Caramblogage

The Books of Faragh 4: Of Lines

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 19:52:00 +0000

This time, it's really all about lines ;)

Below: Book of Faragh 4: of Lines (May 2020)
Faragh/فراغ (Ar): emptiness, vacuum, a free space

http://caramk.net/faragh/faragh.html

The Books of Faragh Vol. 3: Of March 2020

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Mon, 04 May 2020 13:49:00 +0000

The May Issue is available at Modern Graphics in Oranienstr., Berlin.

It's all about lines.

Below: The April Issue of the Book of Faragh.

The comic I chose for this month was "L'Arabe du Futur 2 (1984—1985)" by Riad Sattouf. If the first volume is anything to go by, the second one (in French this time) should continue to be a thought-provoking journey through a youth in Syria and France.

IGAF: An ahistoric crisis?

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 17:57:00 +0000

One of the many reasons I have grown to appreciate interviews with Arundhati Roy over the last year of what I'm calling her book tour is that, in contrast with many speakers at conferences and interviewees, I never have the feeling she is trying to sell me something. She speaks in a calm, collected voice, full of knowledge, experience and occasional wisdom, without being desperately full of herself. One of my favourite sayings is, so far, goes something like "The most successful revolution was the secession of the rich onto a global planet, wherefrom they cannot see the poor. There is no more India, no more USA, no more Europe- there is planet Rich, then there is planet Poor, and both are global."*

Carers at their limits- now more than ever. For €2400
and some chocolates?

A month or so into what may be a new normal, my life is still pleasant- with some adjustment, I am, so far, privileged in this absence of change and an ability to follow the crisis as I would follow any news story of global impact. Except for the nagging in the back of my head telling me that people are contagious. I feel like asking it "so what else is new?" by now- people have always had the side effect of rubbing off on you. There is something new to be careful about, but, so far little else has changed.

On Twitter, which I have returned to using, I keep reading** calls for an ahistorical approach*** to the COVID-19 event, which I find surprising. If this is as historic an event as it is being made out to be, surely it is worth exploring in the unfolding and aftermath- no matter how much rubbish "art" and entertainment it will inspire. To ask for it not to be dealt with in such a fashion is, in a way, to pronounce your complicity in the master narrative, which may not be questioned. It is to say: I do not want to bother to be reminded where I was at that time, how my experience differed, how my privilege allowed me to navigate this event largely unaffected, my future secure, my position in society unchanged, even enhanced. I did not have to deal with the troubles of the people who had to continue working in public, who risked their lives caring for the sick, the infected, those who were called "essential"- it is to admit you do not want to be reminded that, while a good part of humanity worried about their future, you were able to ride it out with little or no inconvenience and food delivered to your doorstep, secure that a respirator would be waiting for you in case of emergency. In short, it is to admit that you have enough capital not to need to concern yourself with such paltry pandemics and their effect on most people.

Homeschooling on your Mom's Macbook? Or between your complaining siblings? Home school
is not the same for everyone.

This very compressed time should be examined from a number of angles in the aftermath, beginning with legal and executive decisions made by governments, corporate entities and the lacuna between the two that is ideally unseen. I am interested in expressions surrounding expectations toward the future, experiences in what is currently the present, an intersectional documentation from many points of view- if the future is upon us, we should understand how it came to be, and which steps led us there. We deserve to understand which decisions were made by those in power, who protested them, which friend we lost either to the virus, or to the idea of social distancing. An ahistorical approach to this kind of monumental event forgets and forgives, or pretends to, but does not allow for retrospective analysis.

Beyond the silly demonstration to reopen hairdressers so that "Karen"**** can get a much-desired haircut, beyond explorations of a plethora of accompanying facts, beyond early calls to maintain democracy, questions about reporting- there are many questions to be asked here. One of the first is: how much of what is going on is actually COVID-19 and how much of it is people of all walks of life spinning their own version of a narrative around it? Excuses are always welcome- no matter where you are in life.

Property is safe in a crisis- Jobs and salaries are not.
Landlords continue earning while many can't afford
to pay rent. Rent Strike now!

Planet Rich is being launched into space, disconnected from the worries and troubles of Planet Poor- most of their uses will be taken over by robots soon enough, anyway. We can do most of the work we do from home, anyway, and our homes are big. A few will be kept around for decorative or shopkeeping reasons, and reasons of personal grooming.

Meanwhile, Planet Poor is left to fend for itself in a new world in which resources are even more constrained than they were Before, in which labour is a risk you have to take, more so than Before, and the only common languages are currency and various forms of violence.

The sad thing is that this is not dystopian sci-fi*****- it is, in many parts of the world already the reality of gated communities, withholding papers from house servants, a reverse view of systemic failings, and importing 40000 workers to harvest Aspargus to sell at €17 a bunch******. It is apparent in money governing politics and elections being reduced to a hopeful (or deeply ironic) ritual, in decisions made to move public money into private hands, in national programmes designed to benefit those who have a lot at the expense of those who, mostly, have much less.

The power that comes with wealth is more noticeable in "developing" countries (I have to include the US in this category), than it is in the home countries of their former geographic and current economic colonisers. I don't understand Asian economies well enough to comment, but I imagine things are similar there- we are, after all talking of Planet Rich. The wealth gap becomes more visible and invisible at the same time, as urban centers become spaces of lucrative business contrasted with the poverty of those who are condemned to walk the streets, absent the economic power to partake in the wealth that blatantly surrounds them. There is such a thing as a shithole county, but if you can afford it, the country clubs are nice.

The Economic crisis leads people into the trap of HarzIV.
Those on social support are scorned by society.

Without getting into human rights and numbers, police violence is more prevalent, incarceration much more frequent, laws are different- the violence that power exerts is more visible in those countries. This does not take into account private security forces, or terrorist attacks, or higher crime rates. People get paid less, generally- ideas of minimum wage, or universal basic income are far removed from the realities of day labour, beggary and informal work. If we consider ourselves wage slaves in the West, how must labour and work feel to someone whose work contract, if available, is much closer to actual slavery?*******

Centuries of extractive colonialism have their benefits- hundreds of years of wealth accumulation enable some countries to offer their national******** populations more economic support, allow them more freedoms- of expression, movement, demonstration, and decent health care, generally. This ability is being eroded quickly by the current mode of economy practiced, as nations focus once again exclusively on their economic interests to the detriment of the populations they are currently generously supporting. It remains to be seen what is left of such support after the first wave of the current viral crisis passes.

Like most things of such scope, the crisis we are dealing with is primarily a socio-economic crisis, before taking into account culture, race, genders and any other intersections- it is a macro crisis. As we see in the politics of the day, many questions that are of concern in the short term- maybe to the point of overshadowing the importance of day-to-day life with other humans- have made way to further-reaching, more existential questions. The main one, as yet, seems to be where to go from here.

Planet Rich may have just lifted off. You may not have heard it from where you are.

Part VIII of the current IGAF: Utopia- Les Jours Meilleurs
Part VII of the Current IGAF: A Narrative of Healing. Questions
Part VI of the current IGAF:Disappearing the inconvenient.
Part V of the current IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly
Part IV of the current IGAF: Dystopia
Part III of the current IGAF: Keeping a shop open
Part II of the current IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?

Part I of the current IGAF: Keeping in Touch

Pic Source: The streets via https://wasistklassismus.blackblogs.org
* I am probably misquoting slightly.
** Reading in a philological sense- I have my biases, but am aware that things can be taken out of context.
*** For fairness' sake, I may be misreading this exchange slightly. But the point stands- we need to talk about this, and deal with how we dealt with it individually and collectively. And yes, at first it will be a nightmare, but this is the one crises in which as many voices as possible should be heard. And again, the reminder that cultural participation is not economic participation.
**** I feel very sorry for all the women actually called Karen.
***** It has been the subject matter of dystopian sci-fi since its inception, though.
****** Reportedly. I'm boycotting the damn stuff.
****** One of the stories that shocked me in 2020 was the use of inmate labour to combat forest fires. In New York 2020, prison inmates, paid 65 cents an hour, produced "New York State Clean", a hand sanitiser they probably never got to use themselves.
******* In this particular case: card-holding, bona-fide members of the state- this excludes refugees in homes, homeless people, and those already on social welfare.
******** A random note on colonialism: as resources shift and are occasionally created, the focus of colonial extraction changes. This does not erase its history, rather, it continues it.
******** I really should start using superscript numbers again. Asterisks are fun and quick, but cumbersome to read.

I'm going to put this here, as it's a good, somewhat related, read- Filthy Lucre

IGAF: Utopia- Les Jours Meilleurs

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 16:15:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this post, titled Dystopia, containing a dark version of the future, a look at the negative outcomes that might crawl out of the COVID-19 crisis. It has, by now been described as "9/11 in slow motion". Someone else broke a golden editorial rule to describe it as "2008 on crack". Media outlets, including Youtube, have warned of the long-term effects of this, on civil rights, labour and employment, surveillance and press freedom. And some, most notably Mr Orban of Hungary, have used this excellent opportunity to pass new, restrictive legislation that concentrates power in their hands. There have been calls for the elusive COVID cure not to be patented.

And yet…

And yet… It's easy to lose yourself in a media bubble, following the news and media 24/7, following, queuing in line to get into expensive shops, just walking into discount stores and the constant desire for many drinks (preferably with 10 friends or more, in a park, with a piano). I hate to report that weed no longer has any effect on me, so I sleep a lot less. In more positive news, I have become a drinker of many teas, walker of many walks and reader of more books. I even high-fived a friend yesterday- foolish, I know, but- so good.

While we're on personal news, I'm happy that the shop I work at continues to do so for the time being. Printers are, thankfully, still critical to the distribution of news and media, and, so far, critical news and media are considered essential. But already, some friends have had to take on new jobs to supplement their social support- there is work to be had for those looking and willing, for the time being, as long as you don't expect to be working from a home office.

And maybe this is good news in a way- a whole sector of low-skill temporary jobs has opened up: cart and customer wrangler at supermarkets, temporary shelf stocker, delivery person*. Seamstresses are suddenly back in high demand, making millions of masks as the supply of medical masks is diverted, almost exclusively, to where it is most needed. Hackspaces are 3D printing facemasks and other protective equipment. Of course, there is as much grass-roots solidarity (and clickidarity), as people help each other with their shopping, errands and keep each other somewhat sane in what feels like an endless series of Tic-Toks, memes and content- this is always good news. The bail-outs/ Corona emergency packages- where possible- have taken individual citizens into account, rather than flow all the trillions directly to the banks- they'll end up there eventually, but for now, sensation aside, most people seem to be OK.

In that spirit, I would like to attempt to set aside my deep-seated cynicism for as long as it takes to write this. Trained as I am to look for dirt, I usually end up finding it wherever I look. Recently someone has reminded me that it is counter-productive to only see the negative outcomes, so what the heck- let's be hopeful! With asterisks** where required.

I'll start with the person who did the reminding: they are active, civically engaged and self-responsible, well-informed and critical. In March, one of the things they did was write emails to the Mayor's office, later, when they learned of price-gouging in the sales of medical supplies, called the police (who responded that they found it reprehensible, but that it wasn't illegal). In short, this is someone who is directly affected by the crisis, is in the lower income segment and is keeping it together and trying to make the best of a bad situation. This requires courage, determination and focus, and to see it in action gives me a measure of hope.

Over the past weeks I've had a few conversations with people working in visual arts and graphic design. Individually, those I've talked to are mostly fine, working on project six months in the future with many more down the pipeline. So there will be arts and culture- albeit in more digital formats- in the near future. There may even be a few exhibitions.*** A big part of cultural production has always been communication, and a lot of that happens online anyway, so for many freelance producers in established industries, it's business in front of screens as usual, albeit more skewed towards communication and conceptualisation, rather than realisation. That some manage to retain a modicum of normality is equally hopeful. This programme break may remind audiences that they are missing vibrant arts and culture scenes to be explored and enjoyed.

The recognition of the benefits of a well-funded public medical sector is maybe the greatest hope. After years of privatisation, underfunding, overcharging and addicting people to drugs just to sell them more drugs, this pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for a sector that actually cares for peoples health, rather than the profit they can make off selling them drugs and just-in-time treatments. Inoculation does not prevent infection, but it does mitigate the effects of said infections- people seem to be realising that not everything should be privatised under our current economic models.**** The currently visible hand of the market is receiving much-deserved scrutiny between climate change and COVID.

Speaking of climate, or rather, the weather- isn't it nice to have clear skies, fresh air and seeing the riverbeds of long-polluted rivers? This is definitely a temporary, noticeable, positive side-effect to the Lockdowns. New Delhi, Los Angeles, Cairo, Wuhan- looking at the many before and after comparisons, my astonishment at the rapidity of the changes in air quality especially is unending. Even here, it is noticable- the air is clearer, the sun, just that much warmer, the smell of flora (and fauna), more pronounced, as opposed to exhaust fumes and industrial pollution. This one, we can definitely keep- and there is talk of restricting car traffic in parts of the city.***** Cycling- always viable- is becoming one of the best ways to quickly get around Berlin.

Who knows, if we think far enough, this may prove to be the best opportunity to implement "Green New Deals" on the table in Europe, courtesy of DIEM25 and in the US as what I believe is one of the more prominent bills- this may be a good time to turn some paper into action. We may see their implementation, and the beginning of policies such as UBI being enacted. We may see workers get more protection and respect for doing their jobs- they may even get a pay rise, though I would prefer UBI for all. States may see the use of a vigorous public not-for-profit sector again, and the value of upholding social programmes that reduce inequality- as a health and safety measure, if nothing else.******

On thing that gives me more than hypothetical hope is the close eye many NGO's, media, financial, climate and legal watchdogs are keeping on current developments in their respective fields. All the writing I have been doing would not be possible without the keen eyes of organisations like the EFF, Greenpeace, Netzpolitik.org and many, many media outlets. To know that there is close scrutiny on what would, in the past, have been unobserved processes, and that there are those who will report their observations and critiques, is one of the few things that currently give me some peace of mind.

And finally, financial markets may discover that you cannot live from bubble to bubble and hope to be bailed out by taxpayer money every ten years or so. Maybe the Lockdown will also become a much-needed Slowdown, beneficial to psychologies, the environment and, in the long run, economies.******* There is hope in seeing a "Marshall Plan" being announced, in observing some international cooperation in approaching solutions to the crisis, in the knowledge that is being shared and the understanding that we- and here, for a change, I do mean a global we- are in this together. If there is no hope in an entire planet waking up to realise that global challenges require global solutions, I don't know where to go looking for it.

I'd like to conclude that I've raised many of these points framed as a negative, or at best an impossible suggestion to invisible ears in past installments of this IGAF. One of the reasons I started writing these is to look for positive stories and developments in the world, both from "above" and "below", to convince myself that, in spite of aforementioned cynicism, there remain things to hope for. By reframing the points raised above as possibilities and possible solutions, I wanted to break away from what may seem to be an alarmist reading of current events and crises, to say that things may turn out OK after all. I can only hope.

Another friend recently reminded me of an Arabic saying "It is wise to doubt", a sentiment very familiar to me. But there is equal wisdom in hoping, and, at the end of the day, what do I know anyway?

Part VII of the Current IGAF: A Narrative of Healing. Questions
Part VI of the current IGAF:Disappearing the inconvenient.
Part V of the current IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly
Part IV of the current IGAF: Dystopia
Part III of the current IGAF: Keeping a shop open
Part II of the current IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?

Part I of the current IGAF: Keeping in Touch

* with all my love for non-gendered language, this one sounds wrong. I'm gonna stick to "Runners" in the future.
** hope. Not blind faith that everything will magically improve and get better.
*** established individual cultural producers will probably be fine. It's a lot more difficult to gauge what is going to happen to those active in film or theatre production, as both require groups of people to congregate for long periods of time in one space. Animation films may see a renaissance. And this does not take into account the independent scenes or emerging artists- that would not be hopeful.
**** Of course it can. But it shouldn't.
***** But coupled with this, we find a heightened distrust towards public transport. They may have to change their approach in order to accommodate instinctual physical distancing.
****** I say this even as the US has turned their Environmental Protection Agency into its opposite in everything but name. Orwell much? And the US stock market, buoyed by billions, is rising, even as more than 10 million have filed for unemployment and people continue to die.
******* There is very little hope that the bond between money and political decisionmaking will ever be cut.

Images: Book of Faragh vol.3 | Music: Gilbert Becaud: Les Jours Meilleurs | Neues Off

IGAF: A Narrative of Healing. Questions.

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 11:58:00 +0000

via Raul Krauthausen :)

I don't know what to say about media in relation to COVID-19. A couple of reasons: I quit most social media a few years back, a move I regret and don't at the same time, and I don't watch TV- not even streamed evening news. So my perception of the way this crisis has been reported has been shaped by articles I chose to read in media I follow anyway, both in the mainstream and otherwhere, Youtube and, more recently, Twitter. This is a very unusual position for me to be in, as I usually try to gain as broad an overview on media practices in shaping the narrative in this kind of situation. But, even as I reload the various news feeds and blogs I'm following every minute, this is not the worst place to be in.

On one of the advantages to this medial self-isolation is simple: I have a relative choice of outlet and am subject to less random bombardment by comments, opinions, advertising and propaganda . It gives me time to think, check, read comments if I feel the need to, and follow some stories from the beginning to the end, even if I am less exposed to all the opinion that is available online. It's lonelier than many ways to go through what we're calling "the lockdown", but it does allow for some perspective that goes beyond the present, and it does force me to meet people outside of the digital sphere.

In one of my past lives, I studied marketing and communication design, and practiced them pretty rigorously, both as an approach to life and as work. In this capacity, I also tried to keep track of relevant market and societal trends, to research and analyse what would drive markets in the next months, and what collective discourses were unfolding. This translates into me taking a macro view of developments, rather than focusing on the individual, and being better at analysis and recommendation than in direct action- though, experience shows, not hopeless. It also means that it is difficult to discuss current events with people who are not accustomed to viewing their lives as a series of trends, influences and networks of decision and information.

The marketer in me sees different brands rising and falling, a race to control narrative and damage to the value of the brand- financial and perceptive- in a global market of opinion and sooooo many trillions to be made. The brands are nation states, the value- lives and thereto related, containment measures, production and distribution of medical supplies, the control of the imminent threat to the future standing of the brand. The applause, the ships, the masks, the doctors, the chancellors, presidents and queens- a good show of a very bad situations in some place, in some a PR and operational nightmare. The production value is basically the sink and then some- they're rolling it all out- all of it. For us.

And I am greatful- truly. The city of Berlin knows its people very well, and is making it easy for me to shelter in comfort, with some trepidation towards the future, but with a present that doesn't look too bad. We, indeed are the lucky ones, and I acknowledge that I am personally better off than many in general location and health so far, for doing very little. And for a moment there, I feel like I'm safe and home. Let's see how long that lasts.

“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.”
― Philip K. Dick via goodreads

At the same time, I wonder how the many narrative strands will unfold. One of the terms I've been hearing a lot is "social distancing". Social distancing invokes the shades of segregation, class-based societies and may be a very tongue-in-cheek reference to the wealth gap that is being made visible via who can stay at home and who not- the distinction, as someone put it, between "employee" and "worker". A distant society has many gaps that must be crossed- I have referred to this as an Inside and an Outside society- and new borders of legal, class-based and new forms of biological mistrust are imposed within society.

Signifiers of this mistrust might be: are they wearing a mask? Do they work in a place that requires them to leave their home? Are they adhering to the current quarantine? Do they live in a quarter that is especially affected by the pandemic? Are they keeping their distance?* Further questions arise should surveillance mechanisms and the ubiquitous tracking of individuals take hold: Which buildings can you access? Are they allowed to be in this part of town? At this time of day? Can we employ a person with this particular health record and levels of exposure? Do we have to take this person off the street and imprison them?

There are two moments that spring to mind when I think about these questions: one is from media, in which someone quoted that people who had to be present in physical spaces were less affected by "lockdowns" than people who could work from home. This appears logical to me, as people who have to go to work, not to mention health care workers, are more exposed to the external symptoms of these lockdowns, and have to deal with the societal shift in perception as it emerges, while I imagine people in home offices are more exposed to the heavily mediated narrative.

The second is my interactions with friends, some of whom are on social welfare. To quote Janis Joplin- "freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose". They are- so far, in Berlin, Germany- losing very little. By already being on social welfare, the bureaucratic adjustments to lives are currently minimal, although job opportunities have been much reduced in the short term, as have the hours most people work (including me). Money is going to be a little bit tighter and "unofficial" work possibly a bit harder to come by, tips certainly are, but it's nothing new for most in this situation. The only way is up and on. There's less up, but as long as there's an on, we'll muddle through, if we survive. But, as another friend asked :"Would we Survive Moria?"

Another aspect that bears examining are the spatial narratives that are being redefined- beyond our individual perception and guidance in medial environments, what signifiers of pandemic regulation are being introduced into our shared spaces, what are the economic and sociocultural semiotics of lockdown and necessarily increased regulation on the one hand and solidarity on the other? How long are these expressions visible? What is suppressed, either by authorities, or by the public? Do public spaces in general still function as an relatively unrepressed sphere of public opinion, or has the balance shifted towards a more regulated, hegemonically dominated dissemination of guidance?

One of the main questions times like this pose is one of historical accountability. In the aftermath, will we hear the story of how the world changed to support the lives of many who collaborated to improve systems that were revealed to be broken through a cathartic, global moment of realisation? Will we be told of the fearless captains of industry who guided the world towards hitherto unseen productivity and financial opportunities? Will it be a narrative of nation states, opposing each other to maintain their individual status quo's, or a story of a world that has overcome differences, historical animosities other obstacles to face the unknowable? Who will be mentioned in these accounts, and what will be deemed deserving of mention?

[…] We need to fight the colonization operated by austerity measures beyond the immanent threat, which will be rolled out through online teaching, remote working, and diagrams of ‘student satisfaction’. The struggle can be carried working within the uncertainty of the current times—breaking in and opening-up spaces of encounter and circulation beyond the institution, beyond the self.
—via: https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/bio-austerity-and-solidarity-in-the-covid-19-space-of-emergency-episode-2

As we move from the immediate presence of a threat towards steps to deal with this threat, towards, one would hope, a long-term resolution of an emergency situation, what stories will we have to tell ourselves, and which ones will we choose to believe? Will we end up calling the process "social distancing" or "physical distancing"? Will the process of dealing with this crisis leave us with the impression of a world that is a deeply-ingrained threat to every individual, or one in which we know that we are mostly safe as long as we take certain precautions?

Part VI of the current IGAF:Disappearing the inconvenient.
Part V of the current IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly
Part IV of the current IGAF: Dystopia
Part III of the current IGAF: Keeping a shop open
Part II of the current IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?

Part I of the current IGAF: Keeping in Touch

*All of these questions include second-level questions about race, gender, nationality and economic participation. To deal with those individually would take up a lot of space and knowledge others are better equipped with.

The Book of Faragh Vol 2.: of a Virus in Retail

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 11:44:00 +0000

A recent acquaintance inspired me to take up cartoon documentaries again, and so the "Book of Faragh" was born. Faragh means "emptiness", free space, free time. As it compiles a month of sketches (done in my free time) on a topic, I like the name for this personal little project.

Hope you enjoy reading as much as I did making this, although this particular issue feels a bit too close to realities that are currently unfolding. It's been accompanying some of the stuff I've been writing here recently, but I thought it might be nice to have it collected in one place.

IGAF: Disappearing the inconvenient.

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 20:59:00 +0000

This IGAF (Is Goodness a Fashion) series explores, from a non-expert point of view, the social, economic and narrative ramifications I see developing from the COVID-19 crisis, worries, but also hopes for a future that the current shock to the system may result in.

It's a pity that random things happen when random people interact. That a person might be exposed to unexpected, or unpleasant sights when they leave the house. That we might see trash, homeless people, the effects of gentrification, closed stores in polluted streets, trees withered by mercurial weather, people in environmental suits, afraid of the diseases lurking within the safe confines of those suits. The world divided into those who have to face the streets, the Outside, and those who are safe Inside. It's a pity that these still interact.

Our measure as a species that claims moral, ethical and intellectual hegemony over this planet will be two-fold as we deal with the COVID-19 crisis: On the one hand, societies will be judged on their effectiveness and humanistic approach in dealing with the crisis itself- in legal, health care and democratic terms. The second hand is raised up to query impertinently: what will be left of our societies once this initial, streched moment of crisis is over?

There are many questions that a society that is suddenly confined indoors and traumatised by a sudden global threat and the response to it poses. While superficially not as violent as a war against a clear opponent, an "enemy" that is invisible and who presents an omnipresent threat, the trauma of losing your loved ones to it, and the continued worry that you, or people you are close too, may be thus afflicted. People on the street are suddenly perceived as dangerous entities to be avoided. Workers behind glass panes in are reduced to the utility and use they represent to commercial activity- and they're explicitly asking not to be interacted with beyond hello. Masks in public spaces everywhere, individuals reduced to a faceless mass, facial features defined mainly by the cloth used in the sowing of mostly home-made masks. Some of the masks are pretty. I miss the faces already.

Already, we see some regimes- Hungary, for starters- use the threat of COVID as an excuse to impose an even more authoritarian and repressive government than they had before. Egypts "narrative purity" laws were used to expel a Guardian correspondent for reporting a projection of cases in the country, rather than the official number- which is, of course, far lower than the projections. Will they also be used to suppress doctors trying to counter the Sisi regimes narrative with facts from the ground? In Berlin, a number of fines were recently introduced to temporarily regulate the proximity at which people interact with each other in public space, introducing a conflict between legality and basic human instinct for proximity. However, German authorities and privacy activists are asking very careful questions about the privacy implications of tracking COVID patients through mobile phone data and apps, while in Russia, an app that reportedly will be able to access any and all private data on a smartphone will be launched this week. In the US, abortion clinics are being closed as they are "non-essential" in this time of crisis.*

In Greece, refugee squats and political projects continue to be evicted in spite of a general lockdown, while back in Hamburg the Lampedusa Memorial Squat was torn down due to its lack of occupation, in spite of prior agreements with the authorities. In several countries, we see images of policemen beating up people for being outdoors during lockdowns, which cannot be good for an immune system trying to fend off a pandemic. In Tunis, police robots are being used to send people back indoors, a funny sight at first, but it's only a few steps from there to replacing beat cops with robots entirely, with all the perceptional and ethical ramifications that has. In China, drones are used.

All of this to say that the current crisis is being used to issue legislation and deploy measures appropriate to a crisis, and that a general global public is currently supportive of measures which may currently be necessary, but again, we have to ask: how long is "temporary". In Egypt, a state of emergency law was one of the grievances of demonstrators in the 2011 uprising, due to it being upheld for the better part of 30 years under Hosni Mubarak, used to stifle political and economic participation and to enact a skewed system of law favouring the monied and connected- reasons were always found to extend what was supposed to be a "temporary" state, to the detriment of most in the country.

In a time of narrative hyperreality, in which our perception of the facts is as dependent on the news we follow as it is on whom we interact with, locked in with very little but our filter bubbles and what permeates those, with insecurity about the future looming for many in many countries, there is much the individual will not see. For instance: every time I've passed by Kotbusser Tor in the past two weeks, the congregation of homeless people hanging out there has increased. With no-where to shelter safely, and no-one around to throw away bottles from which they might collect the deposit, you might call them the ultimate tip workers- they live off that, and what little social support they may receive. There are institutions trying to help them, but they are currently understaffed and lack the resources to shelter- isolate- them as the crisis demands they be. They will be amongst the hardest hit by the above-mentioned fines, are not likely to receive any of the aid afforded to freelancers or other employed people affected by this crisis- not being part of "the Economy"- and are amongst the most vulnerable groups to infection by COVID-19. Mainstream media will not advocate for them and, with most people at home, they will not be seen. I maintain that, if everything is currently being subsidised, empty hotels and AirbnB flats should be thusly subsidised to host them, at least for the duration of this crisis, in keeping with the humanist principles governments claim to be operating by.

Even more removed from view are victims of forced migration, stuck between borders. What happens when a refugee camp- Moria, for instance- starts exponentiating Corona cases? Who offers them relief? Or are they simply forgotten as most people- us lucky few- try to make sense of this new and strange reality we find ourselves in?

Further removed from current view is the wave of uprisings that was ongoing in a number of countries all over this globe in the months prior to the COVID outbreak. Prior to March 2020, we were witness to one of the biggest global uprising of working and disenfrachised people in a long time- where did all those protesters in France, Chile, Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan and many other countries disappear to? Their situation will not be improved by the echoes of the current crisis. With all attention focused on Corona and resisting this global threat, they have been relegated to the footnotes of what is important.

We cannot allow ourselves to forget our most recent history, even if faced with what is possibly the first global pandemic. Even restricted in our movements and locked in what feels like an endless series of Zoom conferences, we cannot overlook the results of decades of inaction, or recent interventions. It is impossible to overlook the decades in which a neoliberal economic system has slowly hollowed out institutions and countries for the sake of mere financial gain, nor the pain this has afflicted on the population of the planet as a whole. If this is, as has been mentioned, the next level of the 2008 housing bubble, we should be very aware of the effects it has on our societies and economies.

The housing bubble of 2008 brought many of the deficiencies of the economic and financial systems we operate under to the forefront and caused people to eventually take to the streets to protest the injustices they perceived. This time, the streets have been made unavailable, public spaces restricted, under quarantine. Many are locked in their flats, too frightened to question, or even explore the official narratives presented. Again, I will stress that the current crisis in nothing to be dismissed as a case of the common flu, and that everyone needs to be careful and wash their hands.

I will also stress that there are things that you cannot wash your hands of. And that, at this time, cynicism aside, there were and remain many things going on in the world that are inconvenient to a master narrative which are easily forgotten once lost from sight. The central question I want to ask here remains: once we have undergone all the changes brought about through this, the newest, crisis, how much will be left from where we started out from? And how much of what is left will we be able to see in lives that consist of a lot of Indoors?

Part V of the current IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly
Part IV of the current IGAF: Dystopia
Part III of the current IGAF: Keeping a shop open
Part II of the current IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?
Part I of the current IGAF: Keeping in Touch

* amongst many, many other things in these and other countries. I follow a lot of news, but even in self-isolation, and with insomnia, I don't catch it all. Palestine.

IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 09:10:00 +0000

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/following-coronavirus-money-trail/

The response to COVID19 demonstrates the role of publicly funded bodies in the resolution of public and economic moments of panic- the role of governments and geographic unions, of a global response to a pandemic, of a healthy and workable health care system that is universal and the ability to effect universal solutions to specific problems. There are some "temporary" measures that, no matter whom you ask, will be described as "human". Time to wonder and wander, to crystalise your path, to engage with friends and loved ones, to not work- to, for a while, not operate within the rules of the market. It is a short break before whatever comes next, and possible that those now excluded from a shrinking services-oriented economy may never be able to reenter it.

What comes next is probably going to be a massive rises in prices, non-temporary decreases in employment and labour outside of corporate structures, and a state of enforced, constant insecurity. Our cultural landscapes- especially independent cultural production- will be further restricted as funding and locations become less and less available. All of this without taking into account the effects of a narrative of "social distancing"- the idea that other people, especially unknown people, are inherently not good for you. Surveillance will become ubiquitous- already people are reporting on each other for breaking new rules regulating what was no-ones business two weeks ago. Divide and conquer.

via https://twitter.com/alex_dd89

Several media outlets have made the case for vigilance, and I can only reiterate that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes when the stage is so large and flamboyantly decorated. At the same time, I don't, at this point, want to dwell on this aspect of the current crisis. In this part, I'd like to look at one of my favourite, unfeasable ways in which governments can intervene to the benefit of everyone- hint: it involves taxes and wealth distribution.

If we look at the chart pulled from Opendemocracy above, we see a huge gap on the right- the gap in the economic cycle that will be exarcerbated by the current crisis. Let's accept for a moment that capitalists are going to capitalist and try to make as much money as possible while making every attempt not to give back any of that money to society. Let us also assume that governments realise that the trickle-down economics myth is no longer working and that the working and consuming class is worse off every time a government decides to save "the economy"- in short, that they realise the market is hardly working for anyone, including them.

Wishing to continue guaranteeing roads, health care, fire departments, police and sewage, they decide to reimpose massive taxes on companies and individuals who profit massively. Governements use these funds not only in the usual way, but also to deploy a form of UBI that would ensure that no matter how badly an employer pays you, you can survive the month (much like the current bailouts for the working poor and the precariat, except constant and ongoing). With oncoming automation, it may be a good time to rethink how peeople pay for things, how they earn a living, indeed, the nature of wealth and the uses of accumulated hoards of it for an individual and a society.

The point I'm getting at is that it is the role of governement in a capitalist society to be an equalising force- to ensure that innovation, trade and an economic activity continues, while ensuring that the people they serve are not disadvantaged by the activities of the economy. Hence, in an economy that benefits the very few, the role of a government has to be to ensure that the distribution of wealth is more widespread- a flatter curve, if you will, one that denotes that resources are being spread horizontally across a population, rather than a steep one, representing the flow of wealth from the bottom to the top with very few stops in the middle. I am not suggesting a nanny state (though, to some, I probably am), the suggestion on the table is that we reexamine profit and business success.

Rather than see profit as something that first has to reach the top, and then trickle down to the bottom of society, is it not imaginable that profit be measured as "societal contribution"? That a CEO or owner be rewarded for their part in running an enterprise not only according to the revenue of said enterprise, but also dependent on the overall "health" of a business. In my head, a healthy business employs workers whose labour is fairly compensated, who do not have to live in fear of not making their next pay check and who know that they have a voice and a say in the way they work and the running of the place they are offering their labour to.

In my experience, businesses can seldom be trusted to look out for anything but their short-term bottom line. Maybe that's as it should be- there is energy to be found in urgency and innovation can be drawn from that urgency. On the other hand, my experience shows that governments are slow, unwieldy things that occasionally have to expend manic energy to keep things running, usually at great long-term cost to the public and, recently, great profit to financial institutions that require a great deal of aid not to collapse under their own lack of weight. My suggestion is a middle path between the two.

In this crisis, it is visible that countries with robust, or less hollow, public institutions are more resillient to the effects of the Covid pandemic than countries that have put the profit motive at-whatever-cost before the maintenance of their institutions- health care is currently the best example, but this extends to many other sectors. Countries that have- no matter how much lobbying occurs in the halls of their respective capitols- not forgotten that they have a responsibility towards the societies that inhabit them, that they are not beholden only to respected titans of industry, but also to the homeless and the migrant, to the elderly and the unemployed. How these are treated, and seen to be treated determines how a society interacts with these people and their needs.

No matter how much work you do put in, you are currently putting work into a system designed to extract labour and obedience and give back as little as it can while it needs your labour- and requires you to vote occasionally. At this point in time, the political and economic systems are rigged to benefit those who make the most financial profit, rather than benefitting those who offer the most value to society. Our metrics have become skewed towards the obvious number- a stock index, a big black number at the end of a sheet of expenditure and income- rather than evaluate their success by more obscure numbers, such as whether it is possible for many to retain their human dignity and happiness.

It bears repeating that most people get to where they are not only through compromises they make in what labour they choose, what life, but also through coincidences of birth and heritage. That wealth built over generations exists, that passports exist and that privilege- whether "white"*, national or monied- is a great factor in upholding the system we are operating under. Personally, I don't begrudge people who have privileges per se. I do begrudge people who have internalised their privilege as "we are here to be served, and demand a continuation of our accustomed service at all cost."- those who have forgotten that the value of a human being is seldom the balance of their bank accounts, or their accolades- that profit goes far beyond monetary gain.**

For profit to be meaningful, it must extend beyond a few individuals or families. There is nothing wrong with earning more for a difficult job well done. There is nothing wrong with excelling in a field and being adequately compensated. There is everything wrong in extracting labour, resources and time, even if you take risks with your private capital, expecting to earn ALL the money. What I am saying is that to expect a return on your investment is a reasonable approach, as long as the financial investors are mindful that, even if they are investing capital, others are investing an equal amount of measurable resources into the enterprise. They deserve to be remunerated adequately for their efforts, both financially, and in the direction the enterprise takes.

What, however, happens when human labour is no longer required? When most tasks can be accomplished either by robots, or through interactions with screens? What happens when all you need to start up an enterprise is enough capital to lease the machines required to run that enterprise? When do most lives begin to resemble the Black Mirror episode "Fifteen Million Merits"? At which point do we collectively throw our hands up, frustrated by the menial, infantilising labour this situation enforces on most and go "Dammit, we quit."? Probably never, but that isn't to say we couldn't.

As financial profit continues to accumulate and concentrate in the hands of the very few, many people will have found themselves out of what we, in 2020, consider "work". Some professions will probably continue, as much out of luxury as out of necessity- I suspect we will never quite tire of human interaction, no matter how efficient our machines are. In a number of professions, human involvement or supervision will be deemed "essential". Maybe we'll invent some new ones- I'm very tempted to look for training as a robot repairman. But over time, we will inevitably see the number of humans earning money through their labour decrease, while outputs rise and profits increase.

This is where governments should step in: at this point, we have two gaps in the loop that begins this post: The rich no longer pay their taxes and companies no longer pay working people, who, however are still expected to somehow come up with ways to pay for essential goods and services, not to mention housing, transport, taxes. Reformulated: the lives of the working classes will change the most, but the expectations towards their ability to sustain an economy by spending will not. So it becomes the duty of government (of whatever flavour) to make sure that it is not endlessly printing new money, leading to infinite inflation, but to keep what resources are already in the system circulating- to effectively tax income and profit very stringently to ensure that the theoretical value this profit generates is not sucked out of the system. To ensure that everyone gets their fair share of the output of labour that is performed by, at the end of the day, no-one.

So, ironically, government becomes the guarantor of income for the population by administering the profits of private enterprise and distributing them. This is not new- in the early- mid 20th century, taxes on the income of high earners were higher, and stringently applied, then pumped back into the general infrastructure of the country***. The difference here is that I'm suggesting that salaries below a certain level be abolished entirely, paid by governments, call it UBI if you want. The small businesses that still exist get to keep all their profits (except what they return to society in taxes), and continue existing and serving their communities. Businesses employing more than 10 employees (for instance) have to start paying out of pocket for workers, or for part of the salaries- after all, they are draining the market of a valuable resource and that comes at a price- which cannot be below what the market has dictated in the form of UBI. This replaces unemployment and social benefits already being paid to millions across the globe, and is paid monthly, to every citizen of a country. It is hard-coded into the system so as to require a minimum of bureaucracy- the payment only gets suspended if you get a well-paid job.

As neoliberal enterprise is based on an universal extraction resources, this should satisfy the need for labour with minimal remuneration, but also create a safety net for workers in the form that they are not required to perform genuflections of loyalty, or be dependent on the whims of their employers. They can go to work, do their chosen job well, then go home in the knowledge of a job well done, food on the table and medical assistance when needed, rather than worry where the next meal is going to come from or how to pay for emergencies. It would be an improvement over current insecurities and abuses in many fields of work- a general increase in the value of profits, rather than enabling the hoarding of capital.

It may even have beneficial side effects- knowing that profits cannot be infinite, the economy would slow down a bit. While this may horrify some, it would bring relief to FOMO-afflicted people everywhere due to the decrease in constant whispers to spend on the newest thing. It would enable policies to work against climate change- both workers and governments would have leverage in choosing to support companies that enact climate-friendly policies. And in an age of ubiquitous automation and continuing profit, it would ensure that no-one is alone in facing the consequences of our economic, cultural and human activity since the late 1800's.

I believe that some countries have included a form of emergency UBI in their relief packages for those affected by quarantine measures or being unable to work due to restrictions on public life. As this is a cycle that we will probably see repeated over the next period, this may be a good time to think of this, amongst many other ways we can create an economy that serves all, rather than force humans to abandon their humanity to engage in a system that never will give anyone more than temporary relief.****

Meanwhile, let's remember that applause is nice, but won't pay bills.*****

Part V of the current IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly
Part IV of the current IGAF: Dystopia
Part III of the current IGAF: Keeping a shop open
Part II of the current IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?

Part I of the current IGAF: Keeping in Touch

*with all the discussions about identity politics, let's not forget that white supremacy is a system that is happy to include people who are not white of skin, as long as they serve its ends. While we're at it, a reminder that cultural participation without economic inclusion is nice, but ultimately changes nothing.
** or, if we want to go by Bourdieu, Capital
*** I don't understand exactly how this works between income taxes, estate taxes, wealth taxes and all the other taxes. I'm a graphic designer, not an economist, Jim. All I do understand is that no-one needs to have a net income of several million a year, and a family fortune in the bank. Maybe people with an established fortune could just happily live off the interest and let the rest of us get on with our lives? I didn't think so.
**** I'm still a graphic designer. I come at this from a position of naïve optimism for the future and the hope that we find solutions to relieve many people of the burdens the current systems impose on them.
***** but it's always nice to be appreciated :)

IGAF: Dystopia

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 11:11:00 +0000

I very much doubt that the COVID-19 crisis will be the cathartic moment that enables a better future for this world as a whole. Take note that most of this writing is happening over the span of two months at this point, if I include the February Zine that preceded my temporary return to Caramblogage- a very short time. It feels like months have been compressed into days, once again. Two weeks of shock, of disaster and, finally the reemergence of capitalism.

It bears repeating that I don't believe that this novel virus is any less dangerous than it is made to be, and that we should do everything to mitigate its effects on friends, loved ones and societies. We should be mindful that those of us in the urban global north are the lucky ones and cannot imagine the effect the idea, not to mention the reality of this virus will have on societies in the global south, victims of forced migration, wars, ongoing economic extraction, or those already affected by climate change.

Having watched a couple of governments pass their aid bills, I see a repeat of the 2008 financial "crisis", under a different flag. In other words, most of the money- at this point, we are talking about trillions, not billions of dollars- are going to be propping up the parts of the economy that were failing anyway. Again. The free market, once again being supported by socialism. Corporations are people, we get it. No person, legal or otherwise, is too big to fail. It is business and politics as we have gotten used to it.

I am no economist, but an oncoming economic crash was due for at least two years now, if you follow the punditry- reports of a stock market once again overinflated by debt, without any real substance to underpin it, markets underperforming and being propped up by subsidies and government programmes, while many at the labour end of the scale find themselves making less and less at the end of the month, if they are making anything off their jobs at all. Contractual jobs are becoming rarer and rarer in a gig economy in which workers are expected to be available at the whims of a market, and invisibly fend for themselves until needed again.

Source: The Nib | Pia Guerra | 202603 | https://thenib.com/stack-em-up/

Many younger people I talk to- a generation younger than me- seem to expect to work two or three jobs to ensure their subsistence, or to be, in one way or another, beholden in all choices they make, first to their employment, and the earning of paychecks, before thinking about themselves as human beings. As it is, in Germany, many retailers are hiring people who are already on government subsistence- they're cheaper to hire and you can assume that they will continue receiving this subsistence, so, as an employer, you will never have to offer them more stable employment, or insurance, or retirement benefits. This cannot be a fair system as is.

This also will not be a system that is sustainable as the need for human labour decreases, and fully automated labour- as opposed to mechanically assisted labour- is introduced into more and more sectors. Where will all the people, for instance in delivery jobs, some sectors of retail and manufacturing go? We can't all become content creators for Youtube, or Twitch, or travel bloggers, or even artists. Coveted "Management" jobs will probably mostly be reduced to performative labour, the human face to a vast force of machines, endlessly producing without pause, while some fool smiles and pretends to be in control.. In the background, people with no job description, will continue to get richer as long as they can.

Economically, both for governments and companies, the best thing would be not to have to worry about so many people. Insisting that they get back to work- especially in service sectors and the parts of the economy that require frequent and random interactions with the public, is bound to create a few vectors for a disease that may prove deadly. It is easier to efficiently run a place with 100 people in it than it is to scale that organisation to 1000 people- why not do away with a few of the 1000 in the interest of all and the economy?

A disease that may prove deadly and possible exposure to it may create a stigma for those who, by necessity of paying the rent have to work in conditions which are now biohazardous.

Imagine, for a minute, a world in which your possible infection profile determines which social circles you can move in, whom you can meet and which buildings you can enter. A world in which an enclave of the powerful laugh about the myriad possibilities they suggested to those who have no power over their lives anymore, carriers for all possible deadly plagues, but uncaring- after all, they have access to medical treatments unavailable to the masses, while these depend on handouts from whatever is government at that point, and the meagre health care handed down to them at a cost they cannot afford. Imagine arriving, with your date, at your favourite open restaurant. The staff checks your immunological profile upon entering, discovering that not only are they carriers of 24 strains of coronviruses, 5 of which are highly contagious and may have a 2% mortality rate- do you seriously think you're getting in there? Will you even want to take them home at that point? You, at this point, run the risk of becoming as infected as they are, and in public perception, are already infected.

Suddenly, doors close. You may be quarantined- you may, in fact quarantine yourself. Your circle of friends will keep their distance. You will be excluded- should you be looking- from working in crowded offices, for fear of infecting productive human resources. Cultural participation impossible, you're stuck at home, re-reading the same article for the fiftieth time. Years of social distancing will have frayed ties between families and friends, reducing most to a distant 13-or-so point font on a screen- they will talk to you, but eventually, you will want to meet someone. You may realise how lonely you are, and how empty of people the world is, once all your contact happens digitally. Who knows- there may be an army of support bots waiting to offer good advice and a simulated closeness to you. A police drone may fly by your window every so often, checking if you are adhering to your seclusion.

Meanwhile, in those buildings now unaccessible to you, for the people with the ability to work from home, or with the resources to treat most afflictions, it will be, as mentioned earlier, business as it has always been, except that the hold of a small number of monopolists on it will be even firmer. Due to the abscence of people on the street, many independent retailers will be erased into bankrupcy, expanding the grip of corporations with stockpiles of funds built over decades, on business life and on public life.

All this to say that for most people, the current crisis means that they have to lower their expectations towards the lives they may lead. Social mobility- already much decreased in the past decades- will be a thing of the past. You will need a kindly benefactor to invite you into the higher circles, and access to them will be highly restricted- it's not likely you will run into anyone outside your social circle on the street, or be able to enter a building without passing some kind of health test and access to people will be restricted by further bureaucracy and paperwork- in most cases, it will not be a question of whether you are simply up to the task, but also whether your health profile is adequate to the employment offered.

It's fun to let your imagination run wild into dystopian futures, in the knowledge that you can return to a present that is less so. However, as this present progresses into a future and becomes a past, it is difficult not to project current economic and social trends, discussions and observations into a possibility resembling an sci-fi novel set in an authoritarian dystopia, in which ubiquitous surveillance and a security state suppress and separate the general populace while directing massive financial gains towards the pacification and flattery of an elite who uphold the state's mandate to power while draining its resources.

via https://twitter.com/PhilosophyMttrs/status/1244180039056478209 / You're missing Zamyatins "We"

All of this is, at this point, a mental sketch.

There are many questions raised by this crisis, many answers. If, as I have heard claimed over and over, all the things that weren't working are obvious at this point, let us draw conclusions and solutions from those obvious problems and develop societies that is not worse than the one we are currently in. The cycle of politics is one of progress, resistance, improvement and finally, corruption, though these often overlap. We have seen progress and corruption. Resistance and improvement are overdue.

Part V of the current IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly
Part IV of the current IGAF: Dystopia
Part III of the current IGAF: Keeping a shop open
Part II of the current IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?

Part I of the current IGAF: Keeping in Touch

IGAF: Keeping a shop open.

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 22:49:00 +0000

This IGAF (Is Goodness a Fashion) series explores, from a non-expert point of view the social, economic and narrative ramifications I see developing from the COVID-19 crisis, worries, but also hopes for a future that the current shock to the system may result in.

Somehow, the shop I work at has escaped all the shutdowns so far- apparently, printing remains essential, as does the picking up of packages (or the purchase of ethically questionable medical masks ).

I did go to work on Sunday- yesterday, by now. I needed a few hours of normality for myself and this is where I find some of it- work therapy. Immersing myself in other people's problems for a while, dealing with easily solvable and routine tasks and generally pleasant people- assuming the role of the genial shopkeep. It's not a bad place to be in a crisis. It's 20 minutes away on foot.

At the tobacconist under my house, they set up beer boxes to mark safe distances. The old man, Uncle, I call him, whom I like, but can't have a sustained conversation with, was still working his usual morning shift. The next day, I was glad not to see him. This is the schizophrenia of this crisis- you are glad that people you like are far away, supposedly safe from the risk you might pose, while desperate to see them and give them a hug.

I started the day by putting up visual cues of distance, making sure the recommended distance of 1.5 metres was clearly marked wherever I knew people would que, or interact with me. I disinfected the counter- throughout the day, several times- the keyboards and printers, making sure they were not only clean, but as free of bacteria (or viruses) as I could make them. Even though it was a cold day, I opened most windows to ensure a constant circulation of air, hung up a sign that made it clear that no more than 5 people could be in the shop at one time. I tried to make it as safe a space as possible with the means at hand. I washed my hands every hour or so.

It's strange to watch something you drew a month ago slowly become a reality- many of the customers entered wearing face masks- for that day, I did not feel I needed one. I might break out my Serbian gas mask yet, though, if things continue- the scene from the comic might still become a reality. A sad one.

As the day progressed, I realised the effect my little bit of pseudo-normality had on the people who visited the shop- they took it as an opportunity to unload, and I took it as field research into how they were dealing with this very strange situation. Most people miss something right now- Tango classes, meeting their friends in the pub, cinema, theatre. A couple of times, I had to remind people to keep their distance, but most seemed to understand. I do try to treat everyone who comes in through my door like family- this was one of the rare days when I had to be slightly authoritarian, reminding people to keep their distance and assigning them copiers on the far end of the room to keep them apart. Nonetheless, I have seldom had so many grateful customers. If it were up to me, we would take all necessary precautions and stay open, no matter the losses, as a community service. In the coming times, it will be important to have these little spots that remind you what life was like- at this point, two weeks ago. Time has become very fluid.

In a Späti, a late-night shop, the counter has cellophane to shield the shopkeeper from spittle and body fluids. Everyone wears gloves in the retail that remains open. Supermarkets have erected elaborate, inelegant plastic shields and your shopping is given to you on a hastily arranged stack of boxes. Anything to keep a distance, to avoid touching another human being. It's surreal. At one supermarket entrance, a man in a wheelchair was trying to enter. A young man came in behind him and, completely disoriented by the situation, did not know whether to help him open the turnstile, or keep his distance, and fidgeted gormlessly. The disabled man tried to make space, but due to the others' confusion, only managed to lodge the wheelchair in a corner. The situation was resolved by a more practical, older man who opened the turnstile, sleeve over his hand.

My day was informed by an ongoing background lecture on the value of disinfection, the failures of the pharmaceutical industry and the effect survival trainings have on young people. The whole day was accompanied by a survival trainer and vendor of natural remedies, who set up shop in the place, to work on his advertising. It had the beneficial side-effect that he would disinfect the printers whenever a new customer used them, and the unexpected side-effect of the guy trying to sell them his wares and services. I did not throw him out- he was more aware of the current situation than most, performatively so, and did more good than harm, in spite of his constant background drone. He calls himself the Kingfisher. There's a part of me that believes his claims, though I did resist his insistent offer to collaborate on a book of poetry.

At the end of the day, I was exhausted emotionally- even though it had been a relatively light day, I had been taking in a lot of emotional baggage, in addition to following the news and some online conversations. Unusually, I smoked my evening cigarette in main room of the shop, the little bit of normality that had contained me all day. I then wished it a good night and went home, keeping my distances. By that time, the city had announced what I call its "Couples Only" policy, forbidden assemblies of more than two persons in a space.

By today, I know that I will not be able to do this again next Sunday. There is a Greek term called Harmolypi, which was explained to me as a happy sadness. It describes how I feel about this situation very well.

Part V of the current IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly
Part IV of the current IGAF: Dystopia
Part III of the current IGAF: Keeping a shop open
Part II of the current IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?
Part I of the current IGAF: Keeping in Touch

IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 18:48:00 +0000

Many of the conversations I've been having lately have revolved around the emergency measures governments, states and unions of states have been implementing surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak. The tenor of these conversations is generally: so that healthcare measure was possible all the time? So the money for funding UBI is theoretically available? So you can call out the corruption of profiteering off such a situation?

For years, the question when it comes to many hollowed-out state-run social welfare or even social support programmes, the question of "how do we pay for this??" has been raised. There are some very simple answers to that question, but it seems they required a radical suspension of "business as usual" to be temporarily implemented- as emergency measures that will drain whatever state coffers are left over to a point that, once business returns to its usual, which it will, the question will remain, as, at that point, a lot of the cash reserves will have been expended on supporting "The Economy".

The economy is currently comprised of a number if branches, some of them, like stock markets and some tech startups, figments of financial imagination, others, like construction, service work, nursing, remain very real- they still involve billions of people who go to work and do labour that, even if it is not physical, does require physical bodies and human minds to be in a common geographic location.

Most of these people have not been included in the last thirty years of neoliberalism, even as they put in the hours, and in a Data* Capitalist society, have become human resources whose experiences are exploited, even when they are not working, without seeing any of the massive profits that are accumulated by recycling data overheads into targeted ads and actual surveillance. This assumption of a mass of people blind to the market mechanisms that underpin their way of life extends to physical workspaces, and the ubiquity of commodified spaces demands a total subjugation of values, self-image and personal interests to whichever part of the market you happen to find yourself in.

I personally blame a lot on the way the internet and social media have been hijacked to serve these mechanisms, from technical methods, such as manipulation of news feeds, the upholding of filter bubbles, algorithmically enforced confirmation bias and news censorship, and the manufacture of mass consent, and a level of political correctness that infringes freedom of thought through self-censorship, if not external censorship and the commodification of opinion and news as entertainment, rather than as a necessary societal debate.

We are past the point at which we can blame new technologies for upheavals in the ways labour shapes society. History shows that we have been dealing with an ever-increasing number of disruptive technologies and concepts for millenia- whether it be the idea to settle permanently, rather than lead a nomadic life, or that the earth is round, and not the center of the universe, or that a wine press can be repurposed to produce printed pages, or that it is possible to break down production into its constituent parts, or that sound can be transmitted through wires, or the techno-magic that makes computers possible. Technological progress seems to happen, no matter how dark and backwards the age may seem. Humans think, innovate, improve and develop. Progress is a fact. How "we" use this progress is up to "us".**

A second facet to technological progress is that it creates a new boundary, which is outside the scope of current societal and legal understanding and regulation- something that has not yet been paid attention to, and can therefore be temporarily implemented in ways that serve the interests of the few that are paying close attention to the possibilities within this boundary. By the time the gap between new progress and some form of regulation or societal awareness is closed, a mode of production or exploitation is usually already in place, posing the challenge of integrating this progress into established models, or creating effective counter-models of resistance and regulation. Failing that, wait for the next disruption, or create it.

There are events that transcend both boundaries, such as a global crisis, that should, theoretically, cause a critical examination of existing infrastructures and modes of production- with all that entails- and the current state of "progress". In theory, events such as the current global Pandempanic caused by Covid-19, can be a catalyst for the adjustment of these infrastructures to the benefit of more, if not all "we's" they affect- economic, cultural, labour and health care "we's".

Since we have the time, I'd like to highlight a few points that I have been following:

Currently, governments and central banks are trying to stablise things with billions, if not trillions. The main reason they have to do this is that economies have been overinflated, many social support programmes hollowed out and privatised. These are not sustainable societies that can- with much less emergency aid- navigate such exceptional states of emergency not with ease, but with less difficulty, disruption and far less mellophobia*** than we are currently experiencing. In spite of an ongoing and ever increasing awareness of the impossibility of infinite and exponential profits, absent equally infinite or renewable resources, unfettered, neoliberal capitalism has snuck into almost every corner of our lives, attempting to extract profit and circumvent regulation or lobby for an absence of real regulation or limitation on the scope of its extraction.

Since the spending of money has become a form of self-expression, and currency seems a better arguement than words or even facts, what we understand as democracies, or even political participation has been subverted- rather than count votes, most politicians count money and weigh that against the interests of their constituents.

We see this, for instance, in the way health care infrastructure is not equipped with the critical supplies or personnel required to deal with a pandemic. By prioritising the interests of the pharmaceutical industry and their profit motive for decades, health infrastructures and services have been eroded to inadequacy, even in countries with some form of universal health care, or a mix of public and private insurance. Countries with socialised medicine programmes are not faring better, due to decades-long economic struggles, authocratic or ever-changing regimes or sanctions for refusing to enter the neoliberal fold, reducing their ability to provide decent health care for their populations. And all that without considering that there is still a war and forced migration crisis ongoing- which state will consider itself responsible for the currently stateless?

While some countries have the ability- or economic power- to deploy temporary and expensive safety nets, I cannot help but wonder, somewhat aimlessly, what a pandemic would look like in a world that did not prioritise profit over people and planet. It is a utopian thought, especially when faced with people whose first instinct is to engineer profits from a crisis.

A second point has been a further rise in nationalist rethoric- there is, apparently, no non- or supra-national effort to stem the spread of Covid- to the point that some countries are apparently trying to acquire exclusive, national rights to vaccines with money- and other countries trying to enforce their national interests with more money. If we read a bit further into the situation, knowing that a lot of government-sponsored research ends up the property of a corporate entity, which then sells the output of the research for their profit, we could extrapolate that both countries are more interested in selling the potential cure to the highest bidder- and what a PR coup to boot! If this Coronavirus is truly a global threat, is it not in the economic interest of all to suspend the profit motive, at least for a while, and seek to heal the world of at least this obvious and visible ill? If this is a global pandemic, it is a time for global solidarity.

This includes borders and the aforementioned war and forced migration crises. Is this really a time to expend personnel and physical resources on the pointless slaughter we see daily in Syria and Yemen? Is it not a time to offer refugees and homeless people refuge in empty hotels, and maybe subsidise the hotels for offering such refuge? Is it maybe time to divert the resources invested in upholding the economy of a military-industrial complex to the urgent task of just keeping things going in a somewhat orderly fashion?

A few years back, during the Q&A of a panel at the Capitalism Tribunal, I argued that there was an obvious solution to many problems: for a year, as a temporary measure, suspend weapons sales, production and war. Reduce the role of militaries to a purely defensive force and don't buy new weapons. Use those trillions suddenly available to many nations to build and sustain social programmes, education and a very wide definition of culture. The money saved up for one year would, levels of financing left unchanged, keep such programmes going for years. It's a good time to try such a bold experiment, and an -in my opinion- logical step in combatting a global crisis. It is up to our collective imaginations to make it possible.

This won't happen, of course. But it would be one clear way to divert resources towards an outcome that is beneficial to all. Governments are cautioning people to keep their distance, not hoard resources and to suspend most aspects of public life- temporarily, we hope- would it not be fitting to ask for a suspension to everything that counteracts an eventual continuation of public and private lives affected by the current crisis?

In stead of trying to make the solutions to this crises proprietary and national, I would rather argue that the solutions have to be as local as they are global- glocal, to misappropriate that term slightly. On the micro scale, communities, quarters and cities need to find their individual approaches to keeping their populations safe and sane, on the macro, nations need to be able to cooperate, rather than compete to find long-term solutions to this and similar crises that are bound to occur sooner or later. If we- all the we's- find it in ourselves to take this opportunity as the beginning point of many solutions, I optimistically believe many challenges facing us today could be resolved with more ease and in less time than they would otherwise.

On an even more macro scale, citizens, for lack of a better term, need to keep watchful- there are many precedents for a traumatising shock that causes populations to act against their own interests, to the benefit of "the Economy".**** So a question to ask is "what is currently being temporarily enacted that may have long-term consequences on civil liberties, press freedom, public opinion, individual choices in "the economy" and human rights". It's a big ask- there is a lot going on, much money and rhetoric is being thrown around, and events are, as is customary in such situations, murky. Independent analysis of current developments is hard to come by outside the realms of "conspiracy theories" and temporary hype. Analysis independent of political bias even more so. For my part, I've been reading a lot of this, watching a bit of that and reading some more. It is hardly enough to paint a full picture, but it does offer a glimpse into the meta levels of the actions currently being undertaken, and the words accompanying it.

The question remains: after the trillions have been injected into economies and markets, after the crisis is over, after everything ceases to be "temporary", in what form will we pay for our continued survival? What will be the price extracted from populations, from the workers, from the wealthy? Will the price of security be- once again- restriction of civil liberties, privacy? Will we be fractured societies of lonely individuals, connected only through heavily mediated platforms, afraid of direct human interaction? Will drones be the only thing allowed on the streets? How ARE we going to pay for more long-term measures? And what will be the price?

Part one of the current IGAF: Staying in touch

* aka Surveillance Capitalism; The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, Shoshana Zuboff, 2019
**this particular "we" and "us" has to be defined as those who have the power to implement and influence the infrastructure of progress on scales that affect a second "we", those who operate that infrastructure, usually to the benefit of the former "we". Though there have been attempts to align the interests of both "we's" horizontally, they have not yet been successful.
*** though the term "chronophobia" exists do describe a fear of the future, mellon (future) + phobia (fear) seems more accurate.
**** no examples here. I'd suggest reading Naomi Kleins' Shock Doctrine (2007); The Age of Selfishness by Daryl Cunningham (2015), and a few chapters of the aformentioned "Age of Surveillance Capitalism" (it's a brick of a book that is amazingly dense and packed- it took me weeks to get through it.). There is a lot of further reading readily available. Suggestions welcome.

IGAF: Keeping in Touch

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Thu, 19 Mar 2020 18:31:00 +0000

It's been a lot of living, some work, but mostly just getting things back to a place I feel comfortable from. There's been some shit, there's been mostly good, there have been many encounters with unexpected people and some adventure was had along the way.

And now, after this long while, I find myself sat at home, wondering what to do with myself. The streets are becoming quieter by the day, people locking themselves away at home, every headline in the past weeks has been about exactly one thing: a Coronavirus and its effects on the world.

The last time I remember we as humans dealt with a possible pandemic was the Bird flu- H1N1, I believe- and even though those were worrying times, the level of general alarm in the population I was interacting with was not as pronounced as it currently is. I did not follow various news outlets, graphs, updates and bulletins as closely as I currently am.

One of the changes has been that, far from whatever person last wrote here, I am much closer to who I was in 2008 professionally- I am working in a small print shop in Kreuzberg, meaning that I don't have the luxury of working from home. This is a mixed blessing- I chose this job to be exposed to unexpected, occasionally random encounters and to be able to watch, as closely as possible, the changing nature of a quarter I have been happy to call home for a decade or so. So, for the past two years, I've been part of the "local" economy, a happy conduit for other peoples ideas, while developing my own.

In that time and place, I have had many interesting conversations, glimpses of plans for the future of the city, robbed by a gang of youth, and managed many communication crises. And now… and now.

Now, as a race, we find ourselves caught in a situation that seems unprecedented- a truly global pandemic that is both a reminder of the frailty of human bodies and psyches and a stark look at the amount of "saving" the systems we rely on to underpin our daily lives require.

First- I do believe we all need to be careful. This type of pandemic has the potential to end the lives of many, many people if we are not collectively careful. I am worried about friends, family and acquaintances- I'm worried about everyone I've ever met, and all the people I've never met. I don't believe that this is a threat we can simply shift to the edges of our perception for the time being, or something that anyone can face entirely alone, even if we're isolated from each other. I am also thinking of myself, of course- a recluse to the core, I suddenly find myself missing people and reaching out.

If I've learnt anything in the past years, that no matter how misanthropic your pessimistic view of society in general is, people are mostly nicer than you expect. That I've learnt this in a place that is the very embodiment of the market- a shop, with all expectations of transaction- is remarkable: it shows how aclimatised people are to the ontology of Shop, and that, no matter how transactional the nature of communication is in such a location- social niceties and information are included in the asking price- basic human generosity often shines through.

By this, I mean little exchanges, asides, shared laughs and the occasional flower, deep shock when the shop was robbed (I've seen grown men weep at the news), the solidarity and local kinship that is usually only found in places that are deeply rooted in the communities they have usually served for years, if not decades. The point being that kindness and understanding do exist, and happen with frequency, though you have to work for them sometimes. Humanity is, as a whole, not too bad.

I have equally learned that an asshole is an asshole, no matter what you do, or how polite you try to remain, or who they are- but also that most people, who are not assholes, have a low tolerance for assholery.

However, faced with this Corona Crisis, tempers are growing short. Tribes and loyalties are being formed- keeping in touch is taking on a whole new meaning. Generally, people are trying to keep on keeping on. It is as visible in our little tribe of shopkeepers as it is in the customers who still come to print. Aside the dilemma whether to keep this little bit of normality running, or not, we are faced with an illustration of the incredible adaptability of markets and shops in that we are suddenly selling masks.

Second- i still believe we need to be careful. Like everything, a moment of crisis- not to mention several ongoing crises- offer avenues of solution, some more dystopian than others. It is, on the one hand, an opportunity to flush out the rot that has been afflicting economic and social systems for decades. It is a good time to, on the one hand, remember the power of the individual and the small collective, on the other, to remember both the regulatory power of government and its compact with the populations whom they serve, including the many who must lobby on the street, rather than in suits.

There is nothing wrong with slowing down, catching your breath- another lesson learnt. Breakneck speed is called that for a reason, and it is a good time to evaluate, once again, where many decisions and careful plans have led. The brakes have been slapped on, the vehicle is grinding to a halt, the passengers are wondering where the hell they are going to end up, exactly. Will it be in a back alley with surveillance cameras, in violation of a curfew, or will the be laughed at for the old-fashioned and inefficient fossil fuel car they are driving in a futuristic eco-city? Will they still have work, or lives when they arrive? Will they be infected? Will everyone they know be infected?

It is a good time to remember how many people have not partaken in the massive profits that have been accumulating, to remember parts of society that are disenfranchised by an unreflected growth, to remember that there is an us that is greater than the sum of me and me and me. If we take this time, regroup, quite literally, reconsider priorities- at a moment of commen survival, we cannot aim for infinite and ever-increasing profit, for instance, nor can we need as much as we do. We have the time to look at our consumption- shelves empty of everything people like- and our habits as individuals. We can look at how we deal with our small communities- of interest and of emotion. There is nothing except worry standing in the way of such reflection, and in crisis, caution beats worry every time.

There is rife opportunity and necessity for, while predictable, an examination of consumption patterns, the way markets, commodification and corporation have affected almost every aspect of our lives, to rethink our interactions and yes, maybe even currency itself. None of this is new, but it suddenly seems, from the confines of this room, possible on a scale far beyond it. At the same time, from the confines of this room, seeing a voluntary erosion of public, cultural and political participation, a much less hopeful path delineates.

For the time being, in precedence of such grand and systemic thoughts, the challenge for the lonely- and the less so- will be to retain what was before the outbreak, to remember what it's like to be on the road and not have to keep your distance, to not fear contamination. To hope that this remains temporary and that, rather than an opportunity for selfish gain, this proves to be a moment of growth for all, no matter how distant everyone else seems at the moment. To not forget to keep in touch, to eventually touch again.

Images: Book of Faragh 2 // 02032020

Part V of the current IGAF: Money, Politics and People- Distributing Profit a bit more fairly
Part IV of the current IGAF: Dystopia
Part III of the current IGAF: Keeping a shop open
Part II of the current IGAF: How are we going to pay for THAT?

Part I of the current IGAF: Keeping in Touch

HNS Diary 3: The Man Who Stole Nothing / الرجل الذي سرق المفيش

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Sun, 28 Oct 2018 08:33:00 +0000

When Heba told me she had the prints, my first instinct was to burn them.

It had been a week since our first call concerning a series of golden silkscreen prints. She, Don and the manager of the gallery representing Heba had discovered them by accident at the Berlin Art Fair. The prints are rather unremarkable- a series of nine, subdued silkscreens of pictures taken off the internet, printed with a shimmering, golden hue. They reminded me of my grandmothers' furniture in Cairo. What they depicted, however, was very familiar to us- we had made it, and these were blatant copies of our documentation of the work on the Homeland set.

Set picture: Bottom left, next to the flag: This series does not represent the view of the artists.

What they had come across was a series by David Krippendorff entitled “This Show does not Represent the View of the Artist”, a tiny play on one of the slogans we used. I was somewhat flattered, at first, at this attempt at an homage, until I read the artists statement, which does not even bother to mention the full context of the hack, let alone have the decency to name the group involved in its creation. It was simply an homage to the Homeland hack and the Arab speaking artists" who made it. It does not reflect on the views of the artists, or attempt to expand the discussion we initiated in any way, shape or form. This is extractive artistic commercialism in the thin veneer of baseless flattery. It tastes bitter to be associated with it, and have to deal with the aftermath. And yet, until recently, I was not planning to say anything about this publicly- the whole story seemed comical, even pathetic, to a point where it seemed petty to make anything more than a few laughs over a drink out of it. Recent developments have changed my mind.

Let’s think about this for a moment: we undertook our actions on the set of homeland to create a counter-narrative* from within to the story the series was spinning about people of Middle Eastern and South-East Asian origin. To reclaim, as possible, a medial space of representation, and to ask for a more differentiated view of people of those backgrounds in media and society- a view that does not homogenise a wide swathe of people into the image of an antagonistic other. We saw the need for a discussion, and a vessel to promote it. We took our risks, said our piece, and then left the stage open to others. It happened to catch the public interest, and I think a good laugh was had by all as the events following the reveal of the hack unfolded. An ongoing discussion was initiated. I regret to see a positive memory sullied in such a cheap, and cheapening way.

As it was told to me- I was not present at the art fair- Heba (Amin) and Don (Stone) were given the artwork, to keep or destroy, with no strings attached. We decided that, the matter apparently being settled, there was no need for legal consultation. It seemed clear: we had caught someone plagiarising and selling copies of our work without notifying us, they handed over the work, and agreed not to reproduce it. We sought a written agreement, to have some recourse, shaking our heads at the act, but willing to let it go, until subsequent events made us decide it was time to speak out about this. Heba went public with a post about the incidents- she, and we, felt it was important to detail the moral and ethical implications of this appropriation, no matter what the legal consequences.

I spent a day comparing the prints to our work, going through the film “Homeland is Not a Series” frame by frame to locate possible points of provenance. I ended up concluding, privately, that “Most of the stylistic differences are created by the technique used, rather than artistic decisions made by David in preparing the prints. Even the hue he uses in his prints is very similar to some of ours. The only difference I can see here is the medium- screen vs. paper.”. Note that I am not an art appraiser or copyright lawyer, but do know a thing or two about printing techniques and copyright through studying Communication Design. I cannot value the work, save for saying that I find it unoriginal and bland, but I can say that its creation did not involve, as silkscreening goes, a great amount of effort or artistic innovation. I am, of course, biased towards our work, and can only comment on what I have seen so far, so I hope this is not an unfair assessment of Mr. Krippendorffs work, even if it is copying ours.

In doing this, I discovered something irksome to me personally- Mr. Krippendorff had stolen "There is no Homeland", which includes my tag, Mafish**. I’ve been writing Mafish for years now, as it is a word that automatically starts a discussion. It is a trademark, a heteronym and has become a part of me after years of using it. It was taken away without my consent. Mr. Krippendorff is trying to sell it. This particular Nothing is not for sale or placement by anyone but me. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t know this; what matters is how easily he could have known- even if I am a person who enjoys his privacy, there are enough ways to reach me. And if that’s not enough: there are three people he could have reached out to, not to mention an entire production company.

A bit of history:

The first Mafish, Cairo, 2012

When I started writing "Mafish" (There is no…) in Cairo in 2012, it was intended as a provocative moment that would cause the reader to question the statement. My hope was that it would cause either an affirmation- that would lead to action- a disavowal- which might lead to thoughts about scarcity, isolation, justice, resources and personal relation to the above- or abstract reflection- take that word and see what it means to you. Nothing means Everything. Does it?

It came in four colours: Red, signifying blood (mafish dam- there is no blood is an Arabic saying signifying that a person has no humanity within them), black, signalling justice, gold- a symbol for wealth and money, and green, for religion. It was an overly complex code, which I left to the individual to decypher for themselves. In 2014, I added an infinity loop- mafish, either to infinity, or to signify that nothing is eternal. I’ve been using that since, and applying contextual variants. Whichever variant I have used, it has always led to discussion, whether through the act of writing it in public, or by people reading it in public without necessarily associating the word with me. It is as much a signature as it is a statement. Any number of friends have an acrylic glass plate signed in this fashion. The variant seen on the Homeland set is the OG variant, in spray paint.

Beirut, 2013

It has been used in several articles and to illustrate transcripts of academic discussion and presented in a number of exhibitions without me requiring attribution or clarification on the provenance of this particular Nothing. In the context of the Homeland Hack, it is a footnote at best, and, until recently, I was happy to enjoy this inside joke privately. I don’t recall bringing it up with Don or Heba until October of 2018 and would have liked not to have to- it is nothing, after all. The action, its meaning and impact is greater than the sum of the individuals involved in it- it seemed egoistic to draw extra attention to a personal trademark - and “Homeland is Watermelon/الوطن بطيخ" is irrisistible.

The specific image of Mafish used by Mr. Krippendorff was not amongst those we included in the film***. Up to this point, Mr. Krippendorff has been feigning ignorance about our persons and the hack. However, the use of this image leads me to the conjecture that he did some research online to find material not included in the film. This makes it difficult to believe his ignorance about our action and persons is genuine, which renders his artist statement even more lazy it already is.

2018

This is a small part, one-ninth of a third, to be exact, of this overall story, and a tiny link in the many stories connected to the Homeland Incident, but a fair illustration of the overall point: the Homeland Hack is, to me, about reclaiming agency, about the right to your story, the right to tell it and the right to exist independently of a master narrative*, to define and fight for your place and perception as an individual in a globalised society. Beyond that, it is also about a claim to your history, and the narration thereof. In selling my name without consent, David Krippendorff robbed me of the agency to associate that name in contexts of my choosing. He took it to the art market, uninterested in its background or history, to sell for his personal gain. What to him is a resource to callously exploit is to me a world of meaning and critical questions I ask of the world. Seeing it printed- golden ink on fine paper - without my consent fills me with a sense of irony, turns that world into the very definition of a kitschy souvenir.

2018- I also work from found footage and pictures. This one can be found on Amnesty.ch, entre autres.

By extension, he did this with the entire body of work and thought that constitutes the Homeland Incident, which, in turn, was a critique of and reaction to the lack of agency accorded to the real-world locations and diverse groups of people depicted on the show “Homeland”. Even the show proved more receptive to this critique than Mr. Krippendorff, who somehow managed to replicate the very issue we were critiquing in his kitschy copy.

Mr Krippendorff, in his statement, did not bother to mention the Arabian Street Artists by name. We became unnamed, Arab-speaking sprayers. He told us he was trying to provide us with “publicity”. We’ve had publicity, thank you, more than you can apparently imagine. He automatically assumed, reportedly, that we were of lesser stature than him, as artists, and in need of his platform****. I am not going to dispute the aesthetics of the graffiti either way, save to say that we had a lot to do in a very short time. In correspondence, he offered to credit us in future showings of the work. As generous as this offer may seem, it is not one that interested us. There are actions, and in this case, works, that are so distasteful that no-one should profit off them. Larmoyant excuses do not improve the situation.

To see our work reproduced in such a lackluster fashion, with so little thought, with such a profiteering motive and so little artistry, save, so far, for legal contortions, is a pathetic reflection of an extractive economy focused on short-term gains over long-term consequences, and the impossibility of meaningful reflection and innovation when caught within. Moreover, seeing our work thus appropriated by an artist who should have a better understanding of the subject matter he is dealing with, not to mention awareness of the issues addressed in the Hack is personally offensive. It is a lack of style and no substance.

To add insult to injury, or vice versa, we are currently threatened to be taken to court for- ironically- violating Mr. Krippendorff’s copyright by publishing pictures comparing his plagiarism to the original work it is based on. This is the point at which it became clear to me that I would have to defend, and fight for the integrity of my Nothing.

In the end, what remains of us, either as footnotes, or chapters, is names and what is associated with them. If Mr. Krippendorff did not understand that his act of plagiaristic appropriation- whichever flavour it has- will forever be associated with his, there is very little l can add here, save to say that whatever happens, he brought it upon himself.

I'd like mine to stay associated with questioning the nature of Nothing.

Update: Mr. Krippendorff has decided to grace us with another statement. Oh joy.
Also: Hyperallergic reports.

NB 1: some of these wordings have, by now, been used elsewhere. I only have so many words to describe this chapter and they are occasionally shared between publications.

NB 2: Heba Amin and I took the set pictures.

* Bamberg,M. 2004. Considering counter narratives: Narrating, resisting, making sense, 351-371;

** mafish can be used in a variety of situations. Like many colloquialisms, it is a highly malleable word. I'm translating it as Nothing here, but it would usually be used in conjcuntion with a noun- as in "Mafish Qahwa?" "Mafish.". It's opposite, fi, means there is, or in. I am drawing from its description of a void to permit myself to translate it as Nothing.

*** NB: I did not discover it in the frame-by-frame forensics I did on my own

**** NB: I don't admit to being an artist most of the time. I work at a printing house and am very happy splitting my time between there and personal endeavours

Two Minutes: Creative Industry

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:58:00 +0000

There are two definitions implied here: the industry of creatives, which occasionally results in things that may be termed art (even if it is cleaning the floor), the act of producing something creative.

A second reading might be a capitalist mode of production, in which creative people produce exponential amounts of content that is, or is not, creative, to retain their relevance and the attention of audiences.

The question attached to that is: once "creatives"understand their work mainly as a form of labour, through which they earn money, and themselves as a factory, are they still producing "art", or is it design? This leads us to the difference between art and design, but that's a discussion for another day.

Outrage(!), The Aubergine

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 09:43:00 +0000

If we live in the age of outrage, it is incumbent upon us to somehow embody that outrage symbolically. Following an anti-hate strawberry, and a long acquaintance with Watermelons, serendipity and some friendship led me to… Aubergines. So, I introduce the slow evolution of one Outrage!, the Aubergine.

Top to bottom: So, we're on the shelf now… | Yeah, but sunlight…| Look! I think that's a cobweb! | EEK

Outrage, the Aubergine, it lives in a tiny washing machine…

It was too hot…

So he got some ice cream… (TBC)

A comment on the #metwo hashtag. It's all in the label?

Twominutes: A week in pink

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 09:37:00 +0000

I have a new favourite pen: Chalk Markers.
The guy at Overkill gave me a dirty look when asked whether they had something so… impermanent. in stock. I got comments from friends and family that I was at last cleaning my windows (window, please. I'm too lazy to clean around the windows to reach them, write on them, then clean them).

Anyway: I spent a week writing short & spontaneous ditties about weekdays on my window. This is how it went down:

First fora

Saturday 1

Sunday(with Green)

Reverse Friday: Monday

Tuesday (for the lazy

Wednesday. The middle of the week

Thorsday! (Don't tell Disney)

The Second Saturday, and introduction of the Green!

Twominutes: Swipe left and ignore

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 12:23:00 +0000

Life had become much easier: Carefully conditioned over generations, people no longer made the active effort to ignore what disturbed them. Years of medial overload allowed them to look directly at something and pick out only the details that pleased them, or conformed to their worldview.

Two Minutes: Content(ed)

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 10:37:00 +0000

As time passed, the outrage faded. In stead of incredulous, angry, or disparaging comments on bombings, violations of human rights, wars, corruption, lies and/or blatant exploitation, years of conditioning led audiences (defined as: people who consume content, mostly on screens) to react to the output of content creators (independent of genre) exclusively with "Thank you for your Content".

Everyone stopped caring after a while and all production shifted to Let's Plays of Skyrim, now playable on Sneaker Screens™®. Everyone was content, and content.

And yes, they do share the same root, which makes a strange kind of sense:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/content

Two minutes: Human Resource

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 09:30:00 +0000

: You, basically. Also: me. Possibly, but not preferably: us. Term designed to dehumanise people and reduce their value to their utility as raw material to be broken down, packaged and sold under a different brand name. Yummy when green.

#memu: 5.2 / Future Perspectives for an Egyptian Street Art Scene

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 09:35:00 +0000

Note: MeMus was written from 2012-2015. Things have (again) changed since then. But I maintain that it is mainly an "export industry".

The current Egyptian street art scene is an export industry. Due to legal restrictions on the use of public space as a forum for expression which are vigorously enforced and a general atmosphere of hegemonic domination in the country, many of the artists who can, by choice or necessity, remain in the country, choose to work outside their local contents. Though this allows for a higher degree of experimentation stylistically, it also removes the street from the art, thus removing the unmediated interaction by a public in a sphere.

Though currently limited, the extensive use and cultural acceptance of street art as an art form opens a new horizon for the use and application of the practice to more mainstream artistic means. So far, it has not been used, except in erasing, in attempts at directly representing the government and remains exclusive to the counternarrative by the street.

If one follows the example of Beirut, in which graffiti and street art- in part due to its overabundant expression in that city- enjoy a semi-legal status and long history, we may be seeing the beginnings of a commercial arts scene with some actors already established outside their local contexts as representatives. The popularity and high visibility of artists such as Aya Tarek, Ganzeer, Alaa Awad and Ammar Abo Bakr, as well as street art figures such as Keizer, Teneen, Sad Panda indicates a subculture in rapid development. The use of street art, always prevalent in the blinking, singing commercial spaces of Cairo, has increased, in part due to cooperation projects. But it is now spontaneous local initiative that is fuelling this form of self-expression, both commercial and personal, rather than targeted international interventions .

If one follows the idea of a hybrid culture, the practice of street art has added a global layer to local contents, which have, reversely, have become understood as having an impact beyond their immediate impact locally. Thus understood, a more lasting representation through an artwork allows a space for visual and critical reflection than the fleeting images of a battle or demonstration, which achieves its impact through immediacy. Abstracted and coded, a space for interpretation and reframing- both locally and globally: Artists’ renderings in a flow of digital information with quantifiable impact and importance. The creation of a transnational field of meaning and culture.

The initial momentum behind the street art movement has faded in the country - the cultural revolution that followed the uprising continues, though currently, it is mostly barred from the tightly controlled streets. Workshops in disadvantaged areas continue, as does some independent artistic education in public space. However the scope of expression has been much reduced- the political ludic has, for the time being, once more removed from public.

A scene has formed, and it continues. Due to political considerations- the country is still far from being as stable as advertised- it is difficult at the point of writing to determine how the practice will develop. As mentioned above, artists have moved to the streets to gallery- like spaces in exodus. In this, they are undergoing the change from street artist to a different understanding of art. It is doubtful whether we will see a meaningful manifestation of critical, content-driven art in the coming period. It is possible that the advertising industry will adapt the methods of street art, hoping to adopt the popularity and disruptive character of the form to the artform that originally used the language of advertising to disseminate its messages- the formation of a commercially oriented street art industry. Maybe hajj drawings will gain an avantgarde movement.

In a very short time, a rich history has been created. Its future impact is uncertain, but a space has been opened.

Two Minutes: Of and on Impunity

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 09:40:00 +0000

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Impunity is a case of the 3rd law of Newtonian motion being suspended, therefore, not only a feeling of personal imperviousness to the consequences of actions, but also freedom from the above-mentioned laws of physics, which, considering the egos usually involved, is not entirely impossible. While this may work in a subjective reality, one has to wonder whether it's really worth all the effort and energy of imposing this reality on everyone else.

Of course, everyone else does not enjoy the same impunity and is punishable for questioning the established narrative.

Activate quantum flux polarity generators. Go!

Also: Is impunity in any way related to puny?
https://www.etymonline.com/word/impunity
https://www.etymonline.com/word/puny

Two Minutes: Why is everyone tired?

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 09:32:00 +0000

At the supermarket, paying for shopping. The cashier feels the need to convey how exhausted she is.
The bank: "We're sorry it took so long. Our people are dealing with a really heavy workload"
Talking to friends: "My body feels so tired… my mind is having a hard time keeping up."
On the street, a random person feels the need to inform me how exhausted they are. I reciprocate. It's the new hello, and we do have it in common.

Chronic fatigue is an indicator for depression.

tire (v.1)

"to weary," also "to become weary," Old English teorian (Kentish tiorian) "to fail, cease; become weary; make weary, exhaust," of uncertain origin; according to Watkins possibly from Proto-Germanic *teuzon, from a suffixed form of PIE root *deu- (1) "to lack, be wanting." Related: Tired; tiring.

From: https://www.etymonline.com/word/tire?ref=etymonline_crossreference

#OperationKoshary

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Fri, 25 May 2018 16:30:00 +0000

From: Kairo Koshary

We’re excited to announce #operationkoshary, a collaboration that brings together Koshary, culture and social entrepreneurship!

Kairo Koshary, tak Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg and Mafish Studio have joined forces to bring you exclusive cultural content you can take home while supporting independent organisations in the Middle East and the EU.

#operationkoshary begins on May 26th at the Kulturbrauerei with Kairo Koshary. We will be offering a limited series of 100 posters of Taheyya Kariokka, based on “In Taheyya we Trust/ ثقتنا في تحية”, a door painting on Wiener Str, by Caram Kapp of Mafish Studio. The posters also be available at tak Theater Aufbau Kreuzberg as of the beginning of June in the framework of a pop-up exhibition at the Performing Arts Festival, further Kairo Koshary events, and online.

Our first goal is to raise cash contributions for CILAS, an independent education institution in Cairo. You can find out more about them here: http://www.ci-las.org

How does this work?

Simple: we sell artwork at pop-up stores and you buy it. The more we sell, the higher the contribution we can make.

How do you calculate the contribution?

As we are producing the artwork on our own time with private resources, a rising percentage of the selling price will go towards the contribution, while also covering production costs and distribution.

Let’s make this transparent:

In words: We sell

— up to 10 posters: 10% contribution, 70% costs, 20% distribution

— up to 20 posters: 20% contribution, 60% costs, 20% distribution

— up to 30 posters: 30% contribution, 50% costs, 20% distribution

— up to 40 posters: 40% contribution, 40% costs, 20% distribution

— 50 posters and above: 50% contribution, 30% costs, 20% distribution.

100 posters sold: 60% contribution, 20% costs, 20% distribution

Okay, this sounds good. How do I find you?

Currently, the easiest way to find us is by checking in on Kairo Koshary’s events, or by visiting the TAK. If you help us make this first experiment a success, we will establish a more permanent online home for the project.

For the time being, you can reach us through:

operationkoshary@gmail.com

Who is Taheyya Kariokka?

Taheyya Kariokka’s work spans three generations of Egyptian Cinema, 4 rulers and one revolution. And throughout, in spite of the many characters she inhabited in over 200 films, her 14 (or so) husbands, being the only person to dance on Umm Kulthūm s stage and many years of activism, she remained one thing: an Egyptian woman with a deep understanding of the society she was a part of, and the will to be true to herself and her convictions. She remains an enduring example of life that transcends both art and politics, self-respect in the face of power and truth in resistance.

You can find more information on the process that led to “In Taheyya We Trust” here: https://caramk.blogspot.de/2017/06/in-taheyya-we-trust-how-egyptian.html?m=1

Two Minutes: Gormless

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Wed, 23 May 2018 09:38:00 +0000

For some reason, I've fallen in love with this word again recently. Learning that it basically means that a person thus addressed is basically a head(-less), Viking chicken does not lessen my love for it in any way, shape or form. It covers all the areas that mundane idiocy does not.

I can see it becoming the word of the year 2018, if we survive.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/gormless

#memu: 5.1 / “Is he using the revolution to sell his art, or using his art to sell the revolution?” The Artist as a Unit of Culture

noreply@blogger.com (caramk) — Sat, 19 May 2018 09:36:00 +0000

The following is what feels like a timely excerpt from Memetic Murals, 2016.

The internet phenomenon1 of spreading street art directs attention not only to the topic, or cause, but also towards the person responsible for expressing it. International attention recreates the creative actor in the form of a constructed symbolic gure, required to represent amajority they sometimes do not even agree with, or belong to. Many of the chosen representatives are masters in their respective arts and in expressing their personal observations on larger societal developments. No matter if their perspective conforms with the current opinions or not, artists are considered open minded observers, eloquent representatives of their societies. What is often underestimated is that artists mostly represent a cultured, liberal elite in their country, no matter how much they identify with the causes within.

This reterritorialization of the Israeli Separation Barrier as an internationalized space, one that is neither Israeli nor Palestinian but rather a global and increasingly recognisable and popular venue for solidarity with the Palestini- ans’ plight, is not without consequence. By effectively overpowering local Palestinian forums, messages and voices of resistance, international-produced graffiti on the barrier further deterritorializes the Palestinians by inadvertently popularizing the physical and symbolic place that has aided in their dispossession.

SAUDERS, ROBERT R Whose Place is This Anyways. March 2011. Anthropology News 03/2011

By choosing relatable protagonists to represent a social movement, the outward, non-local, image of the movement becomes skewed, even as points of identification are formed.A hybrid world made up of trans- posed cultural imports, points of semantic and linguistic agreement and a generally liberal mindset. By perceiving only a symbolic representation, a reality is formed out of a generalisable, superficial understanding of a complex situation. The artist, as a selected representative2, becomes the highlighted comment that illustrates and frames the debate around the issues artists previously brought up as points for debate through their artistic output.

A lot of attention was directed towards Egyptian and Middle Eastern artists during the three initial years of uprising. The relative novelty of the scene made it easy to expand on the emerging thought and culture in the so-called “Transformation States” by spreading the initial enthusiasm of the seemingly nascent democracies in European encounters with the “Other”, in exchanges, workshops, conferences and think tanks.

The “Other” no longer seemed so different. It was time to reexamine the orientalist perspective due to the amount of new insight given and gained in that time. An interest, supported by media attention and a positive discourse of change, in this close, yet distant culture emerged. Parallels in technologies aided these exchanges. McLuhans “Global Village”3 seemed to be emerging as global voices of discourse shaped by individual online nodes and independent representatives in addition to the narrative unfolding in more mainstream media. Participation, even if electric, in far-off events be- came possible and possibly the perceived duty of citizens around the globe. Real-time mediatised communication enabled not only the rapid spread of information, but also rapid action on it.

The artist “Others” are invited to frequent shows, projects and bien- nales- a testament to their talent, but also to the voice they found in representing their politics and the use and spread of their representa- tions in digital spaces. Detached from their local environment, their political message becomes diluted into conversations about art, abstract societal change and hope. Arguably, by being present at a large number of such events, the subjects are disconnected from the street, alienating them from those they seek to address and represent, even as they spread the message from the street. Just as the Palestinian wall’s meaning changes through the over- representation of the artwork on it, the focus on what is a slow social process becomes skewed by the spontaneous images and events that lead to artistic inspiration in a time of already high emotion.

A highly representational view of events can be extrapolated out of these already curated depictions- the context and discourse surrounding them putting the value of the represented over that which it repre- sents outside of the artwork. Artists, even if present, can only offer a fragment of the spectrum that surrounds their self-expression and artistic formation. As the work loses its context, it gains in artistic and symbolic value. A sequence of disassociated neon signs on a dark urban environment. Points of attraction, advertisements for a brand, they create importance through constant visibility- in memory or reality.

The artist is reduced to his function, rather than a participant in societal processes. The discourse is reduced to difference, more often than com- mon points. The art, originally a point of intersection between the two cultures, after initially abstracting the discussion to the level of a common understanding, becomes the vehicle for highlighting the “Other” in a shared language. And as the language of the conversation shifts from the artistic to the verbal, participants in the conversation are reduced to one of their lowest common denominators as they converse in a lingua franca that is often a foreign tongue to at least one of the interlocutors (and usually English).

The funding of cultural productions through foreign (European or American) cultural institutions in relation to the frame of buzzwords such as democracy, human rights, gender, and/or youth, makes foreign cultural politics appear as politics of development

Eickhof, Ilka My friend, the rebel (forthcoming), 2014.

The discussion can also be translated to a locally framed topicality, or seeking to compare historical trajectories. The individuals doing the footwork are diluted into a specialised heading, such as gender equality, entrepreneurship, media, urban, a dissection of the topic detail by detail, guiding a specific view towards general events that are, in action, more multilayered than the time reserved for an after-show panel. While an approach based in cultural anthropology is understandable, it rarely moves beyond a general primer on the current focus of media and public4 attention.

Beyond the artist himself, one has to consider the role of institutions and organisations which facilitate the agency of the cultural actor, on the ground or outside. The historical role of foreign cultural institutions in Egypt has been to allow for local development and experimentation in a cultural scene not supported by the national mechanisms of power. One could call into question the intention behind aligning with cultural actors in a country and the representation of “Western” countries as a beneficial, civilising force. To do sothoroughly would be to open a debate that goes beyond the current scope of exploration, but cannot escape mention in the framework of this paper.

1— This section is based mainly on personal and participant observation. | 2— Eickhof, I., My friend, the rebel (forthcom- ing), 2014. link: http://fu-berlin.academia.edu/ IlkaEickhof ) | 3— In the “Medium is the Massage” and other books, McLuhan postulates a connected world in which “electric” devices become extensions of the human senses. While the writing predates the Internet, or DARPA efforts in the 70’s, both the Medium and its Massage seem to have become a reality shared (and occasionally liked) worldwide. McLuhan, Marshall, Quentin Fiore, and Jerome Agel. 1967. The medium is the massage. New York: Bantam Books. | 4— Caffoni, Paolo; Breaking from the Government of Publics; 2015; http://www. regardingspectatorship.net/23/