Res: [-empyre-] Frente 3 de Fevereiro

Wed Jun 4 10:34:38 EST 2008

I think that one part about this Jennifer is that the places Felipe speaks of have experienced a collapse of some form, and it seems to me like some of the other places we have mentioned haven't in such a way.
Perhaps we are amidst one here in the states but it's always a verge of feeling and often not ongoing (1992 for example...)

--- On Mon, 6/2/08, Felipe <felipetg3118 at yahoo.com.br> wrote:

> From: Felipe <felipetg3118 at yahoo.com.br>
> Subject: Res: [-empyre-] Frente 3 de Fevereiro
> To: empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> Date: Monday, June 2, 2008, 2:04 PM
> Jennifer,
> 
> I Think of neoliberalism as a series of policy
> prescriptions that states that the state should not
> intervene at all in the market economy and almost in any
> area of the society, and that all countries should totally
> open their economy in order to develop themselves, because
> the free market would be more efficient than any state
> intervention.
> This prescriptions are old, but they became popular with
> the conservative turn in the 80's and reached its peak
> during the 90's, with the end of the cold war and the
> ecstasy of the utopia of globalization.
> But it seems to me that the absolute failure of the
> neoliberal policies in the third world (specially in Latin
> America), together with the exposition of the militarist
> character of the world superpower (the U.S.) with the
> neocons and after 9/11 and the mass protests starting in
> Seattle came to show that all of that was just a myth, an
> ideology that didn't correspond to reality.
> Instead of neoliberal economic policies we start to see
> nationalist economic policies, instead of free trade
> negotiations we see more protectionism, instead of
> multilateral and peace rhetoric we see more  conflicts and
> wars, the words "empire" and
> "imperialism" became popular again, etc.
> When we see the victory of several leftist governments in
> Latin America and the new politics and policies that are
> being created in some of them, when we see almost every
> country with big energy reserves nationalizing and
> protecting them, the failure of the free trade agreements
> and the WTO, the rejection of the EU constitution in
> several countries, the growing tensions amongst the great
> powers, the growing social unrest in several coutries, etc.
> I don't think we can say that neoliberalism is still
> dominant.
> Nobody in saying that the state isn't important
> anymore, on the contrary they say the state is important to
> guarantee protection and investments on key areas such as
> high technology and defense.
> Of course that doesn't mean that neoliberalism is
> absolutely over, it is still present in many countries.
> We only need to see that the biggest leftist party of the
> western world got to power in Brazil and made neoliberal
> economic policies (despite some good things in other
> areas), or that the deregulation of the financial markets
> (made by the U.S. and U.K in the late 70's) is still
> causing all of the turbulence and the crisis in the world
> economy.
> Also, I can't see any new strong ideologies alternative
> to it.
> Maybe that's why it hasn't disappeared yet and why
> we could maybe talk of a post-neoliberal moment.
> Nobody knows what's next.
> I think that's what I meant.
> I'm not an expert, these are only my impressions.
> 
>       Regards,
> 
>                             Felipe
> 
> 
> ----- Mensagem original ----
> De: Jennifer Flores Sternad <jf at post.harvard.edu>
> Para: soft_skinned_space
> <empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Cc: Felipe <felipetg3118 at yahoo.com.br>; Daniel Lima
> <danielcflima at yahoo.com>
> Enviadas: Segunda-feira, 2 de Junho de 2008 17:01:31
> Assunto: Re: [-empyre-] Frente 3 de Fevereiro
> 
> Dear Daniel and Felipe, thank you so much for your
> responses!
> 
> I wanted to ask you if you could elaborate on your comment,
> Felipe:
> 
> "Just as a personal note, I consider that
> neoliberalism is actually in
> crisis and that we are experiencing some kind of
> post-neoliberal
> moment not only in Latin America, but also in the
> world."
> 
> also, if anyone else has thoughts on this...
> 
> 
> besos,
> jennifer
> 
> On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 10:31 AM, brian whitener
> <iwaslike at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear friends,
> >
> > I sent this e-mail yesterday, but I still haven't
> received it yet on the list.
> > Could you send it again for me, please?
> > And please explain that I sent it yesterday and not
> today.
> > Thank you very much.
> >
> >           Abrazos,
> >
> >
> >   Felipe
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Everybody,
> >
> > We, from the Frente 3 de Fevereiro, are really sorry
> to only contribute to this discussion in the end of it.
> > We
> > have been really busy in the last month finishing our
> Music Album and improving our Website.
> > We have finished both.
> > We invite everybody to visit the new website:
> http://www.frente3defevereiro.com.br/
> > The songs can be heard there and soon they will be
> available for download at the website (June 10th).
> >
> > We would like to contribute to the discussion first by
> answering some questions that Brian Whitener has put for us.
> > The questions were:
> > 1) How these
> > critiques that are very
> > conscious of global geo-politics with very localized,
> or situated and
> > responsive interventions, are conceived (and how do
> they direct the work)?
> > 2) What are the
> > mechanisms of intervention?
> > 3) What can we learn from these groups and
> > artists (most of whom have 10 or more years of
> working).
> > 4) How can we
> > translate (conceptually, literally, and figurative)
> between these
> > experiences, contexts, and theorizations/embodiments
> of critique?
> > 5) And
> > how can we potenciate a new cycle of struggle?
> > 6)
> > What are the forces in your context (both situated and
> historical)?
> > Globalization? Neoliberalism? Imperialism? (a related
> question would
> > be: can the Argentinean experience from 1999-2003 be
> collapsed into the
> > anti-globalization movement? What about Brazilian
> movements? Are we
> > still in the neoliberal moment? Or its crisis? Or is
> crisis its
> > moment?)
> > 7) What does the current moment look like/feel like?
> > (for example in Mexico, there several strong insurgent
> movements, APPO,
> > Zap,  but in Mexico City we continue to watch and
> wait. Thus, our
> > moment is much different from the Argentinean moment).
> > 8) Current practices. What are you doing and why?
> > 9) One question you think we should be thinking about.
> > 10) The group started as
> > response to media, does it continue like this...?
> >
> > 11) Can you talk more about
> > the idea of "the cartographer is a true cultural
> cannibal¨"
> >
> > 12) Is it accurate to say
> > that your practice is concerned with inventing new
> ways of
> > reading and writing desires, therefore inventing new
> forms of
> > sociability?
> >
> > 13) Current projects?
> >
> > Here are the Answers:
> >
> > 1)
> > Our group was formed with a very clear and specific
> objective: to
> > reflect and act upon the racism issue in Brazilian
> society. Of course,
> > from that we could connect this issue with other
> issues that are more
> > ample, and more global (like immigration problems, or
> mass
> > incarceration processes, etc.). Since the
> > beginning we have questioned exclusion and
> > oppression mechanisms like the racist bias in the
> police action, the
> > architecture of exclusion of our cities, the industry
> of fear, the
> > security bubbles created in our
> > society and the criminalization and mass confinement
> policies that
> > have targeted mainly black young people. The critique
> comes from the
> > identification of some sort of "urgency"
> that we feel and that we
> > consider that others also feel it. From this
> identification, we try to
> > find elements or symbols that could help us reveal the
> mechanisms and
> > contradictions surrounding the urgency context. The
> direct intervention
> > in the public space brings us new elements to make the
> urgency
> > situation evident and to provoke a reflection about
> it. So, the
> > critique of the mechanisms that creates urgencies is
> always the
> > starting point to our work, which seeks to not only
> make the critique
> > public, but to foster a reflections in the public
> about the problem.
> >
> > 2)
> > To elaborate the intervention, we try to find a
> symbolic and artistic
> > way to expose the urgency. We also try to find cracks
> in the systems
> > that controls the public spaces, so that we can use
> these cracks that
> > are not foreseen by the system to foster a reflection
> in the public
> > space. The target are the people who are on the public
> space of the
> > action, but also, if it is possible to find a crack in
> the media
> > system, the possible viewers of the media system. For
> example, we
> > opened huge flags with messages questioning the racism
> in football
> > games, so we got to the public watching the game at
> the stadium, but we
> > also got the TV to show it live, so we reached
> everybody who was
> > watching the game. After that we also try to organize
> an artistic
> > presentation (with music, video and performance) to
> reach even more
> > people and new publics. This different arts combine to
> > create an artistic dialogue and discourse that allows
> different
> > appropriations from the viewers. So, the artistic and
> the political are always together in our work.
> >
> > 3)
> > When we exchange experiences with other groups, we get
> in contact with
> > other realities, which helps us to understand better
> the mechanism of
> > the processes that we confront in the local context,
> but that are also
> > linked to global processes. We also get in touch with
> other ways of
> > action and their relations to the specific contexts.
> This gives us the
> > opportunity to reflect about our own conceptions and
> practices. So,
> > both our knowledge of our reality and our creative
> process can enlarge
> > in contact with other groups.
> >
> > 4) We consider that we can
> > translate these experiences by two ways.. One is by
> analyzing their
> > local context and how it relates to global processes
> and compare this
> > to how our local context also relates to global
> processes. The other is
> > by analyzing their strategies and its relations to the
> local context
> > and then understanding the differences and
> similarities of these
> > relations with the relations between our strategies
> and our local
> > contexts. Again, this allows us to translate these
> experiences as to
> > their realities and to their methodologies or
> strategies.
> >
> > 5)
> > This is a really difficult question. We don't
> think that anyone has the
> > final answer to it. For now, we believe that we have
> to keep exchanging
> > experiences between our groups and creating
> international networks. But
> > these networks shouldn't be just for discussing,
> they must be useful to
> > create partnerships for mew works, that is, they must
> allow the
> > different groups not only to share experiences, but to
> put groups from
> > different contexts to work together in some other
> local contexts. Here
> > we agree with Bijari about the
> "situação-relacional" ("relational
> > situation").
> >
> > 6) In the reality of our country, we can identify
> > some of this forces like neoliberalism or imperialism.
> But the kind of
> > forces that we more directly deal with are
> criminalization and
> > anti-social mechanisms that create exclusion in the
> cities and in its
> > public spaces. These (and the forces related to them
> like mass
> > incarceration and increasing violence in the urban
> conflicts) are the
> > processes that have a more direct effect on us. Of
> course, they are
> > connected to the more general forces, like
> neoliberalism
> >
> (http://sociology..berkeley.edu/faculty/wacquant/wacquant_pdf/PENALISAPOVNEOLIB-EJPPR.pdf
> > ; also
> >
> http://sociology.berkeley.edu/faculty/wacquant/wacquant_pdf/DICTATORSHIPOOR.pdf),
> > but we try to act upon the more concrete ways in which
> these general
> > processes really affect peoples lives, so we deal more
> with these other
> > more "local" forces. We are not sure if it
> is clear that the Brazilian
> > movements are related to the anti-globalization
> movement. Of course,
> > there is influence (it is not a coincidence that the
> firsts World
> > Social Forums were here), but also, the reality of
> most of the people
> > here is very distant from such global discussions.
> > Just as a personal
> > note, I consider that neoliberalism is actually in
> crisis and that we
> > are experiencing some kind of post-neoliberal moment
> not only in Latin
> > America, but also in the world.
> >
> > 7) In Brazil, we have two
> > contradictory movements going on. One is a much wider
> discussion on
> > topics like public security, affirmative action,
> criminalization,
> > incarceration policies and social exclusion and
> inequality. On the
> > other hand, there is a conservative reaction that
> affirms the idea of
> > the fear of the urban criminal violence and therefore
> creates support
> > for more oppression and penalization. So this is a
> crucial moment in
> > Brazil and we still don't know which way the
> country will follow.
> > Therefore, the social mobilization is critical to
> influence the
> > direction that we think is right. We consider our work
> very important
> > in this context to contribute to a more democratic,
> inclusive and
> > public society, with new forms of sociability.
> >
> > 8)
> > We just finished a music album, which was the third
> part of a work that
> > included a documentary and a book.. Right now we are
> developing a
> > project that will discuss the issues of the geography
> of exclusion in
> > three different contexts: Johannesburg, São Paulo and
> Berlin. This will
> > help us to reflect about the mechanisms of exclusion
> and the potentials
> > of overcoming barriers in really different realities.
> >
> > 9) Some questions:
> >
> > What are the possibilities to
> > break the established order and in which way they can
> contribute to
> > emancipation?
> >
> > How can we scape from
> > criminalization?
> >
> > What are the mechanisms that
> > create exclusion in the cities?
> >
> >
> > 10)
> > Actually, we don't really respond to the media. We
> take advantage of
> > some facts that the media are making public and use
> them to question
> > established ideas about racism and exclusion, reaching
> the public that
> > gets in touch with these issues trough the media. We
> still act this way.
> >
> >
> > 11)
> > This idea means that the cartographer appropriates
> himself of
> > everything around him so that he can poetically
> express new forms of
> > reading and writing his desires, that which makes him
> move and act. In
> > this way, he uses everything he can from the world to
> create new and
> > multiple practices, ways of understanding and forms of
> sociability.
> > This is what we try to do.
> >
> >
> > 12) That is exactly our ultimate goal.
> >
> >
> > 13)
> > As we said, we just finished the music album and the
> new website, we
> > are developing the Johannesburg-São Paulo-Berlin
> project and we are
> > trying to develop a project to take the group to the
> U.S. to discuss
> > the connections between the Prison Industrial Complex,
> Racism and
> > Immigration issues.
> >
> >
> > Sorry for the very long e-mail.
> >
> > And sorry for contributing just at the end of the
> discussion.
> >
> > We are open for further discussion, questions, or
> doubts.
> >
> >
> > Thank you very much,
> >
> >
> >                Felipe and Daniel - Frente 3 de
> Fevereiro
> >
> >
> >
> _________________________________________________________________
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> >
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jennifer Flores Sternad
> 303.204.0003 (m)
> 213.483.6050 (h)
> 
> 
> 
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