Tahrir Square as a meme uniting the new cycle of struggles

We can think of the internet as a bank of ideas, and the really successful meme occurs when one of those ideas chimes massively with the population it encounters, summing up a shared or individual experience or viewpoint to the extent that users wish to perpetuate it as somehow representative of their position, often amending it slightly on it’s way. The successful meme is not necessarily new, incisive, funny or holding a powerful critique. It is, however, popular and democratic. This is perhaps one of the strongest arguments for the radical democratic possibilities of the self-aware meme.

Excerpted from the Deterritorial Support Group:

“It’s perhaps understandable why the west has sought to play down the economic and class nature of the uprisings. It may well seem crass for young westerners to compare, for example, the student and EMA protests of last year with the oppression faced by Egyptian, Bahrainian and Libyan youths and rebels, but the fundamental issues that cause the discontent have similar roots and manifestations– very high graduate unemployment, a rising cost in living (food and, in Europe, rent) and collapsing legitimacy of traditional political structures, both of those in office and opposition- in short, a crisis of trust in the ideology of a social contract. For those involved to start drawing international and class comparisons and links, and for the street protests and direct actions to be generalised across Europe, would not suit the established Western democracies at all well. It’s against this attempt to distance these shared struggles that workers, demonstrators and anti-austerity activists are fighting, because the inevitable realisation would be made, sooner or later, that the problems of each country are not due to, for example, an overbureaucratic welfare state or mismanagement by a particular tyrant, but due to international issues of capital.

These are, indeed, international issues of class vs capital. But what has also been fascinating is the way certain tropes, tactics and symbols of these protests have spread across the continents memetically, not because of any specific tactical or political efficacy relevant to each individual location, but as an only semi-conscious, infectious “linking” of different “struggles”. As an example, the image of Tahrir Square has now become a fundamental core feature linking many of these movements. When tens of thousands of Egyptians headed for the Square on the days following their “day of rage” against the government, they did so for practical reasons relevant to their very specific social and geographic conditions– the need to coalesce for self-defence reasons, to gain a certain communal courage, to keep out in the open and in the eye of the international media, expecting a brutal repression from the Egyptian state security services. But the idea of Tahrir– a central encampment, held for as long as possible, acting as a hub for the worlds media, has since become more than a practical development. It has become a meme of the social movements.

It has proved hard to fabricate memes in an authentic sense if there is not a critical mass within the population for whom the meme carries significant cultural resonance. The infectious symbolism of a “Tahrir Square” passed throughout North Africa in the spring, with the combination a central meeting point and a “day of rage” (organised with the help of Facebook) finding common popular support across the gulf states. So what was a useful tactic for the residents of Cairo has now become a symbolic action, a meme that has found resonance because, from the Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain in February to the Puerta del Sol in Madrid this week, the symbol seems to unite the demonstrators to their common grievances.”

However the authors of DSG also offer a pessimistic conclusion of the usage of this meme and this tactic, i.e. occupying squares.

Do you agree?

See:

In Spain, we are yet to see, but Puerta Del Sol can only be held for so long, whether it’s police, food or work that forces the occupants to leave. Unlike being faced with industrial action, where the working-class assert their power against the state and capital, occupation on a symbolic level can never force the hand of capital. The Square-as-meme remains a useful communicative tool to draw links between the shared causes of struggles, but it’s essentially only through taking actions that interfere with the flow of capital, with trade and with exploitation, that can begin the transformations of these struggles from protests of grievances into the beginnings of political and social revolutions.

1 Comment Tahrir Square as a meme uniting the new cycle of struggles

  1. AvatarGure

    I think what a lot of critical views (most of them calling for direct and radical action) are not realising is that you cannot go from stupor to hardcore revolution in a matter of hours/days. At this moment in time calls for direct and radical action against “capital” would not be joined by the masses. I believe these square-occupying actions are fulfilling a much needed role, they provide visibility for the movement and allow for people who are still feeling hopeless to gradually shake off the apathy. It seems to me a lot of people are quick to judge and project their misgivings onto others, which to me feels like a massive disservice, especially when they come from people or organisations who share a common view or goal with those protesting. I also think the author does not seem to realise the power of being repressed and attacked whilst staying peaceful (which is bound to happen at one point or another to anyone who challenges power) and the level of credibility it provides, making those who might not be tempted to join at first shake off the apathy and join in large numbers. Only then, once critical mass has been achieved, direct action against capital could be considered. A few thousand boycotting the financial system will never challenge the system enough.

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