Weekly Post 12
1: This might be a bit tangential, but in the preface Hardt and Negri mention the Soviet “barriers” to the flow of capital. While that may have been true in Russia for a time, I have to dispute the degree to which the Soviet Union really kept the capitalist system “out” of its sphere of influence. The capitalist system permeated the Soviet system in various ways, which somewhat lends itself to the assertion made by Empire that I question in my second question.
2: On Hardt and Negri, I think the notion that the current system is a better platform to challenge repressive systems is a questionable one. While Hardt and Negri do use global flows of capital as the backdrop for the current system, nationalism has not been exclusive to the left as a means of political expression. Increasingly, right-wing and other forms of nationalism – especially as it relates to military power projection and civil rights – has utilized the defense of the nation-state as a means by which to repress more people further away from the nation. Despite their claims otherwise, localism has been effective, if not for the left, than for the right.
3: While the Dourish article is intentionally very specific, I wonder if it might provide a broader framework for changing the way people view Africa. I’ve read that African countries have to release brochures to dispel popular conceptions in America, namely that Africa is a continent of nothing but violent warlords and civil wars, by showing off that these nations have middle and working class families just like the United States does. Could that be a viable way, in addition to the post-colonial efforts being currently espoused by the program, to encourage a different outlook on Africa?
Definitions:
Empire: By Hardt and Negri, Empire seems to be a term for the prevailing capitalist economic system which governs national and transitional affairs, perhaps comparably to the classical “neoliberalism” moniker.
Post-colonial: An understanding of the world outside of the auspices of the traditional imperial/colonial system that dominated the world between the Middle Ages and the end of World War II.