[-empyre-] Demand Nothing, Occupy Everything? California is burning ....

Sun Nov 22 23:48:35 EST 2009

Hola Ashley and all,

Thanks so very much for the report. I am quiet proud of the actions and only
wish our deep science sleep at UCSD would awaken to the grids that are
happening
between databodies and real bodies at the other UCs. Not sure what sort of
fires would have to occur at my institution to have the students (sans
tenured
communities) to activate.

Resistance on the Network: Disconnect! Take the Streets!
Resistance on the Streets: Reconnect! Tweet them OUT!

Abrazos,
Ricardo

>
> Just like anything else it seems that they way a viral network is
> organized and implemented corresponds directly to its efficacy. I think
> here of Zach's proposed GRID project. The  movement from one GRID to the
> next produces new GRIDs. It is the movement between networks that produces
> the change. It seems that in the case of the UC protests the efficacy of
> the system depends on successful movements between different networks. It
> is the movements between online networks such as email lists to online
> petitions, between different physical networks such as departmental
> meetings to banners hanging outside of buildings, and between online and
> physical networks such as buildings occupiers to their twitter followers.
> This is what has felt like the viral aspect of the system.
>
> In solidarity,
> Ashley
>
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 10:32 AM, Christiane Robbins
> <cpr at mindspring.com<mailto:cpr at mindspring.com>> wrote:
> Hi Marco, Micha, everyone
>
>
> The irony implicit in your statement re: this situation begs for further
> explication + analysis:
>
> It is only in this country that three decades of brainwashing have
> led to the obliteration of historic memory (the cancellation of May1st
> being the most notable example), and to the perception that going on
> strike is somehow out of fashion.
>
>
> And ... to add to the circulating narratives and links -
>
> I found it curious that the Chronicle for HE published this -
>
> http://chronicle.com/blogPost/California-Is-Burning/8915/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
>
>
> Chris
>
> On Nov 19, 2009, at 8:34 AM, Marco Deseriis wrote:
>
> Hi Micha,
>
> yes, thank you for sharing those precious links.
>
> At UCSD, very few students, faculty and staff that I've talked to knew
> about or support the strike do. Myself and a handful of other faculty,
> staff and students are striking, but is the very idea of a strike not
> viral but more based in monolothic constituencies and factory models
> of labor?
> No, I just think that after 3-4 decades of resting on dreams of unabated
> growth Americans (and Californians in particular) need to be re-educated
> and reawakened as to what it means to lose one's job, as to what it
> means to fight for it, and what it means to risk of losing your job for
> defending it. So thank you for taking on this rather humongous task ;-)
>
> To me it is not a matter of virality but of culture. People in Latin
> America, Asia, Europe and all over the world keep going on strike for
> defending their jobs, demanding higher wages, security on the workplace,
> etc. It is only in this country that three decades of brainwashing have
> led to the obliteration of historic memory (the cancellation of May1st
> being the most notable example), and to the perception that going on
> strike is somehow out of fashion.
>
> In actual fact, there exists a growing global movement to defend public
> education, and to build an entirely different model of knowledge
> sharing. You are probably familiar with this site:
>
> http://www.edu-factory.org
>
> which reports the news of 15 arrests at UCLA:
>
> http://www.edu-factory.org/edu15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=240:students-arrested-at-ucla&catid=34:struggles&Itemid=53
>
> and whose picture eloquently show the response of public authorities to
> this growing mobilization.
>
> Perhaps the spreading occupations are more viral? I wonder
> about this as I start going on strike tomorrow and join actions at
> UCSD...
>
>
> Well, it is not up to me to say that strikes and occupations are just
> two sides of the same coin.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au<mailto:empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
>
>
>
> C h r i s t i a n e   R o b b i n s
>
>
> - J E T Z T Z E I T   S T U D I O S -
>
> ... the space between zero and one  ...
> Walter Benjamin
>
>
> LOS ANGELES    I    SAN FRANCISCO
>
>
> " The present age prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the
> original, fancy to reality,
> the appearance to the essence
> for in these days
>  illusion only is sacred, truth profane."
> Ludwig Feuerbach, 1804-1872
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au<mailto:empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
>
>
> --
> Ashley Ferro-Murray
> MA/PhD Student
> Dept. Theater, Dance & Performance Studies
> University of California, Berkeley
>
>

-- 
Ricardo Dominguez
Associate Professor
Hellman Fellow

Visual Arts Department, UCSD
http://visarts.ucsd.edu/
Principal Investigator, CALIT2
http://calit2.net
Co-Chair gallery at calit2
http://gallery.calit2.net
CRCA Researcher
http://crca.ucsd.edu/
Ethnic Studies Affiliate
http://www.ethnicstudies.ucsd.edu/
Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies Affiliate
http://cilas.ucsd.edu

Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics,
Board Member
http://hemi.nyu.edu

University of California, San Diego,
9500 Gilman Drive Drive,
La Jolla, CA 92093-0436
Phone: (619) 322-7571
e-mail: rrdominguez at ucsd.edu

Project sites:
site: http://gallery.calit2.net
site: http://pitmm.net
site: http://bang.calit2.net
site: http://www.thing.net/~rdom
blog:http://post.thing.net/blog/rdom