201d on the internet has saturated the internet, absorbing time and energy and diverting the \u2018watchers\u2019 from reflection<\/span> and action<\/span>.\u00a0 Just as too little and biased news by the mass media distorts popular consciousness, too many internet messages can immobilize citizen action.<\/p>\n

The internet, deliberately or not,has \u201cprivatized\u201d<\/span> political life.\u00a0 Many otherwise potential activists have come to believe that circulating manifestos to other individuals is a political act, forgetting that only public action<\/span>, including confrontations with their adversaries in public spaces,<\/span> in city centers and in the countryside, is the basis of political transformations.<\/p>\n

IT and Financial Capital<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let us remember that the original impetus for the growth of \u201cIT\u201d came from the demands of big financial institutions, investment banks and speculative traders who sought to move billions of dollars and euros with the touch of a finger from one country to another, from one enterprise to another, from one commodity to another.<\/p>\n

Internet technology was the motor force for the growth of globalization at the service of financial capital.\u00a0 In some ways IT played a major role in precipitating the two global financial crises of the past decade (2001-2002, 2008\u20132009).\u00a0 The \u00a0bubble in IT stocks of 2001 was a result of the speculative promotion of overvalued \u201csoftware firms\u201d de-linked from the \u2018real economy\u2019.\u00a0 The global financial crash of 2008-2009 and its continuation today, was induced by the computerized<\/span> packaging of financial swindles and underfunded real estate mortgages.\u00a0 The \u2018virtues\u2019 of the internet, its rapid relay of information in the context of speculator capitalism turned out to be a major contributing factor to the worse capitalist crises since the Great Depression of the 1930\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The Democratization of the Internet<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The internet became accessible to the masses as a market for commercial<\/span> enterprise and then spread to other social and political uses<\/span>.Most importantly it became a means of informing the larger public of the exploitation and pillage of countries and people by multi-national banks.\u00a0 The internet exposed the lies which accompany US and EU imperialist wars in the Middle East and Sothern Asia.<\/p>\n

The internet has become contested<\/span> terrain, a new form of class struggle,engaging \u00a0national liberation and pro-democracy movements.\u00a0 The major movements and leaders from the armed fighters in the mountains of Afghanistan to the pro-democracy activists in Egypt , to the student movements in Chile and including the poor peoples\u2019 housing movement in Turkey , rely on the internet to inform<\/span> the world of their struggles, programs, state repression and popular victories.\u00a0 The internet links peoples\u2019 struggles across national boundaries<\/span> \u2013 it is a key weapon in creating a new internationalism to counter capitalist globalization and imperial wars.<\/p>\n

To paraphrase Lenin, we could argue that 21st<\/sup> century socialism can be summed up by the equation:\u00a0 \u201csoviets plus internet = participatory socialism\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Internet and Class Politics<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We should remember that computerized information techniques are not \u2018neutral\u2019 \u2013 their political impact depends on their users and overseers who determine who<\/span> and what class<\/span> interests<\/span> they will serve.\u00a0 More generally the internet must be contextualized<\/span> in terms of its insertion in public space<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Internet has served to mobilize thousands of workers in China and peasants in India against corporate exploiters and real estate developers.\u00a0 But computerized aerial warfare<\/span> has become the NATO weapon of choice to bomb and destroy independent Libya.The US drones which send missiles that kill civilians in Pakistan , Yemen are directed by computer \u2018intelligence\u2019.\u00a0 The location of Colombian guerrillas and the deadly aerial bombings are computerized.\u00a0 In other words IT technology has dual uses<\/span>:\u00a0 for popular liberation or imperial counter revolution.<\/p>\n

Neoliberalism and Public Space<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The discussion of \u201cpublic space\u201d has frequently assumed that \u201cpublic\u201d means greater state intervention on behalf of the welfare of the majority<\/span>; greater regulation of capitalism and<\/span> increased protection of the environment.\u00a0 In other words benign \u201cpublic\u201d actors are counter posed<\/span> to exploitative private market<\/span> forces.<\/p>\n

In the context of the rise of neo-liberal ideology and policies, many progressive writers argue about the \u201cdecline<\/span> of the public sphere\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0This argument overlooks the fact that the \u201cpublic sphere\u201d has increased its role<\/span> in society, economy and politics on behalf of capital<\/span>, especially financial capital and foreign investors.\u00a0 The \u201cpublic sphere\u201d, specifically the state<\/span> is much more intrusive<\/span> in civil society<\/span> as a repressive force<\/span>, particularly as neo-liberal policies increase inequalities.\u00a0 Because of the intensification and deepening of the financial crises, the public sphere (the state) has undertaken a massive role<\/span> in bailing out<\/span> bankrupt banks.<\/p>\n

Because of large scale fiscal deficits<\/span> provoked by capitalist class tax evasion, colonial war spending and public subsidies to big business, the public sphere (state) imposes class based \u201causterity\u201d program cutting social expenditures and prejudicing public employees, pensioners, and private wage and salaried employees.<\/p>\n

The public sphere diminished<\/span> its role in the productive sector<\/span> of the economy.\u00a0 However, the military sector has grown with expansion of colonial and imperial wars.<\/p>\n

The basic issue underlying any discussion of the public sphere<\/span> and the social opposition is not its decline or growth but rather the class interests<\/span> which define the role of the public sphere<\/span>.\u00a0 Under neo-liberalism, the public sphere is directed by the use of public treasury to finance bank bailouts, militarism and expanded police state intervention.\u00a0 A public sphere directed by the \u201csocial opposition\u201d (workers, farmers, professionals, employees) would enlarge the scope of public sphere activity with regard to health, education, pensions, environment and employment.<\/p>\n

The concept of the \u201cpublic sphere\u201d has two opposing faces<\/span> (Janus-like): one facing capital and the military; the other labor\/social opposition.\u00a0 The role of the internet is also subject to this duality<\/span>: on the one hand the internet facilitates large scale movements of capital and rapid imperial military interventions;\u00a0 on the other hand it provides rapid flow of information to mobilize the social opposition.\u00a0 The basic question is what kind of information is transmitted to what political actors and for what social interest?<\/p>\n

The Internet and the Social Opposition:\u00a0 The Threat of State Repression<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the social opposition the internet is first and foremost a vital source of alternative<\/span> critical information to educate and mobilize the \u201cpublic\u201d \u2013 especially among progressive opinion- leaders, professionals, trade unionists and peasant leaders, militants and activists.\u00a0 The internet is the alternative to the capitalist mass media and its propaganda, a source of news and information that relays manifestos and informs activists of sites for public action.\u00a0 Because of the internet\u2019s progressive role as an instrument of the social opposition it is subject to surveillance<\/span> by the repressive police-state apparatus<\/span>.\u00a0 For example, in the USA over 800,000 functionaries are employed by the \u201cHomeland Security\u201d police agency to spy on billions of emails, faxes, telephone<\/span> calls of millions of US citizens.\u00a0 How effective the policing of tons of information each day is another question.\u00a0 But the fact is that the internet is not<\/span> a \u201cfree and secure source of information, debate and discussion.\u00a0 In fact as the internet becomes more effective in mobilizing the social movements in opposition to the imperial and colonial state, the greater is the likelihood of police-state intervention under the pretext \u201ccombating terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Internet and Contemporary Struggle:\u00a0 Is it Revolutionary?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It is important to recognize the importance<\/span> of the internet in detonating<\/span> certain social movements as well as relativizing<\/span> its overall significance.<\/p>\n

The internet<\/span> has played a vital role in publicizing and mobilizing \u201cspontaneous protests\u201d like the \u2018indignados\u2019 (the indignant protestors) mostly unaffiliated unemployed youth in Spain and the protestors involved in the US \u201cOccupy Wall Street\u201d.\u00a0 In other instances, for example, the mass general strikes in Italy , Portugal , Greece and elsewhere the organized trade union confederations played a central role and the internet had a secondary impact.<\/p>\n

In highly repressive<\/span> countries like Egypt , Tunisia and China , the internet<\/span> played a major role in publicizing<\/span> public action and organizing mass protests.\u00a0 However, the internet<\/span> has not led to any successful revolutions \u2013 it can inform, provide a forum for debate, and \u00a0mobilize, but it cannot provide leadership and organization to sustain political action let alone a strategy for taking state power.\u00a0 The illusion that some internet gurus foster, that \u2018computerized\u2019 action replaces the need for a disciplined, political party, has been demonstrated to be false:\u00a0 the internet can facilitate movement<\/span> but only an organized social opposition can provide the tactical and strategic direction which can sustain the movement against<\/span> state repression and toward successful struggles.<\/p>\n

In other words, the internet is not<\/span> an \u201cend in itself<\/span>\u201d \u2013 the self-congratulatory posture of internet ideologues in heralding a new \u201crevolutionary\u201d information age overlooks the fact that the NATO powers, Israel and their allies and clients now use the internet to plant viruses<\/span> to disrupt economies, sabotage defense programs and promote ethno-religious uprisings.\u00a0 Israel sent damaging viruses to hinder Iran \u2019s peaceful nuclear program; the US , France and Turkey incited client social opposition in Libya and Syria .\u00a0 In a word, the internet has become the new terrain of class and anti-imperialist struggle.\u00a0 The internet is a means<\/span> not an end in itself.\u00a0 The internet is part of a public sphere<\/span> whose purpose and results are determined by the larger class structure<\/span> in which it is embedded.<\/p>\n

Concluding Remarks:\u00a0 \u201cDesktop Militants\u201d and Public Intellectuals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>The social opposition is defined by public action<\/span>:\u00a0 the presence of collectivities<\/span> in political meetings, individuals speaking at public meetings, activists marching in public squares, militant trade unionists confronting employers, poor people demanding sites for housing and public services from public authorities\u2026<\/p>\n

To address an active assembled public meeting, to formulate ideas, programs and propose programs and strategies through political action defines the role of the public intellectual. To sit at a desk in an office, in splendid isolation, sending out five \u00a0manifestos per minute defines a \u201cdesktop militant\u201d.\u00a0 It is a form\u00a0 pseudo-militancy that isolates<\/span> the word from the deed.\u00a0 Desktop \u201cmilitancy\u201d is an act of verbal inaction, of inconsequential \u201cactivism\u201d, a make-believe revolution of the mind.\u00a0 The exchange of internet communications becomes a political act when it engages in public social movements that challenge power.\u00a0 By necessity that involves risks<\/span> for the public intellectual:\u00a0 of police assaults in public spaces and economic reprisals in the private sphere.\u00a0 The desktop \u201cactivists\u201d risk nothing and accomplish little.\u00a0 The public intellectual links the private discontents of individuals to the social activism of the collectivity.\u00a0 The academic critic comes to a site of action, speaks and returns to their academic office.\u00a0 The public intellectual speaks<\/span> and sustains a long-term political educational commitment with the social opposition in the public sphere via the internet<\/span> and in face to face daily encounters.<\/p>\n

______________________<\/p>\n

James Petras is a Bartle Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Binghamton University, New York. He is the author of 64 books published in 29 languages, and over 560 articles in professional journals, including the American Sociological Review, British Journal of Sociology, Social Research, Journal of Contemporary Asia, and Journal of Peasant Studies.<\/em> He received his B.A. from Boston University and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The internet is the alternative to the capitalist mass media and its propaganda, a source of news and information that relays manifestos and informs activists of sites for public action. Because of the internet\u2019s progressive role as an instrument of the social opposition it is subject to surveillance by the repressive police-state apparatus. For example, in the USA over 800,000 functionaries are employed by the \u201cHomeland Security\u201d police agency to spy on billions of emails, faxes, telephone calls of millions of US citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-whistleblowing-surveillance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}