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I am
an anargeek. An anarchogeek. An anarchist and a geek, among others.
· · ·
I'm a geek, because I can be considered part of those who like to use,
understand and alter those weird machines we call computers.
I'm a geek, then, because I am curious about the way they function. I
wonder about what to do with their programs. And I feel excited, sometimes,
by some of those uses that have not yet been explored or thought of.
I'm a geek, because these machines are part of my daily life. I use them
as clocks, as sound devices, as libraries, as typewriters, as coffee machines,
as phones or memorandums. But on top of all, they're wide playgrounds.
A support for communication, discoveries, creativity.
I'm a geek, also because I have embedded digital communication at some
point. Almost everyday, if not many times a day, I do read my e-mail,
administrate some Internet servers, look after the network I'm sharing,
inform myself, learn and exchange through forums, mailing-lists and miscellaneous
websites, chat and meet through IRC.
I'm a geek, still, because I like the term. It has first been an insult.
But then, it's been reclaimed by those it mentions, turned positive and
set the roots for a community, as some other "cultural minorities" did.
· · ·
I'm an anarchist, because I reject a society that's based upon domination.
I'm convinced that self-empowerment and mutual respect are not only possible
together and desirable, but that they can be achieved through equality,
solidarity and self-management.
I'm an anarchist, then, because I am outraged by those social structures
which cause mass exploitation, sufferings and deaths on a permanent basis.
I want to contribute in putting this system down, by participating in
social struggles and being involved in radical grassroots collectives.
I'm an anarchist, because I see my daily life as an opportunity to experiment
my principles. I'm willing to break with social norms, by refusing calls
to consumption and competition; reject alienation, by deconstructing oppressive
& dominant behaviours, by developing collective & egalitarian alternatives.
I'm an anarchist, also because I tend to feel skeptical towards "official"
information, I want to be critical towards mainstream and institutionnal
media, since they format our vision with omissions, lies and misinformation.
Rejecting self-proclaimed objectivity, I'm seeking for other means of
informing and educating myself, for alternative tools to generate and
spread the news.
I'm an anarchist, still, because I stand against the paranoia that seizes
society, thanks to the manipulation of peoples' fears. I refuse the criminalisation,
personal data collection and repression processes which are being launched
by authorities against the poor, lower class and activists. Needless to
say we have to resist.
· · ·
I'm an anargeek, because I'm willing to bring together technological creativity
and computer know-how with ethical considerations and political practices.
While thought provides practice with meaning and direction, practice enhances
thought and offers ideas a concrete expression.
I'm an anargeek, then, because I wish to live in a society based upon
self-determination, free cooperation and collective intelligence. Thus
I endorse the free software movement, which comes as the result of the
worldwide volunteer collaboration of thousands, allowing anyone not only
to share and understand, but also to modify and distribute computer programs.
I'm an anargeek, because I refuse to be enslaved by either a political
system or a computer system. While states impose laws upon citizens, proprietary
software force standards upon users. While authorities prevent agitation
through repression, the companies attempt to kill alternatives through
patents. I want to be able to self-manage my life, just as I want to be
able to understand, modify or create the tools I use.
I'm an anargeek, also because I want to resist the never-ending consumption
enforced by capitalism, that keeps on producing goods, throwing away and
wasting resources, while manipulating peoples' minds, always. I recycle
hardware that's considered obsolete, re-animate it with spare parts, liberate
it with free software. I like reaching the limits of out-dated machines,
creating rather than consuming, in an attempt to mix imagination and politics
altogether.
I'm an anargeek, because I feel the need to disrupt some attitudes that
stick to the communities I'm involved with. I wish the radical-left political
and alternative computer cultures to get to know each other for a number
of reasons: it is essential to challenge the strong sexist culture that
lies within geekism and to critically assess the high specialisation that
goes with computer science, as it is necessary to have militant movements
understand digital potentials.
I'm an anargeek, also because computing happens to be an excellent medium
for producing and spreading independent information. So do I participate
to counter-information networks such as Indymedia: an autonomous media
that is spread around the world and open to all, that breaks the borders
between actors/spectators/journalists and raises issues mainstream media
cautiously ignore or disinform about.
I'm an anargeek, still, because if computers do facilitate social control
and domination, I do believe they can also be used as instruments of self-empowerment,
communication and sedition. Since knowledge is more useful when shared
rather than kept to oneself, I participate in skill-sharing workshops,
or get involved in setting up collective non-commercial tools and "services"
such as autonomous servers, free Internet access points, websites or hardware
solidarity projects...
· · ·
This "manifesto" does not aim at speaking up for you. You're free to partly
adopt it, fully endorse it, totally reject it. And because there's just
as many anargeeks as individuals, I encourage everyone to write and execute
her/his manifesto, experiment his/her ideas, draw her graffiti or his
ASCII!
Starification, leadership and passivity? No thanks! Everyone can invent
and re-program him/herself!
December 2002, darkveggy@anargeek.net
English translation by darkveggy, June 2004.
· · ·
Translation note: "anargeek" stands for "anarchogeek". While "anargeek"
is not very verbose in English, it instantly makes sense in French, provided
the reader knows about the terms "anarchist" and "geek" ("anar" being
short for "anarchist"). Since "anarchogeek" is already known as a blog
(rabble's, from Indymedia - http://anarchogeek.com/),
"anargeek" was kept.
Copylefted with the Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
2.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/).
-- d a r k v e g g y - gnupg key @ https://squat.net/darkveggy/gpg.asc
v 1 . 0 b -- a n a r g e e k . n e t
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