Marisa Jahn (ed.): Pro+agonist: The Art of Opposition (2012)

“This is a book and set of playing cards that explore the productive possibilities of ‘agonism,’ or a relationship built on mutual incitement and struggle. Designed in black and blue — the colors of a good bruise — Pro+agonist brings together writings by interdisciplinary artists, scientists, CEO’s, crackpots, war strategists, psychotherapists, and philosophers who raise questions about the importance of political dissent, the function of discord in discourse, the rules of escalating conflict, the roles of parasites within systems, the ins and outs of concord and congress, and more. The book’s introduction, written as a disagreement between a cast of fictional characters, is (arguably) more stimulating than if it were written from a single, unified perspective. Readers will emerge with a greater appreciation for duking it out and taking it to the streets.

p.s. – There’s a half-inch hole running through the center of both the book and the playing cards so that you can peek through, frame the Other, and keep them with you as you read along.”

With texts by Anjum Asharia, John Seely Brown, D. Graham Burnett + Cornel West, Carl DiSalvo, Marisa Jahn, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Chantal Mouffe, Warren Sack, Steve Shada, Mark Shepard, Doris Sommer, McKenzie Wark, Coleson Whitehead

Pro+agonist was commissioned by Northern Lights.mn and Walker Art Center for the symposium Discourse and Discord: Architecture of Agonism from the Kitchen Table to the City Street.

Publisher Northern Lights.mn, Walker Art Center, & REV-, Spring 2012
ISBN 9780985185305
117 pages
via Inge Hoonte

Publisher

PDF (updated on 2017-7-10)

Honza ‘Klokánek’ Šípek: Zásek do živýho (1999/2012) [Czech]

Jaké je české digitální podsvětí? Kdo jsou hackeři? Zbojníci či vandalové? Co dovedou? Proč dělají své odvážné kousky? Jací jsou policisté, kteří je pronásledují? Firmy, vlády, velké společnosti, špionážní služby, státní správa, banky, komunikační satelity – je vubec něco v bezpečí?

“Tenhle text jsem napsal na gymplu v roce 1999 z okouzlení ‘jánošíkovskou’ hackerskou scénou. Plánoval jsem ‘jednou’ ji rozšířit do podoby knihy, ale jak tomu bývá, to ‘jednou’ jsem odkládal tak dlouho, až nikdy nepřišlo. Neboť po webu kolujou různé verze tohoto textu, a navíc se zdá, že o hackerské scéně v daném období toho dneska už moc dohledat nejde (zvláště o skupinách SERT a CzERT), zveřejňuju ji aspoň v nejucelenější dobové podobě, i když je možné, že se věci staly jinak, než píšu, a že bych se dneska za text v jeho naivitě už styděl, nebo se nad ním minimálně poušklíbal. Ale stejně asi stojí za existenci.

As is, no warranty, own risk, atd.

V roce 2012 byl text připraven k webovému vydání a doplněny některé Pajkusovy poznámky s odstupem let.” (author)

119 pages
via gnd

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Philip N. Howard: The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam (2010)

– First book to move beyond potential and hypothetical relationships between technology diffusion and democratic transitions to look at lived experiences for countries under study
– Draws on a statistical study that compares data trends across 74 Muslim countries between 1990 and 2008
– Addresses 2009 presidential elections in Iran

Around the developing world, political leaders face a dilemma: the very information and communication technologies that boost economic fortunes also undermine power structures. Globally, one in ten internet users is a Muslim living in a populous Muslim community. In these countries, young people are developing their political identities–including a transnational Muslim identity–online. In countries where political parties are illegal, the internet is the only infrastructure for democratic discourse. In others, digital technologies such as mobile phones and the internet have given key actors an information infrastructure that is independent of the state. And in countries with large Muslim communities, mobile phones and the internet are helping civil society build systems of political communication independent of the state and beyond easy manipulation by cultural or religious elites.

This book looks at the role that communications technologies play in advancing democratic transitions in Muslim countries. As such, its central question is whether technology holds the potential to substantially enhance democracy. Certainly, no democratic transition has occurred solely because of the internet. But, as Philip Howard argues, no democratic transition can occur today without the internet. According to Howard, the major (and perhaps only meaningful) forum for civic debate in most Muslim countries today is online. Activists both within diasporic communities and within authoritarian states, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, are the drivers of this debate, which centers around issues such as the interpretation of Islamic texts, gender roles, and security issues. Drawing upon material from interviews with telecommunications policy makers and activists in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Tajikistan and Tanzania and a comparative study of 74 countries with large Muslim populations, Howard demonstrates that these forums have been the means to organize activist movements that have lead to successful democratic insurgencies.

Publisher Oxford University Press, 2010
ISBN 0199736413, 9780199736416
285 pages

review (Evgeny Morozov)

publisher
google books

PDF (updated on 2012-11-11)