The Revolution Will Be Streamed Live…..By Amazon

Last Saturday I attended a showing of the 1972 documentary “Malcolm X” narrated by James Earl Jones at the Answer Coalition meeting place in San Francisco. Answer Coalition is affiliated with the Party for Socialism & Liberation. During the screening of this excellent documentary, there was some technical glitch and it showed that the film was being streamed through Amazon. This surprised me as Amazon is known for its authoritarian and anti-labor actions – not something I think the PSL would support. Yet, there is was, this supposedly revolutionary organization profiting this capitalist behemoth. PSL is not alone in this kind of behavior and it is something that needs to be addressed by all people fighting oppression in this world. The expedient use of technology may be clouding the true nature of organizations. After all, the internet was developed in the Department of Defense. I’m not unsympathetic with the Answer Coalition but I think there needs to be more dialogue on this kind of thing. Socialist, anarchists groups and others are using social media sights such as Facebook, Twitter and Disqus. When you look at some of the actions of these companies and some of their investors and owners, you need to consider who you are in bed with. The employees of these same tech companies are some of the same people gentrifying places like San Francisco. Why should anyone be supporting that kind of thing except that communications in many ways seem limited?

These things need discussion and Indybay may be an example of where the use of the internet is being applied in ways more compatible with the stated goals of many organizations pushing for revolutionary change. Indybay is apparently anonymous. It offers a forum and a calendar. It is available to anyone with internet access. It does have limitations and maybe those need to be addressed so it or sites like it can be utilized as alternatives to the mainstream internet services. People need to slow down and think about what they are doing- who they are supporting and why it matters. So many people just accept Google as the only available search tool. That is untrue and only feeds into the mentality that promotes monopoly. And of course- monopoly is what Google wants. There are alternatives that need more discussion, more promotion. What about Ixquick? It says it is anonymous and does not track people. I think so but how do I know. I do believe it is an alternative to what we know Google is.

Print media is still a great way of connecting locally and it takes another level of effort to create. The Slingshot is a good example. Print also circumvents many of the impositions of the internet and online communications.

There is a lot of hypocrisy going on and plain stupidity. One can almost understand as there is really little transparency on the internet and people tend to sign off on all EULA (End User License Agreements) without reading or understanding them. What if the EULA violates some of your basic principles, beliefs or fundamental legal rights? There is no negotiation – either you sign off or you do not use the tool or app. User rights seem to be ignored and there is no common unity of internet users to fight against the edicts of these companies. Many times the EULAS are multiple pages and frequently written in legalese not understood by the average person. It appears that expediency rules the day. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t think so.

It reminds me of a time I went to a meeting of the International Socialist organization and I asked one of the fervent supporters if he had a bank account and where. He advised that he banked with “Bank of America” and he didn’t see any problem with that – it was convenient for him. Yes, convenient but is that an organization people should be supporting financially or even be associated with? Of course, revolutionaries use phone services that are members of ALEC and probably would use weapons made by capitalist gun manufacturers. We obviously live in a world where we are forced to compromise but there should be limits or alternatives. Can we discuss those and maybe adapt better ways of relating or develop alternatives to the status quo that the internet and social media creates. Would be interested in others insights and how resources like Indybay can become more of a center of communications. Also - maybe some things realistically need to be left offline.