[-empyre-] pirate modes and forms

[magnus at ditch.org.uk]

Thanks Jussi for so effectively crystalizing the discussion so far. I
have really enjoyed everyone's contributions.

As the Hargreaves report makes clear its' conclusions are derived
purely from addressing economic criteria and asking only those
questions necessary to answering the Prime Minister's 'exam' question
of what measures will enhance UK GDP. In terms of other considerations
the report would appear to be quite agnostic. Although its conclusions
may threaten danger for diverse creative practice, the language of the
report is moderate to the point of being anodine. We have wondered
about what kind of response is appropriate and in particular, Paolo
has mentioned the necessity of extending pirate themes to the wider
public, perhaps by crossing outside of defined artistic limits. I
wonder whether this necessarily implies a more radical approach? In
the discussion we have seen pragmatic strategy given precedence over
utopian visions. Political alliances and shape changing identities, so
much the preserve of pirates, bucaneers, and privateers of old, might
today be quite as well attributed to freelancing cultural
practitioners, as to academics and business-marketing practices. So I
think the question is highly pertinent, of piracy as political
imperative, social compact and economic subversion.

Through our discussion we have identified pirate practices in various
dimensions, adopted by diverse agents. As the outline for our
discussion this month states, "Pirates come in many shades". I would
like to consider some more or less loosely defined 'pirate
communities' of which I have associated, aware that pirates come
also with many affiliations.

Hackerspaces right now seem to be seeing a revival, at least in the US
and Europe. Alongside this there seems to be growing, a recognition
of the distinctive character of the groups that form these spaces.
With probable exceptions I expect, US hackerspaces are held to be less
politically defined (more pragmatic even), whereas the hacker culture
in Europe I understand to be more politicized, encouraging acts of
autonomy and (in my experience) focusing on social arrangement as well
as technical solutions. Software activists I worked with in Catalonia
took social hacking to be a fundamental part of their activity (the
phrase repeated in numerous discussions,
'soci-soci-soci,techi-techi-techi', was almost as a mantra to this
equilibrium). The associations within such hacker groups, I think,
encapsulate a pirate condition of individually and communally driven
creativity - not exactly a pirate union, but neither the 'every man
for himself' atomization that the prosecutions of individual 'pirates'
imply. Instead, pirate (p2p) institutions with which we may associate
ourselves, are already well established.

In Europe also, there is a particular connection between hacking and
squatter communities, and (as I think of it now) also phreaking, where
creative acts are driven by the imperative of gaining access, to
connect and - in different ways - survive. The folly of romanticizing
these enclaves of creativity has been alluded to, but there may be
value in exploring the notion of these, or of creative crews
collaborating across disciplines, time zones and jurisdictions. My own
experience leads me to wonder about the relation of pirates to any
supposed centre, fringe, underground or outside; Until 2008 I was
active in artists' studios in Glasgow, which, whether or not
underground, were certainly below the radar of health and safety, as
well as other official bodies. Somewhat bizarrely, the studios were
meanwhile profiled in the Times' Sunday magazine. As a footnote, it
seems the pirate utopias of squatting communities are tolerated so
long as they remain in relative obscurity. Social Centres found to be
in the way of economic development programmes (such as urban renewal)
don't usually remain.

Briefly, I would like to mention a third area which might be understood
in terms of pirate activity, that of self-reduction:

http://libcom.org/library/working-class-struggle-against-crisis-self-reduction-prices-italy-bruno-ramirez

Finally, it might be interesting to note the etymology of the word
piracy. Apparently, it has to do with creativity and attack:

http://ewonago.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/etymology-of-pirate/

Best wishes,

Magnus