<nettime> We are negative
Via: Jakob Jakobsen
A bit late but anyways, here is a flyer text that circulated in
Copenhagen at MayDay reflecting a political consequence of the unrest
in March in the city of the Little Mermaid.
We are Negative
1. Stop. Stop. Stop. It is time to say stop. It is time to become
negative. A break has occurred that forces us to refuse. We know very
well that there are no half solutions: We have to refuse and dismiss
the development occurring in Denmark right now. Stop, stop, stop.
Racism, cultural homogenization and criminalisation of alternative
lifestyles are official government policy. Stop this fucking madness.
In the current situation it is important to express our dissent in
the streets, but marching in Copenhagen is not enough and must not be
confused with the long dangerous fight where we challenge the basic
machinery of the state. The state is continuously shaping our lives
and our bodies though its biopolitical offensive. But it is possible
to discourage the state and break its will. This has happened many
times throughout history, it is happening in Iraq today and it can
happen here.
2. The state is a fragile mechanism, that's one of the lessons
learned during the March events in Copenhagen. The confusion was
evident: dark rubber skinned elephants ran galloping through the
blacked out streets searching for their own shadows. They were not
able to locate any kind of frontline where they could mirror their
crushing and destructive power. We were not there. We had gone before
the heavy movement of their machinery eventually came to a halt.
There was nothing else to do for the police than to arrest
coincidental bystanders; the need to catch someone, just anyone, was
evident. Going back empty handed was not an option. Now we know it:
the state suffers from a serious case of sclerosis when reacting like
this. It is desperately trying to hold a divided and dissolved
society together by creating images of deviant subjects wearing
veils, being pierced, throwing bricks or just saying 'no'. If they
don't exist they are created. Stop, stop, stop.
3. It is necessary to act against the increased repression sweeping
across Denmark right now. With the eviction at the Youth House the
fight against alternative life forms was once more intensified. The
state is no longer covering its repressive nature; it was visible for
everybody who participated in the protests following March 1. The
brutal militarised face of power manifested itself in front of us
during these days. Heavily armed anti-terror units used against
groups throwing the occasional brick; demonstrations dissolved with
enormous amounts of dangerous teargas; plain clothes cops mixing with
protesters attacking selected activists; helicopters hovering
constantly above the roofs of the city; houses and homes raided and
searched by the police; preventive arrests and several hundreds of
people imprisoned in closed jails. Normalisation has shown its real
face: repression.
4. The Youth House was torn down on the pretext of private property
and principles of the law. Being steeped in tear gas, being raided
and searched, being jailed without any reason given, we experienced
these principles of the law, principles that make it hard to discern
democracy from a totalitarian state. Private property is the most
sacred value in a postmodern democracy, much more important than our
safety or the civil right to express discontent. They say we live in
a constitutional democracy but whose interests does the state
represent if selected areas of Copenhagen were declared in a state of
exception and the people living there had to refrain from going into
the street in fear of being harassed by the long arm of the law? Even
our most personal communication and text messages were all of a
sudden open for investigation by the cops. No explanations. When the
state has to act like this it is a sign of the state's fear of its
own population. The state is on the defensive. Following the
dismantling of the welfare state it is only the law and its police we
meet when we face the state: We are confronted with a state in panic.
5. The police staged a street battle creating images of flying bricks
and cars on fire, images that could justify their brutal conduct. The
fusion of physical power and spectacle was striking during the course
of events following the eviction and the confrontations, with the
police hunting people through the city while filming them. The
violent and spectacular action where special forces stormed the
social centre at Jagtvej 69 inaugurates a new phase in the current
cultural battle where no one can be safe. Terrorising is now the
behaviour of the state. At Nrrebro and Christianshavn people got a
taste of this new regime with declaration of a state of exception
between the March 10 and 19: body searches and identity checks could
hit you anywhere. That there had been no confrontations and protests
for more than a week revealed the true purpose: to create fear.
6. The events in Copenhagen are connected to a broader global
development. The repression sweeping across Copenhagen is just the
latest step in a much more extensive campaign. Since the early 1970's
we have been confronted with a conscious counter offensive against
the last great working class resistance manifesting itself in the
1960's. The period after 1973 has been characterised by the emergence
of neo-liberalism and it took almost 30 years before a new resistance
was able to manifest itself again and challenge neo-liberalism. In
the late 1990s it was no longer just one class fighting. The UPS
strike in the States in 1997 and the protests of the counter
globalisation movement in London and Seattle in 1999 opened a new
frontline that was broadened with the wave of strikes spreading
across Western Europe and the United States. The 'state of war' that
the American president declared after 9/11 is an attempt to counter
this development and as such it represents yet another turning point.
With 'the war on terror' the repression that is organised in
accordance with the needs of the economy is permanent everywhere
through peacekeeping missions, police actions and humanitarian aid.
In this world there is no difference between peace and war. We now
live in a permanent state of exception, a kind of generalised civil war.
7. We expect nothing from the representation in the media. No matter
what is being uttered; when passed on it will be a distortion. For
the media it is of pivotal importance who says what: has-been artists
or opportunistic academics cannot represent the plurality of voices
that are slowly making themselves audible. We are many and our
cacophonic voices all of a sudden shatter what is called the public
sphere but which is in reality nothing but a closed circuit of spin,
advertising and detached political phrases. Remember: We are more
than they say and we say something they don't understand. We are
negative.
Imaginary Fraction, MayDay 2007
A bit late but anyways, here is a flyer text that circulated in
Copenhagen at MayDay reflecting a political consequence of the unrest
in March in the city of the Little Mermaid.
We are Negative
1. Stop. Stop. Stop. It is time to say stop. It is time to become
negative. A break has occurred that forces us to refuse. We know very
well that there are no half solutions: We have to refuse and dismiss
the development occurring in Denmark right now. Stop, stop, stop.
Racism, cultural homogenization and criminalisation of alternative
lifestyles are official government policy. Stop this fucking madness.
In the current situation it is important to express our dissent in
the streets, but marching in Copenhagen is not enough and must not be
confused with the long dangerous fight where we challenge the basic
machinery of the state. The state is continuously shaping our lives
and our bodies though its biopolitical offensive. But it is possible
to discourage the state and break its will. This has happened many
times throughout history, it is happening in Iraq today and it can
happen here.
2. The state is a fragile mechanism, that's one of the lessons
learned during the March events in Copenhagen. The confusion was
evident: dark rubber skinned elephants ran galloping through the
blacked out streets searching for their own shadows. They were not
able to locate any kind of frontline where they could mirror their
crushing and destructive power. We were not there. We had gone before
the heavy movement of their machinery eventually came to a halt.
There was nothing else to do for the police than to arrest
coincidental bystanders; the need to catch someone, just anyone, was
evident. Going back empty handed was not an option. Now we know it:
the state suffers from a serious case of sclerosis when reacting like
this. It is desperately trying to hold a divided and dissolved
society together by creating images of deviant subjects wearing
veils, being pierced, throwing bricks or just saying 'no'. If they
don't exist they are created. Stop, stop, stop.
3. It is necessary to act against the increased repression sweeping
across Denmark right now. With the eviction at the Youth House the
fight against alternative life forms was once more intensified. The
state is no longer covering its repressive nature; it was visible for
everybody who participated in the protests following March 1. The
brutal militarised face of power manifested itself in front of us
during these days. Heavily armed anti-terror units used against
groups throwing the occasional brick; demonstrations dissolved with
enormous amounts of dangerous teargas; plain clothes cops mixing with
protesters attacking selected activists; helicopters hovering
constantly above the roofs of the city; houses and homes raided and
searched by the police; preventive arrests and several hundreds of
people imprisoned in closed jails. Normalisation has shown its real
face: repression.
4. The Youth House was torn down on the pretext of private property
and principles of the law. Being steeped in tear gas, being raided
and searched, being jailed without any reason given, we experienced
these principles of the law, principles that make it hard to discern
democracy from a totalitarian state. Private property is the most
sacred value in a postmodern democracy, much more important than our
safety or the civil right to express discontent. They say we live in
a constitutional democracy but whose interests does the state
represent if selected areas of Copenhagen were declared in a state of
exception and the people living there had to refrain from going into
the street in fear of being harassed by the long arm of the law? Even
our most personal communication and text messages were all of a
sudden open for investigation by the cops. No explanations. When the
state has to act like this it is a sign of the state's fear of its
own population. The state is on the defensive. Following the
dismantling of the welfare state it is only the law and its police we
meet when we face the state: We are confronted with a state in panic.
5. The police staged a street battle creating images of flying bricks
and cars on fire, images that could justify their brutal conduct. The
fusion of physical power and spectacle was striking during the course
of events following the eviction and the confrontations, with the
police hunting people through the city while filming them. The
violent and spectacular action where special forces stormed the
social centre at Jagtvej 69 inaugurates a new phase in the current
cultural battle where no one can be safe. Terrorising is now the
behaviour of the state. At Nrrebro and Christianshavn people got a
taste of this new regime with declaration of a state of exception
between the March 10 and 19: body searches and identity checks could
hit you anywhere. That there had been no confrontations and protests
for more than a week revealed the true purpose: to create fear.
6. The events in Copenhagen are connected to a broader global
development. The repression sweeping across Copenhagen is just the
latest step in a much more extensive campaign. Since the early 1970's
we have been confronted with a conscious counter offensive against
the last great working class resistance manifesting itself in the
1960's. The period after 1973 has been characterised by the emergence
of neo-liberalism and it took almost 30 years before a new resistance
was able to manifest itself again and challenge neo-liberalism. In
the late 1990s it was no longer just one class fighting. The UPS
strike in the States in 1997 and the protests of the counter
globalisation movement in London and Seattle in 1999 opened a new
frontline that was broadened with the wave of strikes spreading
across Western Europe and the United States. The 'state of war' that
the American president declared after 9/11 is an attempt to counter
this development and as such it represents yet another turning point.
With 'the war on terror' the repression that is organised in
accordance with the needs of the economy is permanent everywhere
through peacekeeping missions, police actions and humanitarian aid.
In this world there is no difference between peace and war. We now
live in a permanent state of exception, a kind of generalised civil war.
7. We expect nothing from the representation in the media. No matter
what is being uttered; when passed on it will be a distortion. For
the media it is of pivotal importance who says what: has-been artists
or opportunistic academics cannot represent the plurality of voices
that are slowly making themselves audible. We are many and our
cacophonic voices all of a sudden shatter what is called the public
sphere but which is in reality nothing but a closed circuit of spin,
advertising and detached political phrases. Remember: We are more
than they say and we say something they don't understand. We are
negative.
Imaginary Fraction, MayDay 2007
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