Bolo’bolo is an underground classic by Swiss writer P.M., describing a contemporary utopia, and using a new vocabulary.
In a contextual piece about this work, the author explains why he developed this new language, and it resonates with my own decision to develop a political and social vocabulary rooted in p2p practices:
“The original idea for creating this weird secret language came up because the European left-wing terminology was no longer viable. Nowadays when people talk about communism, that’s gulag, no one wants to hear about it. Or if people talk about socialism, then they are speaking of Schröder’s politics – retirement cuts – and no one wants that, either. And all of the other standard left-wing expressions such as “solidarity,” “community,” they’re all contaminated and no longer useful. But the things that they stand for are actually quite good. I don’t want to suffer because of terminology for which I am not to blame; instead, I’d rather create my own. It would probably take longer to explain that the communism that I am talking about is not the one that I saw. It is easier to simply say I am for bolo’bolo, and then everyone starts to think of the things all over again, to re-think them.”
Yes …
“We’ve reached the limits of our language.”
Our vocabulary, and by extension some part of our connective imagination, is stuck in the machinery of the previous era. …
We are the connected not the collected.
(Apologies if this comment is a duplicate … couldn’t tell whether the last one actually got submitted for moderation).