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Agitprop as tactical media | 10 comments

[new] props to the agit (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#2)
by ryangriffis on Tue Oct 14th, 2003 at 06:14:46 AM EURODISCORDIA TIME
(User Info) http://www.yougenics.net/griffis

hi,
i don't get here very much, but thought i'd chime in to this discussion, as i think i've actually emailed with joe about this before not too long ago - hi Joe.
anyway, i'm just wondering if maybe agit-prop is a less-than-useful term/construct. it seems to always necessitate being "outside" of what's being criticized/agitated, and honestly, i'm not sure what isn't agit-prop these days. but i does appear that the more effective agit-prop (whatever it is) comes from the "right" and usually doesn't look like agit-prop (though it sure smells like it).
i'm putting this very crudely, and most certainly US-centricly, but i do think it's important to question concepts of the subversive.
i saw the artist Mel Chin talk a while ago about his work with the GALA committee, a group of artists and students working in Georgiaand California. They collaborated with the producers of Melrose Place to place "critical objects" into the space of the show, like a mailbag/gun hybrid and condom covered sheets, in very inconspicuous ways. anyway, people were saying, "great! how subversive!" and Chin replied, "No! this is not being subversive, this is responding to and creating new forms of culture - not subverting something to destroy it." (this is all heavy paraphrasing of course)
but i think of the Yesmen's work as something along these lines. i'm not sure what it means to call it subversive, but it is a renegotiation of culture.
as for the "armchair activist" debate, it's a strange thing that for some reason, we think people have to earn the right to have a political voice by risking physical safety or something. voting is considered a political act, yet we don't ask people to earn the right to practice that. would we call online voting "armchair politics"? certainly, DDoS attacks are a form of political "speech," as is a physical sit, that must be part of a larger campaign to be effective.
granted, it wouldn't hurt people (in the US at least) to get outside, socialize and get some exercise, but that's beside the point.
do these seem like appropriate questions in relation to virtual activism?
best,
ryan

Agitprop as tactical media | 10 comments

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