FCJ-196 Let’s First Get Things Done! On Division of Labour and Techno-political Practices of Delegation in Times of Crisis

Abstract

During particular historical junctures, characterised by crisis, deepening exploitation and popular revolt, hegemonic hierarchies are simultaneously challenged and reinvented, and in the process of their reconfiguration in due course subtly reproduced. It is towards such 'sneaky moments' in which the ongoing divide between those engaged in struggles of social justice and those struggling for just technologies have been reshaped that we want to lend our attention. The paradoxical consequences of the divide between these communities in the context of the Internet have been baffling: (radical) activists organise and sustain themselves using ‘free’ technical services provided by Fortune 500 companies. While alternative technology practices, like those used among the Free Software Community, are designed, maintained, and actively used by a select few. We argue that even when there is a great desire to bridge this divide, the delegation of technological matters to the 'progressive techies' reconfirms hegemonic divisions of labour and can be as pertinent to this gap as political and philosophical differences are. Conversely, if our tools inform our practices and our practices inform our tools, then we will have to reconfigure these divisions of labour between 'activists' and 'techies'.

Keywords

• internet activism
• media activism