Oleg Kireev State, democracy, information and some other notions to be reconsidered

Sociological thinking of the past, its categories of time, communication and power became powerless not only on-line but also in non-virtual reality of the globalizing world, the reason being not merely in the web which contributes to the development. On the contrary, the web - which finally was mastered by artists and intellectuals - is only one of multiple trash of the power industry, garbage of militarism, remnant of the cold war. While the web culture is busy inventing new methods of survival, and sometimes of power service ('The Amsterdam Agenda' project, worked out at the 'From Practice to Policy: Towards a European Media Culture' conference¹), holders of transnational capitals take care of their own interests. And they are not interested in representation, or copyright, or innovation and intellectual strength.

They not only disguise their faces, they don't even have a talk. More precisely, types of their communication are oppressively dull and, depending on imagemakers' advice, change very quickly. For example, a few years ago the Shell announced 'open policy', and anyone who goes to its site can receive a pleasant letter from the company. There are enough high-paid secretaries in vast offices, or just dialogue programs that will give you detailed answers. Operations on cheap labour market conquer are called 'cultural mission of Western states'. Ecological activists in Nigeria that protest against the destructive oil output in the country (together with 2 000 perished at circumstances not to be made public) are called 'terrorists, separatists, scoundrels'. It's enough to weight on the extend of the web space occupied by intellectual projects like Nettime, Rolux, TAO, and to compare it with that of various pornoservers, on the one hand. On the other hand, take the web-space occupied by companies, banks, European Community, NATO, banking systems, television, and you'll see that intellectuals' servers make a tiny island in the ocean breathing with data. Who is interested in the intellectual value invested into the pages? Especially when it is compared to the invested monetary value? 

However, vast zones are not informated at all. In China, so thrillingly spoken about, Internet access is restricted by police authorities. In little Asian countries, such as Burma, it is forbidden. Some of them have one server for the whole country. The wider is the information stream, the more is the need for its restriction. Much data means much real schizophrenia. It's necessary to preserve the illusion of control over the circumstances, this being the life term in the differentiated society, with its particular specialization. It's easier to use the offered data than to organize independent zones for it. And the data is offered by those that have taken care of it. That is why it might be announced notoriously doubtful.

Beginning of the 90s became the period of forming of new web-culture, rooted in hackers' communities and piratic radio activists of the 80s, around the Dutch, primely Amsterdam groups of activists. The new culture break and radical change of situation in the Net took place in 1993-94, due to activities of the De Balie center, De Waag and a group of people lead by media theorist and curator Geert Lovink. For the last five years the 'Net Amsterdam' has become an indisputable leader in the intellectual culture and policy, though projects of the more young Holland, compared with their predecessors, were more reserved in political accentuation (let's compare 'Syndicate' of the 1996 by Andreas Breckmann and Inke Arns, and 'Nettime' of the 1992). From direct activity (hacking) they pass to abstract discussion. Nevertheless, the 'Net Amsterdam' generated the situation when both, opinion expressing and activity, can exist in some other and new forms. At least, we have here an open discussion field which haven't been offered by the TV or the press. In 1994 Geert Lovink's team started the 'Digital City', an open Internet system in Holland. It was generated to help the citizens to communicate with the power representatives, and to overcome alienation of the voters towards politics, which had been imposed by disposition of the power. The voters tried once more to examine their delegates in democratic will, and once more were defeated - the authorities abstained from participation in discussions. Steven Ray explains the fact by 'principally vertical', and not horizontal nature of net-communication.

The idea of the 'Digital City' was based on democratic idealism (though hardly a person expected more results of the project). But much more vital for long-term perspective became another project of the earlier time. The Amsterdam team created a free Internet provider with a model name 'xs4all'. It makes possible access for participation in discussion and net activity, and provides economic independence, since the providers do not guarantee that under particular circumstances they wouldn't control the users. Possibility of control seems to be vital for Russia. After a number of scandal publications, in August-September 1999, accusing Moscow writer Dmitry Pimenov in relation to terroristic action in Manezh (Moscow Central Exhibition Hall), the 'zenon' provider closed his personal site. Geert Lovink formulated the idea of the Amsterdam team as follows: "The essence of difference is in the following question - do we concentrate our efforts merely on the small APC type engaged in itself (access for us), or do we organize a vast and substantial net-culture, and open access for all? APC (glasnet.ru) or xs4all? If we chose the first, we give up artists, hackers, techcommunities and other endless varieties of culture people and small entrepreneurs. Here, in Amsterdam, we've made a choice in favour of wide and various media, and infrastructure consisting of multiple independent ones, in favour of independent radio, wide and open video, cable groups, various types of activity of the people obsessed by techs that are obviously interested in their personal media-presence².

A web activist is interested in representing no-one but himself (this is a permanent requirement for each activist when they meet off-line, at conferences and seminars). A person deserves democracy, or possibility for fighting for it, if he has and can express his political will. And the will to communicate, chose a provider and use e-mail, makes one's political choice. Historical discourse on representation has failed. If was rejected a priori, after various attempts to prove its vitality. Since the web has no retrospective trend, its activity is directed into the future, and it interprets reality not theoretically but by its very existence, generating new conditions for the future, historical discourse is out of place here. That is why its paramount significance is not in the brilliant interpretation, but in its maximum insertion and activity. The new anarchism, contrary to overunderstanding of all doctrines of the past, is inspired by unawareness and misunderstanding of the future. It is aware merely of the reality which demands one's maximum uncompromised activity. And contrary to politicians with their 'positive programs', the new anarchism has the program of negation of the corrupt reality, and suggests just watching and choosing what deserves more trust - a perspective gifted work, or a program once more offered by the people in grey, advancing in age.

Web is not, as Hakim Bay used to think, a 'Temporary Autonomous Zone', a refuge in the capitalist society. It is not isolated from reality, but it gives a chance for future changing of this reality. 'Syndicate' had been conceived as a web community of East European and Dutch artists and critics, and existed about two years. Since the Balkan war, it became a forum of political discussions, an information agency, a real non-elected parliament of European intellectuals. Due to the fact that about 40% of the community's members live in the states of former Yugoslavia, it turned into a unique collection of hot news. During the meeting in Budapest, in April 1999, activists of the 'Syndicate' organized a new mailing list named 'Balcania' devoted to discussions of political projects of the future, post-war state.

Those that formulate their goal in terms of direct political resistance (activists of senior generation mostly), and those that abstractly discuss new media and net-criticism, together make the front of new social planning, rejecting information service and opinion forming offered by old media and official policy, and their choice has political character. Web communities can go without grants and are able not to fall into sponsor dependence. They don't have offices, nor bureaucratic hierarchy. Leaders of the projects are not 'mediators', 'curators' or 'moderators', and they don't manage discussions. Any publishing project demands grants. In Russia, more or less active anarchist and ecological movement of the beginning of the 90s failed not because of the authorities' pressure. On the contrary, in situation of the forming media market and helplessness of the state mechanism, it had most perspective opportunities. But the two movements' activists started fighting with each other in order to conquer attention of Western grantholders. And now, those who were lucky in getting money (Moscow Anarchist Syndicalist Organization, ecological movement 'Rainbow Keepers', etc.) turned into secret sects engaged in telling stories of their modest merits of the past. In this respect, most demonstrative is the fact that they do not care for informing the public, or even their partners about their work, this being the reason why only few of them created Internet sites or mailing lists. The 'Black List', mailing list created by marginal character of the anarchist stage Vlad Tupikin, supplied, though only his partners and for a time, with some data. He was much more preoccupied in inspiring people with the 'right' ideas and intriguing against the participants he didn't like. Similar working direction is hold by international Internet projects of the left community. Thus, the 'Alter-ee' list (a sort of analogue of the 'Syndicate', also dedicated to Eastern Europe) is paranoically searching enemies and stigmatizing its opponents. The very nature of the web contradicts with the mode of thinking in 'the righteous - the apostates' terms, since everyone who has a PC modem can go to the sites of 'the apostates' and personally guess if the criticism is true. Anyone possessing political will can deliver data about himself, and in the situation of access to this data, talking of the other means nearly the same as taking representation. And again, the mute masses stay 'eternally silent', but they are not spoken about for the moment.

The Russian web-situation still demonstrates a reserve motion of the developing media. Unlimited power of Internet providers hasn't yet shown its possibilities, though we can forecast that in the nearest future providers will be able for direct controlling (take again Dmitry Pimenov's case as a reminder). The person making contract with, for example, the largest 'Glasnet' provider, rarely reads the articles of the contract stating that his mail might be checked, his Internet project might be minimized if, on the provider's opinion, it doesn't match particular political demands. Fortunately, it's not the provider who buys the modem for the user, so the latter can turn to his competitor's service. But the provider dictates different terms, and joins 'Glasnet' against the user, together with other web market competitors. 

Indispensable, for capitalist development, 'renovation' demands permanent change of software, so new PC or Macintosh birth is followed by general change of web-equipment. And the user has to take the dictated terms and launch the 'Outlook Express', for instance, instead of the 'Eudora', even if the first one occupies much more space and offers practically no advantages. In this case, Russian users might feel solidarity with the Western users, if a specific piratic codex of honour of Russian programmers (starting with the radio fans of the 80s that used to hack the Pentagon servers) wouldn't demand an out-of-license software copying. Though the pirates' age is getting over, and professionalizing of the web leads our Temporary Autonomous Zone into the reign of globality and Bill Gates. "How come, this charm for standards? Who is it up to, choosing PC or Mac? Where is the totalitarism concealed in the Gesamtmedia architecture? And how to overcome it? Still we don't know much of possible radical opposition to the digital Utopia, except, perhaps, a few types of fundamentalism³.

One rarely comes across appearance of independent providers and servers, though it's necessary to point out the example of Vadim Gushchin's project (www.rema.ru), and some other initiatives being supported by the Open Society Institute and invested by the Soros Centre of Contemporary Art. In political aspect Russian language data field in the web is formed not by independent groups of activists, as it is in Europe, but by political elites appropriating their achievements. An imagemaking company named 'The Foundation of Effective Policy', directed by Gleb Pavlovsky, a former dissident and a high-rank political adviser now, became pioneer of the web policy. And it was his initiative to create The Russian Magazine Internet project in 1997 (immediately followed by its competitor 'Zhurnal.ru'). 'Sister companies' of The Russian Magazine, such as 'Guelman.ru' pages, act as agents of political influence and serve as data field for privileged media and cultural Moscow elite. In his book 'Mass Media of the Second Republic', media analyst (and staff member of 'The Foundation of Effective Policy') Ivan Zasursky outlines principal peculiarity of Russian media of the 90s: they've always been orientated not on wide and unfamiliar circle of readers, but on media and political elite of the capital, which can orientate in the details of information wars and interests of media investors. Such an understanding requests high cynicism from media consumers. With the same cynicism, we ought to note that 'Internet Parliament', the new initiative of the FEP set up in spring 1999, in the beginning of the election campaign of Serguei Kirienko, has been serving for wider transmission of unsophisticated ideas of 'Kirienko' liberalism. Lucky owners of modems from more or less far regions, that cannot join complicated Moscow intriguing, took part in 'Internet Parliament' discussions on parliament elections and similar problems (by the way, Kirienko promised, from his server's pages generated by FEP, to give them promotion in his party, in the future).

Russia needs an independent Network of providers and initiatives that can perform in situation of post-parliamentary policy and 'vertical' web organization. It would be appropriate to take into account the experience of social movements and non-governmental organizations. Starting with the 60s, when the left front opened an outrageous critical campaign of social democratic policy, new types of political organizations and social movements neglecting hierarchy and representation had been existing. In the 80s, the predominant importance was given to non-governmental organizations (NGO), though, by the beginning of the 90s, they discredited themselves, as well. NGO changed into bureaucratic offices preoccupied in search of special investment; and this type of organization had never been clearly articulated as political. 

Appearance of NGO is a sociological material for research of the state deregulation and growth of non-parliamentary initiatives. In this regard, their experience is very important for organizing of protest activities, though the organizing principles of their work must be reformulated. To avoid turning into a particular political party, NGO should strive for membership reduction. The NGO ideal is not an office with dozens of staff members, but one or two persons plus modemized computers. These minimum NGO should put and solve concrete tasks and accomplish concrete projects. If there's need in cooperation for solving a problem (conducting of a political campaign, for example), NGO should join temporary tactical blocks on basis of mutual agreement. It's possible to cooperate with whatever, to beat the target. But basically such a cooperation should be short-termed. The block is organized to accomplish activity, and the only indication of success should be successful activity. To surmount ideology of the left parties, NGO should give up their traditional attributes: membership hierarchy, representative principle and orientation on generating a long-term political label. To create a new zone of alternative policy, NGO should stop the 'author's game' performed by establishment parties; they must become anonymous, i.e. invisible and effective. NGO should forget about strategic goals and long-term projects, and should base the work merely on tactics. Political strategy presupposes a politician's comprehensive knowledge on the present and the future. Nevertheless in the current situation, only ignorance and misunderstanding give force, resolution and desire for action. NGO should oppose a new modern methodology of momental tactical decisions to claims on comprehensive knowledge of the reality, typical for traditional left politicians.

The Net doesn't promise momental success to its users, though some of them are given opportunities to overcome particular tough restrictions existing in economic and political life, which becomes more and more hard. Anyway, the economic and political life as it is proves its will towards our lives every day, so any activity becomes possible on terms of insertion into this life. The Net doesn't leave a chance for survival to any types of fundamentalism or escapism, and moreover, it demands initial investment for buying a modem and studying a foreign language. Activity and resistance in the Net demands reformulation of the principles the resistance used to base on. Critical Art Ensemble indicated two points of this work: "Rather than attempting to create a mass movement of public objectors, CAE suggested a decentralized flow of particularized micro-organizations (cells) that would produce multiple currents and trajectories to slow the velocity of capitalist political economy... If resistant culture has learned anything over the past 150 years , it's that - the people united - is a falsehood that only constructs new exclusionist platforms by creating bureaucratic monoliths and semiotic regimes that cannot represent or act on behalf of the diverse desires and needs of individuals within complex and hybridizing social segments. The second key inversion of the model of CD was to aim directly for policy shift, rather than trying to accomplish this task indirectly through media manipulation⁴.

The Net Activity can't claim to accomplish the once put goals, that are innovation and self-value in politics and art. The Net disarms pretensions for creating self-valuable artefacts and secret products, since it doesn't contain products but permanent activity and communication. Neither Net museums, nor catalogues of the past can exist. Resistance groups working in the Net should orientate only on effectiveness of their work and on generating a common front, where all participants would act according to their own interests. Decisions that once, as it used to seem, could be taken by voting, at present must be taken only on terms of trust and mutual interest of people caring for the result.

1 The Amsterdam Agenda // Junction Skopje. Syndicate Publication Series 002. - Skopje 1998, p.61: "Media-cultural practice is thriving in many places all over Europe, but neither its existence nor its cultural and economic significance is well-known to policy makers dealing with the development of an information society. Yet media culture can make a tremendous contribution to this project." Conference "From Practice to Policy" (October 1997) was sponsored by the Council of Europe and some Dutch ministeries.
2 Geert Lovink on Net resistance // mailradek no. 35, www.mailradek.rema.ru. Reprinted in "Russian Megazine": www.russ.ru/netcult.
3 Geert Lovink, Fragments of network criticism // www.rolux.org.
4 Critical Art Ensemble Simulation and the public sphere // Next 5 minutes 3. Workbook. - Amsterdam, 1999, p.35.