class

Semio-capital and the problem of solidarity

This text is based on a panel talk (together with Nina Power) by Bifo during the event ‘We Have Our Own Concept of Time and Motion’, organised by Auto Italia in collaboration with Federico Campagna, Huw Lemmey, Michael Oswell and Charlie Woolley in August 2011.
 
I beg your pardon for the frantic way of my exposition, but the problem is that the object of my reflections is frantic. We are doing so many things without really understanding what is the framework of our actions. I do not pretend to clarify this framework or our understanding of it; I don’t even pretend to come to some conclusions in this short time. But I will try to say something about the coming problem; the coming collapse; the coming insurrection.
 

Vengeance de classe

Une fois que les les gens à capuches sont revenus à leurs refuges, que les incendies se sont éteints et que la menace s’est estompée, la police a repris pleine possession des villes anglaises. Pendants des journées entières, les seize milles hommes armés envoyés par le gouvernement ont fait entendre leur monologue assourdissant, avec des colonnes de blindés se lançant à sirènes hurlantes sur les routes désertes et des patrouilles dans chaque quartier.

Street-Fightin' Press? - Dal "Trojan Journalism" al disprezzo di classe

Qualche settimana fa, nella sezione “culturale” dell’Evening Standard, pubblicarono una foto: erano ritratti otto ragazzi, sui venti anni, seduti su una scalinata di un palazzo medievale. Erano vestiti, da buoni londinesi “intellettuali”, in uno stile fintamente casual-sciatto; erano tutti sorridenti; due di loro maneggiavano un cellulare; una giovinetta aveva un pc sulle ginocchia: «Stiamo parlando di tecnologia», sembrava dire. Chi erano costoro? Erano loro quelli che lo Standard chiamava, con un bel titolone, Clicktivists, attivisti del “click”. Ecco i volti nuovi della protesta di questi mesi: coloro che usano i social network come Facebook o Twitter per organizzare manifestazioni, coordinarsi, promuovere scioperi. [1]

Dangerous alliances: class and the student movement

Recently, I have been asked several times by Italian friends and comrades to talk about the British student movement. I must confess that their questions always made me feel slightly embarrassed.
At first, I tried to forget about this uncomfortable feeling, talking about the rise of a new civic participation, which had been lacking in this country since the 1980s, with the brief exception of the anti-war movement of 2003. Then, in my heart of hearts, I tried to offer to my embarrassment the acknowledgment that in the UK, at the moment, there is not a ‘movement’ as such, rather a constellation of small groups and organizations.

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