Re: <nettime> When repression is cheaper than redistribution

On 4 September 2017 at 18:56, Patrice Riemens <patrice@xs4all.nl> wrote:

Well, there is an absurdly simple way to achieve this change of calculus, though a costly one - for us: leave the screens, go down in the street and start getting killed by the riot police, preferably in numbers.

But the entire point of all of that surveillance is to head off at the pass, as it were, that going down the streets, *especially* in numbers. In the idealised surveillance world, they'll know you're annoyed before you realise it yourself, and in the less-perfect but closer-to-reality surveillance world - they'll know you are pissed off, they'll know who you are talking to, and they'll know where you are all planing to meet - and be waiting for you. I saw some very interesting stuff recently on the Gulf States - possibly the most surveilled population on earth, where a lot of activist have either just given up, or left, as every time they try to organise stuff, or even discuss things online, they wind up getting arrested (at best).

So, yes, take to the streets, vote from the rooftops, etc - but how do you organise anything with sizeable numbers when everyone is being watched?

Dwayne

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