A-Infos (en) Media, Anarchists of the world unite - in cyberspace

Every scholar of 20th-century history can tell you about the Communist International - usually 
called Comintern, and strictly speaking the third in a series of four global fraternities whose aim 
was to pursue the class struggle all over the world. ---- Is it possible to imagine an Anarchist 
International, a trans-national version of the inchoate but impassioned demonstrations that have 
ravaged Greece this month? (Perhaps because it is easier to say what Greece's malcontents are 
against than what they are for, the word "anarchist" is an accepted catch-all term for the 
anti-establishment rebels who form the hard core of the Athenian protesters.) ---- By definition, 
anarchy is harder to propagate than rigid Leninism. Whatever is spreading from Athens, it is not a 
clear program for a better world.

The malcontents of Greece include ideological class warriors, nostalgists for the protests against 
the junta of 1967-74 and people (including drug dealers and bank robbers) with a grudge against the 
police.

Relations between police and the counter-culture have worsened recently; the police are accused 
(rightly) of bullying migrants, the bohemians of dallying with terrorism. A messy scene, with no 
obvious message.

But the psychological impulse behind the Greek protests - a sense of rage against all authority, 
which came to a head after a 15-year-old boy was killed by a police bullet - can now be transmitted 
almost instantaneously, in ways that would make the Bolsheviks very jealous.

These days, images (moving as well as still) spread faster than words; and images, of course, 
transcend language barriers.

E-communications are now a familiar feature in pro-democracy protests against dictators. Equally 
fast-moving, say specialists, is the role of technology in what might be called "undemocratic 
protests": violent acts in prosperous, networked societies.

This became obvious during the French riots of 2005, when teenagers posted blogs that urged people 
to "burn the cops" - and made massive use of text messages to co-ordinate the protests.

The youths who trashed Budapest in 2006 relied on blogs to enlist supporters, and to distribute an 
audio recording of the prime minister admitting government corruption.

Already, the Greek riots are prompting talk of a new era of networked protest. The volume of online 
content they have inspired is remarkable. Photos and videos of the chaos, often shot with cell 
phones, were posted online almost in real time.

Twitter, a service for exchanging short messages, has brimmed with live reports from the streets of 
Athens, most of them in Greek but a few in English.

A tribute to the slain teenager - a clip of photos with music from a popular rock band - appeared 
on YouTube shortly after his death; more than 160,000 people have seen it.

A similar tribute group on Facebook has attracted more than 130,000 members, generating thousands 
of messages and offering links to more than 1,900 related items: images of the protests, cartoons 
and leaflets.

A memorial was erected in Second Life, a popular virtual environment, giving its users a glimpse of 
real-life material from the riots. Many other online techniques - such as maps detailing police 
deployments and routes of the demonstrations - came of age in Athens.

And as thousands of photos and videos hit non-Greek blogs and forums, small protests were triggered 
in many European cities, including Istanbul and Madrid. Some 32 people were arrested in Copenhagen.

The spread of sympathy protests over what began as a local Greek issue has big implications for the 
more formal anti-globalization movement. That movement has ignored the idea of spontaneous but 
networked protest, and instead focused on taking large crowds to set-piece events like summits.

Such methods look outdated now. Governments are not the only things that networked "anarchy" threatens.
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A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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