[-empyre-] empyre Digest, Vol 48, Issue 19

[Simon Biggs]

That sounds a bit us and them. Are we not all complicit in this? Aren¹t we
all oppressors and victims? Events in Mumbai demonstrate this. The bombers
run amok and people die. Why do they run amok? What sort of society is it
that engenders such behaviour? Why were these people pushed to that action?

As somebody else observed, terror is endemic to capitalism. However, one
could extend that and suggest that terrorism is endemic to all societies.
Why?

We live in a world of networked cultures, where difference is not neatly
delineated along historical topographic lines. Difference is in every
nation, every town, every street ­ the family. When there is intense
conflict between different people (for whatever reason) it will resemble
terror. We shouldn¹t be surprised that this is how we now fight. This is the
future of violence. Wars between states (which, as Sean suggests, are simply
the executive arms of global capital) will rarely occur (unless there is a
profit margin to exploit). Wars of belief (difference) will happen in our
streets, our towns and anywhere, potentially all at the same time. Conflict
will be rhizomorphic, just as our cultures are.

This messy and difficult to model conurbation of cultural diasporas is
itself a red rag to many. Those that fear difference find they are
surrounded by Othem¹. They panic and strike out. Terror becomes street
culture.

We cannot go back to the past. We cannot repatriate populations of millions.
We cannot revert to a monoculture that was (anyway) a mirage. The more
likely scenario is that our diasporas will proliferate and fragment further.
Difference will become our defining characteristic (perhaps it already is?).
If we fear such difference then conflict (and terror) will be endemic ­ it
will be our culture.

Regards

Simon


On 30/11/08 01:00, Sean Cubitt wrote:

> The problem now can be phrased like this: The world is split between Evil
> (regimes, terrorists . . .) and Innocent (civilians, victims . . . ). There
> is no room left for the Good. What art can do uniquely is to speak of the
> Good, that is of the very thing that does not exist in or for contemporary
> capitalism



Simon Biggs
Research Professor
edinburgh college of art
s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
www.eca.ac.uk
www.eca.ac.uk/circle/

simon at littlepig.org.uk
www.littlepig.org.uk
AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk


Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC009201


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