#countermedia

[maadperdidx]

A catalog of digital art against capital and its walls, hosted by the Zapatistas

[slcr303]

Counter media Peter Pontiac

[anarchisthistory]

Masthead from the "Countermedia News Desk" -- 1996 for the "Active Resistance" Convergence in Chicago (source)

[nowaronthepoor]

No Media but Our Media? Possible [Media] Informant Alert LA

On Friday Nov. 28th in Los Angeles a group of people met in Grand Park to have an assembly after serious and continuous unrest following the 'Ferguson' verdict.

For safety and solidarity, or especially during a general assembly, some people didn't want to be filmed and recorded by unverified or unknown media persons. 

In response to the action JD Kelly (pictured below) who has a website, Universal Network News, posted on the event page approving of the mass police arrests saying:

"Good luck with that. They did their jobs and did it well and I have much of it on film the LAPD to use in court. You as citizens are required to obey the same laws as everyone else in this country. Just because you are protesting something doesn't give you a pass to do whatever you please and conduct yourselves however you please without consequences. The First Amendment doesn't give you a pass to do as you please."

This was posted in response to an update on jailed comrades.

OK, not going to address most of the libertarian police apologist hogwash. This person was offended that some people at the assembly did not want to be filmed. He also seems to disagree with disruptive tactics and support police repression.

Without meaning to JD Kelly is actually demonstrating exactly why it's not safe for movements to include non participant media. This person is not addressing systematic racism or the police execution of Mike Brown. Instead he is actually defending police violence, and possibly willing to turn over footage to the police state. (which is treacherous and complicit in police terrorism)

Contrary to popular media, protesters don't always want to be objectified or fall prey to the surveillance "military industrial complex" grown by regimes globally. Looking at you Time Magazine.

Since media these days is about consumerism, articles tend to make several mistakes and forget investigative journalism entirely. Many groups get their news from police sources, making them invested in maintaining their relationship with the cops. This gives uprising movements little reason to trust news reporters or even some indy journalists.

Callous media or livestreamers can incriminate protesters by filming faces during controversial actions or intentionally turn over footage to the police. Which seems to be implied here, by JD Kelly, but one cannot be sure.

Meeting (other/ new people) in public for discussion during an uprising can also open up space for infiltration and other methods of state repression. It's not a reason to stop public visibility, but it's something to think about. 

For this reason while it is good to share vision and encourage ideas or diverse actions, it's important to share direct planning details only with collaborators or in small groups. In committed and intentional spaces.

In public: always verify media reporters. Ask questions, don't just be asked questions or volunteer information. Record any interactions you have with mainstream media. Create counter-media. Know how your image is being used, and try to restore consent to collective practice (ask to take a picture). 

In this case, the person pictured has implied he will offer his film to the police. He is compromised. His face and information should be known, so that we can avoid him and build a wall of silence between us and the state. So we can trust each other.

[curiousaboutcreativity]

Styles and forms once defined as radical, underground "countermedia", standing in opposition to dominant modes of cultural production, now serve as advertising techniques in support of mainstream capitalism. [...] Experimental music videos continue this tradition [...] while selling CDs and a performer's name. Conversely, styles and forms associated with music videos now help structure experimental works [...]. (182)

Faller G.S. 1996. From Sitney to TV: Classical experimental style in contemporary music videos. Popular Music and Society 20/1: 175-189.