This dissertation considers a particular logic of anti-capitalist struggle that challenges one of... more This dissertation considers a particular logic of anti-capitalist struggle that challenges one of the principle constituent elements of the capital relation, namely the proletarian condition. The analysis of struggles against the proletarian condition is carried out by way of four primary conceptual lenses: “proletariat”, “enclosure”, “commons” and “anti-proletariat”. The dissertation begins with a study of the concept proletariat and the manner in which it has been formulated and used principally within traditional Marxist theory. Here it generally refers to a subject (i.e. the working class), a relation to the means of production in capitalist societies, or a structural location within a mode of production. By contrast, the dissertation argues for a return to the concept’s historical roots where it referred to a relation of subordination constitutive of the capital relation – the naked and dependent condition that constrains possible courses of action for populations cut off from alternative sources of subsistence. The discussion next turns to the concept enclosure. This chapter surveys some of the ways in which the concept has been used in historiographic and Marxist literature, as well as a number of related concepts like primitive accumulation, separation, proletarianization and dispossession. Enclosure is deployed as a means of thinking about the various ways in which the proletarian condition is produced and intensified throughout the history of capitalism. Following this, the dissertation considers the concept commons and some of the ways in which it has been formulated in critical and more mainstream academic literatures. This survey is carried out as a means to reformulate commons as a theoretical lens for seeing relations of autonomy with the potential to diminish the intensity of the proletarian condition. Finally, the dissertation concludes with a discussion of “anti-proletarian” struggles. The concept is offered as an ironic lens through which to see struggles to diminish the intensity of the condition of being proletarian. Thus “anti-proletariat” is offered not as yet another revolutionary subject but rather as a way of thinking about and seeing struggles against a particular relation of power, one that is crucial to the complex ensemble of social relations we call capital. The concept is placed in relation to other useful theoretical lenses like self-valorization, exodus and direct action as a means of highlighting particular tactics and strategies to generate relations of autonomy and freedom. The dissertation ends with a tentative application of the concept “anti-proletarian” struggle to a range of social movements, as well as a more sustained analysis of the Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil. The dissertation aims to provide a politically relevant understanding of the way in which capital functions and how communities in struggle have sought to attenuate its effects of domination.
The author argues that the concept commons is a productive way of thinking about and practicing d... more The author argues that the concept commons is a productive way of thinking about and practicing democratic and participatory media. He begins by defining media commons in such a way as to emphasize the relational and regulated nature of commons. Such a definition critiques the idea that commons are resources avail- able to a public without limits as well as the tendency to define commons in terms of the essential characteristics of the resources in question. Next, the author’s experience in the Indymedia movement is summarized to suggest that the failure of Vancouver Indymedia was due, in part, to the general inability to establish effective commons within the collective and over the website. He concludes the article by offering a survey and critique of tendencies in the formulation of the commons within wider academic and activist literatures, as well as its use in work more specifically focused on media and communication.
This dissertation considers a particular logic of anti-capitalist struggle that challenges one of... more This dissertation considers a particular logic of anti-capitalist struggle that challenges one of the principle constituent elements of the capital relation, namely the proletarian condition. The analysis of struggles against the proletarian condition is carried out by way of four primary conceptual lenses: “proletariat”, “enclosure”, “commons” and “anti-proletariat”. The dissertation begins with a study of the concept proletariat and the manner in which it has been formulated and used principally within traditional Marxist theory. Here it generally refers to a subject (i.e. the working class), a relation to the means of production in capitalist societies, or a structural location within a mode of production. By contrast, the dissertation argues for a return to the concept’s historical roots where it referred to a relation of subordination constitutive of the capital relation – the naked and dependent condition that constrains possible courses of action for populations cut off from alternative sources of subsistence. The discussion next turns to the concept enclosure. This chapter surveys some of the ways in which the concept has been used in historiographic and Marxist literature, as well as a number of related concepts like primitive accumulation, separation, proletarianization and dispossession. Enclosure is deployed as a means of thinking about the various ways in which the proletarian condition is produced and intensified throughout the history of capitalism. Following this, the dissertation considers the concept commons and some of the ways in which it has been formulated in critical and more mainstream academic literatures. This survey is carried out as a means to reformulate commons as a theoretical lens for seeing relations of autonomy with the potential to diminish the intensity of the proletarian condition. Finally, the dissertation concludes with a discussion of “anti-proletarian” struggles. The concept is offered as an ironic lens through which to see struggles to diminish the intensity of the condition of being proletarian. Thus “anti-proletariat” is offered not as yet another revolutionary subject but rather as a way of thinking about and seeing struggles against a particular relation of power, one that is crucial to the complex ensemble of social relations we call capital. The concept is placed in relation to other useful theoretical lenses like self-valorization, exodus and direct action as a means of highlighting particular tactics and strategies to generate relations of autonomy and freedom. The dissertation ends with a tentative application of the concept “anti-proletarian” struggle to a range of social movements, as well as a more sustained analysis of the Landless Workers’ Movement in Brazil. The dissertation aims to provide a politically relevant understanding of the way in which capital functions and how communities in struggle have sought to attenuate its effects of domination.
The author argues that the concept commons is a productive way of thinking about and practicing d... more The author argues that the concept commons is a productive way of thinking about and practicing democratic and participatory media. He begins by defining media commons in such a way as to emphasize the relational and regulated nature of commons. Such a definition critiques the idea that commons are resources avail- able to a public without limits as well as the tendency to define commons in terms of the essential characteristics of the resources in question. Next, the author’s experience in the Indymedia movement is summarized to suggest that the failure of Vancouver Indymedia was due, in part, to the general inability to establish effective commons within the collective and over the website. He concludes the article by offering a survey and critique of tendencies in the formulation of the commons within wider academic and activist literatures, as well as its use in work more specifically focused on media and communication.
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