Activism Now

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We dance to the iTunes beats that are remotely fed into our living room. How can we bring the (issues of the) network clash home? I first think of self-direction. How can I really govern my own life? How can I be in charge? So much of the day-to-day is merely uploaded just like an rss feed into our brain. Living like a hermit, out-of-touch, sounds appealing at times. Leaving the cellphone at home is tempting. Who does not know such moments? The "always-on" condition is demanding. Filtering takes up too much time. What does a politically radical life style mean for me? We live in challenging times that demand engagement. The last that is needed are people who are soft on the edges. Radical leftist positions are needed now. But where do we start? What does it mean to be an activist? There is the politics of time. An 8-hour work day sounds radical. To introduce the habit of getting rest sounds pretty far-reaching in a society that blends casualized work and play. In 1978 Mladen Stilinovic, for example, created a photo series that shows him sleeping in his Lubljana apartment. Title: "The Artist at Work." Don't let labor drool over your leisure time! Time for reflection and thinking is rarified. Instead of thinking we remix the content of others. Maybe the "Power of Now"-slogan that Vodaphone advocates is best interpreted by going for a swim. Perhaps T-Mobile's "Upgrading Downtime" should be understood as an invitation to read a book. "Downtime-Download" could mean that I close my eyes and recall a meaningful, moving encounter. Having actual friends (not business associates, or people who fit into a career plan) sounds pretty unusual today as well.

This is just a small excerpt from a longer entry on Trebor Scholz's blog...

Originally posted on 'journalisms' by Rhizome