The real question....

[megan <megan@tao.ca>]

[: hacktivism :]

... is the one that yael asks here...how do we use the internet to
mobilize people in the flesh - 

I was just thinking about some of this stuff today because I've been asked
to do this television interview thing about activism and the web.... and
the person doing the spot has already revealed himself to be one of the
many who seems to believe that the internet is this entity that's somehow
doing activists this great service - how is the web affecting your
activism kindof stuff.... rather than - how are you affecting the web -? 

And geez - when it gets to web page hacking and stuff - I just don't even
want to talk about it - since the majority of hacks out there are
apoltical - and a great number of them containing language that is
blatantly racist and sexist.

It may be true that a floodnet action might cost some company some $$$
(though I haven't seen lots of proof of that) - but costing a company
money isn't what is going to bring the system to a halt - neither is
defacing their web page. The only thing that's going to do it is a lot of
people with a goal for a better system in mind - that would be physically
able to take on the system - and for that we need education (which is
where I see the usefulness in information systems like the web) and the
ability to communicate (which is where lists and email come in hand).

But the problem is that a lot of people on lists aren't asking themselves
these questions: how do I use this technology (as a tool) to bring people
out on the street, to empower those around me, to educate, to change the
world. Mostly it seems that the ethic of individualization so pervasive in
the rest of society is hyper-amplified on the Internet - and this is
certainly true in the community of those who want to learn how to be 
hackers (there have been a number on this list so far)... not once has
anyone said that they want to learn to be a hacker because they want to
change the world - mostly its some inane reason like just to screw with
things a little (if there's any reason for it at all). And I think it also
comes down to personal feelings of power (the power over some company's
web site for example) that aren't fostered in the same way as a "marshall"
on a demonstration.

So we have to not only question this emphasis on the way that the web
affects activism (back to how activism can affect the web) - but also
look at how information technology can be utilized by all of the
communities that we work in as activists..... (that to me is true
hacktivism by the way - setting up free machines in autonomous spaces for
free use)....

Anyhow - those are just some of the thoughts going through my head this
Wednesday afternoon....

Megan


> of censorship). 
> 
> And as far as pages like the united skins or government pages or 
> the WTO or whatever corporation you want to target, I think it's so
> important to go beyond the internet.  What we see on the web is indicative of a far, far greater
> problem that everybody needs to address!  The internet is only one way of
> doing it, and it's not enough.  How about we use the internet to mobilize
> people organize in real life?  (I know, a lot of us are already doing
> this, but I don't think it can be stressed enough.)
> 
>    
> 
> 
> 


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