Italian Media Activism and the Repurposing of the Social

From Collectives to Connectives: Italian Media Activism and the Repurposing of the Social by Alessandra Renzi A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology and Equity Studies Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Alessandra Renzi 2011 From Collectives to Connectives: Italian Media Activism and the Repurposing of the Social Alessandra Renzi Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology and Equity Studies Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto 2011 Abstract The dissertation develops the concept of repurposing as a means for thinking with activists and the issues they confront. It moves alongside pirate television collective insu^tv as they draw on a variety of histories, traditions and technological resources for their practices. Repurposing functions on multiple levels and at multiple scales, from the recycling of materials and spaces to the harnessing and relaying of encounters and events within an ever-expanding field of social relations. When seen as a way of connecting activist groups and communities, the repurposing of media contributes to strengthening an often fragmented and conflicted activist field. Indeed, insu^tv’s use of information and technology brings to the fore the value of media activism for the creation of social assemblages in which the “media” literally mediates between individuals and among individuals and their environment, instituting and developing an ontogenetic relation (Simondon, 1989). Yet, rather than simply making sense of insu^tv’s practices, the concept of repurposing also provokes a discussion regarding the ethics of connection. For insu^tv, this connective ethics can be understood as a set of rules and principles that facilitate the ii evaluation of actions, communication, and thought according to an immanent mode of collective existence (Deleuze, 1988; Simondon, 1989). For the author, herself a member of insu^tv and an academic researcher, this immanent position helps challenge traditional models of knowing and envisioning social change and instead proposes alternatives that attend to the singularity and relation among new political movements, and to the political potential of research methods that focus on process and fold activism into academia. The methodology is inspired by the militant research methods of the Italian Autonomia movement (conricerca or inchiesta), as developed and performed by activists themselves. While attending to the complexity of social struggles, the concept of repurposing enables an approach to research and experimentation as modes of sociability, where these modes are themselves repurposed through an ethics of connection. This line informs the relation between ethics and subjectivation, as well as between ethics and micropolitics, facilitating the emergence of new modes of political action through the repurposing of the social field itself. iii Acknowledgments This research project, spanning over six years of activity, owes less to my perseverance and much more to the inspiration, trust, encouragement and collaboration of the many, many wonderful people I have encountered along the way. Their generosity, friendship and wisdom have affected and sustained me all along––and will stay with me during future projects. Monica Heller, Kari Dehli, Sue Ruddick, Etienne Turpin, Nicol Angrisano, Alessandro Verna, Alfonso De Vito, Luca Manunza, Michela Porcelli, Piero Di Iorio, Raffele Aspide, Raffele Romano, Sara Cotugno, Simone Veneroso, Francesco Festa, Gennaro Navarra, the compagni from Telestreet, Annaliza Pelizza, Ciro D'Aniello, Franco Bifo Berardi, Irmgard Emmelhainz, Troy Cochrane, Nasrin Himada, A.K. Thompson, Christine Shaw, Lucas Freeman, Laura Kane, and all the others: Each will know his own. We have been aided, inspired, multiplied (Deleuze and Guattari). iv Table of Contents 1. Introduction Contemporary manifestations of political movements and Telestreet Political research, collaboration and the struggle against representation Methodology and data collection Chapter summaries 2. Six propositions on Telestreet Proposition One: Telestreet is a social movement Proposition Two: Telestreet is a tactical media practice Proposition Three: Telestreet is a counter-public Proposition Four: Teelstreet/Insutv is a discursive formation Proposition Five: Telestreet is a terrorist organization Proposition Six: Telestreet is a form of political subjectivity Conclusions 3. Books, Radios and D.I.Y. Factories of Desire The madness of creativity: a brief history of the seventies Radio Alice’s techno-social wonderland Exodus, autonomy and composition: Autonomia L’absence d’oeuvre 4. Differential Accumulation: Berlusconi and political-economic power From rags to riches: undoing the Berlusconi myth Folding topology: from business to politics 5. Squats, Guerrilla Communication and the Information Glut: Contemporary Italian media activism The Panther and the fax Translocal assemblages: the Zapatistas of Chiapas Politics beyond counter-information 6. Hacking the Sensorium: Telestreet and communication in Italy Television unpacked Television repacked Not an Obituary 7. Frantz Fanon in Southern Italy: Neapolitan activism Minor histories of struggles in the streets Porosity and collective individuation 8. From Collectives to “Connectives” Domenica Aut and other productions Repurposing v 9. Conclusions An ethics of connection Appendix Data, Tables, DVD vi List of Appendices Appendix 1 Berlusconi’s firm, Mediaset accumulation from 2003-2008 Appendix 2 Naples Global Forum Symbol vii List of Acronyms CD Cristian Democrats CSOA Centro Sociale Occupato Autogestito Autonomous social centre MDo Movimento Disoccupati Organizzati Organised unemployed movement ICP Italian Communist Party viii Chapter 1 Introduction A theorising intellectual, for us, is no longer a subject, a representing or representative consciousness. Those who act and struggle are no longer represented, either by a group or a union that appropriates the right to stand as their conscience. Who speaks and acts? It is always a multiplicity, even within the person who speaks and acts. All of us are “groupuscules”. Representation no longer exists; there’s only action––theoretical action and practical action which serve as relays and form networks (Deleuze in Foucault and Lotringer, [1972] 1996: 75). My research is an instance of social dynamics and political action in Italy. Although the “subject” of my thesis project is Telestreet ––a network of activist pirate television stations based in Italy–– my research performs a pragmatic intervention as a “situated practice” (Haraway, 1988) alongside that of Telestreet. This intervention begins by understanding Telestreet as a “process” and therefore enabling my research to challenge the academic tendency to fix a “subject” of inquiry a priori. By attending to the dynamic movements and constituent features that shape Telestreet, my research engages the necessarily incomplete and continuous expressions of self-determination that subtend the broader political struggle within the Telestreet project. This is done both as a way of offering other lenses from which to look at contemporary political movements and as a way of actively participating in their practices of self-determination. My dissertation draws together two lines that form my inquiry by incorporating both academic research and political activism into a processual mapping of these mutually engendering registers of practice. Both primary lines are continually being shaped and redrawn as new connections are discovered and created. Indeed, the actual work of mapping begins by drawing contours and lines through practice––the practices of a researcher in sociology and an activist involved in the Telestreet project. I see practices as the forces that continuously shape and reshape social formations and their agents (e.g. Deleuze and Guattari 1987; Deleuze 1988; Foucault 1978). Starting my 1 2 inquiry from practice enables me to look at the Telestreet project outside of pre-fabricated analytical criteria that tend to characterise Telestreet as a static, delimited entity, focussing instead on the movement and relationships among the elements that engender the project and inform its actors. Telestreet is often portrayed as an isolated phenomenon, as a direct result of media consolidation, or as a neat play with the medium of television (Garcia 2006). This approach overlooks the emergence of forms of activism that are embedded in and thrive on a field of autonomous practices, which are tied to struggles against dominant powers and to moments of confrontation yet are not defined by them. For researchers, a perception of the social that is based on ready-made categories of analysis diverts attention from emergent forms and sites of struggle that do not match pre-formed parameters of how structures come into being. Moreover, viewing social movements and their protests as the main medium of political action limits the possibilities of conceptualizing social change. For activists, a limited vision of how society changes restricts the space for envisioning action and reduces the possibilities to act in the world, whereas recognising the importance of continuously adapting their practices of resistance opens up the possibility of devising effective forms of resistance. At the same time, acknowledging the growing interconnectedness of fields and issues where specific forms of power are exercised enables human agents to draw on the

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