Re: [-empyre-] Bare Life, Ghost Detainees, Exclusion and Performance



gh replies:

Hi Susana,

Normal political discourse means to me that there is a debate in a society that is ongoing about what constitutes the contract of power given to the government by the people and what the rights of the people are in a society. Montesquieu was the one who defined these principals.
I believe that the internet is a manifestation of multi-national corporate global structures or rather it is a mirror of globalism structure. It constitutes a global forum that does what the United nation cannot do, it gives everyone a voice in the discourse. It is not filtered or censored.
When terrorists set up web sites to convey their messages and ideas they are using this global forum. When I do my art I use this global forum. The content of my work is the language and forms of the global news media. I engage in political discourse or I question the language.


In turning back to the main discussion of bare life, there is an understanding that the polis Agamben discusses is an organized society of rules, laws and rights. I wonder where the internet fits with the structures posited by Agamben?


On Jul 17, 2006, at 5:38 AM, Susana Mendes Silva wrote:

What do you consider "normal political discourse"? How do the communication strategy of terrorist groups and your action as an artist can be both seen as having that discursive political normality?

The postions’ of bare life and the sacred man are situated in this media-polis. The terrorists use the internet to present their message and recruit new members. Artists such as myself use the internet to critique the global polis. The question is this; do my actions and that of terrorists constitute normal political discourse in a global techno society? Furthermore is expulsion or bare life negation created by denying access to or recognition of a perso in the web and internet and mass media?




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