The
following text is a transcript of the dialogue in On Rules and Monsters.
An introduction into free cooperation -- a video by Christoph Spehr
and Jörg Windszus.
The
video takes the form of a 1950s monster movie pastiche, combining
elements of classic genre films, such as Godzilla,The Day the Earth Stood Still, Queen of
Outer Space, and The Time Machine. So, when reading this text, imagine
you are watching a classic 1950s science fiction
movie...
Screened
at the "Networks, Art & Collaboration" conference,
held at the Department of Media Study,
State
University of New York at Buffalo, April 24-25, 2004
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| So
on the one hand, cooperation doesn't seem to make us free. On the
other hand, living without cooperation doesn't make us free, either.
How can we stay free in cooperation? What is free cooperation? |
WOMAN
(off): So on the one hand, cooperation doesn't seem
to make us free. On the other hand, living without cooperation doesn't
make us free, either. How can we stay free in cooperation? What
is free cooperation? To learn about free cooperation, we first must
understand the three basic principles of forced cooperation.
The
first principle of forced cooperation is:
KEEP OFF THE BASIC RULES!
(The Time Machine) The big gate
is slammed shut. George tries desperately to open it again.
MAN
(off): Forced cooperation is not tyranny -- or,
more precisely: it is not something that looks like tyranny at first
sight. But the basic rules will not give way to anybody. They are
not negotiated between the members of the cooperation -- be it the
workers of a factory, the employees at an office, the women and
children in the patriarchal family, the people affected by the decisions
of a given institution. The basic rules are kept behind iron gates.
People and positions may be changed; some distribution of value
may be negotiated; smaller rules may be changed and altered or even
accepted to be refused. But the core of the cooperation, its basic
rules, are not to be tackled by the real members of the cooperation.
WOMAN
(off): The second principle of forced cooperation is:
NEVER STOP
THE ENGINE!
(The
Trollenberg Terror) The group is sitting in the gondola
of the cable lift and is taken up the mountain. They see the >cloud<
floating into the valley, closing in the houses. The >cloud<
enters the downward station and freezes the cables. The gondola
stops, goes on, stops again.
MAN
(off): Forced cooperation doesn't turn people
into robots -- or, more precisely: it doesn't turn people into
something that looks like robots at first sight. You may talk.
You may quarrel while working. You may make proposals or even
hand small protest notes. Some forced cooperations even allow
you to vote or take part in participatory systems or in so-called
>speech situations< where you may argue that some rules
are irrational and that you could work better without them. But
never, never must you use material power to push your interests.
Do not freeze the cables. Do not stop the gondola. Do not go on
strike, do not withdraw your workforce while talking. This is
doomed and criminalized as monstrous behavior. If you try, you
will get bombed for it.
WOMAN
(off): The third principle of forced cooperation is:
SERVE OR PAY!
(The
Day the Earth Stood Still)
KLAATU: I came here to give you these facts. It
is no concern of ours how you run your own planet. But if you
threaten to extend your violence, this earth of yours will be
reduced to a burned-out cinder.
Your choice is simple: join us, or pursue your present course
and face obliteration. We'll be waiting for your answer. The decision
rests with you.
MAN
(off): Not every forced cooperation uses the whip
-- or, more precisely: not every forced cooperation uses a whip
that looks like a whip at first sight. In many forced cooperations,
we are not forced openly to do what we are told. Only that it
doesn't really make sense to deny. Because if we don't cooperate,
if the cooperation splits, or gets spoiled, we are the ones to
pay. If we disagree with our boss and split, he still keeps the
enterprise, while we leave with empty hands. It's serve or pay:
that makes choices so simple in forced cooperation.
WOMAN
(off): Having understood how forced cooperation works,
we can now articulate the three basic principles of free cooperation.
The first principle of free cooperation is: GRAB
THE RULES!
(Attack
of the Crab Monsters) A man is walking down the dunes to
the beach. Out of nowhere, a huge crab appears and grabs him.
He cries.
MAN
(off): In a free cooperation, all rules can be
changed. Every member is free to challenge any rule, and the members
of the cooperation decide about their rules. There are no >holy
rules< that are barred behind iron gates and cannot be changed
by the members of the cooperation.
WOMAN
(off): The second principle of free cooperation is:
PLAY IT HARD!
|
(The
Time Machine) While George is fighting a Morlock and
gets attacked by more Morlocks, one of the Eloi is considering his
hand, deep in thought. Suddenly he makes a fist and knocks down
the Morlock.
MAN
(off): In a free cooperation, all members have
the same power to influence the rules. This power is not given by
any formal structures of decision-making: talking or voting is not
enough. Real power comes from the freedom and ability to withdraw
one's cooperative activity, to hold back, to quit, to give limits
and conditions to one's cooperative activity. To say or to signal:
>No, if not.< |
 
The
Time Machine, Courtesy Warner Home Video |
(World
Without End) The commander comes in from the negotiations.
He is angry.
OFFICER
How was it?
COMMANDER They won't cooperate!
WOMAN
(off): The third principle of free cooperation is:
STAY ONLY WHERE YOU CAN LEAVE, AND WHERE
YOUR LEAVING IS MEANINGFUL.
(The
Time Machine) George notices the Eloi for the first
time. Suddenly there are cries: Weena is drowning in the river.
GEORGE:
Why are you sitting by?
As
nobody moves, George leaps into the water and pulls her out.
GEORGE: You're all right?
Without
a word, Geena gets up and leaves him.
MAN
(off): In a free cooperation, the >price<
of the cooperation being split up, coming to an end, somebody going
away, the cooperation becoming looser or being not fully working,
is similar (and bearable) for all members of the cooperation. Only
under this condition, withdrawing one's cooperative activity is
not blackmailing the others. Only under this condition, all members
of the cooperation have the same bargaining power. That means: each
member can actually leave the cooperation, without paying too high
a price; and the leaving of each member will have an actual effect
on the others, will be experienced by them as some price they are
paying, so that this negative prospect may trigger new negotiations.
Because you do not only wish to be allowed to do this or that; you
also want to make others do this or that, or do this or that not.
For this, you need equal bargaining power. Without bargaining power,
they will just let you drown.
(The
Time Machine) Weena and George are sitting on the
stairs.
GEORGE: I did it to save your life. That doesn't
seem to mean much to you or anybody else around here.
WEENA: It doesn't.
GEORGE: Do you realize there were about 20 of your
friends watching you drown, not one of them so much as lifting a
finger to save you? Ain't that a curious attitude? Very curious
world. Aren't you the least bit interested in who I am? Where I'm
from?
WEENA:
Should I? Getting bargaining power usually
means getting organized, too. Without the solidarity of others,
you cannot level bargaining powers in many cases. In a free cooperation,
there has to be a constant re-arrangement of rules, individual appropriation
and solidarities to keep bargaining power equal between the members
of the cooperation. Making bargaining power equal -- through changing
rules, individual appropriation, solidarity -- is the core business
of any emancipatory politics, and the basic definition of what is
left politics. It is also the core definition of being someone,
of being amongst others who really recognize you.
(The
Time Machine) George comes from the rotten books
and addresses the sitting Eloi.
GEORGE:
You! All of you! I'm going back to my own time.
I won't bother to tell anybody about the useless struggle, the hopeless
future. But at least I can die among men! You ... ah! He runs out.
WOMAN
(off): Doing free cooperation means no less than taking
off the mask, and demanding the others to bear that. Because most
cooperations look okay as long as you are wearing the mask that
was designed for you; as long as you fit into what others think
is appropriate for you; as long as you do what others want you to
do. But you only see what a cooperation is worth when there is conflict,
when you demand change, when you take off the mask.
|
(Queen
of Outer Space) A spacewoman with a mask on her face
and an earthman are sitting on a couch.
SPACEWOMAN:
You'll have to suffer the consequences for your
planned attack.
EARTHMAN: There is no plan of attack!
She
goes to a monitor and turns it on.
SPACEWOMAN: Let me show you what happens to those who
oppose. Look, Captain! The disintegrator.
EARTHMAN: This is what destroyed the space station!
SPACEWOMAN: And it will destroy the Earth, too. |
Queen of Outer Space - (Courtesy Allied Artists) |
EARTHMAN: The people! The lives of those countless
billions! I admit that men on earth have been ... quarrelsome
and foolish in the past. But we're no harm to your work! I swear!
(He takes her at her shoulders.)
I
understand you better than you do yourself. You're denying man's
love, for that hatred and for that monstrous power you have.
SPACEWOMAN: Monstrous?
EARTHMAN: You're not only a queen, you're a woman, too.
And a woman needs a man's love. Let me see your face!
(He takes off her mask.)
I'm
sorry. I didn't understand!
SPACEWOMAN: Radiation burns. Men did that to me. Men
with their wars. You told me that women need love. Now that you
know, would you give me that love?
She
offers him a kiss. He turns away.
EARTHMAN: I -- I didn't realize.
SPACEWOMAN: You didn't realize! - Guards!
The
(female) guards enter and take the earthman with them.
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