<nettime> Fwd: Make the G8 Precarious (FelS G8 Call to Action)

["Alex Foti" <alex.foti@gmail.com>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: FelS - Für eine linke Strömung <fels@nadir.org>
Date: May 28, 2007 3:10 PM
Subject: Make the G8 Precarious (FelS G8 Call to Action)
To: euromayday@euromayday.org


Please forward...

Make the G8 Precarious, Flexi-Fight the New World Order
Superfluous and Superheroes of the World: Unite and Take Over!

>From 6-8 June, together with thousands of others, as part of the Block
G8 campaign, we will cut the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm off from its
infrastructure. The other world ? the one we say is possible ? will,
on ce again, be revealed as already here.

The successful blockade of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle
1999 was an important moment of rupture. Famously, the common
amongst environmentalists and trade unionists, nuns and queers,
anarchists and communists was constituted through an act ? a blockade
? of practical delegitimation. The world wa s changed on those
teargas-filled streets. Or rather, our perception of our o wn ability
to influence the direction of the world was what underwent the grea
test transformation.

The events of Seattle found their continuation in a series of
counter-summi t mobilisations (in Washington DC, Prague, Genoa,
Cancun, Gleneagles, Hong Kong?), as well as revealing a previously
hidden past; namely, the numero us revolts and rebellions against
neoliberalism, primarily in the global South : from the so-called
'IMF riots' which swept from country to country duri ng the 1980s,
the Zapatista uprising in 1994, and the struggles against employment
reforms in South Korea from 1996-7. More than history's return,
Seattle s howed that it had never gone away!

Movement of Movements With this breaking of the surface of public
consciousness, the singular nat ure of the global 'movement of
movements' became immediately apparent. Unli ke so many of the 'new
social movements' of the 1970s and 80s, the new moveme nt was a
rejection (rather than defence) of identity. It is composed of an
irreducib le multiplicity of actors. It has constantly sought ?
sometimes more success fully than others ? to address two overlapping
problematics. Firstly, how can i t move beyond a condition in which
its constituent parts simply exist indifferentl y alongside one
another? And secondly, how can it simultaneously ensure that no single
actor is able to assume the hegemonic role played by the party-form in
previous eras of struggle?

Over the eight years since Seattle, the movement has transformed.
Its composition, forms of political practice, and language have
shifted; its relation to that which is not itself (which has always
been something hard to define) in constant flux. Sometimes acting
antagonistically; sometimes find ing resonance. The declaration of war
on the body of the movement in Genoa ? and the onset of an open ended
global war a few months later ? have perhaps presented the movement
its biggest challenges yet. Meanwhile, neoliberalism 's own crisis ?
manifested variously by the series of electoral victories in Latin
America and beyond, won on an anti-neoliberal ticket; the rejection of
the EU constitution; and the faltering of talks in almost every round
of negotiati ons of the WTO, the FTAA, and the CAFTA since Seattle ?
have placed new deman ds on the movement. How does something which was
born anti-neoliberal (rather tha n anti-capitalist per se) overcome
its own internal contradictions and reject the increasingly vocal
calls ? from Jeffry Sachs, from Bono, from others ? for a 'capitalism
with a human face'? How do we respond to such efforts to tr ansform
the movement for a globalisation from below into a lobby for change
from ab ove? What are the possibilities for productive interaction,
today, between movem ents and parties and other institutions: In
Latin America? In Europe? And elsewh ere? And importantly, how does a
movement so celebratory of its diversity and wi th such porous borders
rule out influence and involvement from the political right? These
are questions as yet without definitive answers, and about whi ch we
eagerly await discussion with you in Heiligendamm.

Glocal Struggles Within and Against Neoliberalism

The complex webs of social relations which compose the capitalist mode
of (re)production today ensure that all conflicts ? as local as they
may at first seem ? are in fact immediately global. For resistance
movements, the G8 ( like the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank?) function
as symbolic nodes in the netw ork of global governance and command.
Yet the mobilisation around the G8 Summit is not purely symbolic. It
serves the function of bringing together, intensifying and creating
resonance amongst the more everyday struggles against and within
globalised capitalism.

Since at least 2001, with the first EuroMayDay parade in Milan,
a shift of focus has slowly been taking place within some areas
of the global movement of movements; away from the symbols of
global rule, and in search of commonali ty amongst the various
singular subjectivities of the neoliberal era. Many hav e found this
commonality in the notion of 'precariousness'; the social te ndency
towards an increasing insecurity which ? in vastly different ways ? is
beginning to effect us all. The parades have been a conscious effort
to bri ng together these various subjectivities (and like the summit
mobilisations of Seattle, Genoa and beyond) to uncover commonality
despite and beyond differ ence through experimentation with new forms
of political practice.

Simultaneously, more territorially rooted struggles around the issues
of ac cess to social wealth and processes of inclusion/exclusion have
also erupted. In France, first in the banlieue, and then around the
CPE (First Employment La w). In Germany, around the introduction of
the Harz IV welfare reforms and the restructuring of higher education.
And in Oaxaca, Mexico, what began as a teachers' strike to highlight
their economic plight generalised, over the summer of 2006, into a
broad based, explicitly anti-capitalist struggle.

The potential of the mobilisation around this year's G8 Summit
in Heilige ndamm lies in its ability to connect these and other
struggles, making them visib le on the global stage and allowing
the space for them to interact and interpl ay with one another. Not
'Unity in Diversity'; but an open-ended search fo r commonality in the
process of us all becoming something different, together .

Block G8!

To realise their full potential, the mass blockades of this year's G8
Sum mit need to move beyond the discourse of (il)legitimacy and start
making connections to our everyday struggles against precariousness
(in all its various forms) and for the good life. We reject the G8 and
the form of glob al governance of which it makes up only one part. And
we are constantly lookin g for ways out of the capital relation for
which they stand as a symbol. Yet where we ultimately want to go, and
how we want to get there, is far more ambiguous.

The fact that there are no immediately clear solutions to the problem
of to how to constitute another possible world must not stop us from
experimenting. Tentatively, we propose a number of concrete demands
which we feel, if won ? and these are demands which must be fought
for ? would move us in the rig ht direction. They point a way out of
capitalist social relations, whilst clea rly distinguishing ourselves
from the right that tries to become a part of the movement whilst
promoting racist and nationalist ideology. The demands are for:

A universal basic income, de-linked from productivity!
Global freedom of movement and the right to remain!
Equal rights for everyone!

Through adopting the carnivalesqe form of the (Euro)MayDay parades,
through taking up the struggles of the Superfluous (see box), through
supporting th e striking Telekom workers, and through making visible
the precarious 'superheroes' who have fought against neoliberalism
over the last few y ears (see box), we hope ? together with you ? to
be able to articulate these demands through the body of the movement:
in the international demonstration on Jun e 2, in the day of action on
migration, through discussion and debate, and in th e mass disobedient
blockades of the streets around Heiligendamm on June 6.

FelS - Berlin

The following is a list of places and events in which we will be
present an d participating. We hope to see you there!

June 1: Opening of the camps! FelS will be in the Interventionist Left
barr io of the camp in Rostock (Fischereihafen, Am Grenzschlachthof 1,
Rostock). www.camping-07.de

June 2: International Demonstration. Join the Interventionist
Left's 'M ake Capitalism History' bloc ? where there will also be
a MayDay 'bloc wi thin a bloc'. Rostock Central Station, 12:00.
www.heiligendamm2007.de

June 3: International Networking Meetings. Convergence Centre,
Knut-Rasmussen-Straße 8, Rostock.

June 4: Day of Action on Migration. Decentralised actions
in the morning. D emo 'For Global Freedom of Movement and
Equal Rights for Everyone'. Satower Strasse, Rostock. 13:00.
http://g8-migration.net.tf/ June 6-8: Block G8! Mass blockades of the
G8 Summit, with precarious superheroes, the Superfluous and others!
Block G8 Info Line: +49 (0)381 1282702. www.block-g8.org

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Box #1

The Superfluous

The Superfluous (Überflüssigen) are those who, within globalised
neolib eral capitalism, have to fight for survival. Their lives
consist of unemployment , poverty, hunger and war. In the
industrialised countries, they are those excluded from social wealth.
They are the object of the class struggle from above. Superfluous, in
capitalism, are the unemployed whose rights are bein g ever-further
restricted ? in Germany and beyond. They are refugees, asylu m
applicants and single mothers forced into low-paid jobs. But the
Superfluou s don't allow themselves to be dispensed with as easily as
some may hope? All over the world, those deemed superfluous by capital
have adorned white to symbolise their invisibility and reduction to a
faceless commodity. For the same reason, in Germany, the Superfluous
wear white masks: A face for the faceless. In reality, though, the
masks reveal far more than they conceal: commonality. It is through
the constitution of this commonality that the Superfluous are able to
go about collective re-appropriation: of life's essentials, life's
luxuries, life itself. Capitalism is superfluous! www.ueberfluessig.tk
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Box #2

Precarious Superheroes

The reproduction of neoliberal social relations demands
superheroism. Ever more mobility, flexibility, multitask-ability.
Superhero subjectivities ready fo r super-exploitation. Yet
everywhere, the figure of the superhero is becoming a symbol of
resistance. From Superbarrio, who for over a decade has fought
fo r Mexico City's poor; over the Unbeatables (like SpiderMom
and SuperFlex) o f the Milanese Euromayday; to the superheroes
of Hamburg, who redistributed luxur ies they appropriated from a
delicatessen. More and more people are discovering that with their
extra-ordinary powers, they can make another world possible .
berlin.euromayday.org // hamburg.euromayday.org // euromayday.org
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Box #3

FelS (For a Leftwing Current) is a Berlin-based group which, since
the early-1990s, has attempted to intervene in and influence the
direction of various social and political struggles in Germany and
beyond. The group see ks to articulate a radical-left politics, and
to develop new forms of politica l practice, within the context
of broad coalitions and social networks. FelS was involved with
the 2006 and 2007 Mayday Parades in Berlin, and is mobilising
to Heiligendamm against the G8 Summit. The group produces the
quarterly magazi ne arranca! and belongs to the Interventionist
Left. www.fels-berlin.de // fels@nadir.org // www.g8-2007.de
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Box #4

Useful Contacts
Rostock Camp Info Line: +49 (0) 1577 230 2168 // Reddelich Camp Info Line:
+49
(0) 1577 463 0055 // Mobile Info Point (5 and 6 June only): +49 (0) 175 892
 78
68 // Medics: +49 (0)178 654 1308 // Legal Team (EA): +49 (0) 38204 768111
(www.ermittlungsausschuss.antifa.net)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

--
FelS
c/o Schwarze Risse
Gneisenaustrasse 2a
10961 Berlin
http://www.fels-berlin.de
fels@nadir.org



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