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u!risings, and assemblies, work grou!s as well as online tools !o!ularised have !la ed a ma"or
role in this !rocess+ .ince $%**, ra!id and massive involvements, not onl in such !o!ular
online social networks as
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!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)+ onseHuentl , a stead !rocess of !oliticisation has linked radicalised
academic labourers and students to those existing la ers of radical labour research and
advocac networks+ 3nteractions between these la ers 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
anal sis 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 anal sis of some of, and earlier similar labour related !ro"ects+
2
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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, c bernetics etc+ This has
turned the cam!us into a d namic s!ace of convergence between labour activism, research and
art once again (Boss et+ al, $%%&' ifo, $%*%)+
=nce emanated from the universit cam!uses, radical knowledge and !olitical !ractices have
also stimulated the interactions and mobili#ations in the cit + 3t9s worth mentioning that there is
still a great deal of class based theoretical a!!roaches to !olitical econom of contem!orarca!italism in academia+ Eowever, in the lobal orth, the main line of divisions among
theoretical7academic and !olitical7activist cam!s of /arxism(s) and Anarchism(s) became
much milder, which in return allowed s!ace for cross fertilisation and s nthetic anal sis+ The
recent fascinating debates such as those over the 6m!ire, international historical sociolog ,
critical global !olitical econom , new im!erialism, global ca!italism, cultural !olitical
econom , governmentalit , etc+ can be seen as good exam!les of such s ntheses+ Digital or
online !ro"ects and "ournals like ;rocessed orld, /ultitudes, /ute, /eta-/ute, 6!hemera,
3ncognito,
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artist backgrounds have also been contributing to the innovative and strong anal ses of the
contem!orar contradictions of ca!italist mode of !roduction+
uilding around innovative conce!tual tools and notions like !eneral intelle t , olle tive
intelli!en e , immaterial labour , a""e tive labour , "ree labour , playbour , ommons and
ommonin! , peer produ tion, p#p, distributed networks, networks ultures,and te hno$politi s ,
new anal tical and ontological !ers!ectives have drawn lines among cultural and media
studies, !olitics, economics, ecolog and gender+ These anal ses 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
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=ther !ro"ects like bersaloon, lass ar ames, E !ermedia, and s!aces like Eistorical
/aterialism conferences and 1eft
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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, !rod users, etc+ These radical communities, most
of the time built b ha kers , 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!acesenabled 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 wa s 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!lo ed hi!!ies and 8kitsch9 entre!reneurs, who were well-!aid waged artists,
"ournalists, architects, coders, s stem-administrators+ Together with amateur hackers, most of
the time with estern middle class origin, forming the basis of the c ber!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, o!tleft,
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with the dee!ening global recession and revival of authoritarian ca!italism+ Arrival of wide
s!read forms of digital activism or ha ktivism -like Anon mous, 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)+
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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! The omm, 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 scaleinterlocking 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 la ers
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,
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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' astells, $%*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 anal tical de!ositor + 5ind of o!en, distributed and
collaborative anal sis have underlined the new forms of collective action (;or, $%%4)+ Jarious
networks com!osed of radicalised sub"ectivities bearing creative insights that stem from
different ideological-theoretical !ers!ectives' and faster and !roductive interactions among
these sub"ectivities resulted in more s nthetic and d namic visions+ These visions were
ex!ressed through rich and re!roducible visual, artistic, and cultural !olitical !roducts' being
usuall downloaded, further im!roved, and u!loaded to the 3nternet again+ /assive amount of
shar! and cleaver images, videos and texts did transmit and articulated the vision of global
emanci!ation -from ca!italism, across borders in real time+ .uch an ex!losion in the volume of
transnational information exchange, was hel!ful in connecting different existential realities of
!artici!ants as well as observers+ .ince these new and wide channels were o!en to hundreds of
millions !ublic observers, that were not onl enabling large scale and !eer to !eer !olitical
*$
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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 s mbolic 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 !la ed an im!ortant role+ estern and local video-activists on theground 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! the omm, 3- ithness,
lobal =ccu! ews, Babel/ouse, and B=AB+ These !ro"ects have been extremel
functional in terms of s!reading information and s mbols ex!ressing the renewal of labour
class struggle+ =ther online communication tools, like 3B channels (3nstant Bela hat),
social network sites (like -*, =ccu!ii, rab 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 !la ed ke a role, for instance in organising =akland eneral
.trike, est oast .hut Down, /a
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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 * %+%%% activists and
collectives working on various issues b !roviding e-mail lists and social networking
!latforms+
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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 c bers!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, $%*F), wherehe develo!ed a momentous anal ses on labour and trade union !ro"ects such as owto!ia,
1abour ets, 1abourTech, 1abour.tart, et#werk3T, etworked ;olitics, lobal 1abour
3nstitute, .3 TKB among others+ As we !ut forward in this !a!er, there has been an ex!losion
in the number of new visible and active !ro"ects and networks that are converging towards and
collaborating with each other+ As mentioned earlier, a com!rehensive collection of similar
initiatives are listed on ;$;
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kicked of the !oliticisation of the !$! movement in the 4%s+ /a
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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
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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
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turned the uto!ia of
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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 d namics 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 manualand 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,
s mbols, 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+