Re: Italian Net Strike Against WTO N30 - Early example of NET STRIKE

[pj lilley <pj@tao.ca>]

[: hacktivism :]



On Wed, 20 Oct 1999 rdom@thing.net wrote:

> Philipp wrote:

> > > [: hacktivism :] > > > > This was posted on the N30 list. Not sure
> what they mean by a 'Net Strike'. > > i guess its something like
> workers refuse to work and go out on the street to > demonstrate. >
> perhaps they try to make ISPs close logins for a day or something...


   Yes, Phillip, it would be wonderful if folks on this list were actually
working towards organizing digital workers to refuse to work when their
demands were not met.  That is of course the traditional meaning of the
word "strike".   However, as Ricardo points out here, the "net strike" is
another one of those useless media stunts which do not organize labour,
nor even a successful technical sabotage.

  It's "just" art, a wonderful sentiment, without any actual labour power.
Like asking the US government nicely to please relent on its
low-intensity war against the mayan peoples.   Without the power to
force the US government, it will have purely moralistic and propaganda
value, which, according to history, is very easily absorbed into US
"freedom of speech" propaganda (see NY Times article on EDT), and will
not effect any lasting change on US policy.  

If you are interested in organizing labour to build a real "strike"
against capital, perhaps you might try the IWW, instead of the vaguely
defined media whoring which this hacktivism list seems to be about.  The
IWW, aka. the Industrial Workers of the World, is actively seeking to
solidify section 560 of the union, which is communications workers.  You
can find out more about this drive at iww.org    Grassroots groups aligned
with labour in Seattle are working towards building some sort of general
strike against the WTO, and that, with wide enough participation, may
effectively raise the social costs enough for the bosses to pause.

   The EDT description below, claiming to represent 'grassroots groups
mobilizing cyberpower' does not seem to have an analysis of power that
incorporates criticism of capital, nor does it recognize the power of
workers "with their hands in their pockets", instead of on their mouse
buttons.  Obviously, I disagree with this approach, and have tried
repeatedly to open up this discussion, but the media-ego factor has
blocked this kind of collective organizing, in favour of
alienation-increasing push-button politics.   I think that sucks, and i
regret allowing my labour at TAO to be seen publicly as supporting the EDT
strategy. 

sincerely,
  -=pj=-
  (tao toronto / iww)

> Early example of a NET STRIKE (1998...i think we -EDT - even have one
> from as early as 1996 ) the email that gave EDT the idea for the
> Zapatista FloodNet (which i posted on an net.art list (eyebeam) and
> Brett Stalbaum form CADRE responded.....:
> 
>                Cyberpower For Peace In Chiapas: Action Alert
>                -----------------------------------------------
>                *** For immediate release: January 19, 1998 ***
>                -----------------------------------------------
> 
>           CALL FOR VIRTUAL SIT-INS AT
>           FIVE MEXICO FINANCIAL
>           WEB SITES
> 
>           The following call for a NETSTRIKE FOR ZAPATA on Thursday, January 29,
>           comes from the Anonymous Digital Coalition in Italy. It calls for
>           simultaneous world-wide virtual sit-ins at five Mexico City financial
>           institution's web sites.
> 
>           Rarely have grassroots groups exercised cyberpower in this way. Clearly
> 
>           people in Italy are using their creativity and imagination. This is a
>           unique opportunity to move into new terrain for coordinated world-wide
>           action. Be part of what is probably the first globally coordinated
> virtual
>           sit-in!
> 
>           Below is the English version and includes correct information for all
> time
>           zones in North America. The original message from the Autonomous
> Digital
>           Coalition which includes Spanish and Italian versions can be found in
> the
>           Chiapas95 archives:
> http://www.eco.utexas.edu/faculty/Cleaver/chiapas95.html
> 
>           **********************************************************************
> 
>           NETSTRIKE FOR ZAPATA
> 
>           On Sun, 18 Jan 1998 14:08:07 -0500, Anonymous anon@anon.efga.org wrote:
> 
>           -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> 
>           NetStriking for Zapata   (from Anonymous Digital Coalition)
> 
>           - ---------------------------------------------------------
>           In solidarity with the Zapatista movement we welcome all the netsurfers
> 
>           with the ideals of justice, freedom, solidarity and liberty within
> their
>           hearts, to sit-in the day 29/01/1998 from 4:00 p.m. GMT (Greenwich Mean
> 
>           Time) to 5:00 p.m. GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) in the following five web
>           sites, symbols of Mexican neoliberalism:
> 
>           Bolsa Mexicana de Valores
>           http://www.bmv.com.mx
>           Grupo Financiero Bital
>           http://www.bital.com.mx
>           Grupo Financiero Bancomer
>           http://www.bancomer.com.mx
>           Banco de Mexico
>           http://www.banxico.org.mx
>           Banamex
>           http://www.banamex.com
> 
>           Technical instructions:
> 
>           Connect with your browser to the upper mentioned web sites and push the
> 
>           bottom "reload" several times for an
>           hour (with in between an interval of few seconds)
> 
>           1) For Netscape navigator users on PC, Apple Macintsoh and Unix o.s.:
>           - From the Option menu select Preferences and set up:
>           memory cache = 0
>           disk cache = 0
>           verify document = Every Time
>           - From The Option menu select Network Preferences, and activate the No
>           Proxies option
> 
>           2) For Microsoft Internet Explorer users:
>           from the View menu select Options - Advanced - and in the Temporary
>           Internet File Box
>           select Never
> 
>           Next messages will be signed with our PGP Key
>           During netstrike time you can connect to IRC channel #netstrike
>           on server: irc.funet.fi
> 
>           - ------------------------------------------------------------
>           Your local time zone
>           related to Greenwich Mean Time
> 
>           City            Local Time
> 
>           GMT -10
>           Hawaii
>           from 6:00 to 7:00 am
> 
>           GMT -9
>           Alaska
>           from 7:00 to 8:00 am
> 
>           GMT -8
>           Pacific Coast (USA, Canada), Tijuana, San Francisco
>           from 8:00 to 9:00 am
> 
>           GMT -7
>           West Time Zone (Usa, Canada), Arizona,
>           from 9:00 to 10:00 am
> 
>           GMT -6
>           Ciudad de Mexico, Saskatchewan, Central Time Zone (USA, Canada)
>           from 10.00 to 11.00 am
> 
>           GMT -5
>           East Time Zone  (USA, Canada), Indiana (East), Bogota', Lima, Montreal,
> New
>           York
>           from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm
> 
>           GMT -4
>           Caracas, La Paz,  Atlantic Coast (Canada)
>           from 12:00 to 1:00 pm
>           - -----------------------------------
>           Anonymous Digital Coalition
> 
> >
> >
> > philipp
> >
> > [: hacktivism :]
> > [: for unsubscribe instructions or list info consult the list FAQ :]
> > [: http://hacktivism.tao.ca/ :]
> 
> 
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