Part 2 – Crisis

Unlike the mythic State, governance today is no longer a question of divinity or even mastery. Empire is instead the force of prevention. What Empire prevents is the future, which it claims is only full of horror, chaos, and disappointment – where apocalyptic monsters or dystopian nightmares come true. The present, we are told, is in crisis. Paradoxically, Empire’s solution is to deepen the crisis in order to save the present. The experience of this drawn-out present is a combination of the profusion of difference paired with the vague notion that nothing is really changing. To achieve this confusing state – where the more that things change, the more they stay the same – Empire undertakes two abstract processes: circulation and management. These two processes are its essential modes of operation.

March 26, 2011: How Do You Make Yourself a Body without Organs?

NEW KIDS ON THE BLACK BLOCK (pdf)

During debates about organization theory, I consistently cite this wonderful piece of ethnography: Chris Low’s interview of London youth who tellingly describe their entry into the black bloc.

No academic studies, no political theory, just straight-up personal narrative.

I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions. /awc

lenin’s shadow: organization

This post contained an draft version of a dissertation section. A more recent version is now available on the works page.