<nettime> BComu Global digest [jackson, hankwitz x2]

[nettime's_mapmaker <nettime@kein.org>]

Re: <nettime> BComu Global: America needs a network of rebel cities to stand up to Trump

     Will Jackson <wcameronjackson@gmail.com>
     Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com>
     Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com>

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From: Will Jackson <wcameronjackson@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2016 22:44:31 +0000
Subject: Re: <nettime> BComu Global: America needs a network of rebel cities to stand up to Trump

   Thank you for this document Molly!
   I have a few questions:
   1. What do you make of the second-to-last resolution? Are they driving
   at a vision where economy alone underwrites emancipatory legislation?
   What happens to cities and towns with the same goals of unity and
   protection for the most vulnerable, albeit without a Silicon Valley?
   2a. To relate the above back to the first resolution, is this the
   beginning of Sanctuary Cities as economic/judicial tent poles for
   entire regions?
   2b. I wonder if we could begin to open up the definition of region â or
   more precisely regional politics. Very broadly, "forum" once designated
   a physical site for discussion, and a "community" was typically bounded
   geographically.* Could digital networks be the instrument of a
   non-local "regional" politics/economy?

   I'm now thinking of Evgeny Morozov's lecture on Silicon Valley as the
   de-facto welfare provider of the neo-liberal US... I don't think he had
   this in mind :0

   Lastly, I railed against many of my friends' affection for Sanders'
   economic-justice-is-all-you-need rhetoric. Perhaps this proves me wrong
   in a roundabout way. But even though Black Lives Matter to the gov't
   (rhetorically) when will their perspective inform the Valley?

   Anyways, bravo to the San Francisco board of supervisors, and thanks
   again Molly for this heartening, problematic, and altogether important
   document.

   Will
   Sent from a bar
   On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 4:12 AM Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com> wrote:

     Hi - the "sanctuary cities" stand to lose funding for supporting
     undocumented immigration. These may be your rebel cities...here is
     what San Francisco government has stated (this not the final, final
     version but very close)
 <...>

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From: Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2016 18:10:08 -0800
Subject: Re: <nettime> BComu Global: America needs a network of rebel cities to stand up to Trump

   Dear Will,
   No worries, Will. I am so glad you found it worthwhile and II am happy
   to share the unique vision from San Francisco at this critical time in
   our nation's/my nation's political history.
   I am interested in your questions and shall try to respond to each,
   although much post-Trump is still unfolding, obviously.
   How this vision fits with "rebel cities" of your conception is not
   exact, obviously, nor is SF the only American city to declare itself a
   sanctuary - as I believe San Diego, LA, and San Antonio Texas have all
   retorted to Trump.

   1. What do you make of the second-to-last resolution? Are they driving
   at a vision where economy alone underwrites emancipatory legislation?
   What happens to cities and towns with the same goals of unity and
   protection for the most vulnerable, albeit without a Silicon Valley?

   Â
   As to the first question - I read this as the city will find other
   money, perhaps from its innovation sector, notoriously wealthy, to
   afford the public services which any Federal funding cut would
   ordinarily pay for. We get money probably for social services, public
   ed, etc. It would need replacing. the message is that just because
   Trump is intimidating us, with sanction mentality, we won't cave in. As
   far as the second part, I"m not too clear on what you mean. We simply
   need to fund the city. It is not economy alone at all. It's values, I
   would like to believe which are written into the charter of the
   city.Values about tolerance and sanctuary for undocumented people. The
   last question is the most concerning. what will happen is that Jerry
   Brown and the state will need to help these places, probably. But just
   an aside, Silicon Valley does not fund much of anything in San
   Francisco, as far as I know. It is hard enough getting tech companies
   to pay their parking bills or business taxes at an appropriate bracket.
   The Valley has a lot of influence, but the Valley is a different place,
   yet still part of the Bay Area.Â

   2a. To relate the above back to the first resolution, is this the
   beginning of Sanctuary Cities as economic/judicial tent poles for
   entire regions?

   Well, as I mentioned, a few cities have retorted to Trump's whining.
   New York, San Diego, San Antonio, LA, probably more. I am not certain
   of the list of Sanctuary cities declared as such in the US. That would
   be a good list to find.
   As far as being ten poles for regions...I like the image...we already
   are a tent pole in Northern Cali, if not in the west, for culture and
   politics. :)Â

   2b. I wonder if we could begin to open up the definition of region â or
   more precisely regional politics. Very broadly, "forum" once designated
   a physical site for discussion, and a "community" was typically bounded
   geographically.* Could digital networks be the instrument of a
   non-local "regional" politics/economy?

   Â
   Experiments of this kind have been done before. I'm thinking of an
   interesting Trans Electronic cities project that I was involved with in
   Australia, which started as a squatters network and went from Sydney to
   Europe, picking me up along the way as a transplant from SF...trying to
   draw together, situationist/naked city mapping style...urban networks
   of similar anarchical bent...as a "region" if you will...a network as a
   geography...so to speak. As far as the last part of your question is
   concerned, communities havent really been face to face or "bounded"
   since the advent of post-war long distance telephony in the United
   States at least - Marvin Weber a UC Berkeley urbanologist wrote an
   excellent book about 'non-places" and urbanism in about 1965 in which
   he recognized the telephone and long distance as bringing
   non-geographic specific communities together, rise of professional
   class, etc. pre-internet.Â

   I'm now thinking of Evgeny Morozov's lecture on Silicon Valley as the
   de-facto welfare provider of the neo-liberal US... I don't think he had
   this in mind :0

   Not familiar with this, but sounds like a dreadful dependency under
   capitalism...although probably a true assessment if what he is saying
   is that donated tablets from Salesforce across our public school
   district is neo-liberal philanthropy or Zuckerberg Hospital now being
   the name of what was SF General, our largest public hospital.

   Lastly, I railed against many of my friends' affection for Sanders'
   economic-justice-is-all-you-need rhetoric. Perhaps this proves me wrong
   in a roundabout way. But even though Black Lives Matter to the gov't
   (rhetorically) when will their perspective inform the Valley?

   I think Black Lives Matter is informing all kinds of people and places
   for better or worse and is a fantastic movement. I don't think the
   Valley per se will get out of its individualistic careerism anytime
   soon to specifically "help" BLM in any profound way. But, suffice to
   say that "black" means Pakistani, Indian, African, Latino -
   understaffed in CEO capacity, programming capacity; many probably
   cleaning the floors and certainly making parts with silicon. So, yes,
   the Valley needs to shape up. BLM has, imho, specific aims with African
   Americans, but isnt really about a broader notion of "people of color"
   or other ethnicities, arguably with their own lives mattering in
   culturally specific ways. The Valley has had to absorb the visa problem
   that came about as a result of 9/11. There has been critique of the
   low-paid women parts workers phenomenon, many of whom are, guess what,
   undocumented. Maybe we need to ask the question, apart from Trump's
   spin, how much the Valley needs an undocumented labor force to be
   so-called "innovative"? To what extent do they rely upon undocumented
   labor existing in California. Avacado farming surely has required
   migrant workers to keep prices low. So for all there is this shrieking
   about our big stand-off with Trump, Californian landowners and
   agriculture and yes Silicon Valley has its own very deeply concerning
   labor issues which have nothing to do necessarily with Mexicans at all,
   as I believe Vietnamese for instance comprise some of that undocumented
   part manufacturing base. See the work of Coco Fusco on this subject.Â

   Anyways, bravo to the San Francisco board of supervisors, and thanks
   again Molly for this heartening, problematic, and altogether important
   document.

   Sure, Will. We will see how this document can handle the test of time.
   At the moment everyone is just waiting to see if Trump is really
   allowed to occupy the White House...and if so, will he live there?
   Moreover, will he be able to slam undocumented people and deport them.
   MollyÂ

   Will
   Sent from a bar

   On Mon, Nov 28, 2016 at 4:12 AM Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com> wrote:

     Hi - the "sanctuary cities" stand to lose funding for supporting
     undocumented immigration. These may be your rebel cities...here is
     what San Francisco government has stated (this not the final, final
     version but very close)
 <...>

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From: Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 2016 18:14:54 -0800
Subject: Re: <nettime> BComu Global: America needs a network of rebel cities to stand up to Trump

   Hi Will,
   Here is one map of sanctuary cities and explanation.
   http://cis.org/Sanctuary-Cities-Map
   The issue is of course, how far under Trump's thumb are the police.
   They would be the link between an undocumented person, and ICE. Right
   now they do not dob them in, because of sanctuary. Don't know what they
   will be hired to do under Trump, the law and order man. And then there
   are the kids in our public schools.
   Hope this helps with your 'rebel cities' idea.
   I'd like to hear more about how you envision this rebellion. Is it tied
   to Black Lives Matter?
   I think of the maps from Occupy, which showed all the encampments in
   each city and town where ever they were. International map.
   Molly

   On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 2:44 PM, Will Jackson <wcameronjackson@gmail.com> wrote:

   Thank you for this document Molly!
 <...>

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