8/8/2019 SituationistWorker-DeathStrike

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8/8/2019 SituationistWorker-DeathStrike

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ReportfromArtStrikemeeting

at

Dartington,Sum

merSolstice2010

KarenEliotandIhadpla

nnedtomeetinDartingto

nso

wedecidedtomakeitan

openmeetingasthatweekend

wasboththeOpenPopS

tarWorldCongresscalledfor

byMontyCantsinaswe

llaspartofthemonthofre-

membranceforthevictimsofFoxconnsuchas

Ma

XiangqianandYunLicalledbyStudents&Scholars

AgainstCooperateMisbehavior.

Iwastotraversetheso

calledStMichaelsLey

line

formuchofthejourneyfromCambridgetoDarting

ton.

MysonandIstoppedat

Stevenageonthelinetopick

uphismotherandthenmetanotherKarenKarna

kat

Tauntonfurtherdownthe

linebeforearrivingataro

und

midnightonFriday.MynameKarenKarnakisof

courseareferencetothegreatpyramidatKarnakin

Egypt and to the Hyperborean nexus at

Carnac in France, chosen to disrupt the

white supremacist designs of Evolan and

Freemasonic groups that use the St.

Michaels line. It was for this reason that

evoL PsychogeogrAphix was summoned

into being in Totnes in 2000 an eventthat the video Brown Julius in the Foun-

tain of Modernism examines in some

detail.

At Dartington, I happened across Gustav

Metzger on Saturday and invited him to

the meeting. He told me of a symposium

where he was speaking as part of the ArtColleges final Festival before being ef-

fectively closed. I went along and met

MontyCantsinandKarenEliotthereandwe

confirmedplansforthemeetingforthefollow-

ingday.Atthesymposium,muchofthetalking

wasaboutthecontentoftheartdegreeandhowitwouldcontinueatFalmouth.Gustavhowever

spokeaboutextinctionwhichheseesasthe

mosturgentproblemfacingusandthatwe

needtogeta5yearplaninplacetostopthe

everincreasingrateofextinctionofspecies.He

cautiouslysuggestedalsothatthisisaworse

holocaustthantheShoah.

Heleftthesymposiumearlyandwewalked

overtothegraveyardwherethemeetingwas

scheduledforthenextday.Itooktheoppor-

tunitytoclarifysom

eissues.Firstlythearts

workercoalitionhadnotbeeninvolvedin

hisartstrikeof1977

thatwashimalone

anditwasnotpodsitedasastrikebutawith-

drawaloflabour.Healsoconfirmedthathe

wasinvolvedwith1

970"InternationalCoa-

litionForTheLiquidationOfArt"andmen-

tionedthatitwasJo

hnLathamwhopassed

ontheinvitationforthiseventalthough

Lathamhimselfwantednothingtodowithit

ashewasnotpolitical.Theothermainthing

ofinterestwasthat

henotedthattheArt

WorkersUnionnearlyjoinedaGraphics

workersunionandth

atGustavwaspush-

ingforthisbuttheartistsintheendde-

cidedagainstit.

IopenedthemeetingonSundaybyintroducingthebrief

historyofhowDAMTPhasbeenformedoutoftheArt

Strikebiennialof2009viadiscussionswiththeIWW.I

alsospokeonthecontinuingproblemswithEurocentricity

(LutherBlissettturningwhite,SanPrecarioandBifos

EuropeV2)whichwasevidencedinemergedintheorigi-

nal1970NewYorkArtStrikeAgainstRacism,Warand

Repression,counteractedatthetimebyWomenStudentsandArtistsforBlackArtLiberation(WSABAL),whosuc-

ceededinopeningtheprotestactiontowomenandpeople

ofcolour.

MontyCantsinquestionedtherelevanceofanartstrike

today.HepositedLathamsideaoftheincidentalpersonashowartistsarenotspecialisedasotherworkersare.WhileI

cannotagreewiththatpositionbecauseartistsareindeed

culturalspecialists,idoagreethatartstrikeneedstobe

supersededwithadataminersandpsychicworkersstrike

inconcertwithotherworkersstrikestocreatethegeneral

strike.(contonbackpage)