the fear of extremists

This week’s question was about e-extremist. I know that extremist parties have strongly over-used the Internet, the possibilities given to them by forums, and the help the Internet gave them to to reach millions more of potential future partisans. They will continue in the future to use whatever technology can help them to continue their propaganda. I have decided to speak more of the extremism world in general because I am still puzzled at the reasons why so many extremists parties still exist in 2007 (with members from different parts of the society: poor or rich, young or old, educated or not, …) with the history knowledge everyone has nowadays. This subject is for me on an equal level to the GM technology, I could talk about it during hours as I feel strongly about it (family in law from Germany, own family from France, my grand-father was in the French Resistance so you can imagine the reasons of my strong interest), and it has been extremely hard not to write more about it.

Extremism parties have since a long time existed and nearly everyone in the world knows about one of the most famous extremist party “The Nazi” and its repercussions, the second world war and the extermination of so many Jews, gays, mentally ill people, and many other people that are not fitting in the correct society. This is one of the common and main traits of nearly every extremist group: “faithfulness to racial purity” (Ray and Marshall, 2001;2). We, or I at least, would think we would have learnt with history that this is something we do not want to happen again.

But we should think again to the light of what is happening in the world and the list we can find on http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=354. Some recent events can be frightful and so similar to what was happening in the Reich Era from 1933 to 1945. Except this time we are in a global international world and aware of it via the Internet and the TV. I must personally say I always taken the United States and the horrible stories I could hear on TV about the extreme and astonishing acts (hanging and killing families of black people, dragging them behind a car until they die, stories often heard on American Channel while in Japan) of the KKK as something that could only happen there, especially in 2007, and could not happen in Europe or Australia. I am a bit of an utopist and one event that is still shocking me is the event of Cronulla in Australia, where a few extremists have been able to reach, with the help of mobile phone, many more and have led to the event we know. Australia, this country formed now largely of migrants with only a few aboriginals left. One of the only country in the world were something like what happened in Cronulla should never happen, where everyone should accept everyone, regardless of their race or of their ancestors. Another more recent event is what is happening right now in France. It is now in France the election time to name a new president and it is well know that Mr Sarkozy will perhaps win with the help of the vote of the extreme right party of Jean Marie Le Pen. Mr Sarkozy is going against Mrs Segolene Royal but she does not have much chances against him and the help of Mr Le Pen hundred of thousands followers will help him to perhaps win. Jean Marie Le Pen has tried since many years to be elected without success and I was hoping that the French people were clever enough not to make the same mistake that was made in Germany in 1933 with the election of Hitler. It looks like perhaps I will be proven wrong.

Thinking a bit to the future and looking at the history of the Nazis on http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/index.htm we could argue that if Mr Sarkozy win the election and become the president of France, events like the one happening during the Nazi Era could happen in what we would like to believe to be an educated world. Why is it that after so many years those extremism parties are still going on strong?

Extremists use the natural fear many have and also the natural protection we have in trying to put problems on the count of others. Some of the extremists’ ideas look pretty serious and credible. As we can read in the Australia First party website, rebuild Australian Manufacturing Industries or strengthen the family looks as credible ideas until you read further.


But do we think about the future, to what would happened if a majority of voters would allow some extremist powerful people to take the reign of our country. In the case of the Nazis, people were often obliged to do what was simply told to them in order to save their family. In today’s world, do we think it would be so much different and were would it stop? What would you do if someone was telling you “you have to get rid of that person because she is not white or because she does not believe in our government? If you don’t do it, we kill your family”. Would anyone be sure that he or she would refuse to arm someone if their children life was at stake? I hope I would never be put in front of such an horrible choice, I hope no one will ever live again what happened with the Nazis.

Extremists exist in many different countries of the World, not only the so-called white countries. We do not want to allow extremists group like the talibans, KKK, Japanese Extremists (http://www.nieuwsbank.nl/en/2007/04/20/r016.htm ), to take over and be in charge of their country so how can we accept a party like the Australia First Party or the French Front National (FN) to try to gain votes without doing even half of the action we would against the talibans for exemple. Are they better because they are white. …like the majority of us.

By searching and reading information on a lot of extremist websites I was shocked to think to what would happened to us if we would allow someone like Sarkozy or Le Pen to govern us, especially with the advance that cloning has made (cloning in extremists hands would allow them to make the humanity at the image they think is the only possible). We are fighting the cloning advance being afraid to what will stop the keeper of the power of cloning to make the world to their perfect view of it, but we do not fight as much extremist parties.

To give an exemple, my friend Ann’s family is from Germany. Her mother in law is what you would call perfect Aryan, white, blond, blue eyes. So if Ann were living during the time of the Nazism, the family would be safe with their really white skin, blue eyes and dark blond hair. Think again, their child is like her husband (he has also 100% German blood but looks more like a Muslim, which is funny. Especially to see the way people act at the airport custom for exemple). So her daughter has darker skin, dark blond hair and brown eyes. What would you do if someone were telling you she does not pass the test, she has to go. Anyway, she would not have been born in the Nazi era as her husband would not have passed the test either and would have been a reject. I am horrified to see that this is exactly what could happen in a perhaps not too far future if we do not stop extremism to take the power to govern our countries.

Our world is exactly that, a world made of different countries, with different races, different people, different languages, different cultures. That is what exactly gives our world this interesting place to live. Extremist parties would like the world to be at one image, in the case of Australia or the United States, to the white Anglo Saxon image, with the same culture, the same goals. It does not look too interesting does it? This should be one good reason to stop them to propagate their “one race only” policy.

So to finish this week’s blog, I would say that I strongly believe we will for a long time have to fight the extremists’ parties, and they will, if not for ever, at least for a long time, continue to make their propaganda with the technologies at their disposal (internet, or in the future perhaps other technologies). Perhaps one day will we be able to eradicate extremists parties, but again, we will have to be careful not to eradicate every little extremists (I could be called an extremist as often I am not really easily ready to accept to change my ideas on a subject that is dear to my heart, so does this mean I should be eradicated and if so how?!?) as this will in the end also give one only thought, race. We have to accept perhaps that not everyone sees or accepts things the same, that they are crazy people everywhere that will commit horrible things we could not even think about, and that we have to live with this idea and try more to lower, as I do not think it is possible to totally eradicate those actions, the violence and crimes that are parts of the extremist world and part of the majority of their members.

what is left to the youth

While listening to the lecture this week about alternative eculture and the youth subcultures and also reading the recommended reading and searching internet websites, I wanted to look at the reason of why I think it is so difficult today to pinpoint some alternative or sub cultures that are only, or especially, parts of the youth.

To tackle the question I had to go back to my personal youth and think a bit to these years. In the late 70 and late 80’s, in Switzerland, being part of the youth movement was being between 17 to 25 years old. Before 17 years old you were considered as a teenager and after 25 a young adult. Young people had their own music. In Switzerland, The 70”s were the time of French singer like Johnny, Dalida, Claude Francois, Eddy Mitchell, Julio Iglesias (Enrike Iglesias Dad) or France Gall. In the English department it was the time of Grease, the 80’s were the time of Renaud, Jean-Louis Aubert, Julie, Duran Duran, Madonna, Michael Jackson or Boy George. Young people or group had their own way of wearing clothes and dancing depending of which “group” they were part. Personally, that meant, black long coats and black clothes (no emo sort of feeling involved, just a way to differentiate you from others), cool way of dancing in group (would love to do it again), special “pub” or bar where we were hanging between friends. That was our own personal culture that we were thinking and hoping no older generation would understand. Not so much different than the youth of today.

Still something was different, so different than today. Our parents were considered by us as “old”. Less than our grandparents but still in the old department, out of fashion, and we strongly believed that they were not knowing what was going on in our life, our group of friends, or brain. The usual family was composed of a working dad, the king in the house, a mom at home and the children. Parents were acting like parents, like older people, and if they were not it was not in the front of their children. Our parents could not buy us many things as only one of them was working at that time, money was often really tight and material things were expensive. We could not get a new cd or a new video every week. We did not pass as much time in front of the tv or playing computer games as they was usually only one tv (still black and white) per family and no or only a few computer games in the house and so were often not as aware of what was going on in the countries next to ours as we are now, also not so aware at all of what was going on in the rest of the world.

Today, in the 2000 something, we live in a total different world than many generations have. The technology has made so much progress that we have access to many things from all around the world without even travelling. We are inundated by ads, messages, and ideas in our everyday life. We do not have so much time to think of what we really do want personally, it is more we want what we have seen or been told about it. Our parents do not really act as old people, not even our grandparents. We do know that they have already lived many interesting years like the 60’s freedom (sex, drug, rock and roll) time or the 80’s weird clothes and hair time. The 90”s can be remembered as being the time of Aids, 9/11. Not really exciting for youths. Parents of today are often acting like if they were still in their teenager’s period. They do not feel old and do not want to be viewed as such. As written by Steve Colins in Small Fire (May 2002), nobody is a teenager anymore, because everybody is”.

What does it leave for the youth to be different than their parents? Youths have always needed to differentiate from adult. This is part of the process to enter in the adult life. There is the need for youth to be different, to be better than previous generations. There is this need of wanting to be different than your parents, not making the same mistakes than they did, being able to have a better future.

But in today’s world the lines have been blurred and many things have already been lived or done by precedent generations. From 1995 to 2007 whatever has been taken by the youth movements as alternative cultures has quickly be taken by industries to make it a lucrative object. And these alternative or sub cultures will be shown all over the world – with the help of the radio, TV or the Internet, as being something new and trendy where in fact they only are the same old thing as last xx years ago, but repackaged with a lot of merchandising around.

So in the end, what can we find these last ten years that have been left for teenagers to be different from their parents? Not a lot, the big companies are constantly brainwashing our kids and trying to put them in the mold of conformity. But there is an unease feeling in the air. And we have seen the extent of it in the last years with the filming on their mobile of other youth to be bashed by many, killing others students. This is a very worrying thought to see that for some, the only things left for youth to be different than the majority of the older generations is to be violent, violence often used against their own peers. They are looking at being different and being violent may be one of the only things that was left to them by the main part of the adult world.

I would personally say that we, as parents, should not forget that we are our children parents and not their mate. We must act as a parent, caring, understanding and friendly and leave them the right to be young, to experience their own culture and to try to leave the youth this culture, their own, without always trying to take this for us, often in order to stay young and look cool. If the youth of today feels there is still a bit of place left for their own personal, not lucrative, new cultures, than they will perhaps believe in their future, believe in themselves.

Segolene Royal - Ambitious woman and old prejuges

Prepare together the Victory for 2007

I was reading an article on a Swiss newspaper (their website is available through the internet). If you can read French have a look at this article as it is pretty interesting http://www.24heures.ch/pages/home/24_heures/english_corner/news/news_detail/(contenu)/32858

Segolene Royal is a woman that is trying to be the next French President and to translate briefly the article "She is eaten by ambition, and Mr Claud Allegre, ex minister to the socialiste education, think it is enough to disqualify her". As written in the article an ambitious man is alright, but a woman, oh my god". The picture that is in the article shows a powerful women that wants more. I do not personnaly know Mrs Royal and do not know if she is good for the President opening opportunities, but I do know that every women, even the best, would have the same reactions in this masculine power world.

I was astonish to see that nothing as really changed in every part of the world, even the so called educated France. Common, we know that Mrs Clinton will - perhaps - be the next US president, so are we just waiting to see if THE GOD, THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE, or at least of our world : the United States, is going to accept fully a woman as a human being, like the man, to accept in other countries the candidature of women to powerful places without criticizing whatever we would not criticize in a man?

I personnaly hope that one day, excellent women will direct our countries, Australia, USA, Switzerland or others, and show that they can be even better than a man to their duties, that they care for their country, but most importantly care for the citizen, the nature, the animals of this country and will do whatever it takes to bring them a better world, without compromises for money, power, friendship or any other things.

I would like to be able to be alive in a hundred years to see if we have really advanced in the acceptance of the image of the woman as equal as the man.

Paul Watzlawick

Another great philosopher has died on March 31st, 2007, Mr Paul Watzlawick.　

He was born in Austria but after having studying in many countries he went to live in the United States. He, with other colleagues, has had a major influence on the research and psychology world.

You can have a look at different website to learn about this great philosopher:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Watzlawick
http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Theory/watzlawick/

Eculture jamming – organisation of resistance

The advertisement makes us blind
Resist to the advertising agression

Eculture jamming is not a subject I had really thought about. While seeing the film in class, I realized I agreed with the fact that there is a need for activists in order to oblige us to think further what we believe we see or watch without consequences. But I have also been annoyed by the fact that I felt that the same activists were vandalizing the public or private property (Reverend Bill http://www.revbilly.com/ appears a little insane sometimes and I think this can frighten children who are in the Disney Shops). Perhaps that shows I have been well educated, like many, to not really perceive or seek the hidden messages and goals of advertisements in the street, in store or on the Internet. These messages are only present to allow companies and governments to preserve/extend their power.

Culture jamming exists since many years. We can see on http://www.billboardliberation.com/history.html, that already in 1977 the resistance to publicity was already very active in the United States, then later in other countries. Since the end of 1980, the culture jamming has enormously progressed and Internet only helped to promote the term "Eculture jamming".

As written by Mark Dery in http://www.markdery.com/culture_jamming.htmlming.html, Culture jamming, “might best be defined as media hacking, information warfare, terror-art, and guerrilla semiotics, all in one.” We can also read in http://antipub.net/association/index.php?page=assoce%20/association/index.php?page=assoce%20dex.php?page=assoce%20 that the activists try "to help with the awakening of the advertising processes intended for the conditioning of the person, the consumer and the citizen and to fight their human, social and environmental harmful effects." Culture jamming activists think that it is necessary to dispute the aggression or advertising intoxication we are the object with slogans which will make us think.

I remember that twenty years ago, we were disputing in Switzerland the possibilities of putting billboards on farmer or properties lands close to the main roads. We did not want to resemble France which is inundated with billboards destroying the beautiful French landscape. We especially did not want to be obliged to read advertisements wherever we were going.

Back to school
with no brands

Nowadays with the surface of the Internet we are far from the simple advertisements on Billboards. Each day of myriad of advertisements (links, pop up, banners...) for certain parties, companies and products make their appearance on our computer without having requested our agreement to see them. It would seem it will not stop in a near future as advertisings have find a pot of gold with Internet. Without one realizing and especially without asking our opinion, companies are infiltrating not only the adults but also the children private sphere, with the help of the computer. These companies are slowly but surely modelling and dictating the way of thinking and seeing things of the present and future generations.
anti-advertisement week


There is a true malaise to see that many do not ask themselves questions about these non-stops advertising thrown every day to our faces that are imposing themselves, without our opinion, in our private sphere but more importantly in our brains. After some researches I have been impressed by the number of adds disturbing me but more impressed of the fact I never thought to this kind of harassing by advertisements. How to explain the fact that as women we do not become more angry to see how the image of the woman is represented in the advertising world: Sexy, thin, a bit of a whore, ... The only “normal” women are often represented at the image of the mother or grandmother, but this is also changing. More and more the ideal mom model is represented as thin and sexy. Difficult to follow in the real world with children to educated, cleaning to do, and work. The man is not forgotten. The ideal man is usual represented as muscular-but not too much, sexy, tall. The normal and more common men are not considered as desirable and having success and are often represented as losers. One could continue like that during hours, the ideal home is sparkling, great, perfect - the garden also – the ideal family includes a mom, a dad, a boy and a girl, a dog. In short, all families having only one child, being divorced or not having a perfect house, or a perfect dog, do not form part of this image dictated by advertising, this image of successful people, this image which we have accepts in our brains.

For the question if I think culture jamming has a positive or negative influence, I do not think we should look at the positive or negative because we will find examples for both sides. I rather think that it is a necessity, an obligation, in our actual world. We store all these images which are imposed upon us without asking ourselves questions and it is necessary that we start to think of the impact not only on our current world but also on our future world. Do we want our future generations to endure the dictatorship of the entreprises, stores, governments without having the right to say or to think anything? I hope not and I hope especially that more and more citizens will join these groups of “eculture jamming” activists so that we do not forget that the freedom of expression exists for each human being, not only for the companies selling of the products or for the governments.

The advertisement looks at you
Consume!!! Obey!!!

If we do not rise to dispute this daily aggression we will finish in a world where everything and everyone must be uniform, to the image and ideas dictated by publicities. Any person being unable, or not wanting, to form part of this model will be considered as a marginal or as a “worth nothing” and will be put aside this ideal society. A surreal and frightful thought but which is likely to become true if we do not do anything.

To not see it is fat. To not ask us: What is it?
Only looking to succeed, to eat many.
Just eat (vulgar) it. Mike Do

My links, go and have a look at them:

http://www.ld.swin.edu.au/staff_dev/entered/html/jaw4.htm
http://www.grainvert.com/article.php3?id_article=539
http://www.presumescoupables.net/motgraf.php3?id_mot=51
http://antipub.net/association/index.php?page=plan
http://sniggle.net/hacktivism.php
http://www.mediawatch.com/gallery/ads?page=2
http://www.antipub.be/avecpub

Traduction francaise:

Eculture jamming n’est pas un sujet auquel j’avais vraiment reflechi jusqu’a ce cours de eculture. En voyant le film en classe, je me suis rendue compte que j’etais d’accord avec le fait qu’il faille des activistes nous obligeant a reflechir plus loin que ce que nous croyons simplement regarder sans consequences. Mais j’ai aussi ete derangee par le fait que quelque part au fond de moi il me semblait que souvent ces memes activistes vendalisaient la propriete publique ou privee (Reverend Bill http://www.revbilly.com/ parait un peu fou parfois et je pense que cela peut effrayer des enfants qui se trouvent che Disney). Cela montre peut-etre que j’ai ete bien eduquee, comme beaucoup, a ne pas vraiment percevoir ou rechercher les messages et les buts caches des publicites, que ce soit dans la rue, dans les magasines ou sur internet. Ces messages sont uniquement la pour permettre aux grandes entreprises et aux gouvernements de conserver/etendre leur pouvoir.

Le culture jamming existe depuis de nombreuses annees. Nous pouvons voir sur http://www.billboardliberation.com/history.html, que deja en 1977 la resistance au niveau de la publicite etait deja tres active aux Etats-Unis, puis plus tard dans d’autres pays. Depuis la fin des annees 1980, le culture jamming a enormement progresse et internet n’a fait que continuer a promouvoir ce terme qu’est “eculture jamming”.

Comme ecrit par Mark Dery dans http://www.markdery.com/culture_jamming.htmlre_jamming.html, Culture jamming "peut etre mieux definit comme media hacking, guerre de l'information, terreur-art, et gerilla semiotique". Nous pouvons aussi lire dans http://antipub.net/association/index.php?page=assoce que les activistes essaie “d'aider à la prise de conscience des procédés publicitaires destinés à la mise en condition de la personne, du consommateur et du citoyen et d'en combattre les nuisances humaines, sociales et environnementales.” Les activismes antipub pensent qu’il faut contester l’agression ou intoxication publicitaire dont nous faisons l’objet ceci par des slogans qui font reflechir.

Je me rappelle qu’il y a une vingtaine d’annees, nous contestions en Suisse la possibilites de mettre des panneaux publicitaires sur le terrain des fermiers ou terrains de proprietes pres des grandes routes. Nous ne voulions pas ressembler a la France qui elle est innondee de panneaux publicitaires plus ou moins grands qui enlaidissent le si beau paysage francais et ne voulions surtout pas etre obliges de lire des messages publicitaires ou que nous allions.

De nos jours avec l’aire de l’internet nous avons depasse les simples publicites sur panneaux. Chaque jours d’innombrables publicites (liens, pop up, bannieres, …) pour certaines compagnies et produits font leur apparition sur notre ordinateur sans avoir demande notre accord de les voir. Il semblerait que cela ne s’arretera pas de sitot car les publicites ont trouve un bon filon avec Internet. Sans que l’on se rende compte et surtout sans nous demander notre avis, les entreprises s’imposent dans la sphere privee d’adultes mais aussi d’enfants, par l’intermediaire de l’ordinateur. Ces entreprises modelent petits a petits la facon de penser et de voir les choses des generations actuelles et futures.

Il y a un reel malaise a voir que beaucoup ne se posent pas de questions sur les eternelles publicites qui nous sont balancees a la figure chaque jours et qui s’imposent sans notre avis dans notre sphere privee et surtout dans notre cerveau. Apres quelques recherches j’ai ete impressionnee du nombre de pub qui me derangent mais surtout impressionnee du fait que je n’avais jamais reflechi a cette sorte de harcelement par les publicites. Comment expliquer le fait qu’en tant que femmes nous ne nous enervions pas plus de voir comment l’image de la femme est representee dans les pub: Sexy, mince, un peu prostituee, etc… . Les seules femmes dites normales qui sont representees sont souvent a l’image de la mere ou grand-mere, et ceci et deja en train de changer. De plus en plus d’image de maman sont minces et sexy. Difficile a suivre dans le monde reel lorsqu’on a des enfants a eduquer, le menage a faire, et le travail. L’homme n’est pas mieux loti quand a lui. L’homme ideal est en general represente comme muscle mais pas trop, sexy, grand. L’homme normal n’est pas considere comme desirable et ayant du succes et est souvent represente comme un perdant. On pourrait continuer comme cela pendant des heures, la maison ideale est chatoyante, grande, parfaite – le jardin aussi – une famille ideale comporte une maman, un papa, un garcon et une fille, un chien. Bref, toutes les familles n’ayant qu’un enfant ou etant divorcees, ou n’ayant pas une maison parfaite, ou un chien parfait, ne font pas partie de cette image dictee par la publicite, cette image des gens a succes, cette image que nous avons accepte dans nos esprits.

Donc pour la question si je pense que le culture jamming a une influence positive ou negative, je ne pense qu’il faille voir le positif ou le negatif car on va surement trouve des exemples des deux cotes, mais je pense plutot qu’il s’agit simplement d’une chose necessaire dans un monde actuel. Nous emmagasinons toutes ses images qui nous sont imposees sans nous poser de questions et il faut que nous commencions a reflechir a l’impact non seulement sur notre monde actuel mais aussi sur notre monde futur. Voulons nous que nos futures generations subissent la dictature des entreprises, des magasines, des gouvernement sans n’avoir rien le droit de dire ou de penser? J’espere que non et surtout j’espere que de plus en plus de citoyen rejoindront ses groupes d’activistes de eculture jamming pour que nous n’oublions pas que la liberte d’expression existe pour chaque etre humain, non pas seulement pour les entreprises vendant des produits.

Si nous ne nous levons pas pour contester cette agression journaliere nous allons finir dans un monde ou tout devra etre uniforme, a l’image et aux idees dictees par les publicites et toute personne ne pouvant, ou ne voulant , pas faire partie de ce modele sera consideree comme marginale ou comme un moins que rien et sera mise a l’ecart de cette societe ideale. Une pensee ireelle et faisant peur mais une pensee qui risque de devenir vraie si nous ne faisons rien.