In this week’s readings on micro-politics, there were several recurring themes such as collaboration and collective action, ‘a bottom-up approach’, transversality and open source culture. However, these only provide us with a simplistic understanding of the concept, which can be loosely defined as the creation of techniques for collaboration that entails openness and experimentation (Jellis, 2009, Internet).
Jellis (2009, Internet) sees micro-politics not solely as small-scale and not aligned with any particular ideology, but as “operating transversally and activating the potential of the interval between feeling and doing”. The modern autonomist Marxist movement Planka Nu, which focuses on self-organised action (bottom-up approach) outside of traditional structures of authority and aims to counter capitalism through ‘dodging transport ticket fares’ and promoting free public transport, instantiates these aspects of micro-politics (McGroarty, 2011, Internet). Furthermore, it is not simply a stand-along reform, but also operates transversally in addressing wider issues such as climate change, unequal distribution of wealth and economic growth.
Similarly, the Coalition of the Willing (COTW) is another example of a micro-political movement, which frames the issue of global warming as (for the most part) a struggle against capitalism. They argue for a counter-culture revolution that emphasizes collaboration between individuals, activists and sponsors, as well as the pooling of resources to ‘converge’ and ‘swarm’ against climate change (Coalition of the Willing, 2010, Internet). I found their views on capitalism interesting and relevant in that they can be reconciled with Marxist theories of capitalism, which is expanded upon in Guy Debord’s (1983) work on the situationist movement.
Initially, I found difficulties in forming linkages between the COTW’s framing of the issue as an anti-capitalist movement and concepts of micro-politics and transversality. Read (2003, pp. 2) believes that “it is no longer to possible to separate capital, as the producer of goods and commodities, from the production of ideas, beliefs, perceptions and tastes.” This is because modern capitalism has directly and indirectly appropriated the production of culture and beliefs to the production of commodities (Read, 2003). For instance, mass advertising of high-end real estate tends to showcase a lifestyle of prestige rather than the property itself. This changes our perception of the value of the property, to not solely its material characteristics but also something more abstract by commercialising our deeper desires (e.g. happiness). Hence, we can see modern capitalism as ‘micro-political’ in a different sense, as it has become an integral part of the fabric of daily life and experience.
Bibliography:
Debord, G., and Knabb, K., Society of the Spectacle, Aldgate Press: London, 1983 http://books.google.com.au/books?id=yBB4f_dQ3rIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=guy+debord+situationist&hl=en&ei=l47CTfHzIIyKvgPMlOjJAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false(Accessed: 22/04/11)
Jellis, Thomas ‘Disorientation and micropolitics: a response’, spacesof[aesthetic] experimentation, 2009 http://www.spacesofexperimentation.net/montreal/disorientation-and-micropolitics-a-response/ (Accessed: 22/04/11)
Knife Party and Rayner, Tim and Robson, Simon, Coalition of the Willing 2010 http://coalitionofthewilling.org.uk/ (Accessed: 22/04/11)
McDonough, T. (eds.), Guy Debord and the Situationalist International: Texts and Documents, MIT Press: USA, 2004 http://books.google.com.au/books?id=8jPwJsJKXn8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=guy+debord+situationist&hl=en&ei=l47CTfHzIIyKvgPMlOjJAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false (Accessed: 24/04/11) [I briefly skimmed the first few pages of this book and hope to finish eventually it if I have the time. I found it really well-written and would recommend it if you are interested]
McGroarty, P., “Freeloaders unite to fight subway fares”, in The Wall Street Journal, 29 March 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580004576180383768578942.html (Accessed: 22/04/11)
Read, J., “Introduction: There Is No Time Like the Present” in The Micro-Politics of Capital: Marx and the Prehistory of the Present, State University of New York Press: NY, 2003, pp. 1-19 http://www.scribd.com/doc/24813182/The-Micro-Politics-of-Capital (Accessed: 22/04/11)
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