Self-Determination in the Cyborg Economy: The Dakota Access Pipeline September 8, 2016
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Decolonization, Technology, Uncategorized.Tags: colonialism, Dakota Access Pipeline, DAPL, environment, technology
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I just got back from a local solidarity rally for the folks resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The action itself was energetic and utterly familiar, with all the classic rally elements: signs, speeches, chants, intersection blocking, media presence, and so on. For Albuquerque, it was an impressive turnout. I didn’t think to put on sunscreen and ended up sunburned.
To the Red Nation revolutionaries who participated in the event as well as to many other observers, the mobilization against the pipeline stands out as a shining example of Native resistance to colonialism. The pipeline, in this analysis, comes in a long tradition of resource-extraction projects that harm Indigenous peoples for the benefit of corporate elites. Opposing the pipeline then amounts to a struggle for survival, a struggle against bodily and symbolic death.
The pipeline likewise conforms to the pattern of supposed development that contaminates the environment, inflicting health problems on populations located by the development site and to some degree on the public at large. This dynamic disproportionately affects Indigenous peoples but isn’t limited to colonial encounters. Industrialism to date has myriad victims. Technological mass society has produced wonders at great cost, and these costs haven’t been evenly distributed.
While the present economy indeed requires oil to function, as numerous environmentalists argue, focusing on alternatives makes more sense than expanding extraction of fossil fuels. Proponents of the pipeline unsurprisingly emphasize immediate monetary benefits and overall economic efficiency, invoking the free market. Sadly, as sketched above, the energy market has a set record of negative externalities. Business as usual ain’t working.
The DAPL controversy highlights the tensions and contradictions of the United States as a colonial entity and of the broader industrial economy. It raises questions about property and belonging that can’t be coherently addressed without attending to the country’s settler-colonial history and present.
The standard team-sports mentality of social struggle and the complexity of the issues may well give some of y’all pause. To what extent are the protests about the pipeline specifically? To what extent are they about the representational politics of standing against colonialism and capitalism? To what extent are they about global environmental issues such as climate change, and to what extent does this map to pipeline itself?
I don’t have definitive answers to these questions. I advocate support for the folks putting their bodies on the line and for the principle of self-determination as well as for sustained curiosity about the best course forward.
You can donate to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe via their website.
Transhumanist Colonialism from the Horse’s Mouth August 9, 2014
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Anti-imperialism, Decolonization, Technology, Transhumanism.Tags: anarchism, colonialism, transhumanism
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My recent piece on IEET has provoked Hank Pellissier to launch into a defense of colonialism:
“Colonialism”… I do not believe it is always 100% destructive
Neither do the colonized… the link below for example – its a popular chat site for Nigerians, read it and you discover that many/most of the posters think colonization provided some benefits…
http://www.nairaland.com/12021/colonialism-good-africa
also…
Untouchability in Hindu India… a long, wretched tradition that was partially alleviated by the British colonialists…
Sati – or Suttee – the burning of widows in India, also abolished by British colonialists…
or…
Albinos are occasionally killed for body parts in Tanzania – the Canadian NGO “Under the Sun” is trying to criminalize the profession of “witch doctor” there… Are they being “colonialist” in their attitude, imposing their values?
I wrote an article opposing Female Genital Mutilation – a commenter told me that I was displaying a “white, imperialist, colonialist” attitude because I was suggesting my cultural values were superior –
who is right or wrong?
is colonialism acceptable if it provides…. education, medicine, infrastructure, democracy, improvement in human rights… ?
Ey goes on describe U.S. military aid as a good investment:
Hi Kris – my essay, “Israel’s Value to Transhumanism” lists numerous ways Israeli innovation contributes to the creation of a better technoprogressive future. It was written four years ago, and Israel’s value has increased significantly since then. For example, Israelis have gotten 6 Nobel Peace prizes in Chemistry in the last decade… plus Daniel Kahneman’s Nobel Prize in Economics, for his work in Game Theory, highly valued by AI researchers.
Israel’s “Value” is deeply unappreciated by its hostile neighbors.
To guarantee Israel’s survival, the DOD provides about $3 billion in weaponry to Israel annually.
I don’t think this is a terrible investment. Here is a list for you of
“57 Contributions Israel Has Made to the World”http://www.levitt.com/news/2005/08/04/57-contributions-israel-has-made-to-the-world/
IMO, people who want the elimination of Israel are desiring a future scenario that delays and destroys techno-progress
Peter Wicks concurs:
Honestly, I don’t have the slightest quibble with Hank’s reflections regarding colonialism. It indeed brought benefits as well as destruction and misery. And it was entirely relevant to the discussion (including the African example) given that we are responding to an article that essentially condemns Israel for being a settler-colonialist state.
While I wouldn’t argue that literally nothing positive has come out of colonial projects, presenting colonialism as beneficial to the colonized under current political circumstances strikes me as overwhelmingly pernicious. In Pellissier’s case, it goes hand in hand with support for U.S. military aid to Israel, support for supplying Israel with the explosives that have just killed hundreds of noncombatants in Gaza. Pellissier advocates exactly what I oppose: building the fabulous future atop a heap of bones.
As I’ve argued previously, programs that demand suffering today on the basis of knowing the future assume far too much certainty. If folks like Pellissier have their way, forty years from now we may well end up with compounding misery and no magical tech to save us.
4th of July July 4, 2014
Posted by Summerspeaker in Anarchism, Anti-imperialism, Decolonization, Technology, Transhumanism.Tags: 4th of July, colonialism, Independence Day
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In relation to transhumanism, it’s important to remember the above constitutes the context for much of the technological change over the last couple centuries. As such, colonialism and white supremacy stand always already implicated in the transhumanist project. How does keeping this history and present in mind influence how we dream of better worlds?
Queering the Singularity 