July/Sept LONDON 'Breaking the Frame' events: Digital Capitalism

Thu Jun 22 01:37:11 BST 2017

Emacs!

Interrogating Digital Capitalism: a series of 
events organised by Breaking the Frame

Digital technology powers neoliberal capitalism: 
it is central to globalisation, financialisation, 
the flexible economy, ongoing waves of 
automation and now, big data 
capitalism.  Liberals and many leftists assume 
that, the problem is not the technology but its 
abuse by corporations, the military and the 
state.  But what if we are in a techno-social 
regime, in which technology is shaped by those 
interests and it, in turn, shapes capitalism in a 
way that reinforces itself?  What if we are in a 
digital technocracy in which cybernetic 
principles of information capture and flexible 
control are becoming embedded throughout society? 
What if  in short  it is not just a matter of 
rescuing the digital baby from the capitalist bathwater?

This series of monthly events will look at 
current challenges raised by digital 
capitalism.  It will question liberal ideas of 
progress through technology that inform the mainstream debate.

Event 1:  Digital Technology and Neoliberalism  the Basics

July 6th 2017, 7.15pm.  Apple Tree pub function 
room. 45 Mount Pleasant, Clerkenwell, London WC1X 0AE

How does digital technology function in and shape 
neoliberal capitalism?  Is it just a question of 
corporations using technology to their advantage 
or has digital technology fundamentally reshaped 
the whole system?  Are we already, as a key 
anarchist critique, The Cybernetic Hypothesis 
suggests, enmeshed in a control system in which 
conventional resistance just strengthens the system?

Ursula Huws (University of Hertfordshire) will 
describe the nuts and bolts of how digital capitalism works.

Richard Hall of De Montfort University will look 
at a critique of digital capitalism developed by 
French anarchists in the 1990s.

Free/donation.

7.15pm, July 6th 2017

Apple Tree pub function room. 45 Mount Pleasant, 
Clerkenwell, London WC1X 0AE.  We apologise that 
this venue has no wheelchair access. Other events will be at accessible venues.

For more information contact 
<mailto:info at breakingtheframe.org.uk>info at breakingtheframe.org.uk, 
or visit 
<http://breakingtheframe.org.uk/category/events-listings/>http://breakingtheframe.org.uk/category/events-listings/

Event 2: Digital Technology as Heavy Industrial 
Technology: iSlavery and Environmental Destruction

September 6th 2017, 7.15pm. Feminist Library 
meeting room, 5 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7XW

Digital technology is often seen as immaterial 
and smart, defining a new industrial and social 
paradigm.  Yet digital gadgets are produced 
within an old-fashioned highly exploitative 
regime that has been likened to slavery, whilst 
the industry creates massive environmental 
destruction and makes a major contribution to climate change.

Jack Linchuan Qiu, author of Goodbye iSlave will 
describe the conditions in Chinese electronics 
factories, such as Foxconn, which were brought to 
international attention by a wave of worker suicides in 2010.

TBC will look at the environmental impacts of 
digital technology and its role in causing conflicts.

Free/donation.

7.15pm, September 6th

Feminist Library meeting room, 5 Westminster 
Bridge Road, London SE1 7XW. Venue is accessible, 
we would advise wheelchair users to contact us in advance if possible.

For more information contact 
<mailto:info at breakingtheframe.org.uk>info at breakingtheframe.org.uk, 
or visit 
<http://breakingtheframe.org.uk/category/events-listings/>http://breakingtheframe.org.uk/category/events-listings/

For later events in the series visit 
<http://breakingtheframe.org.uk/category/events-listings/>http://breakingtheframe.org.uk/category/events-listings/

To contact a moderator: breakingtheframe-editor at lists.riseup.net
To contact a list admin: breakingtheframe-admin at lists.riseup.net
To unsubscribe: breakingtheframe-unsubscribe at lists.riseup.net
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