Anti-capitalist politics & piracy
posted Nov. 22 - 5:18 pm by Myles C
The talk by Nathan Rao and his article provided me with a new perspective on how the current crisis of capitalism is presenting fertile grounds of opportunity to radical movements abroad. It's easy in times of global crisis to become introspective and totally focused upon domestic issues and uninformed and unaware of developments elsewhere in the world that offer great potential for political and social change. At Nathans talk I was looking for ways to connect the growth of the French anti-capitalist party(NPA) into the space that was vacated by the traditional lefts move to the center, with an international character or potential. I was amazed by the ability of the NPA to undertake a socialist project which seems to build upon the political mistakes of the political ecology movement in France. The NPA has taken a stance of cooperating in the streets with other radical groups and socialist parties but sticking to a principle of independence in governance so as to serve as the left opposition to any government or party. This change of tactics for the radical left in France gives validity to the hope of a new anti-capitalist politics emerging out of this crisis with a distinct character and structure from the radical politics of 68 which were developed on the same streets.
Nathan Rao's talk was effective in showing how an inherently new anti capitalist politics is possible but Judy Rebicks talk inspired me to connect anti capitalist politics with anti capitalist resistance. Judy spoke highly of the potential of piracy as resistance against capitalism. Piracy has an emancipatory potential as it strikes at the core of capitalist fictions over control of knowledge and information and empowers the user through resistance. Judy also commented on how we are great at tactics but missing strategies and need to open the debate. I believe the idea of piracy as a means of resisting capitalism needs to be discussed in the context of an anti-capitlist politics. In Sweden Rickard Falkvinge founded a pro piracy anti neo-liberal intellectual property rights party to defend against neo-liberal pressures to discourage piracy activities(featured in Good Copy Bad Copy, a free source movie on international copy rights). Judy spoke of how the movement of the political debate into the online sphere has created a space for strategic e-piracy, such as the shutdown of political sites in Iran. But perhaps the greatest potential lies in the politicisation of these already existing anti-capitalist piracy networks. An anti-capitalist party such as the one in France could develop these piracy networks as hubs of resistance. Developing and distributing anti-capitalist media and education through these piracy networks could serve to help develop anti capitalist movements in locations where the online radical community is more accessible and supportive than the domestic political environment. The radical anti-capitalist political message on the internet is relatively unorganized. However, the linkages do exist and a formalized party with an anti-capitalist ideology could develop astounding international support and solidarity by taking the lead in providing a clear, constructive and open platform for the anti-capitalist message on the internet. The small scale but highly effective actions of the pirate bay has shown just glimpse at this possible potential. This is a strategy that needs to be discussed and debated. Will the anti-capitalist politics of the 21st century be e-politics, open source, free and accessible?
