Julian Assange: Conspiracy as Governance (2006)

“The non linear effects of leaks on unjust systems of governance

You may want to read The Road to Hanoi or Conspiracy as Governance; an obscure motivational document, almost useless in light of its decontextualization and perhaps even then. But if you read this latter document while thinking about how different structures of power are differentially affected by leaks (the defection of the inner to the outer) its motivations may become clearer.

The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive “secrecy tax”) and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption.

Hence in a world where leaking is easy, secretive or unjust systems are nonlinearly hit relative to open, just systems. Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance.

Only revealed injustice can be answered; for man to do anything intelligent he has to know what’s actually going on.” (author, 31 Dec 2006, source)

commentary (workwithoutdread.blogspot.com, 27 Nov 2010)
commentary (zunguzungu, 29 Nov 2010)

PDF

Nora Farik (ed.): 1968 Revisited: 40 Years of Protest Movements (2008)

Essays and Interviews with Protagonists of 1968.

Contents
* Preface by Nora Farik and Claude Weinber
* What is left? 1968 revisited introduction by Ralf Fücks
* 1968 – Again! Reference year for an age. The events in Brazil by Marcelo Ridenti
* Poland in 1968: „The freedom we needed so badly was so obvious elsewhere“ by Teresa Bogucka
* 1968: Czechoslovakia by Oldřich Tůma
* 1968 in Moscow – A Beginning by Alexander Daniel
* 1968 – An East German Perspective by Wolfgang Templin
* Germany 1968 – SDS, Urban Guerillas and Visions of Räterepublik interview with Klaus Meschkat
* Apartheid South Africa in 1968: Not quite business as usual by Bill Nasson
* Belgrade, June 1968 by Nebojša Popov
* May 1968 in Belgium: The crack bursts open by Benoît Lechat
* „Today the big political game is ‘bashing the 1960s’“ interview with Daniel Cohn-Bendit

Publisher Heinrich Böll Foundation EU Regional Office Brussels, May 2008
Democracy series, Volume 7
68 pages

Publisher

PDF (English, updated on 2024-1-18)

Tim Jordan: Activism! Direct Action, Hacktivism and the Future of Society (2002)

“Many schools of thought assert that Western culture has never been more politically apathetic. Tim Jordan’s Activism! refutes this claim. In his powerful polemic, Jordan shows how acts of civil disobedience have come to dominate the political landscape. Because we inhabit such a quickly changing, high-tech and fragmented culture, the single-issue political movements and stable, conservative authorities of the past are continually being questioned. Traditional political battles have been replaced by the popular, collective practices of a new political activism. From Europe to the USA, from Australia to South America, from the Left to the Right, Jordan introduces us to the citizens who make up DIY culture: eco-activists, animal liberators, neo-fascists, ravers, anti-abortionists, squatters, hunt saboteurs and hacktivists. In his view, activism comprises a new ethics of living for the 21st century.”

Publisher Reaktion Books, 2002
Focus on Contemporary Issues series
ISBN 1861891229, 9781861891228
164 pages

Publisher

PDF (updated on 2021-1-13)