"Seizing the Media" is the first release in The Immediast Underground Pamphlet Series. The Immediasts are a burgeoning group of media hackers started by Greg Reggiero, editor of the mail art zine Noospapers and the well known Open Magazine Pamphlet Series. The driving idea behind The Immediasts (and this first pamphlet) is simple: we are all the victims of an incredibly successful and sophisticated "ecology of coercion" that has been foisted upon us by the media manipulations of the State, the Corporation, and the "entertainment" industry. The cultural monologue broadcast through this media has destroyed all possibility for the free expression of non-mainstream politics, ideas, and lifestyles. But all is not hopeless. At the same time that the media monopoly has been spreading like a virus, information and multimedia technologies have been getting more powerful, less expensive, and more available to the masses. Media hackers now have the resources to take back the airwaves, to seize the media through non-violent public insurgence.
The Immediasts propose: starting your own radio station or infiltrating an existing one; starting a cable access TV show, a computer bulletin board, or a zine for local community organizing/information exchange. In other words, they call on all media activists to hack the media in order to insert subversive messages that challenge the dominant commercial version of reality. The first "Seizing" pamphlet provides a very readable critique of this "ecology of coercion" and then makes preliminary suggestions for direct action. Further titles in the series will address specific theories and plans of action. The Immediasts have also made the pamphlet into a beautiful interactive presentation for the Macintosh. It has all the contents of the hard copy version along with great sounds and animations. The group is actively looking for others to join their network and to help organize decentralized Immediast groups. Contact them for more specifics and a catalog of all their available materials.
(Gareth Branwyn)
ACCESS:
Seizing the Media
The Immediast Underground
Open Media
PO Box 2726
Westfield, NJ 07091
908-789-9608 Fax: 654-3829
26 pgs., $3.50
graphic: Signal Catalog
Here is the TEXT POPUP for The Immediast Underground:
Other Open Pamphlets of interest to BCP! readers:
Beyond Blade Runner: Urban Control... The Ecology of Fear
Mike Davis
Author of City of Quartz examines the transformation of America's urban landscape into an ecology of fear -- technologically controlled environments wherein entire communities are subject to state and corporate control.
Culture Jamming
Mark Dery
Cultural critic Mark Dery asks "What kind of counter-culture is emerging from America's mediaocracy? Hackers, billboard saboteurs, sub-vertisers, and guerrilla artists are all discussed.
Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
Noam Chomsky
Chomsky examines the varieties of mind control and behavior modification that result when government and business use image manipulation and disinformation to influence events. The Gulf War as a perfect example of "spectator democracy" is discussed.
On Malcolm X: His Message and Meaning
Manning Marable
Dr. Marable looks at Malcolm's thinking and activism and confronts the way that his and other radical's efforts are defused by popular culture.
All pamphlets are $3.50 postpaid. A 10-issue subscription to the Open Pamphlet series is $30 ($27 for students).
