babyfinland
babyfinland
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It's Ramadan so I've been reading Qur'an, also Blue-Eyed Devil by Michael Muhammad Knight which is like a travelogue across American Muslim communities, and a 16th Century sufi manual called Path of Muhammad by Imam Birgivi Efendi.
I'm trying to find ebook copies of Kevin Rashid Johnson's Defying the Tomb, James Yaki Sayles's Meditations on Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth and Safia Bukhari's The War Before
Also I got me a Kindle and it's real nice
I'm trying to find ebook copies of Kevin Rashid Johnson's Defying the Tomb, James Yaki Sayles's Meditations on Frantz Fanon's Wretched of the Earth and Safia Bukhari's The War Before
Also I got me a Kindle and it's real nice
Edited by bonclay ()
getfiscal
getfiscal
Mike Nelson here.
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I just got the following books from the library:
Vo Nguyen Giap - Selected Writings
Muammar Al-Qadhafi - The Green Book (Part 1)
Sudeep Chakravarti - Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country
John Robb - Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization
Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution 1983 - 1987
Vo Nguyen Giap - Selected Writings
Muammar Al-Qadhafi - The Green Book (Part 1)
Sudeep Chakravarti - Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country
John Robb - Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization
Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution 1983 - 1987
getfiscal was probated until (March 8, 2013 05:04:03) for this post!
babyfinland
babyfinland
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How's the John Robb, I like his blog (http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/)
getfiscal
getfiscal
Mike Nelson here.
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Ever so often, when I'm considering a career in liberation warfare, I read this article:
STARTING AN OPEN SOURCE WAR
Open source war is a byproduct of globalization. It different than conventional guerrilla warfare in that the guerrillas don't have a center of gravity (a unifying ideology). In open source war, the guerrillas aren't loyal to a single group but rather dozens of different groups, each with their own motivations for fighting. The benefits of this organizational type, once it reaches critical mass, are numerous (and once it is entrenched, it is almost impossible to defeat). The good thing is that it is difficult to initiate, cross the chasm in adoption, and reach critical mass.
Unfortunately, it appears that some groups have cracked the code on how to reliably build critical mass in open source warfare. Likely inadvertently, Che Guevara's foco insurgency has been adapted to reliably accomplish this. The elements used include:
* Plausible promise. An open source war is built on an idea that has wide acceptance. The key is finding the idea (eject the occupation or force a government to abandon an egregious exploitation of a target area -- see my notes on Indonesia in the post below). Once it is found, it needs to be turned into a plausible promise. This is accomplished by making successful attacks, an alpha release if you will, on the target. If done correctly, this proves that the target is vulnerable and the war has the possibility of being won.
* Crossing the chasm. They key to moving from a foco to a viable movement is to adopt open source behaviors. This includes sharing, trading, collaboration, and coordination with groups that are willing to participate but do not share the same motivations or loyalties as the initiating group. This is a very tough step, particularly for authoritarian groups. However, if it is accomplished the chasm in adoption is crossed very quickly. Operative tenet: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
* Critical mass. The final step is gaining sustainability, where the movement renews itself as a natural byproduct of its operations. The best method I've discovered is to disrupt critical infrastructure (see State Failure 101 for more). The disruption of infrastructure damages the economy in a way that forces new groups to develop, by driving people to primary loyalties in order to survive. Groups formed by these primary loyalties will actively participate in the conflict (either in support of the government as paramilitaries or against it as guerrillas). The interaction of these groups, particularly their excesses, provides a useful dynamic. Finally, it also fosters the development of a micro-economy (a bazaar) of guerrilla freelancers that provides a large pool of expertise that can be drawn upon to scale operations (transnational crime is a great way to pay for this).
STARTING AN OPEN SOURCE WAR
Open source war is a byproduct of globalization. It different than conventional guerrilla warfare in that the guerrillas don't have a center of gravity (a unifying ideology). In open source war, the guerrillas aren't loyal to a single group but rather dozens of different groups, each with their own motivations for fighting. The benefits of this organizational type, once it reaches critical mass, are numerous (and once it is entrenched, it is almost impossible to defeat). The good thing is that it is difficult to initiate, cross the chasm in adoption, and reach critical mass.
Unfortunately, it appears that some groups have cracked the code on how to reliably build critical mass in open source warfare. Likely inadvertently, Che Guevara's foco insurgency has been adapted to reliably accomplish this. The elements used include:
* Plausible promise. An open source war is built on an idea that has wide acceptance. The key is finding the idea (eject the occupation or force a government to abandon an egregious exploitation of a target area -- see my notes on Indonesia in the post below). Once it is found, it needs to be turned into a plausible promise. This is accomplished by making successful attacks, an alpha release if you will, on the target. If done correctly, this proves that the target is vulnerable and the war has the possibility of being won.
* Crossing the chasm. They key to moving from a foco to a viable movement is to adopt open source behaviors. This includes sharing, trading, collaboration, and coordination with groups that are willing to participate but do not share the same motivations or loyalties as the initiating group. This is a very tough step, particularly for authoritarian groups. However, if it is accomplished the chasm in adoption is crossed very quickly. Operative tenet: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
* Critical mass. The final step is gaining sustainability, where the movement renews itself as a natural byproduct of its operations. The best method I've discovered is to disrupt critical infrastructure (see State Failure 101 for more). The disruption of infrastructure damages the economy in a way that forces new groups to develop, by driving people to primary loyalties in order to survive. Groups formed by these primary loyalties will actively participate in the conflict (either in support of the government as paramilitaries or against it as guerrillas). The interaction of these groups, particularly their excesses, provides a useful dynamic. Finally, it also fosters the development of a micro-economy (a bazaar) of guerrilla freelancers that provides a large pool of expertise that can be drawn upon to scale operations (transnational crime is a great way to pay for this).
lungfish
lungfish
San Francisco
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I am reading The Republic by Plato. Thus far I have enjoyed its practical rather than moral approach to the operations of an ideal State. Other insights include the contrasting between a personality interested in philosophy and music, and one interested in gymnastics and other bodily things. He says the proper guardian of the ideal state cannot be of either of these two sorts but must be a hybrid. The pure-philosopher types are considered effete, and the pure-athletes unintelligent and boorish.
He also encourages the fiction of a caste system (associated with metals: gold and silver for guardians, for instance) but he insists that guardians and their auxiliaries should live simple lives on government stipends without material benefits, and avoid interacting with real gold and silver, lest they become corrupted. The "undefiled" gold and silver lies within. The system is fictional because it oversimplifies by suggesting people were born into a certain category, when in fact guardians are selected due to rigorous scrutiny and testing of merit which begins when they are young, but the fiction is seen to promote societal harmony.
Also, people do not willfully lose their knowledge of the truth, but rather have the truth stolen from them either by persuasion, force, or "enchantment" (including fear and pleasure).
He also encourages the fiction of a caste system (associated with metals: gold and silver for guardians, for instance) but he insists that guardians and their auxiliaries should live simple lives on government stipends without material benefits, and avoid interacting with real gold and silver, lest they become corrupted. The "undefiled" gold and silver lies within. The system is fictional because it oversimplifies by suggesting people were born into a certain category, when in fact guardians are selected due to rigorous scrutiny and testing of merit which begins when they are young, but the fiction is seen to promote societal harmony.
Also, people do not willfully lose their knowledge of the truth, but rather have the truth stolen from them either by persuasion, force, or "enchantment" (including fear and pleasure).
Impper
Impper
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im reading a bunch of hipster fiction basically, and more celine
DasReich
DasReich
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A bunch of horrible posts. its this forum!! haha
amniotic
amniotic
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The Net Delusion by Morozov. Not sure that I'd recommend it, it's rather obvious in a lot of ways, and pretty repetitive in the sections that are interesting and original. Still, any takedown of the absurd masturbation going on about the revolutionary role of Twitter and Facebook is welcome. I wish the book focused more on the social discourse implications of the medium on the United States, but liberalism I guess.
Impper
Impper
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the only refutation needed for twitter is those people posting pictures from riots and using thousands of people to try to identify rioters
amniotic
amniotic
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Impper posted:
the only refutation needed for twitter is those people posting pictures from riots and using thousands of people to try to identify rioters
He goes on at length about this. He also spends a lot of time along the lines of Gladwell's piece on the complete failure of Facebook as a political tool, but that's obvious too. There's really nothing in the book that an educated observer couldn't pick out just from American news coverage.
Impper
Impper
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oh really haha. what does he say about it? like, obviously i wouldnt go as far as to argue that the medium itself is reactionary, but in a lot of senses, given the context and the overwhelmingly bourgeois userbase, it can probably be labeled that way without danger
amniotic
amniotic
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He draws rather unfavorable comparisons between Facebook activism and structured resistance/political activity. I think one of the examples he picks out is an anti-hunger group focused on Sudan that has 10 million likes and has raised two thousand dollars. He points out how susceptible to selective censorship the medium is as well, given that corporations own the content.
He also spends time arguing that the US is treating internet sources like Cold War propaganda, except that it doesn't work, and can actively harm resistance depending on how much weight the US is putting behind it policy-wise as a newfangled Radio Free America. For example, he puts a lot of blame for the zealous reaction to the unrest in Iran squarely on the US for supporting the Green Revolution through over the top press statements and efforts to keep the internet communication channels open, pushing things faster than they might have gone otherwise.
He also spends time arguing that the US is treating internet sources like Cold War propaganda, except that it doesn't work, and can actively harm resistance depending on how much weight the US is putting behind it policy-wise as a newfangled Radio Free America. For example, he puts a lot of blame for the zealous reaction to the unrest in Iran squarely on the US for supporting the Green Revolution through over the top press statements and efforts to keep the internet communication channels open, pushing things faster than they might have gone otherwise.
babyfinland
babyfinland
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Arabs seem to really like using facebook for poltiical stuff but they are also really retarded when it comes to political stuff so i donno
i think its pretty useful for spreading word of mouth. i figure the stuff that fails as a facebook effort wasnt really goign to go anywhere in the first place, it just draws lazy clicking and thats about it, so nothing's lost. this is purely anecdotal and speculative but it seems to me that facebook has facilitated a greater general political and social conciousness
(obviously real-world activism is infinitely superior)
i think its pretty useful for spreading word of mouth. i figure the stuff that fails as a facebook effort wasnt really goign to go anywhere in the first place, it just draws lazy clicking and thats about it, so nothing's lost. this is purely anecdotal and speculative but it seems to me that facebook has facilitated a greater general political and social conciousness
(obviously real-world activism is infinitely superior)
Edited by babyfinland ()
Impper
Impper
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in a way i'd start to argue that facebook is more useful for propaganda efforts precisely because people are already voluntarily delegating their attention to it; normal forms of propaganda tend to be intrusive and bothersome and don't typically include the recipient choosing to engage with them (excepting the media of course, though this is somewhat different from facebook or so it intuitively seems to me)
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babyfinland
babyfinland
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discipline posted:
I dunno, I think facebook encourages a more superficial, skin-deep sort of political awareness that might in fact be sort of detrimental. I think it's better to have like 10 people hyper-aware of a problem than a million of my facebook friends cheerleading the evisceration of libya
thats a good point but is that due to facebook or the general political and media climate?
Impper
Impper
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oh, i mean ,i didnt say anything about its ability for activism, obviously it's anti-activism, but as far as propaganda goes you really couldn't ask for a better medium
Impper
Impper
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which also is to say that obviously the modern "left," whatever it is, is badly losing the information wars
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lungfish
lungfish
San Francisco
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Isn't this site based on the idea that internet communication can be at least somewhat productive? Haven't several posters claimed to have become converts to left-wing thinking as a result of exposure to LF? I may not be one of those converts, but it has certainly influenced my thought process as well.
My point is, what is the fundamental difference between a pseudonymous forum and social media in terms of societal benefit?
My point is, what is the fundamental difference between a pseudonymous forum and social media in terms of societal benefit?
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babyfinland
babyfinland
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lungfish posted:
Isn't this site based on the idea that internet communication can be at least somewhat productive? Haven't several posters claimed to have become converts to left-wing thinking as a result of exposure to LF? I may not be one of those converts, but it has certainly influenced my thought process as well.
My point is, what is the fundamental difference between a pseudonymous forum and social media in terms of societal benefit?
I think we agree on this issue but I suppose the counterpoint is that LF also facilitated a lot of latent crazies to go off the deep end which seems to be a pretty endemic problem to internet communities, i guess because they engender a cult-like social bubble and consequent malformed worldview
discipline posted:
I think the main difference is that I don't go on facebook to be exposed to political discourse.
it's a kewl topic tho maybe yall should start a thread aboot it.
True and yeah somebody do a article or something about this
Impper
Impper
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a community's qualities becoming more extreme and pronounced with time is probably to be expected
Impper
Impper
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lungfish posted:
Isn't this site based on the idea that internet communication can be at least somewhat productive? Haven't several posters claimed to have become converts to left-wing thinking as a result of exposure to LF? I may not be one of those converts, but it has certainly influenced my thought process as well.
My point is, what is the fundamental difference between a pseudonymous forum and social media in terms of societal benefit?
i thought about the difference between a forum and facebook, and yeah as khamsek said it's thesort of the purpose of participation. facebook's utility is other than a forum's at a pretty fundamental level
babyfinland
babyfinland
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Impper posted:
a community's qualities becoming more extreme and pronounced with time is probably to be expected
thats true and the detachment of the internet from any fundamental shared reality other than internet connection and desire to participate in a given community accelerates that process beyond what it would be otherwise i suppose
Impper
Impper
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agreed!! also the internet naturally operates at hyper-speed with cultural transmission, and a somewhat avant-garde/extremist clique exacerbates that phenomenon a thousand-fold. just look at how quick you cycle through ideas...
babyfinland
babyfinland
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Impper posted:
agreed!! also the internet naturally operates at hyper-speed with cultural transmission, and a somewhat avant-garde/extremist clique exacerbates that phenomenon a thousand-fold. just look at how quick you cycle through ideas...
To bring the thread back on topic, have you read Paul Viriilo? He talks a lot about speed and modernity
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getfiscal
getfiscal
Mike Nelson here.
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Today was a big book day, got a few more from the library when my housemate and I dropped by there by chance.
First, some Sembene Ousmane: Niiwam and Taaw, Black Docker, and God's Bits of Wood. God's Bits of Wood is one of my favourite novels and it tracks a strike in colonial Senegal. Also got a biography about him.
Second, I picked up two books by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o: Petals of Blood and A Grain of Wheat.
First, some Sembene Ousmane: Niiwam and Taaw, Black Docker, and God's Bits of Wood. God's Bits of Wood is one of my favourite novels and it tracks a strike in colonial Senegal. Also got a biography about him.
Second, I picked up two books by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o: Petals of Blood and A Grain of Wheat.
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getfiscal
getfiscal
Mike Nelson here.
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i don't actually read that much but I have hundreds of books. most of them on a weekly basis come from the library though. i do buy a few books a week though on average because i'm mental and buying a book i really want releases brain chemicals that reduce my anxiety. but i don't buy almost anything else except hot wings and coke so my expenses are still poverty-level. i can usually get what i want out of a book by skimming it unless it is theory though so most of my books are reference material for me to pick up when i'm in the mood for lenin or something.
Impper
Impper
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discipline posted:
Impper posted:
im reading a bunch of hipster fiction basically, and more celine
what qualifies as hipster fiction? besides my tumblr i mean
Отредактировано by discipline (today 20:17:58)
krasznahorkai, henry millre, blanchot, and michaux, and osamu dazai. also marinkovic but ive only read like 20 pages of his book cyclops so far.
Impper
Impper
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babyfinland posted:
Impper posted:
agreed!! also the internet naturally operates at hyper-speed with cultural transmission, and a somewhat avant-garde/extremist clique exacerbates that phenomenon a thousand-fold. just look at how quick you cycle through ideas...
To bring the thread back on topic, have you read Paul Viriilo? He talks a lot about speed and modernity
no i havent, he looks interesting though
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Vivian
Vivian
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for some reason subtitles have appeared on my tv and i cant turn them off so i've been reading television for the last few days, i try to ignore it but everytime someone talks or there is a noise i have to read it
mistersix
mistersix
desire be, desire go
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just finished paradise lost, these youtubes were a great resource:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62G9yIN5Wk
does anyone know of a good thorough (and thoroughly political) treatment of blake's prophecies? the big ass book of blake i have suggests "blake prophet against empire" which tragically i can't find an ebook of, although i think i can get it via a library.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H62G9yIN5Wk
does anyone know of a good thorough (and thoroughly political) treatment of blake's prophecies? the big ass book of blake i have suggests "blake prophet against empire" which tragically i can't find an ebook of, although i think i can get it via a library.
domn
domn
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domn
domn
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stegosaurus
stegosaurus
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germanjoey
germanjoey
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once i finish my degree, the next two things on my list are the second book of On War and then Mark Twain's autobiography, volume 1, which I'm currently using to level off my lopsided bed.