The Dramatic Rise of Peer-to-Peer Communication within the emancipatory movements

8/12/2019 The Dramatic Rise of Peer-to-Peer Communication within the emancipatory movements

1/18

The Dramatic Rise of Peer-to-Peer Communication

within the emancipatory movementsReflections of an International Labour, Social Justice and

Cyber Activist

rsan enalp

Abstract

In the article I give a personal review on some of the important spaces ofconvergence and mobilisations some of which took place in 2011 and 2012 andothers are currently being planned: like, 15O, oint !ocial "onferences, #ub

$eetings of Indignados, %lobal $ay, &gora '' and (lorence 10)10 amongothers* I also deliver my observations on the dramatic rise of peer to peer+2- communication as well as increasing involvement of new generationactivists in these spaces and mobilisations* !uch developments might allowradical reformist and revolutionary forces to invent an upgradedmethodology for working together which might in return make it possible to

form transnationally connected and strong alliances between hori.ontal andless vertical forms of agency, so called movement of movements*

Introduction

In 2011 the world witnessed the beginning of the first truly transnational and

global grass-roots uprising. Peer to peer self-organising, on-line connectivity,

horizontality, and commitment to non-violence have become the common

characteristics of the rising global movement. Progressive and revolutionary

civil society organisations and trade unions have played a crucial role in the

uprisings that too place in !unisia, "gypt, Iceland, #reece, $pain, Israel, %hile,

the &', the &$ as well as many other places.

!his constellation might e(plain why 2012 has begun as a year in which the

transnational capital and ruling elite have gathered around a consensus on

various types of authoritarian and neoliberal state capitalism. )ore and more

divorce between capitalism and democracy followed the maret failure

deepening in the *est. *hile imperial confrontations among the elite forces

1


2/18

taing the form of military conflicts, the common offensive against the poor and

woring classes structurally and strategically increased. !he violence has been

hardened against the peaceful social opposition almost everywhere. +ot only

austerity, fle(-slavery and proletarianisation have spread throughout the world

peaceful public space occupations were violently evicted, militarisation,

surveillance and criminalisation captured all domains of social life, stries were

banned, and even as happened in )ariana tragedy in $outh frica, tens of

striing worers have been massacred by the police forces in cold blood.1

n the other hand, 1/) and ccupy movements have reached a sustainable

phase within 2012. fter 1/, )ay 1 #eneral $trie and #lobal )ay$pring

mobilisations a lot of e(perience has been gained.2 $eptember 1, the first

anniversary of ccupy *all $treet *$3 and current autumn mobilisations

have proved the sustainability that the young movement has achieved. 4 wee

before these lines are written #lobal +oise mobilisation too place maring, this

time, the first anniversary of the ctober 1/ uprising. !here have been many

local and national mobilisations for various causes between ctober 12 and 20.ctober 14 was the global day of action. !he #lobal +oise mobilisations were

organised in more than 40 countries and 240 cities around the world maing a

huge meaningful noise against the ruling class brutality. !here have been and

will be many other initiatives and mobilisations taing place during this autumn

and winter.

)eanwhile we have been observing the formation of larger alliances amongmore traditional progressive forces. Important spaces and convergence

processes have been initiated, launched by radical democratic as well as

revolutionary alter-forces especially in "urope. t the beginning of +ovember

1 http5www.amandlapublishers.co.zahome-page1/22-amandla-editorial-comment--a-brutal-tragedy-that-should-never-have-happened2 61/5 http51/october.netand http5map.1/october.net, 611.11.115http5www.faceboo.comevents171899:219428/,61)#$5 http5www.occupymay1st.org andhttp5maydaynyc.org , 6#lobal )ay5 http5www.globalmay.orgen 6 sign refers to the

online aspects of the movement. 6 is a symbol used for tweet campaigns on !witter33 61$5 http5s1nyc.org , *$5 http5occupywallst.org

2
http://www.amandlapublishers.co.za/home-page/1522-amandla-editorial-comment--a-brutal-tragedy-that-should-never-have-happenedhttp://www.amandlapublishers.co.za/home-page/1522-amandla-editorial-comment--a-brutal-tragedy-that-should-never-have-happenedhttp://15october.net/http://15october.net/http://map.15october.net/http://www.facebook.com/events/179186642163285/http://www.facebook.com/events/179186642163285/http://www.occupymay1st.org/http://maydaynyc.org/http://maydaynyc.org/http://www.globalmay.org/enhttp://s17nyc.org/http://occupywallst.org/http://www.amandlapublishers.co.za/home-page/1522-amandla-editorial-comment--a-brutal-tragedy-that-should-never-have-happenedhttp://www.amandlapublishers.co.za/home-page/1522-amandla-editorial-comment--a-brutal-tragedy-that-should-never-have-happenedhttp://15october.net/http://map.15october.net/http://www.facebook.com/events/179186642163285/http://www.occupymay1st.org/http://maydaynyc.org/http://www.globalmay.org/enhttp://s17nyc.org/http://occupywallst.org/


3/18

there are two events taing place5 gora 77 in )adrid +ovember 1-: and 10;10

in opefully much larger than the ones set for so far. n

top of all these unions from #ree, $panish, and Portugal have declared that

they will set forth simultaneous general stries on +ovember 1:. !here is a

possibility that the unions from )alta and %yprus will also =oin in and turn it

into the first )editerranean #eneral $trie of the world history.

In the article I give a personal review on some of the important spaces of

convergence and mobilisations which too place in 2011 and 2012 and currently

being planned5 lie, 1/, ?oint $ocial %onferences, >ub )eetings of Indignados,

#lobal )ay, gora 77 and


4/18

storing and transmitting of much larger amount of information, the available

online tools for activism have become more and more sophisticated, interactive

and accessible. !he new *eb *eb 2.03 has opened up the cyberspace for users@

participation, by producing content, self-publishing and sharing without any

computer programming nowledge.

!he neoliberal offensive and the deepening of capitalist crisis has been

triggering radical politicisation of cyber-activism during the late 80s and 70s./

!he first generation participants of the P2P movement was leading an

underground fight against the commodification of the Internet, against the

intellectual property regime launched by #!$ through the *!.9#!$ was

providing the legal framewor for what has been called Athe second enclosureA of

cyberspace and allowing private capital to build the client-server model *eb

*orld *ide *eb3 on top of the unprofitable distributed networ nown as the

Internet.Part of this first generation P2P activism was transformed into the


5/18

new activists, including non-cyber ones. !his emergent collaboration and cross-

fertilisation had been e(tended via $eattle and the *orld $ocial


6/18

effective artistic video messages to declare support, mae a public statement,

call for action or what they call AoperationsA3.10

*hen the protesters in *isconsin and !ahrir hailed each other, visuals of the

event were shared among millions on the *eb.11Cive video streaming channels

were on air and watched by tens of thousands of people across the world during

the mass occupations at Puerta Fel $ol $Huare in )adrid, messages shared

among thens, Iceland, and Condon. !here were already online and real world

communication being established since then, between these spaces, groups and

rebels. "ven after most $panish city sHuares were occupied for several wees,

starting from )ay 1/, 2011, with e(plicit reference to the !ahrir $Huare, not

many would guess that these occupations and regular citizen assemblies -

comparable to previous Catin merican e(periences - was actually being

systematically spread to many "uropean cities and beyond the tlantic.


7/18

started to pop up in merican cities and&dbusters $aga.inemade the first callto ccupy *all $treet on the $eptember 1, 2011.14?ust before the *all $treet

occupation in $eptember 1, 2011, in Garcelona Indignadoswere holding atransnational >ub )eeting to e(change information and ideas on local

situations and preparations, visions and future perspectives toward 1/ and

after.

n the same day that *all $treet was occupied, the "uropean !rade &nion

%onfederation "!&%3 and "uropean trade unions organised a mass

mobilisation in Poland to protest the meeting of the "uropean finance

ministers.1:Net no connection was made between these two deeply connected

events that could have increased the impact of both. s a result, that day and for

the following couple of wees, there was almost no media coverage of these two

big and related events. People around the world did not hear much about what

happened in *all $treet or Poland and could not see the connection. >owever,

after several wees of non-violent resistance by those occupying the Euccotti

Par in *all $treet, they were severely attaced by the police mainstreammedia could not ignore what was happening. !his eruption of unavoidable mass

media attention, coming mainly by international rivals of the GG% and the %++,

lie Dussia !oday D!3, the %hinese news channel %%!B, as well as l ?azeera,

fed into the massive global mobilisations on the 1/th of ctober, and

concomitant occupations of more than 1,000 central city sHuares in more than

70 countries across five continents.1/

$utra#e! occupy! stri"e! bloc"upy

13 http5www.adbusters.orgblogsadbusters-blogoccupywallstreet.html14 http5www.etuc.orga887: 15Interactive map5http5map.1/october.net,Bideos5 http5roarmag.org201110global-revolution-mass-protests-in-1000-cities-in-videosJ

utmOsourceKfeedburnerMutmOmediumKfeedMutmOcampaignK


8/18

!he wor and plans around the idea of a #lobal $pring mobilisations in 2012

began to crystallise towards the end of 2011.19


9/18

"uropean mirror image of *$5 !he Glocupyaction, to tae place in #ermany)ay 19-17.21)assive mobilisations were planned to protest, bloc and occupy

the


10/18

there were concerns about the dedication to non-violence in


11/18

town to %amp Favid. &nder such conditions the Glocupy managed to bloc the

"%G and to get a 40-thousand strong rally on the 17th.29

!he above-mentioned mobilisations and actions were the international ones

directly organised by non-representational groups including ccupy, 1/) and

those who collaborated with them as in Glocupy mobilisation. In order to

uncover the real number of the local, national and regional events, direct

actions, mobilisations and stries organised by these groups - and their impact -

we need an intensive and systematic study.

%uropean fellowship of the rin#&

month before )ayday 2012, on )arch 28-27, the ne(t phase of an important

e(periment too place at the International !rade &nion Guilding in Grussels,

which hosts the established global union structures of the I!&%, the "!&% and

associated union internationals. mong the participants of the 2nd $pring$ocial %onference there were more than 1:0 representatives of around :0progressive organisations, unions, and +# networs based in "urope.2

!he first edition of the %onference had been held at the same venue in )arch

2011 by participants in the ?oint $ocial %onference@ process. !he ?oint $ocial%onference initiative was officially born out of the "uropean $ocial


12/18


13/18

same participants and others, to wor on a call for organising an lter$ummitinthe foreseeable future.40 !he call was made to build a "urope-wide social

movement, sharing a common ground of analysis, and defining collective

actions and alternatives against the austerity policies, deregulations,

privatisations and anti-democratic measures in "urope as well as globally. !he

cornerstones for building such a movement were identified as )ay /-9, 2012

!+I-%" conference that too in Grussels, 1-20 )ay Glocupy for #lobal

%hange mobilisation in


14/18

statement calling for a halt to the "& usterity !reaty. 44 !he two-day "& in

%risis %onference@ mared %"@s 1/th anniversary.


15/18

$pain. Gut maybe more importantly all evicted ccupy camps have developed

their own online spaces and tools to eep in touch with local activists. $everal

important web portals were developed and launched.4 Feveloping new

communication channels, local networs have built closer lins among the

previously-created spaces for international communication and coordination

among 1/) and ccupy assemblies, camps, and networs in different

continents. Guilding on previous e(periences, new ideas for dates and content of

the global mobilisations were discussed, and an international worgroup was

formed - this time with even closer and wider international participation from

varying localities. #lobal +oise action too place in a distributed way. new

international road to dignity was drawn up for the rest of 2012 and 2014, lining

the cornerstones towards the aim of global change.48

t the end of ugust participants of the almost all above mentioned

progressive, and less-horizontal networs, organised a preparatory meeting on

$ype in order to come up with a draft programme for the $eptember 1:-1

preparatory meeting and to wor on it in )ilan towards


16/18

the opening session for the meeting, ccupy and 1/) activists who were

participating provided individual inputs into the global+I$" preparations, an

gora77 meeting, and woring methods of the movement. Furing the following

days they made suggestions for the woring themes and the methodology for


17/18

!he new methods and tools of communication and self-organising that havebeen e(perimented with and developed by the new-generation activists in

creating a shared feeling and e(perience, strategy and tactics, public space and

political impact. Information-gathering and e(changes before maing proposals

to the local #eneral ssemblies about the mobilisations, action or alternative

initiatives to be taen forward have been representing varying combinations of

direct democracy powered by P2P relational dynamics and tools, which were

developed and adopted by the previous and current generation activists,

including those active in nonymous and Pirate party movements. ctivist from

different movements need to reflected upon these new nowledge and

e(perience in order to strengthen international level practices in order to

contribute to most radical social change possible.


18/18

fictive image as a metaphor. force that can attract the eye of the )ordor,

murderous 1L in our case, to herself and e(pand from the )iddle "arth

"urope3 towards the )editerranean, )iddle "ast, the mericas and across the

world. %harge a glorious battle against the common enemy who declared

economic, social, political, cultural and military class war at the 77L and the

planet itself.::

About the authorVrsan Wenalp is an independent labour, social =ustice movement and cyberP2P3 activist and international political economist. In the past he involved inleft party politics, labour and consumer movements in !urey. >e also woredfor the +ational ssembly as a politicalinternational relations e(pert andadvisor. In the +etherlands he wored with !ransnational Institute and !I"-+etherlands as freelance consultant and researcher. >e has taen part ininternational movement-networ-union collaborations lie the *ater ?usticemovement, ?oint $ocial %onference and lter $ummit. In 2010, he launched the$ocial +etwor &nionism Pro=ect and initiated the #lobal lliance for

Immediate lteration. $ince ?anuary 2011 he has been active in the 1/) andccupy movements at the international and local levels. >e has taen part inctober 2011 61/ &nited for #lobal %hange, 11 +ovember 2012 611.11.11ccupy the *orld, )ay 2012 6#lobal)ay for #lobal $pring, and ctober 2012614 6global+I$" for Deal Femocracy mobilisations.:/

orsan1234 AT gmail.com

44 ?.?.D. !olien55en.wiipedia.orgwii?.OD.OD.O!olien,http5en.wiipedia.orgwii!heOCordOofOtheODings45 TNI: http://.tni.org/! TI"#N$th$rlan%s:.ti$#n$th$rlan%s.nl!&'(:

http://www.jointsocialconference.eu, 'ocial N$tor) *nionism: http://sn+pro,$ct.or%pr$ss.com! -AIA:https://n#1.cc/pg/gro+ps/943821/gloal#allianc$#or#imm$%iat$#alt$ration#gaia/! 15:

http://15octo$r.n$t/an% http://map.15octo$r.n$t/! 11.11.11:

http://.ac$oo).com/$$nts/179186642163285/!Global May: http://www.globalmay.org/en,gloalNI'": http://.gloalnois$.n$t

18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkienhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkienhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Ringshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Ringshttp://www.tni.org/http://www.tie-netherlands.nl/http://www.tie-netherlands.nl/http://www.tie-netherlands.nl/http://www.jointsocialconference.eu/http://www.jointsocialconference.eu/http://snuproject.wordpress.com/https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/943821/global-alliance-for-immediate-alteration-gaia/http://15october.net/http://15october.net/http://map.15october.net/http://www.facebook.com/events/179186642163285/http://www.facebook.com/events/179186642163285/http://www.globalmay.org/enhttp://www.globalnoise.net/http://www.globalnoise.net/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkienhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Ringshttp://www.tni.org/http://www.tie-netherlands.nl/http://www.jointsocialconference.eu/http://snuproject.wordpress.com/https://n-1.cc/pg/groups/943821/global-alliance-for-immediate-alteration-gaia/http://15october.net/http://map.15october.net/http://www.facebook.com/events/179186642163285/http://www.globalmay.org/enhttp://www.globalnoise.net/

Documents

The Dramatic Rise of Peer-to-Peer Communication within the emancipatory movements