Peter N. Funke

The World Social Forum: Social Forums as Resistance Relays

This article examines the World Social Forum and the global social forum process it has spurred by encouraging the creation of autonomous social forums on various levels, from the local to the global. The article argues that social forums, these “open spaces” for groups, movements, and networks opposed to neoliberalism, start to function as “resistance relays.” On the basis of their common opposition to capitalism, social forums provide a catalytic context for generating exchanges, linkages, convergences and mobilizations. As such, they are strategic instruments of alter-globalization movements. While social forums seek to forge novel practices and visions over social change that point to a novel logic of social movement based resistance, they are riddled with tensions and challenges.

The Global Social Forum Rhizome: A Theoretical Framework

This work draws on Deleuze and Guattaris image of the ‘rhizome’ to develop a framework for mapping and understanding the global social forum process and its implications for the broader global left. The image of the rhizome is insightful for analytically accentuating the nature and workings, as well as the challenges and contemporary shortcomings, of the social forum process and more generally the broader global movement(s). Thriving on multiplicity and thus lacking a dominant core or main axis, the social forum-as-rhizome emphasizes the multi-connectivity and heterogeneity of this process, which has no central actor, issue, strategy, or ideology, beyond the strong opposition to neoliberalism. While what I call the ‘Global Social Forum Rhizome’ allows for unprecedented connections as well as tempering and managing inherent antinomies of the alter-globalization movement(s), its logic simultaneously limits the degree of congealed and resilient movement building. In the final analysis, these intrinsic rhizomatic characteristics foster a rather thin articulation of commonalities and convergences, which result in a politics often unable to move beyond mere symbolic acts and resistances and towards organizing, campaigning, and concrete movement building. Este trabajo se inspira en la imagen del ‘rizoma’ de Deleuze y Guattari, para desarrollar un marco para representar y entender el proceso del Fórum Social Global y sus implicaciones para la más amplia izquierda global. La imagen del rizoma es reveladora, tanto para acentuar analíticamente la naturaleza y el funcionamiento, como los retos y las carencias contemporáneas del proceso del Fórum Social y en mayores rasgos, el(los) movimiento(s) global(es) más amplio(s). Creciendo en multiplicidad y por lo tanto carente de un núcleo dominante o de un eje principal, el Fórum Social como rizoma enfatiza la conectividad múltiple y la heterogeneidad de este proceso, que carece de un actor central, cuestión, estrategia o ideología, más allá de la fuerte oposición al neoliberalismo. Mientras lo que yo llamo el ‘Fórum Social Global del Rizoma’ tiene en cuenta a las conexiones sin precedente, como también atenuando y controlando las antinomias inherentes del(los) movimiento(s) de alterglobalización, su lógica limita simultáneamente el grado de congelación y tenacidad del desarrollo del movimiento. En el análisis final, estas características intrínsecas del rizoma fomentan una articulación bastante escasa de similitudes y convergencias, que resultan en una política frecuentemente incapaz de moverse más allá de actos meramente simbólicos y de resistencias y hacia la organización, las campañas y el desarrollo concreto del movimiento. 本文借鉴了德勒兹与瓜塔里的“块茎说”，发展出一种测绘和理解世界社会论坛进程及其对更广义全球左派的意义的框架。“块茎说”是解析社会论坛进程和更普遍、更广泛的全球运动的性质、运作、挑战和当前不足的真知灼见。作为块茎的社会论坛因多样性的繁荣导致其缺少主导的核心或主茎，强调多元连通和进程的异质性，除了强烈反对新自由主义外，社会论坛缺少核心行为体、议题、战略或意识形态。虽然我所谓的“全球社会论坛块茎”虑及前所未有的连通和对另立全球化运动的内在矛盾的调节和管理，其逻辑同时限制了静态和有弹性的组织建设。总而言之，这种内在的块茎特点致其共同点和交汇点甚少，导致了一种往往无法超越仅为象征的行动和反抗，无法开展组织、竞选和具体的运动建构的政治。 이 글은 지구적 사회포럼 과정과 그것이 전 세계 좌파에게 주는 함의를 찾아내고 또 이해하기 위한 틀을 발전시키기 위하여 드뢰즈와 카타리의 ‘리좀(rhizome)’ 이미지를 다룬다. 리좀의 이미지는 사회포럼 과정과 보다 일반적으로 더 광범위한 지구적 운동들의 성격과 작동뿐만 아니라 도전과 현재의 부족한 점을 분석적으로 강조하는데 있어서 통찰력을 제공한다. 다양성이 증진되면서 지배적인 중심이나 주축이 없는 리좀으로서의 사회포럼은 과정의 다연계성(multi-connectivity)과 이질성(heterogeneity)을 강조한다. 이 과정은 신자유주의에 대한 강력한 반대 이상으로 중심적인 행위자, 이슈, 전략 혹은 이데올로기가 없다. 내가 ‘지구적 사회포럼 리좀’이라고 부른 것은 대안 세계화 운동들의 내적인 자기모순을 완화시키고 관리할 뿐만 아니라 전대미문의 연계를 허용하지만, 그것의 논리는 동시에 응집되고 끈질긴 운동의 건설을 제약한다. 최종 분석에서 이러한 내적인 리좀의 특성들이 공통점과 수렴의 약한 절합을 촉진시키며, 때로 단순히 상징적인 행동과 저항을 넘어서 구체적인 운동을 조직하고 선전하는 쪽으로 나아가지 못하는 정치로 끝난다.

Class In-Formation: The Intersection of Old and New Media in Contemporary Urban Social Movements

This starts out by distinguishing between communication and communication mediums when examining social movement-powered formations of collective identity and collective action. We then focus on communication mediums to examine the different ways that old and new media are utilized in urban social movements under neoliberal capitalism. Based on shifts in the political economy and correspondingly in the contemporary composition of the working class, we focus on the Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia to argue that contemporary urban social movements and networks utilize a multi-media platform to further class-based politics. The respective use of old or new media depends on important contextual questions, regarding technology access and geographic aspects of movement building work.

The Rhizomatic Left, neoliberal capitalism and class: Theoretical interventions on contemporary social movements in the global north

This article begins to theoretically explore todays left social movement formations in relation to shifts in capital and class relations. The article links the emergence of a novel matrix of social movement politics, which it calls the Rhizomatic Left, to the structural shifts from Fordism to neoliberal capitalism. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari, the image of the rhizome is insightful for outlining the nature and workings of contemporary social movement powered politics. The article briefly sketches four central characteristics of the Rhizomatic Left: transnationality, diversity, multi-connectivity and communication. Despite arguable success, however, the Rhizomatic Left also faces inherent challenges for sustained movement building. The article locates these limitations in the absence of a unifying or transversal dimension of and for the diversity of the constitutive groups and movements of the Rhizomatic Left. The article suggests that re-emphasizing capitalism and class relations as such a transversal axis might allow the Rhizomatic Left to begin congealing as a more resilient movement formation, shifting from a ‘class in itself’ to a ‘class for itself’.

Rewiring the Apparatus: Screen Theory, Media Activism, and Working-Class Subjectivities

This essay utilizes concepts from screen theory to better understand the function of socially engaged documentaries. In particular, it explores how the media practices of the Media Mobilizing Project (MMP) allow us to refocus our analysis to take account of the utilization of media by social movements in ways that stress the collective and empowering role it can have for fostering class-based identities. As such, we aim to highlight the materiality of ideology and the possibility of collective class-based political projects that employ various film and media practices. MMPs video work indicates opportunities for employing video to establish broader working-class subjectivities. We hold that utilizing screen theory accordingly helps to augment our understanding of activist documentary forms. Moreover, linking activist documentary forms with the media practices of contemporary social movements allows us to gain a newfound appreciation for the emancipatory role of media as such.