glocalisation . culture wars,art and self censorship

I went for the launch of  two books yesterday. One of them  was supposed to be a record of an international conference on" Glocalisation of Art". I had, after all,  been involved with is as an invited interlocutor.  The launch was a sad  display  of where the glocalisation projects, in our part of the world, stand.They seek to make the local global without understanding the  hard politics of Globalisation.

The Danish ambassador was sensitive enough to point out that his embassy backing was restricted to the funding and that the rest had been left to the funded  organisation. The organisation then, is the one that was too sensitive  to  the sensitivities of funding bodies ( and their own desire for future funding ?). It has totally removed any record  of any "interlocution" that happened during the conference.   It censored itself.   It did not mention ( even in the book ) that there had been any interlocutors , any challengers and  challenges to the  global art agendas the conference was supposed to glocalise.

Gone, into thin air, was the attempt one had made to widen the debate by pointing  to the real agendas of international funding of  local cultural bodies. The smART power that Hillary Clinton so proudly put into place in the State Department.   Smart power that first world funding uses to create a cultural comprador class. Smart power that now ensures the diplomats work seamlessly with the needs of their  nations' armies by  adding soft power to their armed hardpower thrust into the world.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/clinton-goes-commando/

That address was to that nation's Special Forces - the shadow warriors who work in the dark shadows of so many endless  wars throughout the world. Without a quetioning mind the local artists  run the danger of becoming silent  collaborators.Just one of  of those " Special Forces"

I remember  quoting from an american Defence paper at the conference.  as a warning . as an attempt to wake artists up  to  viewpoints they do not normally get to see.

"There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing.  "
That is the opening  quote of an essay by  a Major  (P) Ralph Peters "assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, where he is responsible for future warfare. Prior to becoming a Foreign Area Officer for Eurasia, he served exclusively at the tactical level. He is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College and holds a master's degree in international relations."

Multiple conflicts. Constant war. A fair amount of killing  in wars that seek " Full Spectrum Domination". Domination that "seeks control of all international commons - including Space  and Cyberspace. Culture not excluded"


The current "War on Terrorism " has been described by the  US Marines as Fourth Generation Warfare. Warfare that sees "the whole of an  enemy's society as the battlefield" - where action will occur concurrently . throughout all paricipant's depth, including their society , as a cultural, not just a phyusical entity. Where targets will include such things as a population's support of war and the enemy's culture."


Culture has always been a battlefield.  It is time the Art world woke up and stopped self censorship for just firang funding or even future firang funding. There is no real future in that. Not for Glocal Art.Not for local cultures.

links to follow.

http://www.state.gov/j/cso/releases/other/189343.htm

http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/Articles/97summer/peters.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century