[-empyre-] pirate modes and forms

[magnus at ditch.org.uk]

Hi Jussi,

> Hi Magnus
> just a quick response;
> I think you point out some important themes that relate to the “pirate”
as
> a figure of network politics in the same lineage as we used to think of
“the hacker” as such term, or in philosophy, what terms such as the
“multitude” tried to bring out – how to think of the politics of the
loose
> conglomerations that are not parties, not traditional groups, not
completely unitary


These conglomerations are also characteristic of wireless networking
communities, which often focus on objectives and strategies in a way that
seems less concerned with political alignment as with pragmatic solutions.
On the other hand this doesn't necessarily seem to imply consensus
politics - disagreements and a kind of ordered chaos appear to also be
integral to the whole dynamic of such groups. I've seen similar in some
hacker groups, who may be really well organized to focus on getting a
project realized, without making any political dimension explicit.

> There is a lot in the symbolical politics of the pirate and the various
directions to which it spreads: from the pirate as the figure outside
the
> law, the critical file sharer, the P2P practitioner, the tinkerer-hero.
The etymology of the pirate in relation to experimentation, exploration,
is of interest too, when it comes down to mapping some of the
imaginaries
> of the network culture and its politics.

Historically, it seems pirates moved between similar enterprises (e.g.
from piracy to highway robbery) and rarely enjoyed upward social mobility.
Secondly, in plotting imaginaries of the network, is there some
commonality to be found between pirate-explorers and
anarchist-geographers?

> And yet, what is perhaps even more important than politics of symbols
and
> figures, relates to political economy; what is the relation of the
notion
> of the pirate to political economy?

Perhaps it is the case that in the realm of digital goods, pirate
identities are formed through expediency and need (as with the example of
underemployed anthropologists). I wonder if this implies individuals
responding to subjugating external pressures or acting in a more
self-determined way, positively claiming creativity and responsibility.

>As we have talked about already, it
> relates to bandwidth and access, to regimes of copyright and DRM, and
the
> alternative economies created through P2P and various communities. In
addition, another aspect is raised by Magnus': that of spaces, where
people are able to meet, collaborate and practice – and where (globally
too) this is taking place.  Hence, the connection to spatial
communities,
> squatting, rents, space
is as important too, as the one dealing with
economies of information products.
>

This is what I find particularly interesting about certain P2P projects,
which seem to find common cause out of collaborations in both physical and
virtual spaces. Linking to this, some interesting theory has come out of
the Oekonux mailing list, in particular Stefen Merten's paper 'Gnu/Linux -
Milestone on the Way to the GPL-society' (2003).

Best wishes,

Magnus

> J
> ______
> Dr Jussi Parikka
> Reader in Media & Design
> Winchester School of Art
> University of Southampton, UK
> Http://jussiparikka.net
>
> Adjunct Professor of Digital Culture Theory, University of Turku
Visiting Fellow at Institute of Media Studies, Humboldt University,
Berlin
> - Spring and Summer 2011
> ________________________________________
> From: empyre-bounces at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> [empyre-bounces at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au] On Behalf Of
magnus at ditch.org.uk
> [magnus at ditch.org.uk]
> Sent: 11 July 2011 14:34
> To: empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> Subject: [-empyre-] pirate modes and forms
>
> 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
>
>
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