A Wende for Our Times; NYC, the GOP and hundreds of thousands of techno-protestors

The Wende; Sterling’s Deep Eddy scenario and Die Wende in historical terms.
The Bruce Sterling short story “Deep Eddy” is about the events surrounding a massive cataclysmic event called a Wende in Düsseldorf in the year 2035. Sterling’s Wende is a massive confluence of various protests, electronic disturbances and random anarchic actions that combine to create an event so chaotic that it crashes every system in the urban infrastructure that it occurs within. It starts with small plans by numerous and varied groups of activists, artists, and other assorted troublemakers who then multiply into a heterogeneous body of critical mass. Sterling describes the Wende as, “rumor, boosted by electronic and digital media, in a feedback-loop with crowd dynamics and modern mass transportation. A non-linear networking phenomena”.

He goes on to say that by identifying the Wende city officials ensure that the event will come to pass, “There are things you can do, of course, put police and firefighters on overtime. Hire more private security. Disaster control for lights, traffic power, data. Open the shelters and stock first-aid medecine and warn the whole population. But when a city tells its people a Wende is coming that guarantees the Wende will come.”

In German wende literally means “climactic period”, “turning point”, “rebound”, “reversal” and about 14 other things related to a period of sweeping change. In the common German parlance die Wende describes the era surrounding the falling of the Berlin Wall and the period preceding reunification. It was a time of anarchic jubilation and intense political uprising, which led to massive transformative social changes. Die Wende was all about the multitude coming together to fight against a repressive political apparatus that had miserably failed the citizenry both in a moral and economic sense.

There have been multiple global events in the spirit of Die Wende since the glory days of the velvet revolution and reunification. Immediately the Seattle WTO protests and the massive worldwide protests opposing the Iraq War in 2003 come to mind. Both of these events transformed global opinion to a greater or lesser extent. The former brought attention to the problems of globalism and the Empire project and the latter crystallized European opposition to both American foreign policy in the post 9/11 world and the Bush administration in general. Neither, however, had any major impact on American popular opinion. In the case of the global protests against the Iraq war the voices of dissent may have even galvanized the American defensive spirit.

We haven’t had a major political uprising in this country, at least not one large enough to sway popular opinion, since the 1960’s. The massive civil rights marches and sit-ins, Chicago ’68, the Watts riots and Kent State are all events that led to major changes in domestic and foreign policy. All of these events are predecessors to the Wende and illustrate the power of the multitude over the dominion of the few. It’s been a long time, and now more than any other seems like the right time to make it happen again.

The Opportunity; Capitalizing on the miscalculations of the GOP.
At this very minute George W. Bush, the arbiter of perhaps the most secretive and fascistic regime this country has ever seen, is waging a campaign based on lies, deceit, and emotional manipulation. He is leveraging our fear of Terror and false patriotic nostalgia to keep voters at his side. Even while our economy is failing, the world is more opposed to us than ever before, reproductive rights are being threatened, civil liberties are being stripped, as we a perpetual war against an invisible enemy and our environment is being abused in ways never before seen, George Bush is polling as high as 50%. How is this possible? What will it take for the citizens of this nation to open their eyes and see what’s happening here? We are being robbed, traded in kind for profits and corporate ownership.

Now George W. Bush and the GOP have decided to take the biggest event of their political campaign, the 2004 Republican National Convention, to New York City. One doesn’t need to guess why they chose New York. As the home of the largest amount of death and destruction resulting from the September 11th network terror attacks NYC is the most emotionally sensitive space in the United States, an emotional touchstone that the GOP hopes to wield in order to say to the American people, “Look at what we’ve been through. Together things can only get better. We must stay the course in order to finish what we’ve started.”

The choice of New York City to stage this proclamation was perhaps a major tactical error, though. The GOP must have assumed that New Yorkers would be behind them. After all, the Bush administration has done everything in its power to help New York and protect it from another attack. Right? Well, not exactly. Both the NYPD and the NYFD have expressed their anger over salary cuts to first responders issued through the Republican controlled congress. Many New Yorkers are also upset with the way the cleanup of Ground Zero was handled when the EPA lied to them again and again about the air quality of lower Manhattan. And many families are still angry at the length of time it took the Bush administration to respond to requests to form an independent committee to investigate the events of September 11th. So many New Yorkers and other Americans that will be arriving there are ready to show the world just how much they are opposed to a second Bush term.

The Substrate; New York is Red Hot.
New Yorkers are anything but happy about the RNC being held on their turf. Suspicions of the Bush administration using Ground Zero as another Sforzian backdrop to manipulate the emotions of the electorate coupled with the possibility of Mid-Town Manhattan being paralyzed by protestors and security blockades has the blood of the average New Yorker boiling.

A recent poll conducted by New York’s ABC 7 found that 83% of New Yorkers oppose the event. When I was last there in July there was already a ubiquitous coating of anti-Bush and anti-GOP posters, stickers and signs all over the island. By now all five boroughs are filling up with signage opposing Bush.

Along the flight paths to and from LaGuardia, Brooklyn residents are placing gigantic anti Bush slogans on their rooftops. Storeowners are placing posters in the windows of their shops, and graphic designer activists are pasting up tens of thousands of more posters all over the city. A much publicized legal battle against Clear Channel resulted in the non-profit group Project Billboard erecting not one but two enormous anti-war billboards in Times Square. Even rap mogul Russell Simmons has gotten in on the act. He’s erected a series of anti-Bush/anti-war posters in his former home, which directly overlooks Ground Zero with the hope of blocking any Sforzian framing of the site.

The message is clear, the GOP’s “Make Nice” ad campaign has failed and New Yorkers are incensed at their decision to come to town.

The Protests; Separate but united with bizarre techno-protest applications.
Beginning Sunday August 29th the city of New York will see a historically unprecedented volume and variety of protests. The streets will be filled with women’s rights activists, anarcho-syndicalists, environmental activists, union organizers, peace activists, civil liberties supporters, anti-globalism activists, and scores of other vocal opponents.

There are protests being held on every imaginable subject, from the blockbuster United For Peace & Justice, to the Million Billionaires March parody/protest, to Gays Against Bush. Every imaginable grievance will have a forum within which to be heard. There are also reports that thousands of protestors have infiltrated the ranks of convention volunteers in order to organize within the convention or just not show up in order to create chaos.

Beyond the traditional gatherings, marches and other techniques, protestors will also utilize a wide range of innovative applications of both art and technology in order to mobilize and broadcast their dissent. There will be flash mob protests, SMS organized dancing in the streets, and other distributed, networked actions. Here’s a list of just a few of the more interesting ones:

Joshua Kinberg’s Bikes Against Bush project will be traveling around town and in several marches, printing user-contributed slogans onto the streets using Yuri Gitman’s MagicBike wireless Internet portal.

Media collective NeuroTransmitter will be carrying backpack broadcast units in order to broadcast live commentary of protest activity.

Natalie Jerimijenko’s Bureau of Inverse Technology is utilizing two of their innovative projects. The first, BIT radio, will broadcast pirate radio broadcasts directly over corporate controlled radio frequencies. The second, BIT ballon, an outgrowth of bit rocket will generate real-time accurate head counts of protests and actions in order to create accurate official numbers for the media.

US DAT is holding an event called A Convention Intervention! with work and performances by Jonah Brucker-Cohen, DJ Spooky, Mark Amerika and others.

Postmasters Gallery is hosting RNC Node which will host works by prominent Net/Digital artists in response to Bush and the GOP.

Screensavers in conjunction with Thing are hosting the RNC Redux, a project that will mashup user-contributed content (video, audio, photographs) of each days events throughout the convention.

All of these actions, technologies and performances will add up to a bizarre user experience on the streets of New York. Even unwitting participants will be pulled into the mix through broadcast disturbances, crowd infiltrations, marches and other interventions.

The Response; Police surges, massive troop deployment and attempts at pacification.
With a security budget of over $74 million and over 10,000 police and security officers mobilized, the city as well as the federal government is doing everything in their power to control the level of dissent at the convention.

NYC officals, anticipating the large crowds of protestors have all ready put into place many measures to ensure things don’t get out of hand. They have limited the movement of protestors to the extreme western edge of Manhattan, and after a court battle in the city officials’ favor, they have limited the protestors’ rallying point to the West Village and Union Square. The protestors, however, are still saying that they will occupy Central Park by any means.

Police and security forces are also preparing for the worst. They have been practicing ‘surges’ or organized patrol car movements in order to quell any unauthorized gatherings. There have also been reports that, in a move reminiscent of the Cointelpro operations of the 60’s and 70’s, some protest organizers are under 24 hour surveillance. Critical Mass riders have been told to cancel their monthly ride or face arrest. Police are also saying that anyone seen to be inciting aggressive action, including protestors wearing masks, will be arrested.

The stage is set for anything to happen and I really believe that City Officials and the NYPD are setting themselves up for a major disruption. “When a city tells its people a Wende is coming, that guarantees the Wende will come.”

The Result
And so the stage has been set. Hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions will be arriving in a city full of citizens already hostile to the political party that has chosen to hold it’s National Convention in their city for reasons of emotional manipulation. The police and city officials have set up a number of strenuous and overly aggressive methods of control.

That this event will be anything less than similar to Sterling’s description of the Wende is doubtful. At the very least a very large number of protestors will participate in one of the most varied, vocal and interesting political protests in American history. At the most extreme, the massive disturbance will awaken a number of American citizens to what the Bush administration is really up to and set off a sequence of events that will alter our political landscape.

I don’t actually expect a massive political and cultural upheaval to result from next week’s events but I do expect ramifications of some sort. Perhaps it will begin a series of movements and actions that question our general political system or even just the GOP. Maybe it will unite the people against Bush or maybe it will just show the country and the world that there is a significant amount of Americans that oppose the policies of the Bush administration. Maybe it will just show that enough is enough, the people need a more visceral, honest and realistic interaction with the American political system.

Whatever happens, I know I’ll be watching next week and standing in unison with the people in the streets. Yeah, the ones with the mobile phones, laptops and hand painted signs.

Comments

[Jack Cushman]

Shameless self-promotion: realprotest.org is another techno "protest" in which the protesters spend their time at work on the day Bush is nominated and donate every dollar they earn to MoveOn's Leave No Voter Behind campaign. It's not, perhaps, as visceral, but it is likely to have a practical and immediate effect on the political process. I'd be interested in your thoughts on how it fits in.

[Alexander Somma]

Wild, while I won't be able to be there. I will join in spirit.

[humidhaney]

Right on. I agree with most of this and am very glad you did so much research for me (as usual).

The bike idea is genius. I tossed a shout out to it on my blog the other day.

And also congrats on the posting on boingboing.

[Remus Shepherd]

I haven't read the Sterling story, but it seems to me that you're overlooking a very simple way for the authorities to stop a Wende from happening. When the chaos looks unmanagable, they'll simply start putting the crowd down with tear gas, hoses, and if necessary bullets and tanks. Just like they did in Tienamen Square, and to a lesser extent the WTO protests in Seattle.

This might be a bloody crowd control action, nothing we haven't seen before. Or it might merely be minor anarchy glossed over by a lapdog press corps.

[Douglas Easterly]

Great article Jonah - this will make great reading material for the grad seminar's first meeting this week. Thanks!

[Kevin Ferron]

I suppose that you have full moderation privilages, but really, "At this very minute George W. Bush, the arbiter of perhaps the most secretive and fascistic regime this country has ever seen, is waging a campaign based on lies, deceit, and emotional manipulation." is quite a statement to make when you yourself are censoring peoples opinions for your own political agenda. Maybe you need to look more at the entire sytem than some paranoid vision of evil republicans or whatever your little head is irrationally tallying.

[lload]

Kevin, maybe you should take your head out of your ass and realize that you should be paranoid. America, the world, is facing a juggernaut that doesn't hold national ties, could careless about a body count, and bows to the all mighty dollar.

[-d]

Hey,
Interesting article. While I support this mobilisation against Bush (and more importantly, the cronies at Halliburton and such which provide the economic motivation for his past actions) I don't believe that this is a Wende in the same way that Sterling portrayed it.

If I recall correctly, the idea behind the Wende was a confluence of disparate political, economic etc goals, resulting in mass chaotic movement on the same day and at the same place. If this were a Wende, the movements would be focussed on different aims, whereas here you have a huge populace unified in their anti-Bush sentiment.

Regardless, should be interesting to watch through the *internet*. Remember how the anti-war protests were ignored and misrepresented throughout the press. I expect the same to happen this time; downplayed portrayals and coverage which ignores protests entirely will likely be the mainstream media's coverage.

-d

[Stardance]

Personally, I don't see a "Wende" coming from protesting against and interfering with the Republican Party's nominating convention. If the level of violence, even if it is "police riots", is very high (especially accompanied by a lot of property damage), then that will almost certainly favor George Bush. As one who is opposed to George Bush to begin with, I sympathize with most of the demonstrators (except with the anarchists, who should have assaulted the Democratic Convention, if they REALLY BELIEVED in acting on their "principles"). But the great "middle" of the US electorate do not sympathize with many, if any, of the demonstrators, nor do they particularly sympathize with George Bush --but they will perceive VIOLENT opposition to George Bush as threatening to the existing, established "civil order", and come down on George's side, not on the side of progressive politics.

[Pope Guilty]

Attempts to supress a Wende through force will only make it more chaotic.

Remember, Imposition of Order = Escalation of Disorder.

[NelC]

Folks, the SCLM will play up any violence or even disorder to make the Dems look bad. If all it is, is somebody getting frustrated and knocking a cop's hat off, it'll be all over the evening news as a "riot".

The thing to do is to just ignore the Repubs. Completely and utterly shun them, starve the convention of the oxygen of publicity so that it becomes a non-event.

[Jonah]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

//Kevin F. I don't know what censorship you are referring to. I haven't deleted any comments here, everyone here is entitled to their opinion, even you, even though I think you are wrong.

//-d, I didn't mean to convey that the RNC protests were exactly like Sterling's Wende, that's why I used the historical notion of Die Wende as another reference point. I feel like the results will fall somewhere between these two events.

[Cory Gerard]

I feel that the underlining issue with the GOP and even the political structure within the U.S.A. is that we have the rich and or powerful class of people who represent us in a Republic, and not a true democracy, and on top of that we have a huge number of illiterate or stupid people that can be used, or are already being used by those in charge to further their goals. This ignorance can be seen by looking at many of the people who littered the RNC this past week.

[Cory Gerard]

There is def more involved with the issues at hand, ie people brought up to not question authority, and that our political system is made up of only two major parties when there should be at least 3. Also our economy is more detrimental to the enviornment, to communities, and especially to peoples self image.

[mike f]

I think the new innovative forms of protest are very interesting. I can see how they would be effective at the RNC but I don't see these protesting applications producing any more of a dramatic effect than traditional protests. It seems they are targeted at the people attending the convention and not the people sitting at home watching it. I think these new protesting applications could have the potential to reach more people. Also, you say that Bush is using his choice of location as emotional manipulation. What if the convention was not in New York? He would be criticized to no end if he did not hold the RNC in New York where one of the most tragic events in American History occured under his watch.

[D. Hazel]

I don't think the RNC should have chosen NYC, it is way to obvious of a ploy to use the emotions and recent events of the area for their own purposes. I have never heard of many of the groups that were mentioned as protestors nor the technology they employed. Reading the links on them and their opinions and methods of protest was very informative to me. I haven't really kept current on the RNC nor the protesting since I felt I needed a break from politics for even a little while.

[the Stan]

I think my favorite night of RNC had to be the second, when diversity was one of the main themes of the evening, to broaden the republican image from a bunch of rich white assholes, to now include the token minorities that will be so important to the upcoming election. i come from california, where any given city is more ethnically diverse than most states. I specifically remember newsweek saying how important the voting demographic of latina housewives would be (coming from california), and how most who don't put much effort in getting involved in the issues themselves will vote for the most polished candidate. A lot of people in california, us citizens, don't even speak much or any english; will they have a fair chance at picking a candidate they agree with, or simply the most confident. That character/ persona will hold more emphasis over the election in my opinion, case in point: gov. arnold schwarzeneger, who was voted into political office for noteriety. the republicans are playing their cards right, and no matter how many documentaries are made showing the goddamned truth, there will be plenty of rationalization and denial to go around. i cynically believe that until a truly great tragedy befalls this country, the main populous will never wise up when they can blindly follow their next golden god. THEY LIVE!!

[Dave H]

I was having a conversation with a neighbor of mine during the summer about politics/Bush/terrorism. He told me that he was happy that America was at war because finally we were doing something about protecting the public from terrorists. I heard him out and told him my views and as we saw that we greatly disagreed we changed the subject. I just dont understand how people can believe Bush's lies. He contradicts himself all the time and he tells us that he does everything to help the American public, but it seems like he is only trying to help himself. I know many people that share the same views as my neighbor does, but I hope they can open their eyes and consider some of the opinions that the protesters in NYC are sharing.

[morgan]

It is completely frightening to me that Bush is so incredibly close to winning (re-)election. This summer, I went to Texas to visit my brother and this fear was completely rationalized. While it is honestly difficult to find someone who supports Bush here in New York, the exact opposite is true there. They have a "President George W. Bush" highway running through the middle of Dallas. It's f*cking frightening. I agree with 'the Stan', I’m a political cynic. Personally, human beings as an organization continue to astound me as a pack of ignorant animals who are too obsessed with themselves and the trivial troubles of their own lives to be bothered with the good of the masses. It stinks. And now republicans are trying to do this "YOU are in danger! Terrorists are everywhere! VOTE BUSH, HE CAN SAVE YOU" thing. And y'know, it's working. And it will continue to work for the next few thousand years or so, until our brain pans pop just a few more nanometers outward to the point where someone sits up and says "heyyy... the president is wearing no clothes!... also he's peeing in my coffee!! ...this is laaaaame!" until then, drink up Dallas, we salute ya.

[Rob S]

I was a senior in high school when the last election took place between bush and gore... a lot have changed since then, I am understand politics much more... I know enough now to relize that the state of our nation with bush in charge is embarassing. With each lie, each screwup, and each bullshit statement made by members of the bush administration I feel less and less proud to say i'm an american. When you screw up big at a job mulitple times you get fired... bottom line, no "ifs"," ands" or "buts". Bush has screwed up BIG TIME, multiple times... he should be relpaced. Honeslty, in this situation,I think the best thing for this nation would be a political uprising as mentioned in the artical. Im almost poistive there are millions of people boiling up is inside with anger and frustration over the state our nation... The pots going to boil over if bush is elected again. theres no doubt in my mind. If president bush continues into another term things are going to get messy and I actually think it will be relieving to see.

[Tony Baldascino]

All in all, the protests against Bush were a huge failure. As much as the liberal press tried to make a big story out of the protests, they really couldn't materialize anything solid.

The protests did not open up anyone's eyes. They were completely expected and the messages they are communicating are stale and ineffective by now. The footage of a protestor attacking an NYPD officer did not help their cause either. This man arrested (found the next night by police because he was protesting with the same clothes that he was videotaped wearing the night before) was only one of over a 1000 arrests. Most of America will not side with the extremists that protest like this. The web based anti-Bush community is very extreme too. All of these far-left fanatics are going to scare away the independent voters of America.

Ask Howard Dean if loud-mouthed irrational behavior gets you far in politics or not...

If you actually need phsyical proof that the protests were not effective for Kerry, check Newsweek's most recent poll which gives Bush a commandable double-digit lead of 52-41 over the Senator. After the DNC, Kerry did not get as large of a boost in poll numbers.

I think it needs to be said that its ridiculous that a quick assignment to comment on this article has turned into the need to add your personal political beliefs. Some of these were inappropriate and there's no excuse for that.

[Jonah]

Tony, it's really hypocritical for you to call other people out for stating their agreement with my POV while you throw bombs around.

Also, your view of what the protests did or didn't do is irrelevant. Sure, they didn't sway the entire electorate away from voting for Bush but what they did do was mobilize and amplify the dissent of hundreds of thousands of citizens who demand political change. Sure they weren't all over the major media outlets but there were big stories in all of the major newspapers and the web, which is now the primary newsource for at least 60% of the country, was covered in stories about the protests. Just the fact that someone like yourself is commenting on the protests proves their power.

Finally, your point about the arrests is irrelevant as well. Let's think about it this way, around 1500 people were arrested in total, many of which have turned out to be illegitimate anyway. So if we say that there were a grand total of 500,000 protestors in the streets then the total amount of 1500 arrested represents .03% of the total protestors. That means the protests have been 99.97% peaceful and legal(if all arrests were legitimate, which they weren't). That's a high rate of success. These were not the protests of Chicago 68 or Seattle WTO. They were a new kind of protest; heterogeneous, collaborative, peaceful and creative. And again, here we are discussing them so././.

[Sean]

I've been hoping for some time now that the American public would wake up to the endless lies and break free of the manipulation the administration disguises as protection. Like other readers however, I don't feel confident that will happen anytime soon. It's very sad to feel myself being beaten down, even as an observer, from the past four years in our country that historically prides itself on being strong, free willed and able to make change for the better. Yes, I'm jaded thinking about the fear that flows through the minds of half the people in the USA. And hearing the VP telling people that another attack will happen if JK takes office (wha?!) just blows me away! The nature of terrorism is uncontrollable no matter what party you're associated with. Just like the guy who wants to break into your home or car, if he really wants to, he will. The real issues are about the lies that got us in Iraq (again) and the misguided good vs. evil plot that will just perpetuate more violence anyway. Protecting the world from what? Possible training ground for terrorists? WMD's that didn't exist?! No, from anyone that stands in the way of corporate power, greediness and narrow minded thinking.

Nothing may sway the people of today while watching the biased entertainment also known as network news that traditionally is thought to be truth. There is no truth anymore. Only fear. And we know from Frank Herbert's, "Dune" that 'fear is the mind-killer.' The GOP has the general public exactly were they want them. It may seem we need to speak out against the politicians but the real battle - the most difficult one - is the battle to get your neighbor to turn off the lies and find a new source of inspiration.