Activist networks - No More Neutrality

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The borders of networks comprise the "'non-democratic" element of democracy' (Balibar/Mezzadra). This insight is particularly helpful when thinking 'the political' of networks, since it signals the fact that networks are not by default open, horizontal and global. This is the mistake of much of the discourse on networks. There is no politics of networks if there are no borders of networks. Instead of forcing 'democracy' onto networks, either through policing or installed software, we should investigate its nature. This does not mean that we have to openly support 'benevolent dictatorships' or enlightened totalitarian rule. Usually networks thrive on small-scale informality, particularly in the early existence of social structures.

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There are no citizens of the media. Find and replace the citizen with users. Users have rights too. The user is not a non-historical category but rather a system-specific actor that holds no relationship to modernity's institutions and their corresponding discourse on rights. What is needed, then, is total reengineering of user-rights within the logic of networks. As much as 'citizen journalists', liberal democratic governments, big media and global institutions are endlessly effusive about their democratic credentials, organized networks are equally insistent in maintaining a 'non-democratic' politics. A politics without representation - since how do networks represent anything? - and instead a non-representational politics of relations. Non-democratic does not mean anti-democratic or elitist. It has proven of strategic importance to loosen ties between 'democracy' and 'the media'. Let's us remember that the citizen journalist is always tied to the media organs of the nation-state. Networks are not nations. In times of an abundance of channels, platforms and networks, it is no longer necessary to claim 'access'. The democratization of the media has come to an end. People are tired of reading the same old critique of NYT, CNN and other news outlets that are so obviously Western and neo-liberal biased. It is time to concentrate our efforts on the politics of filtering. What information do we want to read and pass on?

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