nettime on Wed, 12 Sep 2001 16:36:08 +0200 (CEST)


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<nettime> THE CHALLENGE OF INSTABILITY IN THE NEW MILLENIUM


THE CHALLENGE OF INSTABILITY IN THE NEW MILLENIUM. 


In the time of chaos, uncertainty and misleading declarations new challenges
and paradigms come clearly on the foreground. New York City, September 11. This
is the time and place where as many political analysts agree the war was
declared by …the anonymous force. Around 10 am this morning we saw two
American airliners gliding into the World Trade Center towers within 20 minutes
interval. 35 min after that another plane crashed into the Pentagon building in
Washington, then yet another one near by Pittsburgh. Immediate results included
thousands of civilian victims, 30 % decrease in U.S. economic activity, as well
as federal and legislative disruptions.

Most interpretations use terrorism as an explanation of what occurred to be
precisely orchestrated disruptive economic action against U.S.  If we abstract
from political ideologies and look at this event in the context of the emerging
global processes we will see the message underlying the act of destruction of
American symbols of power. Considered to be the number one power in the world
both economically and military, U.S. was unable to prevent a deadly strike in
the heart of its economic and legislative system and left clueless as to the
subject of this action. No country or political group declared responsibility.
The names like Osama Bin Laden, radical Lumah groups, Saddam Hussein were
widely used across the reports pointing to the Middle East as the source of
what many called the ultimate evil.  Regardless of who directed the suicide
pilots and positioned trucks and boats full of explosives and (as it was stated
in 2 of NYC TV reports) potentially even used biological weapons the fact that
the global system is out of balance comes out into the open. The American
dollar is falling down on every market and all it took to achieve this was
redirecting 4 in land flights. The resources necessary to organize this
barbaric act and the damage, which it caused, are incomparable which by itself
is an indication of instability.    It is also a clear display of the
dissemination of political subjectivity in the global context.  Augmented by
the technology political subjectivity as a complex system of power and
knowledge triggered chaotic geo-political and economic processes, which as the
attack on the U.S. shows lead to its technological and economic disintegration.
Disruptions in electronic communication systems from cellular networks to
internet services which we experienced in this critical moment today in NYC
when lives were on the line were not caused by terrorists but by the
overwhelming amount of traffic which these networks aren't designed to handle.
Suddenly the magic of comfort and safety was wiped out on so many levels that
many of us are waking up from the superficial mass marketed idea of piece. It
is not panic which leads us, it is the reality of being inside the system,
which has no more resources to maintain internal balance.

As we enter the new millennium we find ourselves in the middle of the war
field, which this world has become conditioned by excessive socio-economic
practices and trans-mutations of the lines of power. We understand that
American national crisis is merely a representation of the global dissipation
in which all of the countries, corporations and populations are involved
willingly or against their will. I have no doubt that U.S. will respond to this
action but it is also clear that whatever military actions will be taken
against the imaginary subject of evil this framework is not going to reinstate
global balance. The death of power symbols is the beginning of a confusing and
painful but vital process of reorientation and enlightenment. It is a call for
new progressive mentalities to enter the global scene and replace what Bataill
called restricted economies. Without an exegeration this challenge is critical
to our survival and prosperity. 


Vlad Muzhesky

BASICRAY, NYC

September 11, 2001

THE UPDATED VIDEO VERSION OF THIS STATEMENT WILL BE AVAILABLE IN 24 HOURS
AT HTTP://WWW.BASICRAY.COM

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