Transnational networks of radical labour research and (h)activism: A

global working class in the making?

rsan enalp, networkedlabour.net, Hilversum
Mehmet Grsan enalp, Atlm University, Ankara
From hierarchical old-boys, to distributed open-networks

During the last three or four decades certain nodes belonging to existing labour-, union-,
research- and advocac networks have alread been interacting with networks of anti-ca!italist
or alter-globalist social "ustice activists (Domingue#, $%%&' (ond, $%%&' )aterman, $%*% and
$%**)+ These interactions have been effectivel enabling (self-)organisation of working !eo!le
from manual and mental labour intensive sectors across !roduction networks that laid through
the transnationall linked ,lobal -orth-,lobal .outh lines (/erk, $%%0' /unck, $%%&' (ieler
and 1indgemar $%**' )allerstein, $%*2)+ 3n the late $%%%s, however, es!eciall after the crisis
eru!ted in $%%&-4, core laers of these labour and social "ustice activist networks connected
through more and stronger ties+ The also started to build new ties with those networks of
communities of self-em!loed, unem!loed, marginali#ed and increasingl radicalised
knowledge (information) workers from creative or traditional service sectors (/osco and
/c5ercher, $%%4)+ Those interlinking laers have mediated a remarkable convergence among
radical social movements ((erlinguer, $%*%' (auwens, $%**)+ The interlocking activities
within aforementioned laers were enabled and aggregated b new generation online tools and
a!!lications built around transnational radical movements, !ro"ects, social s!aces and events+
6s!eciall the !ublic s!aces o!ened u! and7or 8occu!ied9 b the recent !o!ular and grassroots
:
)e are thankful to ;eter )aterman and ,eorge ;or for their comments in the earlier version of the !a!er+ Also,
for an analsis of these networks see )aterman9s work ($%*% and $%**)+
*
u!risings, and assemblies, work grou!s as well as online tools !o!ularised have !laed a ma"or
role in this !rocess+ .ince $%**, ra!id and massive involvements, not onl in such !o!ular
online social networks as <acebook, Twitter, ,oogle ;lus but also in free, libre and o!en
source software (<1=..), have been offering new ex!eriences to some extent com!lementar
to the traditional forms+ Accordingl, this !rocess enables un!recedented level of exchange,
communication, and collaboration o!!ortunities (/orel, $%*$' ,erbaudo, $%*$)+ This also
!aved the wa to a remarkable ex!ansion of !oliticised and organised individuals as well as
interconnection among those existing communities and networks (>enal!, $%*$)+
This cha!ter !resents a concise list of such interconnected networks and communities
constituted b individuals and collectives !racticing and researching an ?associated social
relations of !roduction@ which is increasingl described as !eer !roduction communities
((auwens, $%%A' Bigi, $%*2)+ These new grou!s of communities, b taking the main focus of
their !roductive activit into account are generall entitled as hakers, makers, di!!ers,
!uerrilla translators and so forth+ The also involve in <1=.. and hardware !roduction,
collaborative digital, creative, artistic, media, gra!hic, architecture !ro"ects, or Do-it-Courself
(D3C) or Do-it-with-=thers (D3)=) !ractices (Darlsson, $%%4' (erlinguer, $%*%)+ .imilar to
those labour and social "ustice activists, these networks are created b highl educated
individual knowledge, information, education and service workers who are increasingl
dis!ossessed and have nothing but their own mental and manual labour to su!!l for earning
wages to survive+ 3n this cha!ter we also interrogate the emerging sub"ectivit through which
the distinction between 8doers9 and 8thinkers9 becomes obsolete and a conscious collective
agenc of transnational7global working class would a!!ear ()aterman $%**, $%*$)+ The list
$
!resented here is com!osed of innovative !ro"ects, organisational forms and communication
channels that functioning as interface between different networks' facilitating ex!ansion and
em!owerment b increasing interactions+ .ince it is sub"ected to the language (6nglish,
Turkish and Dutch s!oken and written) and s!atial sco!e we could cover, the list could give
onl a little glance to the reader+ Eowever, one can easil trace similar initiatives and networks
o!erating in other language s!heres and societies around the world as those initiatives and
networks take !lace throughout transnational social s!aces which are em!owered, if not
created, b the controversial 3nternet linkages and the new wave of social resistances and
u!risings (,uiterre#, $%*F)+
Knowledge proletariat hacking education and production in the city?
1
The wides!read neoliberal offences through deregulation and !rivatisation waves have brought
about increasingl !ro"ect based, com!etitive, flexible and insecure working conditions and
relationshi!s for the academic and technical !ersonnel at the universities of the ,lobal -orth
(Gesso!, $%%4)+ DonseHuentl, a stead !rocess of !oliticisation has linked radicalised
academic labourers and students to those existing laers of radical labour research and
advocac networks+ 3nteractions between these laers brought about im!ortant critical debates
and radical research, which in return endorsed the !roduction and distribution !rocess of a
large bod of innovative and emanci!ator knowledge that would hel! to understand the
com!lexities of globali#ing ca!italism+ .ince the late I%s and $%%%s, such large bod of radical
analsis found its wa to flow faster and wider on the internet+ 3t became much easier for
activists to access the emanci!ator knowledge and turn them into 8transformative9 !olitical
!ractices ()ainwright, $%*2)+ /a be the most im!ortant outcome of this develo!ment and the
*
.ee )aterman ($%*%) for an analsis of some of, and earlier similar labour related !ro"ects+
2
radical-!oliticisation in the academia was the return of labour resistance and organisation in
and around various universit de!artments, es!eciall in social and human sciences, art,
architecture, !olitical econom, media, communication, informatics, cbernetics etc+ This has
turned the cam!us into a dnamic s!ace of convergence between labour activism, research and
art once again (Boss et+ al, $%%&' (ifo, $%*%)+
=nce emanated from the universit cam!uses, radical knowledge and !olitical !ractices have
also stimulated the interactions and mobili#ations in the cit+ 3t9s worth mentioning that there is
still a great deal of class based theoretical a!!roaches to !olitical econom of contem!orar
ca!italism in academia+ Eowever, in the ,lobal -orth, the main line of divisions among
theoretical7academic and !olitical7activist cam!s of /arxism(s) and Anarchism(s) became
much milder, which in return allowed s!ace for cross fertilisation and snthetic analsis+ The
recent fascinating debates such as those over the 6m!ire, international historical sociolog,
critical global !olitical econom, new im!erialism, global ca!italism, cultural !olitical
econom, governmentalit, etc+ can be seen as good exam!les of such sntheses+ Digital or
online !ro"ects and "ournals like ;rocessed )orld, /ultitudes, /ute, /eta-/ute, 6!hemera,
3ncognito, <ibre-culture, 6-flux, Ad-busters, Alter--et, -ew 3nternationalism, as well as
cultural events organised b those networks built around these "ournals made it !ossible to
s!read such rich radical knowledge as the raw material for creative and constructive !olitical
!ractices to be set forth+ 3t should be noted that there have been other influential radical
a!!roaches emerging in addition to the 8cam!s9 de!icted above: 3ntegral theorists, cber !unk
techno-uto!ians, as well as inde!endent theorists with their !ractitioner, hacker, activist or
F
artist backgrounds have also been contributing to the innovative and strong analses of the
contem!orar contradictions of ca!italist mode of !roduction+
(uilding around innovative conce!tual tools and notions like !eneral intellet, olletive
intelli!ene, immaterial labour, a""etive labour, "ree labour, playbour, ommons and
ommonin!, peer prodution, p#p, distributed networks, networks ultures, and tehno$politis,
new analtical and ontological !ers!ectives have drawn lines among cultural and media
studies, !olitics, economics, ecolog and gender+ These analses have attracted new generation
activists es!eciall in the late I%s earl $%%%s+ 3nternational mobilisations like 8(attle in
.eattle9 in *III, and those 8,lobal .olidarit and Gustice9 movements flourished around .ocial
<orums !rocesses -such as 8anti-summit9 and anti-war movements- have !rovided im!ortant
s!ace for the articulation and exchange between the innovative analses in rethinking
!roduction, labour and value creation !ractices emerging out of the ca!italist canon (de .ousa
.antos, $%%0' (ond, $%%&)+ <ollowing the earl critics of the !ost-<ordism theories of the
Begulation .chool, such !ers!ectives as 8cognitive ca!italism9, 8communism of ca!ital9 and
8techno-!olitics9 were develo!ed through further em!irical observations over of the emerging
new ca!italistic forms in (!ost-)industrial sites like .ilicon Jalle or -orth 3tal (;asHuinelli,
$%*F)+ 3ns!ired b art, design and digital !ractices rather than convetional thinkings, the new
generation !ost-autonomist and !ost-workerist research informed radical !olitical !ro"ects such
as Kni--omad, 6du-<actor, Dlass )ar Kniversit which claims ?disassembling the neoliberal
universit@ are articulated+ =ther s!aces like the )inter Dam!s organised b the Amsterdam
based 3nstitute of -etwork Dulture (3-D) are good exam!les that underlines how such
innovative !ro"ects have been 8networked9+
A
=ther !ro"ects like Dbersaloon, Dlass )ar ,ames, E!ermedia, and s!aces like Eistorical
/aterialism conferences and 1eft <orums among man others have been !roviding im!ortant
s!aces for exchange and interaction to researchers, !ractitioners and activists who engaged in
the !roduction of innovative emanci!ator knowledge and !olitics+ /oreover, such research
networks as Transit 1abour, =rg-et, 3nstitute of Distributed Dreativit, Dnamics of Jirtual
)ork, 3;6, workgrou! ((3.A), and Dritical 1abour .tudies have bridged the different
agendas and scholars of critical global !olitical econom and critical media studies, allowing
snthetic and stronger analses to emerge+ .imilar s!ace has been !rovided outside the
academia for loose networking activities such as -etworked ;olitics and -etworked 1abour
seminars+ This line of work and convergence became increasingl rich after the crisis,
snthesising with the influence of new counter-culture !hiloso!hies such as cber!unk,
cbernetics and so on, contributing to the analses of 8digital labour9 and cognitive or
informational ca!italism+ There have been efforts !ut into the sstematisation of massive
amount of critical and radical knowledge being !roduced in recent ears -with regard to the
changes in the com!osition and contradictions of contem!orar ca!italism and emerging
alternative visions+ <or instance, /ichel (auwens and his <oundation of ;$; Alternatives (;$;
<oundation), has been ma!!ing and cataloguing this large bod of knowledge and making it
accessible on the 3nternet+
3nteractive online !ublic s!aces have made it !ossible for individuals, including knowledge and
manual workers themselves to find out, harvest, re!roduce, analse and transform variet of
data7information !roduced and articulated b above mentioned networks+ 6s!eciall those
0
marginali#ed and radicalised workers, with high com!uter literac and "ree time, have become
to form of a mass arm of activists+ The new wave of 8,lobal K!risings9, starting in the late
$%*% and earl $%**, !o!ular sites and networks in the worldwide web became ra!idl
!o!ulated b these masses+ This started to !rovide much larger scale !ossibilities for
!artici!ants and observers (/orel, $%*$)+ Da!acit of self- and collective- learning, exchange,
!oliticisation, education, and em!owerment have allowed distant networks to formulate
effective and creative !olitical !ractices, generate and share building on innovative ideas Lof
themselves or combined with those !roduced b radical networks mentioned above+ These
advancements have served for wider self-em!owerment and allowed further ex!ansion of
networks+ ,rowing ca!acities of relativel smaller and isolated, but increasingl s!reading and
connected networks have been result of intensifing online communication and connectivit
(>enal!, $%*$' ,erbaudo, $%*F)+ .elf-learning and exchange within these communities have
been intertwined with various forms of 8co-!roduced9, collaborative, or !artici!ative !olitics+
6xchanges on discussion (email) lists such as -et-time, 5ein+org, =ekonux, ).<-Discussion,
1abour and ,lobalisation have !laed extremel functional interlocking role (Biemens
interviewed b Dasalegno on -et-time e-list,*III)+ ;roductive exchange and networking over
these lists have stimulated collaborative !ro"ects and !rocesses+ <or instance %#% "oundation,
5einform+de, -etworked ;olitics, among man others, brought ke !eo!le and information in
touch allowing wider interlocking between do#ens of communities and networks+
Those network interlockers b linking several e-lists, !assing information from one list to other
are sim!l functioning as mediators among variet of related !ro"ects+ As a result, laers of
networks or communities embedded in the realit of industrial ca!italism such as radical
&
unionists focusing on struggles in and around manual labour intensive industries are
increasingl engaged with those communities that bear the histor, culture and consciousness
of radicalising 8!eer !roduction9 communities -often referred to as 8digital9 or 8on-line9
!roduction communities, digital commoners, !rodusers, etc+ These radical communities, most
of the time built b hakers, makers, !uerrilla translators so on, have been locall self-
organised in a similar wa with those alternative and autonomous Do-3t-Courself communities
of the 4%s and I%s+ Cet the have been increasingl connected at national, regional, and global
networks that create and articulate a feeling of simultaneous connectivit (/orel, $%%I and
$%*%' Jastokis, $%*F)+ These international communication and exchange channels and s!aces
enabled interactions with networks of labour and social "ustice activists ((auwens, $%**)+
)hile the !artici!ants of !eer !roduction communities have been tra!!ed in the 8ca!italist
mode9, the ex!ansion of transnational social s!aces -of exchange and sharing- allowed them to
!roduce and share use$value in radicall different was than ca!italism (5leiner, $%*%' Bigi,
$%*2)+ During the 4%s and I%s earl generations of such communities have been a com!osition
of self-em!loed hi!!ies and 8kitsch9 entre!reneurs, who were well-!aid waged artists,
"ournalists, architects, coders, sstem-administrators+ Together with amateur hackers, most of
the time with )estern middle class origin, forming the basis of the cber!unk sub-culture
((arbrook, *II0' ,erbaudo, $%*F)+ The colla!se of the dot+com bubble in the late I%s however
brought about the radicalisation of these communities, !aving a wa to the emergence of
!oliticised !$! movements+ ;ro"ects like ,-K, Do!tleft, <ree .oftware <oundation, 1inux,
)iki;edia, ;irate (a, )iki1eaks, T=B are some of the !olitical and economic manifestations
of these movements+ <urther radicalisation of !$! communities came about in the mid $%%%s,
4
with the dee!ening global recession and revival of authoritarian ca!italism+ Arrival of wide
s!read forms of digital activism or haktivism -like Anonmous, 1ul#.ec, and ;irate ;arties-
attracted worldwide !ublic attention+ Jariet of creative, digital and !oliticall driven !ro"ects
initiated b these communities challenging ca!italist forms and social relationshi!s became
!o!ular+ Therefore, hacktivism and !$! movements are, increasingl conceived as an
inse!arable com!onent of labour and social "ustice movements of the !revious decades
(Eimanen, $%%F' Dafermos and .oderberg, $%%4' interview with 5leiner, $%*F)+
<ollowing the global crisis of $%%&-4, while larger segments of the creative entre!reneur went
out of business, the well !aid knowledge-workers were either losing their "obs or becoming
low-waged workers with insecure contracts in creative sectors+ These !eo!le often defined as
knowled!e proletariat, o!niteriat, or ybertariat start to see themselves as a !art of an
emerging new and broader class, preariat ((arbrook, $%%&' (ifo, $%*%' Euws, $%*2'
.tanding, $%*%)+ 3n addition, develo!ments in the com!uter (software and hardware)
technologies brought about what ;asHuinelli calls ?the division of mental labour@+ This refers
to the increasing sim!lification of tasks in the !roduction !rocess, due to the higher level of
com!uterisation+ This develo!ment has deskilled and alienated larger segments of the
knowledge workers, while em!owering those who are em!loed for desi!nin! managerial
o!erations to im!lement this new labour division+ -ot onl the 8low-!rofile9 or sim!le "obs like
data-mining or !roof-reading, but those who hold !ositions like designing and com!uter
!rogramming started to become more and more subordinated to the management control (see
aslo Trebor, $%*$ and Euws, $%*2)+ The software develo!ment enabled control and
socialisation mechanisms going beond the creative industries of course, and radicall
I
transformed the !roduction !rocesses and working conditions for all t!es of workers from
ever sector+ .uccessive waves of crisis, and finall $%%&-$%%4 was meant radical decreases in
wages, wide s!read "ob losses, structural unem!loment, and general deterioration of social
rights following the austerit cuts, almost all working classes+ Cet, the changes were relativel
more dramatic for the knowledge workers+ .ince the were !romised much more b the
8knowledge econom9 mth, and gained high ex!ectations in the !re-crisis atmos!here, the
were the ones getting disa!!ointed the most+
3n the aftermath of the recent !o!ular u!risings in -orth Africa, 6uro!e and Americas
!reviousl se!arate universes of radicalised worker-researchers and the radical !$! movements
started to converge+ The number of interlocking nodes grew on various e-mail lists and social
networks, enabling massive ccle of radical and emanci!ator (informed)ideas between
activist, hacker and researcher !roletariat networks+ 6xchanges between !ractical and skilled
individuals who bear certain level of class consciousness and who "oins or organise local,
national and transnational mobilisations, made more creative and assertiveness collective
actions !ossible+ 3ntensification of online and transnational !olitical exchanges brought about
un!recedented volume of collective energ+ Badical communities of labour, social "ustice and
digital activism started to exchange, learn from each other and discover their similarities+
Traditionall, s!aces where hacker grou!s would meeting and socialise, like hackatons, s!rints,
data-"ams, un-conferences, hacker cam!s, so on, have been widel unknown to social "ustice or
labour activists+ (eing most of the time co-created and governed, hackers usuall self-organise
themselves+ )hile hacker s!aces and culture has been similar to hori#ontal autonomous or
*%
anarchist collectives such as sHuatters, it varied from the s!aces and culture of vertical labour
grou!s, left !olitical !arties or -,=s+ Therefore, there usuall were weak interactions
between these communities or networks+ Cet, during and after national and international
u!risings since $%** -in .!ain, K., K5, ,reece, /exico, Turke, (ra#il and number of other
countries, existing ties between these networks ra!idl increased (,uiterre#, $%*2 and $%*F)+
;ro"ects like ,lobal Bevolution, =cccu!TheDomm, B=AB, ,uerilla Translation, ,lobal
K!risings, and man other !ro"ects were co-created b hackers, artists, digital media and video
activists, who either took active !art in the self-organisation of mobilisations or "oined in,
observed, or documented the u!risings+ This has o!ened broad channels for large scale
interlocking among the activist networks+ =n the ground, former or current sHuads, social and
cultural centres, occu!ied factories, forums, cafes, and assemblies etc+ used to form s!aces to
gather face to face, and online communication tools allowed these grou!s to build laers
serving for the convergence+
Eigh level access to 3nternet, advanced ex!erience with the develo!ment and use of new
communication technologies and tools, and the abilit to work with intellectual and creative
ca!acit (online and on the ground), those "obless and ho!eless and most of the time ounger
knowledge !roletarian have manifested their !oliticisation b "oining hacker grou!s, <1=..
!ro"ects or less radical forms of digital activism like liktivism or slaktivism ()hite, $%**'
Doleman, $%*%)+ During the recent u!risings, these classes were out to the streets, occu!ing
!ublic s!aces, "oining assemblies, forming work grou!s+ The have also built online spaes
and tools for others9 use, in order to link occu!ations and cam!s from different localities+ The
online laer of networking consisted of thousands of blogs, websites, ma!s, social network
**
accounts and !ages, federated news feeds that !rovide in- and out- flux information between
local, national and international communities+ ;ro"ects like DBC-3nternational, ,lobal .Huare,
;eo!les9 Assemblies -etwork, Take The .Huare, have been functional in harmonising the
information flow that allowed various networks to link u! with each other and ex!and+ 1arge
amounts of motivated and radicalised individual, either b getting involved in existing grou!s
and networks or !referring to act as individual, engaged in an intense, continuous, disci!lined,
distributed and collective !olitical action ((ennett et+ al+ $%*F' Dastells, $%*2)+
Mesh Networking the Un-Unitable?
The !henomenon of ex!ansion of online and real world s!aces, in and through which cross-
fertilisations have been taking !lace were creating an un!recedented exchange among all
existing radical theoretical and analtical de!ositor+ 5ind of o!en, distributed and
collaborative analsis have underlined the new forms of collective action (;or, $%%4)+ Jarious
networks com!osed of radicalised sub"ectivities bearing creative insights that stem from
different ideological-theoretical !ers!ectives' and faster and !roductive interactions among
these sub"ectivities resulted in more snthetic and dnamic visions+ These visions were
ex!ressed through rich and re!roducible visual, artistic, and cultural !olitical !roducts' being
usuall downloaded, further im!roved, and u!loaded to the 3nternet again+ /assive amount of
shar! and cleaver images, videos and texts did transmit and articulated the vision of global
emanci!ation -from ca!italism, across borders in real time+ .uch an ex!losion in the volume of
transnational information exchange, was hel!ful in connecting different existential realities of
!artici!ants as well as observers+ .ince these new and wide channels were o!en to hundreds of
millions !ublic observers, that were not onl enabling large scale and !eer to !eer !olitical
*$
exchange, but the were also extremel hel!ful to avoid ideolog or ego-based un!roductive
and sectarian conflicts+
There were interventions coming from organised labour from inside and outside the unions+
The smbolic greetings between workers u!rising in )isconsin and the workers "oining the
occu!ation of Tahrir .Huare in 6g!t released a strong message revived the vision of labour
internationalism+ The international /6-A .olidarit -etwork, which connects inde!endent
union centres active in 6g!t, Tunis, K5 and K., as well as other countries in the
/editerranean region, have !laed an im!ortant role+ )estern and local video-activists on the
ground had develo!ed networks of live streamers+ 3ndividual media activists who live stream
mobilisations online from inside -b using mobile !hones or hand cameras connected to the
3nternet- formed international networks like the ,lobalBevolution network+ These networks
later on evolved into broader alternative media !ro"ects such as =ccu!theDomm, 3-)ithness,
,lobal =ccu! -ews, Babel/ouse, and B=AB+ These !ro"ects have been extremel
functional in terms of s!reading information and smbols ex!ressing the renewal of labour
class struggle+ =ther online communication tools, like 3BD channels (3nstant Bela Dhat),
social network sites (like --*, =ccu!ii, Drab,rass, 3nter=ccu!) have been utilised to form
assemblies and workgrou!s, in order to facilitate exchange between national and international
action networks+ These tools !laed ke a role, for instance in organising =akland ,eneral
.trike, )est Doast .hut Down, /a <irst (=ccu!),eneral .trike in the K., as well as Dritical
(locs, Diti#en Ties in .!ain and first ever 6uro!ean wide general strike on *F -ovember $%*$+
*2
Debates and worksho!s took !lace in convergence meetings like Eub /eetings held in
(arcelona, /ilan, and 1ub"iana' AgoraII, held in /adrid and Bome' <iren#e *%M*% organised
in <lorance, and )orld .ocial <orum in Tunis+ These events !rovided broader s!ace for mutual
learning and strategic exchange between international and local activists on issues like
8creative was of labour organising9 and seek was to link labour unions, -,=s, social "ustice
activists, work !laces and assemblies in effective was+ Jarious segments of working class get
engaged in a collective search for new methods of action that would combine creative actions
such as art-strikes, student9s strikes, immigrant strikes with transnational and regional labour
strikes, forming !ers!ectives of trul global strikes that could disturb the functioning of global
ca!italism+
There has been other concrete forms emerging out of u!risings were 1abour solidarit grou!s,
in .!ain, the K5 and the K.+ Dollaborating with 3)) and other inde!endent unions, the II
;icket 1ines "oined the organisation of K.-wide )almart walkouts in $%*$+ <urther solidarit
was set forth for the /aking Dhange at )almart Dam!aign+ <or instance, hackers linked to
=ccu! )all .treet successfull leaked the official )almart9s guide on how to silence workers
(see )almart )atch)+ There were intensive su!!ort for the cam!aign for minimum wage,
teachers9 strike, and an international !rotest organised to target T-Ds that are res!onsible from
the death of more than thousand textile workers forced to work in colla!sing Bana ;la#a in
(angladesh+ -etworking between factories, hos!itals, libraries, theatres as well as other !ublic
s!aces occu!ied and run b workers around fostered communication on 8)orkers9 6conom9
(5arotis, $%*F)+ There have been conscious efforts behind these ex!eriences, connected
internationall b using online tools and strategies+ Through mass-sharing via !o!ular accounts
*F
on <acebook, Twitter, ,oogle ;lus, and so on, which were attracting millions of followers
during and after the !o!ular u!risings, such efforts and their outcomes were made visible to
wider !ublic+
.ince $%**, collaborative action-research networks like =ccu!-Eackaton, or ,lobal
Bevolution have been collecting and analsing the large amount of data which came about as
the result of the ex!losion of online interactions and communications+ 3n this context, both the
number of (visible) labour activism or related !ro"ects as well as online and grounded self-
articulation of labour on cbers!ace had an ex!losion+ .cholar-activists, inde!endent and
radical media, free culture, and art !ro"ects such as the 3nterface, 1earning from 6ach =thers9
.truggles, .T3B, B=AB, ,lobal K!risings, did enter in-direct collaboration with similar
!ro"ects which focuses s!ecificall on labour and working class formation+ ;ro"ects like
Dberunions and .ocial -etwork Knionism, which were develo!ed in !arallel to the rising
wave of grassroots u!risings, for instance, led to a much higher level of interaction between
mentioned networks, than those in times of 1abour-ets in the late I%s ()aterman, $%*$)+
Almost in ever countr one can find union related work grou!s that bring u! thousands of
unionists and labour related activists together on <acebook !ages, allowing !eo!le to get and
sta in touch and exchange on linking issues on a dail base (Eall-Gones, $%*$)+ 3n the earl
$%%%s, even for the labour activists and unionists who are familiar to com!uter technologies
this was a dream+ At the moment the number of union ex!erts and grassroots labour organi#ers
who manage content for labour and activism related 8digital9 communities on <acebook is ver
hard to estimate+ <ederation between networking tools and accounts hel! wider networking and
exchange among these communities normall divided b borders and languages+
*A
There is also the increase in the number of 8secure and alternative9 social networking tools
build b free-information activists and hackers, in order to serve those who need securit when
organi#ing under re!ressive conditions, or for those who are critical about using ca!italistic
!roducts+ Biseu! and --*, are onl two exam!les, serving more than *A%+%%% activists and
collectives working on various issues b !roviding e-mail lists and social networking
!latforms+ <or exam!le, Biseu! email servers hosts around A%% e-mail lists created and used b
labour and union activists, free of charge+ Becent online debate launched b the -ew Knionism
-etwork (-K-) on 8,lobal Knionism9 and the 8safe s!ace9 ex!eriment is a good exam!les in
this direction+ The -K- was built in $%%& and has about &%% members from F& countries and
*4%% subscribers to its 8)ork in-;rogress9 online newsletter+ The Knionbook !ro"ect, created
b 6ric 1ee of 1abour .tart in $%%4, is another good exam!le which became an alternative
social network for unionists in a short time+ 3t has brought more than six thousands
international unionists together and enabled them to exchange and interact online, share
information about actions and cam!aigns+ Again, without conducting an intense and multi-
lingual research to ma! and analse these networks, one could onl refer to a ver limited
number of these kind of ex!eriences+ -evertheless, we one can see this ex!losive ex!ansion of
networks via new online channels of exchange and communication+ The increasing
convergence between the successive develo!ments in the 3DTs, changes in the configuration of
the working classes, and finall destructive im!acts of the economic crisis have triggered much
wider and direct !artici!ation and collaboration for workers+ As a result, the large historical
ga! between workers and the knowledge is bridged+ Their high com!uter literac and growing
*0
infrastructure !ublicl available has allowed knowled!e workers to interlinking among various
networks and worker&s knowled!e+
The activist-scholars have been dealing with the !roblem of converging between autonomous
labour and social "ustice movements on the one hand, and unions and !rogressive -,= on the
other (.en and )aterman, $%*2)+ ;eter )aterman have had a uniHue !osition, as an observer
and a re!orter, who has been adding the cbers!ace into the framework from his emanci!ator
labour internationalism !ers!ective ()aterman, $%**)+ )aterman !resented a list of interacting
!ro"ects in his $%*% and $%** !a!ers, and he recentl u!dated his list ()aterman, $%*F), where
he develo!ed a momentous analses on labour and trade union !ro"ects such as -owto!ia,
1abour -ets, 1abourTech, 1abour.tart, -et#werk3T, -etworked ;olitics, ,lobal 1abour
3nstitute, .3,TKB among others+ As we !ut forward in this !a!er, there has been an ex!losion
in the number of new visible and active !ro"ects and networks that are converging towards and
collaborating with each other+ As mentioned earlier, a com!rehensive collection of similar
initiatives are listed on ;$; <oundation9s wiki-media !age (wiki-medias are !ages are easil
modified b visitors and users, allowing them to collectivel storage and organise digital
material and links in an encclo!aedic order)+
As one of the most !rominent exam!les of earlier convergence around labour related web-
based networking !ro"ects, the /a <irst7;eo!le 1ink, has develo!ed ties with -,=s and
.ocial <orums as well as organisations like <ree .oftware <oundation (<.<), which was
founded b Bichard .tallman who is also the creator of the free com!uter o!erating sstem
,-K (,-K is -ot Knix) that would challenge mono!olies like /icrosoft and A!!le and
*&
kicked of the !oliticisation of the !$! movement in the 4%s+ /a <irst 7 ;eo!le 1ink !rovided
online services, e+g+ website and e-mail list hosting on the secure servers the owned
collectivel, to its members including unions, !rogressive -,=s, individual activists or
hactivism !ro"ects like Biseu!+ The /a <irst ex!erience became more interesting over time,
since their collaboration and service !rovision has s!read out and involved man =ccu! and
*A/ networks, hosting websites and secure e-mail lists of local =ccu! encam!ments and
assemblies+ 3n this sense, /a <irst should be seen as a snthetic !ro"ect that fuses labour
organising, social "ustice activism and 8free information9 or hacker movements+ Another
creative labour !ro"ect in this line has been Dberunions blog, initiated b .outh African
unionist )alton ;atland+ 3n collaboration with free and o!en source software !romoting labour
activist .te!han /ahood, Dberunions blog initiated creative and humorous !od-casts using
sound recording and streaming software+ The motto of the blog was ?Ksing Technolog to
=rganise@ at the beginning, similar to those earlier !ro"ects like 1abouirTech or =rgani#ing
$+%+ Cet Dberunions !ro"ect did evolve over time into a communit of unionists that su!!ort
the idea of ?(uilding <ree, 1ibre, =!en source 1abour /ovement@+ As the !otential of social
media in online communication and activism became evident throughout the grassroots
u!risings around the world starting in -orth Africa, the ex!erience and initiative of ;atland and
/ahood gave birth to the Knion .olidarit 3nternational (K.3) !ro"ect+ .trategicall ado!ting
its social media and networking ex!erience to the alread existing union context, small team of
K.3 could actuall manage to ex!and their outreach through online solidarit cam!aigns and
communication channels, in a relativel short !eriod of time+ K.3 has forming stronger ties
with /a <irst 7 ;eo!le link and the <.< after /ahood9s activities and K.3 becoming a /a
<irst member organisation+ <ollowing this convergence around K.3 initiative a further
*4
im!ortant ste! has taken recentl b launching an online social network entitled 'he
(r!ani)in! *etwork+ This network is built b using an alternative codification develo!ed b
<1=.. activists and hackers who have taken !art in =ccu! and *A/ assemblies and media
teams+ The =rgani#ing -etwork is then installed on /a <irst9s secure servers+ .ince /a
<irst also !rovides an <1=. audio-video conferencing and distance education tool (ig (lue
(utton to its members, K.3 and =- are able to em!lo this tool for its international exchanges
and those labour organi#ers the collaborate+ Therefore =- !latform exhibits an ideal
combination of necessar tools allowing interaction, further convergence and collaboration
between variet of !ro"ects and networks+
<ollowing the debate on ,lobal Knionism was taking off in earl $%%%s (Earrod and =9(rien,
$%%$) the 3nternational Trade Knion <ederations (3T<s) were re-branded as ,lobal Knions
(,Ks)+ .everal ma"or international mergers took !lace since then creating larger structures like
3TKD and 3ndustriAll and )orkers9 Kniting+ -ew Knionism -etworks9 recent debate, ,lobal
1abour 3nstitute9s .ummer .chools, ,1K9s ,lobal 1abour Donferences, and 1abour.tarts9
,lobal .olidarit Donferences have taken the discussion on ,lobal Knionism further in the
world of established unions+ 6volution of 1abour-ets into !ro"ects like -et#werk3T in
,erman, .endika+org in Turke and 1abourTech in the K. all develo!ing more advanced
understanding of the !ractical meaning of knowledge and communication technolog for
organi#ing have been giving fruits in recent ears+ The secure online organi#ing methods
develo!ed b -et#werk3T, or develo!ment of the .afe.!ace b -K-, and online
infrastructures em!loed b network unionists and labour activists at local, national and
regional levels to organise workers+ Eowever the =rganising -etwork, being develo!ed b
*I
K.3, has the highest !otential in our o!inion, in terms of abilit to attract variet of radical
labour !ro"ects, unions, activists and -,=s+ 3t is alread connected to im!ortant ke
interlocking networks, eas to learn and use, it is tested and ex!ected user grou!s are alread
have ideas or even being trained on using social media to organise+ This means those labour
networks that alread meets at international s!aces like )orld .ocial <orum, <iren#e *%M*%,
Alter .ummit, Goint .ocial Donference or otherwise would have !ossibilit to strengthening
existing ties b collaborating more efficientl from a distance+ =-9s ties like /a <irst, <.<,
=rgani#ing $+%, Dhina 1abour (ulletin, 1orea and other ver interesting networks might be
attracting others from radical !$! movements who familiar with organi#ing via online
networking tools+ At least =- shows the wa towards !ossibilities of bridging those se!arate
islands of labour and social "ustice activists and hactivists gathering in international meetings
like Dhaos Dom!uter Dam!s (DDD), =ekeunox or De ,rowth Donferences, <ree Dulture
<orums, 6conomics and the Dommons conferences, or media-digital art biennales+ Those
newer activist networks which gained significant amount of ex!erience with combining online
organising (with transnational 3nstant Bela Dhat and /umble conferences) and international
grounded assemblies (like Eub /eetings, Agora II, (locku!, =ccu! -ational ,atherings,
and ,lobal .Huare) organised b those linked to *A/ and =ccu! movements+ has been one
of the most !oliticised and !rogressive convergence s!ace for international hacker movements+
Unchaining Collectie !orkers" #eneral $ntellect?
8All the sstem-admins of the world, uniteN9 was the title of )iki1eaks founder Gullian
Assange9s kenote s!eech at the most recent DDD congress, in Eamburg last December+ The
s!eech he made, though .k!e connection, was highlighting how ca!italism and rulers have
$%
turned the uto!ia of <ree 3nternet into a dark =rwellian disto!ia of societ of mass control and
surveillance+ The develo!ment of in the 3DTs industries, towards collection, storage, analsis
and transmitting of large amount of digital (meta-)data have been converging with the global
economic crisis and rising authoritarianism+ 1arge scale investments !oured into !ro"ects like
3nternet of Things, 3ndustrial 3nternet, and 3nternet of 6verthing !ro"ects that share the vision
of full fledged artificial intelligence, which is diffused and embedded in the entire social s!ace
(,6 and Disco .stem Be!orts and websites' .chul#, $%*$' ;asHuinell, $%*F)+ Although the
were in !rogress since the I%s, the develo!ment of these !ro"ects got accelerated in last ears+
At the end of /arch $%*F, ,6, 3(/, Disco and ATOT formed the 3ndustrial 3nternet
Donsortium, to work out the !rotocols and standards for the infrastructure that would ?to
further develo!ment, ado!tion and wide-s!read use of interconnected machines, intelligent
analtics and !eo!le at work9+ )ith reference to the !ost-workerist and autonomist
understanding of the term used b /arx in ,rundrisse, what the 33D aims here can be read as
creating an absolute 8general intellect9 (Jaccelerone, $%%4)+ .uch technolog alread allows
the Da!ital to organise work, !roduction and commodit chains alongside the global networks+
3n a wa the emergence of 8collective worker9 globall, as argued b /erk and Jan der ;i"l,
has been ha!!ening+ This is the !ath obviousl dreamed of b the ruling classes, where the
could control and dominate living labour, and life, entirel+ Cet, while the agenc of ca!ital
tries to reach this !oint, it also facilitate the re-emergence of its 8grave diggers9 from their
ashes+
3n case the networks and interlocking s!aces, we tried to sam!le a brief list above, would lead
those who involved in dail struggles to connect the dots in the emerging global brain of
$*
collective worker, the general intellect, demarcated working classes could gain a self-
consciousness+ The could use their intellectual ca!acit to self-educate and develo! a clear
critics of global !olitical econom+ (eing informed b variet of rich insights and innovative
a!!roaches over the structural and sub"ective dnamics sha!ing its fractioned realit it could
develo! creative and un!redictable strategies and tactics, action and governance models that
would make the best chance for the realisation of bottom u! and egalitarian radical social
change+ .uch conscious class agenc would be able develo! the !ers!ective for a realistic and
feasible 8econom for all9 from toda (/aret#, $%*2' /arsh, $%*2), b building on the same
egalitarian and direct democratic societal organisational forms, in and through which manual
and mental labour functionall be fused, attention giving care and loving labour would
emanci!ate the men, and labour and other !roductive forces could be emanci!ated collectivel
from the gras! of an !rivileged classes+ )e tried to demonstrate above that concrete signs,
smbols, s!aces, tools and !olitics of the emerging global working class agenc+ As Thom!son
thought us working class makes itself in its dail struggles+ Although it is demarcated and s
being tra!!ed into a miserable looking conditions and ho!elessness, we are observing the
collective worker gaining an global brain+ There are massive amount of conscious efforts being
!ut forward and moving further to the level of challenging the ca!ital and the state globall and
transnationall+ )ith a bigger !otential of winning, then the !revious generations, global
working class would have bigger chance of forming itself and win before the infighting ruling
classes !ush them into nationalisms and dissolution+ 6ven if this ha!!ens and humanit lose
again, it is certain that we are going to leave the most advanced ex!erience for the future
generations so the can learn from it for the next confrontation+
$$