Bureau d’Études

Circular Flow — On the Global Economy of Inequality

Alice Creischer
Colin Crouch
Simon Denny
Søren Grammel [Ed.]
Jan Peter Hammer
Sybille Krämer
Stephan Lessenich
Lisa Rave
Felwine Sarr
Andreas Siekmann
Hito Steyerl

On the Global Economy

Circular Flow

of Inequality

Reader
Reader
Circular Flow
On the Global
Economy of
Inequality

Reader

Realized with the financial support of:

Stiftung für das Kunstmuseum Basel

Fonds für künstlerische Aktivitäten

im Museum für Gegenwartskunst der
Emanuel Hoffmann-Stiftung und der
Christoph Merian Stiftung
5–13 67–90 139–157 185–195
On the Global Duty-Free Art Amazon Worker Europium
Economy of Hito Steyerl Cage Lisa Rave
Inequality Simon Denny
Søren Grammel 93–115 197–211
Working Proposal: 159–171 The Question
15–24 6 Issues about The Anarchist of the Economy
Inside Versus United Food Banker Felwine Sarr
Outside Company Jan Peter Hammer
Stephan Lessenich Inconstancy of —
Memories, Rainy 175–183
27–59 Seasons and Money and Zero: 60–65, 116–119,
The Economy Post-Development Quantification 132–137, 172–173
Colin Crouch Andreas Siekmann and Visualization Poems by
of the Invisible Alice Creischer
121–131 in Early Modern
Petrocosmos Cultural
Bureau d’Études Techniques
Sybille Krämer
5–13

On the Global
Economy of
Inequality

Søren Grammel
6 Søren Grammel On the Global Economy 7
of Inequality
The ever-widening gulf between rich and poor,
“To the extent that the unequal distribution of wealth now affecting
transnational capital is no even the middle ground of most European soci-
eties, precarious work, rising competitive
longer centered in a single pressure coupled with shrinking incomes and
metropol, as industrial pensions, privatization and economization of
formerly public services, the threats of climate
capital in the 1840s was change and environmental pollution, growing
numbers of regional wars and war-like distribu-
[…], there is no longer tional conflicts around the world, the return of
‘a city’ at the center nationalism and religious fanaticism: faced with
all these problems, which divide societies and
of the system, but rather force millions to become migrants, more and more
a fluctuating web of people, even in the mainstream of society, are
now asking questions about the social, ecolog-
connections between ical, and political consequences of the complex
process generally referred to as “globalization.”
metropolitan regions and Circular Flow brings together contributions
exploitable peripheries.” that reflect on economic principles in the light
of the fields of conflict listed above. The
project calls into question neither the idea nor
Allan Sekula the reality of an increasingly networked world,
arguing instead for a strengthening of those
Fish Story (1995) within society who call for a socially just and
ecological shaping of the process. Although this
discussion centers on critiques of the capi-
talist system that has turned the world into
a commodity, globalization means far more than
just international flows of goods and capital,
extending to the mobility of people, ideas, and
culture.
On the one hand, the project aims to reflect
on the current postcolonial era of globaliza-
tion, doing so in connection with its colonial
past and against the backdrop of the imperial
dynamic developed by Europe between the fifteenth
and seventeenth centuries. This makes it very
clear that globalization is not a new phenomenon.
From a European viewpoint, it began in the early
sixteenth century with Portugal’s creation of the
Estado da Índia and the Spanish-Portuguese race
8 Søren Grammel On the Global Economy 9
of Inequality
to the so-called Spice Islands, leading to the countries, China, with its lack of workers rights
first circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand and environmental regulations, initially devel-
Magellan (1519–1522). Antonio Pigafetta’s first- oped into a low-wage Mecca, even joining the
hand account, The First Voyage Around The World, WTO in 2001. The basic characteristics of the
contains descriptions of many activities that economic architecture of globalization since 1989
still characterize globalization today: the sale, are described in this reader by Colin Crouch
purchase, and transport of goods around the (p. 27–59). The dismantling of further trade
world; the forging of far-reaching alliances that barriers and the ongoing deregulation of the
guarantee their members duty-free trade and an banking sector, which began in the 1980s, created
easing of other trade barriers; the founding of the preconditions for today’s overheated global
trading posts, economic zones, and global commu- economy.
nications systems; the exporting of production The yields of accelerated economic growth
far from the client’s actual location; voluntary remain asymmetrically distributed: although
and involuntary migration of workers; cultural decreasing on a global scale, inequality is still
transfer. Back then, there were already winners growing when broken down by country. Those indi-
and losers, trade wars and “real” wars, oppressed viduals with the greatest wealth are becoming
and oppressors. The latter impose their interests more evenly spread across the globe, but this
on all those who do not want to participate in has not closed the gap between rich and poor.
the system. Studies deliver different results depending on
On the other hand, the project’s main focus the method applied, but an average value shows
is on the present and thus on the incredible that in the early 2010s, 1 percent of the world’s
acceleration of globalization since the end of population owned roughly 48 percent of global
the twentieth century. It is just three decades assets. According to the Credit Suisse Global
since the socialist system began to crumble in Wealth Report, in 2018 the richest 10 percent of
Central and Eastern Europe, after which more than the world’s adult population owned 85 percent
25 states broke with the only existing alter- of global assets, while the poorest 64 percent
native to capitalism. The much-cited “end of collectively owned just 2 percent. In this
history” was declared and the rules and rela- context, Stephan Lessenich’s essay (p. 15-24)
tions of the global economy were remade. In the addresses the question of whether inequality is
first four years of the 1990s alone, this saw in fact not an unwanted side-effect but the main
the creation of Mercosur (1991), the revamped principle now underpinning the global economy,
European Community (1992), NAFTA (1994), further so that the basis of “our” prosperity is argu-
development of ASEAN, and the founding of the ably the misery of the “others.” Because without
World Trade Organization (1994). The disman- abject poverty there would be no 72-hour weeks
tling of trade barriers was advanced worldwide: for forty euros a month in Asia’s textile facto-
international competitiveness became a mantra ries, and no unpaid child labor in Africa’s
for businesses, states, and whole trading blocs, mines; people would not be wandering over moun-
dictating the conditions of work and production tains of trash salvaging electronic waste from
everywhere and for everyone. China stuck with the West with their bare hands or selling their
communism—not to empower the people, however, but own bodies in brothels. On the contrary, if the
to control the masses. Like other Far Eastern world was not geared to the economy of inequality
10 Søren Grammel On the Global Economy 11
of Inequality
as it is today, then the countries of the Third that most of the stock market rules and standard-
World would some day be able to use their raw ized contracts introduced following abuses in the
material resources to produce modern products, 1850s were removed. The revolution in informa-
instead of ceding these raw materials to western tion technology and the resulting introduction of
companies at cutthroat prices, as analyzed by increasingly cheap and powerful workplace systems
Felwine Sarr in his essay (p. 197–211). Just (replacing expensive mainframe computers) and
imagine. That could mean a stemming of the brain the arrival of mathematicians and physicists in
drain from poor countries to industrialized global finance made it possible, for the first
states. It could also stem the counter-flow that time, to replace and overrun previous statistical
floods the markets of Third-World nations with methods based on real experience with complicated
western waste and cheap products that deprive and supposedly useful financial formulas (like
local producers of their livelihoods. And if the Black-Scholes model). Of course, financial
development aid were to become obsolete, then markets and their products have been of great
development aid deals could no longer be tied to interest since the trade in goods began. But such
trade deals that were previously synchronized products, like agricultural “futures”, fulfilled
with the interests of donor countries and global a meaningful purpose: the farmer sold his harvest
businesses. Put briefly: other people’s poverty in advance for a fixed price to a “speculator,”
is what actually guarantees the functioning of thus ensuring a steady income regardless of
our economy. weather and crop developments. Insurance policies
Against this backdrop, complex interweav- work in a similar way, by taking on a risk (such
ings of business, politics, and transnational as house fires): the house owner pays a premium
organizations like think-tanks, financial compa- for this insurance (policy or “derivative” refer-
nies, regulatory authorities, and intelligence ring to an underlying asset), renewing the policy
services are an important topic in Circular the following year in spite of a total loss of
Flow, dealt with in the texts by Bureau d’Études the premium, even if the house in question (the
(p. 121–131), Lisa Rave (p. 185–195), and Andreas underlying asset) did not burn down. With suit-
Siekmann (p. 93–115). Spread through the publica- able mathematical and statistical methods, and
tion, the poems of Alice Creischer address human by insuring many individuals, the insurer (the
rights violations by major corporations that are “speculator”) secures his profit. Financial
usually granted little media attention. derivatives function in essentially the same way.
In addition, the 1990s saw the creation of One market player (the “farmer”) pays a premium
countless “synthetic” financial products which, (while relinquishing the possibility of a larger
unlike conventional products, were no longer profit) and “insures” himself against loss. The
required to have a real basis, allowing them other market player (“insurer” or “speculator”)
to be entirely disconnected from reality. As a makes money by receiving the premium (the possi-
result, between 1993 and 1998 the face value of bility of profit) and accepts the risk in return
financial derivatives traded off-exchange glob- (bad weather, poor harvest, etc.). This works as
ally rose from 84,750,000 billion to 509,970,000 long as the overall development remains within
billion USD, a fourfold increase in just five the bounds of prior expectations. Over centuries,
years (source: BIS Annual Report 1998/1999 the number and complexity of such instruments
according to OECD 2000). It is also interesting remained relatively stable as long as they were
12 Søren Grammel On the Global Economy 13
of Inequality
based on real assets (“irrational” speculation critical and post-colonial potential and liberate
purely for profit has of course always existed, it from the servile function mentioned above, as
as in the Dutch tulip mania of the mid-sixteenth also suggested by Hito Steyerl’s essay: duty-free
century). Only from the early 1990s, for the not in the customs-related sense, but in the
above-mentioned reasons, did large numbers of sense of having no obligations (p. 67–90).
new, increasingly complex financial instru- This reader is part of the exhibition of the
ments emerge, which (together with various other same name at Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart.
relevant developments such as deregulation) then Rather than an exhibition catalogue, it is an
helped to fuel the resulting global financial anthology of texts in its own right. The book can
crisis (from 2007). This forms the backdrop to be read in connection with the exhibition, but
two contributions in the reader that deal with also independently of it.
the profit-oriented mentality of the neoliberal
entrepreneur, a disruptive figure that was cele-
brated in the last third of the twentieth century
and that continued to set the tone even after the
global financial crisis: Simon Denny (p. 139–157)
deals with the specific case of Amazon, while Jan
Peter Hammer deconstructs the self-construction
of the “anarchist banker” (p. 159–171).
Today, in the context of cultural, economic,
and political developments, we look in astonish-
ment at the art world, where the former margins
have become new centers while our concept of the
center has become a museum piece. Faced with the
creation of huge duty-free depots outside the
western world, a mushrooming of new biennials,
and the construction of some forty spectacular
new museums in just the last 25 years, especially
in Asia and the Middle East (often in “post-
democratic” systems with elevated demand for
gentrification, art-washing, and city marketing),
we are also bearing witness to the emergence
of a new art order. But perhaps the interna-
tional corporate neo-Rococo has already begun,
initiated by the art industry, the superrich,
and businesses for whom contemporary art serves
as a channel in the same way as tax havens and
networks of offshore companies. One can only
hope not. Instead of merely interpreting the new
global contemporary art as a mirror and lubricant
for new power structures, we should recognize its
15–24

Inside Versus
Outside

Stephan Lessenich

Stephan Lessenich: professor of comparative social and cultural

analysis at Jena University (2004-2014). Since 2014: professor of
social developments and structures at Munich University. 2013–2017:
director of the German Society for Sociology (DGS). Guest professor
and lecturer in Antwerp, Fribourg, St. Gallen, and Zurich. Latest
publications: Living Well at Others’ Expense. The Hidden Costs of
Western Prosperity (Polity 2019), Grenzen der Demokratie. Teilhabe
als Verteilungsproblem (Reclam 2019).
16 Stephan Lessenich Inside Versus Outside 17

“What appears as a struc- “The boat is full.” This is the rallying cry of
the privileged that is always heard when fellow
tural problem of really citizens struggling for their share get all too

existing democracies can be loud with their cries for equality. First and
foremost, however, it is the collective battle
viewed in sociological terms cry heard from all sides that tries to deflect
and nip in the bud such demands from individuals
as an expression of the or groups who are not acknowledged as fellow

state of modern society as a citizens. When such “perfect strangers” — those

who enter the hallowed halls of the state in
world society: geared toward question from a territorial outside — presume

openness economically, on to want to take part in the local democratic

community, then the boundaries of that democ-
a political level it is racy quickly become overwhelmingly clear. It is
then that those wanting to take part are made
characterized by closure — a to realize they are not welcome in the house

difference with far-reaching of democracy that is allegedly open “for all.”

And this unambiguous message is delivered to
consequences. Because the unwelcome guests not just from “above” or

whereas the movement of and “below,” but in surprising social harmony by

a national “we” that lacks all humor when it
trade in goods, services, comes to the question of opening the space of
entitlement.
and financial products In addition to the vertical and horizontal

enjoys structural openness, axes of social inequality, a third transversal

axis comes into play in the modern democratic
an openness constantly main- conflict, one that runs crosswise to class

tained by pressure from the structures and to constellations of competi-

tion. Deeply divided by multiple struggles along
logic of capital, the form lines of class and status, society is united as
a national society in fending off third, fourth,
of political community is or other parties, preventing them from joining

based on closure, a closure in the national class and status struggles so

as not to disrupt societal structures that are
constantly reasserted and well-ordered for all their antagonism. This

actualized by the logic of represents an additional line of division and

tension that in theory simplifies the democratic
the nation-state.” border regime, yet in practice leads to further
complications. It is a line between citizens and
non-citizens, between native and foreign, between
the civilized and the pariah, designed to keep
18 Stephan Lessenich Inside Versus Outside 19

out those who belong to no caste, who do not 1 social closure; as an actual closing off of the
See Joseph H. Carens,
belong at all, who are to be entirely excluded “Aliens and Citizens: The sphere of rights that is especially effective
from social life. Case for Open Borders,” in due to being militarily reinforced; as a physical
The Review of Politics 49:2
As questionable as the sociological term (1987), 251–273. exclusion from any opportunity to participate
“exclusion” may be when used to describe in competition for property and status within
phenomena of exclusion within society — the unem- society. Those excluded from citizenship rights
ployed from the job market, housewives from the not only do not have an address on the territory
pension system, working-class children from of the state in question — or at best a temporary
tertiary education — it is very much valid and one, something every German tourist realizes when
appropriate in this case: the citizens of a asked for one on arriving for a few days in, for
democratic state are unified in a practice of instance, the USA (most then give the address of
exclusion of all those who do not belong to their hotel). First and foremost, the non-citi-
that particular state and who therefore should zens are definitely — and by definition — not an
not partake of the sphere of civic rights. For address for the respective democratic state, not
“German” citizens, for example, having grown up an addressee of civic rights: if they can provide
with the reality of the political differentiation no temporary address, no reason to stay, no proof
of global society into nation states, this may of sufficient cash funds (which should also not
seem banal, self-evident, and without alterna- be too much), then the coldhearted song they hear
tive: Why and how could it be any different? at the border (everyone knows the tune) is return
And yet, precisely this fact is of fundamental to sender, address unknown.
importance for any analysis of modern democ- When stripped down to the basics, this high-
racy, its limits, and their possible expansion. lights a simple but momentous fact: citizen
For here, talk of the “boundaries” of democracy status is both an agent of inclusion in spheres
ceases to be merely metaphoric: instead — in a of democratic rights and an instrument of exclu-
material, physical sense — it is about defining sion from such spheres. In Thomas Marshall’s
the boundaries of a national sphere of citizen- classic theory, citizenship is discussed
ship rights. It is about drawing borders that primarily (though not solely) as a category of
protect the inside from the outside, sealing them social inclusion; when looked at analytically,
as tightly as possible, with barriers and police however, it is above all a category of social
controls, coastguard patrols, and night vision exclusion — the basic medium for the exclusion of
devices (in the current race between western people from the domain of the nation within which
democracies to outdo each other in this regard, societal benefits and functions apply. And not
Viktor Orbán is probably still the frontrunner only in logical terms, but also historically, it
after his claim in the summer of 2016 to have can be said that the exclusion of all people not
created an “airtight seal” along Hungary’s border recognized as part of national communities of
with Serbia). It is about a “fortified democ- rights was both the prerequisite and the result
racy” that puts a stop to any truly transboundary of the “unique” history of inclusion in western
claims to share its inner space of democratic and subsequently also non-western democracies.
rights.1 What appears as a structural problem of really
The practice of exclusion by nation states existing democracies can be viewed in socio-
must therefore be seen as a distinctive form of logical terms as an expression of the state of
20 Stephan Lessenich Inside Versus Outside 21

modern society as a world society: geared toward members of the global elite to buy citizenship 2
Raymond Murphy, “The
openness economically, on a political level it of “attractive” political communities — while at Structure of Closure: A
is characterized by closure — a difference with the same time, the radicalness with which asylum Critique and Development
of the Theories of Weber,
far-reaching consequences. Because whereas the seekers and refugees are excluded from even the Collins, and Parkin,” in The
British Journal of Sociology
movement of and trade in goods, services, and most basic democratic rights seemingly knows 35 (1984), 547–567, here
financial products enjoys structural openness, no limits, not even those of political fantasy 559.

an openness constantly maintained by pressure (Germany’s “Orderly Return Law” of 2019 must be
from the logic of capital, the form of polit- seen not only as a low point in democratic poli-
ical community is based on closure, a closure tics, but also as a new pinnacle of Orwellian
constantly reasserted and actualized by the logic newspeak).
of the nation-state. This further complicates what we have been
This leads to a situation in which the cross- referring to as the boundaries of democracy.
border movement of and “trade in” people is Besides the shaping of modern democracy by
subject to far tighter regulations than that conflicts of class and status, it is necessary
of other production factors: the modern trend to consider those conflicts that stem from its
towards globalized markets for goods and capital constitution as a nation state. Besides class,
stands in opposition to the (no less modern) a category of inequality that has always been
seclusion of the nationalized labor market. That part of sociological analyses, and the catego-
is not to say that capital lacks a (globalized) ries of gender, race, and age that have received
structural interest in what the EU calls the increased attention in recent decades, equal
“free movement for workers.” But this economic importance must therefore be accorded to another
interest in opening (motivated by accumula- dimension of inequality. The category in question
tion) is counteracted and broken in democratic is that of place, the great unknown of conven-
societies by the political interest in closure tional studies of social structure.
(motivated by legitimation): since those In the resulting search for the “place” of
dependent on wages are already subject to compet- democracy, Raymond Murphy’s contributions on
itive pressures, democratic political actors closure are valuable, helping to identify a class
deem it more fitting to respond to calls from division other than that of capital and labor — a
employers for increased openness with deregula- social opposition within the wage-dependent
tion of the labor market than with more liberal class that goes beyond internal rivalries over
migration policies. status and distinction: the class opposition
In all democratic capitalist societies, this that “separat[es] the working class of advanced
constellation of inner conflict has resulted in capitalist countries from the poor of the Third
a highly selective immigration regime in which World.”2
the recruitment of qualified workers is legally Murphy traces this separation back to the
possible and socially acceptable, while any other exclusive nature of citizenship, which he
form of labor migration is prevented or declared declares to be the second pillar (besides
an exception. This regulatory split, and with private property) of the modern, global system
it the double standard of granting and denying of inequality. The dispossessed in the nation
opportunities for access and participation, states of the global north — the world of the
culminates in the steady growth of options for “rich democracies” — are excluded from those posi-
22 Stephan Lessenich Inside Versus Outside 23

tions of power reserved only for those who hold 3 society with “those down below” facing “those 6
Ibid. Murphy, “The Structure of
property. However, the dispossessed from the up above”: the citizens of the poor nations Closure,” 559.
other part of the world — the global south — are 4 versus those of the rich ones, the entire popu-
See Ayelet Shachar, 7
excluded additionally from the positions of The Birthright Lottery. lation of Mozambique, Tanzania, Mali, or Uganda See Milanović, “Global
Citizenship and Global Inequality,” 128.
participation that are open to their “class Inequality (Cambridge as the “citizenship underclass”6 versus the
comrades” who happen to belong to the sphere of 2009). whole of Danish society, for instance, all of
citizenship rights in their respective home coun- 5 whose citizens — from the highest to the lowest
Branko Milanović, “Global
tries. “Citizenship laws operate as collectivist Inequality: From Class to income — belong to the global upper class.7
criteria of exclusion differentiating two types Location, from Proletarians However, the sociological viability of the
to Migrants,” in Global
of human being according to geographical location Policy 3 (2012), 125–134, concept of exclusion actually might be ques-
here 128.
of birth, one with rights and the other excluded tioned even here. For it is true that citizens
from such rights.”3 of many of the world’s states are excluded, on
From this perspective, talk of life as a account of their citizenship, from possibilities
“lottery,” with all the ups and downs of fate, of participation that seem natural to citi-
takes on an entirely new, existential meaning. zens of other nations. And yet, precisely these
Viewed globally, inequality of opportunity is second- or even third-class citizens, who enjoy
primarily a matter of whether one draws a winning fewer rights or even almost no rights at all,
lot in the “birthright lottery” 4
by being born are an inseparable part of the global system of
into a rich nation state, or whether one draws a citizenship that affords others — the citizens
dud by coming into the world in a country that of rich nations — exclusive rights of democratic
does not offer its citizens much in the way of participation.
rights. Right or wrong — your country: The lucky Rather than being a typical sociological exer-
ones are born in Germany, or in some other place cise in hairsplitting, this brings into play the
in Europe, while the unlucky ones are born in category of the “subaltern” that can help us to
Ivory Coast, or Guatemala, or Bangladesh. And gain a clearer picture of the arena of democratic
for the most part that’s it. The respective conflict between “inside” and “outside.” In the
plus or minus in terms of life chances has been sense of the word’s Italian origins, the subal-
succinctly put into numbers by American economist tern are subordinate, subservient, subjected.
Branko Milanović: 80 percent of global inequality With its connotations of being underneath, the
(measured in terms of income) can be traced back “sub” prefix fits the concept of the “global
to inequality of life conditions between socie- south,” which is not so much a territorial as a
ties, with just 20 percent stemming from income relational locator of those regions of the world
inequality within societies: “most of global that depend on the powerful nations of the indus-
income differences today depend on location.”5 trial capitalist “north.” At the same time, the
This, he argues, is also why European and North word “subaltern” has openly negative, pejorative
American societies have become such fortresses connotations — of being not only subjected but
against the pressure of global migration — thereby submissive, not only subordinate but servile, of
also somehow becoming bastions of democracy, being obedient and obliging people.
though admittedly only for their own citizens. The term’s strength lies precisely in this
In this light, it seems far from unreason- double meaning. For as US-based Indian literary
able to speak of class relationships in global theorist Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak8 has impres-
24 Stephan Lessenich

sively shown, the subaltern are not only left 8

See Gayatri Chakravorty
behind in a material sense, but are also devalued Spivak, “Can the Subaltern
symbolically: the political and economic domi- Speak?” in Cary Nelson,
Lawrence Grossberg,
nation of the “north” goes hand in hand with a eds., Marxism and the
Interpretation of Culture
hegemonic discourse about the “south” in which (Chicago: University of
subjugation and degradation merge — and the subal- Illinois Press, 1988), 24–28.

tern remain unheard, ununderstood, voiceless. 9

See Immanuel Wallerstein,
On the subject of voicelessness, and without “Citizens All? Citizens
being able to go into detail here, anyone who Some! The Making of the
Citizen,” in Comparative
speaks about the boundaries of democracy cannot Studies in Society and
History 45 (2003), 650–679.
remain silent about the global elite’s racist,
neo-colonial view of the subaltern. Democracy
has always been a matter of exclusion — within
western societies themselves, but particularly
with regard to those societies below them in
the global capitalist pecking order which they
ruled over as colonies or brought under their
control by other means. “Citizens All? Citizens
Some!”9 This formulation of exclusionary demo-
cratic mores has applied — and to a lesser extent
still applies — in countries all over the world.
In the countries that rule the world, however, it
applies in particular “outwardly” — doing so today
perhaps more than ever before.
27–59

The Economy

Colin Crouch

Colin Crouch: professor emeritus of governance and public

management at the University of Warwick (UK) and visiting fellow
at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne.
Has written about problems currently faced by democracy and
various aspects of business sociology, always from a comparative
European viewpoint. Recent publications (all Polity Press):
The Globalization Backlash (2019), Will the Gig Economy Prevail?
(2019), The Knowledge Corrupters (2015).
28 Colin Crouch The Economy 29

“Had globalization not taken It is difficult to draw up a balance sheet of 1

IMF, Globalization: Threat or
gains and losses from globalization. Many vari-
place — had we […] remained ables need to enter the calculations, while
Opportunity? (Washington,
DC: IMF, 2002).

in national fortress econo- different individuals vary in their estima-

tion of the relative importance of, say, having
2
François Bourguignon,

mies, with carefully

La mondialisation de
fresh air to breathe and having the money to buy l’inégalite (Paris: Seuil,
2012). Translated into

monitored trade and tariff some decent clothes and furniture. Nevertheless,
several observers have tried to make some overall
English as The Globalization
of Inequality (Princeton
University Press, 2015).

walls, strict limits on assessments, ranging from official interna-

3
tional bodies like the International Monetary
foreign travel and even
Branco Milanovic, Global
Inequality: a New Approach
Fund (IMF)1 to individual economists, including for the Age of Globalization

stricter ones on immigra- François Bourguignon,2 Branco Milanovic,3 Dani

Rodrik,4 and Joseph Stiglitz.5 It is notable that
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2016).

tion — most of the world these economists have in the past been senior
4
Dani Rodrik, Has

would today be considerably staff members of the IMF or World Bank. While Globalization Gone Too Far?
(Washington, DC: Peterson
these organizations have themselves come to see Institute for International

poorer […]. On the other negative aspects of globalization since the

Economics, 1997); The
Globalization Paradox:
Democracy and the Future
financial crisis of 2008, Rodrik and Stiglitz
hand, there have been casu- were sounding warnings at an earlier point.
of the World Economy (New
York: Norton, 2011).

alties from globalization: Readers wanting a fully detailed account should

read their books. Here we can give just an over-
5
Joseph Stiglitz,

some world regions (mainly view, starting with a look at how globalization
Globalization and its
Discontents (New York:
Norton, 2002).

most of Africa) have been has developed, going an to assess its gains and
losses, and finally considering its implications 6

left out, and we have all

Readers wanting to learn
for economic sovereignty. more should consult John
Frieden, Global Capitalism:

been presented with general The waves of globalization

Its Fall and Rise in the
Twentieth Century (New
York: Norton, 2007).

political, cultural, and We can identify four waves of modern economic

globalization.
social challenges, the full
extent of which we still The first wave: European imperialism
First came the extension of world trade in
have not experienced.” the late nineteenth century — a globalization
episode often forgotten in recent accounts.6 This
was highly controlled by the western European
empires — of Great Britain in particular, but also
of France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal,
and others. Being imperial, it was military as
well as commercial, and eventually included “the
scramble for Africa,” which in turn became one of
the causes of the First World War.
30 Colin Crouch The Economy 31

However, the growth of industrial production ture of international institutions. International

in the period made possible a general increase trade recovered, but was no longer based on the
in trade among many nations, including those, European colonial empires. These were gradu-
like the USA, not involved in the construc- ally disintegrating, being replaced by the global
tion of overseas empires. There is no space here dominance of the USA. Thus began a second wave
to describe the patterns and forms of govern- of globalization. The initial framework for a
ance involved, but the absence of any regulatory new system of rules for international economic
regime apart from those imposed by dominant coun- relations was established at a key conference in
tries was notable. In 1859, Japan was forced to Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944, though the
accept trade with the USA under the threat of USSR and its allies subsequently departed from
military invasion if it refused. Twice in the the regime. The division of most of the world
nineteenth century the UK used military action into the blocs of the Cold War limited the extent
to persuade China to buy opium from British of the new system, as that dominated by the
suppliers. Britain also controlled closely which Soviet Union, and also that of China, remained
goods it would allow its colonies to produce, outside the international market economy. But
to prevent competition with its own industries. in the US-dominated part of the world, trade
Britain’s self-proclaimed commitment to “free” barriers were gradually relaxed in successive
trade can be questioned. But international trade, rounds of the General Agreement on Tariffs and
which in past centuries was largely limited Trade (GATT). There were no reasons for inhab-
to exotic and expensive products, now began itants of western countries to see the growth
to involve those for ordinary working people, of international governance of trade as a chal-
improving the lives of many, whether as consumers lenge to their national “sovereignty;” their
of cheap imported goods or as the producers of interests dominated the whole process, and their
increased quantities of exports. governments’ control over movements of capital
The years between the two world wars saw a and labor were left untouched. The exception of
major retreat from international trade, a rise of capital movements was important, as it enabled
protectionism, the defeat of attempts through the governments to avoid threats of capital flight if
League of Nations at broad international collabo- they constructed strongly redistributive taxation
ration, and the rise of militarized, violent systems or strong demand management policies.
nationalism, particularly for Nazi Germany and Among the countries that in 1957 formed the
its Italian and Japanese allies. These finally European Economic Community (EEC, later the EU),
became major causes of the Second World War. cross-national economic integration went further.
Although the architects of European unity seri-
The second wave: US-dominated tariff ously envisaged, in the words of the Treaty of
reduction and European integration Rome, “an ever closer union” among member states,
Nationalism and insistence on uncompromising priority was given to trade. Individual countries
national sovereignty having become associated were left to develop their own welfare states.
with Nazism and fascism, after the Second World These were seen as important to regaining legiti-
War politicians of most kinds in the western macy for governments in countries that had been
world moved firmly away from their slogans and fascist, or defeated and occupied during the war.
passions, and set about constructing an architec- On the other hand, social policy aims were never
32 Colin Crouch The Economy 33

far from the European project: the EEC’s origins ticians themselves were marginalized, and
lay in the Common Agricultural Policy and the governments and civil society gradually developed
European Coal and Steel Community, both designed ways of teaching native populations to accept the
to rescue and stabilize industries likely to be new people, whose labor was needed by economies
sources of social unrest if nothing was done to in full expansion. Immigrant cultures, especially
support them. in food and music, enriched and were absorbed
Meanwhile, the most fundamental symbol of into host societies. Immigrants and natives began
national sovereignty — the power to wage war to form friendships and to intermarry.
autonomously — had in reality been fundamentally
compromised by the arrival of nuclear weapons, The third wave: neoliberal deregulation
but this was not experienced as a problem except The expansion of world trade and agreements to
by a few who held nostalgically to old visions of reduce tariffs and other barriers moved to a new
empire. The European powers gradually abandoned level during the 1980s in what we can see as a
their futile wars to prevent colonial independ- third wave of globalization, as it had different
ence, and, albeit beneath the terrifying anxiety roots from the initial post-1945 desire to tran-
of possible nuclear war, many parts of the world, scend nationalism. This was the general push for
and Europe in particular, became more peaceful both domestic and international deregulation,
than for many years. as neoliberal economic ideas achieved dominance
There was one exception to the ease with which under the leadership of the USA and the UK. For
this limited globalization was accepted: growing neoliberals, the most important institution in
immigration into several western economies governing human affairs is the market. There is
brought episodes of violence, and more wide- a role for law in sustaining the property rights
spread discrimination and social rejection of and trading obligations necessary for the market
immigrants. This happened both in countries where to function efficiently, but neoliberals are
immigrants came mainly from former colonies, as indifferent, even hostile, to ideas of nation.
in the UK, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, If markets are to be free and sovereign, there
and in those to which they came as Gastarbeiter is no place for governments to defend a national
(guest workers), who, it was assumed, would go economic interest against them; national and
home after a period of years: Austria, Germany, even transnational regulatory regimes are seen
Switzerland. The USA continued its far longer only as protectionism. The public power should
tradition of accepting immigration from across be immune to popular pressures. This condition
the world — with a similarly familiar story of is found more easily at the international than
accompanying ethnic conflict and discrimination. the national level, as democratic politics is far
Political and economic elites often responded to livelier at the latter.
anti-immigrant movements by imposing restric- Under the impact of these two waves of
tions on the scale of future immigration, but globalization, mass production in steel,
they resisted temptations to increase their own shipbuilding, and several metalworking and elec-
support by exacerbating tensions. They still tronics industries in Europe and North America
remembered what the encouragement of racial became uncompetitive in the face of lower-cost
antagonism had caused in Germany in the 1930s. competition. There was growing unemployment in
Racist and xenophobic organizations and poli- many old industrial areas in wealthy countries,
34 Colin Crouch The Economy 35

though within the EEC this was alleviated by 7 for example, ASEAN in South-East Asia, Mercosur
Layna Mosley, Global
structural funds to help regeneration. Those Capital and National in South America, NAFTA in North America — but,
parts of the affected sectors that remained moved Governments (Cambridge: most fully and successfully, the EEC.
Cambridge University
into specialized, high-value-added products, but Press, 2003); Elmar
Rieger, Stephan
employed far fewer people. Employment in services Leibfried, Grundlagen der The fourth wave: the European Single
sectors, especially public services, grew at Globalisierung (Frankfurt: Market, the collapse of communism and
Suhrkamp, 2001).
the same time. These, many of which needed to the rise of the Far East
be delivered close to the customer or user, were These processes were massively reinforced by
less vulnerable to international competition. In various new developments in the 1990s, the
general, growth of this new employment outweighed combined impact of which has been so great that
the losses of jobs in manufacturing and mining. it amounts to a fourth wave of globalization.
A further important element of this period of
globalization was the beginning of a deregulation — In 1995, the GATT was replaced by the World
of financial movements. The main negative conse- Trade Organization (WTO). Countries in member-
quences of this were to follow during the fourth ship of the WTO can trade in goods with each
wave, when they were coupled with the relaxa- other without high tariff walls, provided they
tion of banking rules, generating the crisis of abide by certain rules. These mainly concern
2007–2008. The main consequence of the initial undertaking not to use protectionism or state
deregulation was to remove the safeguards of subsidies of industries. This has served as a
Bretton Woods over national control of capital major incentive to governments to limit state
movements, making it difficult for governments to intervention in the economy and to shape their
pursue policies that conflicted with the inter- trade policies in conformity with WTO rules.
ests of major capital holders. While countries — With particular enthusiasm on the part of the
remained free to opt out of the new system, to do UK, the EU began to construct the European
so would cut off themselves and firms located in Single Market (ESM), which established common
their jurisdictions from access to international standards for unrestrained trade across a
funds, and encourage capital flight. However, for variety of goods, services, and financial
advanced economies (the issue is not so benign in flows, and the free movement of labor, with
developing countries), there is evidence that, a supranational court, the European Court of
provided governments manage their deficits effec- Justice (ECJ), to govern its implementation.
tively and constrain inflation, holders of global — At about the same time, the collapse of the
capital take little interest in the details of Soviet Empire enabled Russia and the countries
domestic policy; whether or not to have strong of central and eastern Europe to join the market
welfare states remains the choice of national economy, with those in central Europe eventu-
electorates.7
ally becoming full members of the EU — again with
Finally, institutions of cross-national especially strong support from the UK.
economic governance providing more compliance — China, while formally maintaining its position
with free trading norms — in exchange for lower as a state-socialist economy, also entered
tariffs and mutual acceptance of product stand- the market economy, joining the WTO in 2001
ards — than was being achieved through GATT were (Russia followed in 2012).
erected at the level of specific world regions: — The Multi-Fibre Arrangement, which had been
36 Colin Crouch The Economy 37

established in 1974 to protect the world’s competitiveness can mean moving up-market to 8
Paul Mason, “The global
wealthy economies from cheap clothing and high-skilled, high-infrastructure activities, and order is dying. But it’s an
textile imports from developing countries, not just keeping prices (and therefore wages and illusion to think Britain can
survive without the EU,” The
especially in Asia, expired in 2004. This put social costs) low. But another consequence was Guardian, June 27, 2016:
bit.ly/2VGFt61
heavy pressure on mass-market clothing and the financial crisis. This eventually contributed
textile production, especially in southern heavily to the wave of disillusion with the whole
Europe. globalization process, and some modicum of reali-
— The USA and UK had started deregulating the zation among policy-makers that the deregulation
global financial system in the 1980s. This of finance had gone too far and might threaten
spread to other parts of the world in the the globalization project itself. As Paul Mason,
1990s. It funded major expansions of economic a British left-wing economics commentator, put
activity, but at the same time encouraged the it, “if we want to save globalization, we have to
irresponsible financial practices that by 2008 ditch neoliberalism.”8
brought much of the world to a massive finan- Globalization also brought increased migra-
cial crisis. tion, especially as multinational firms recruit
their employees across the world. This process
Globalization was now in full spate, and in many becomes cumulative, as certain regions acquire
respects followed the classic expectations of a reputation for a welcoming cosmopolitanism,
economists that there would be mutual gains from leading them to attract more immigrants. Cities
an expansion of free trade. Low-valued-added like London, Paris, New York, and several in
activities declined in the rich countries, to California have become highly multilingual and
be replaced by both higher-value-added ones and multicultural. Even low-paid jobs in rich coun-
activities in services that could not easily tries have been attractive to people living
be replaced by imports, such as health, educa- in poor countries. Entry from abroad into the
tion, restaurants, and retail trading. Firms in labor market, unlike into those for capital
many poor countries, particularly China and the and products, is usually tightly controlled by
Indian subcontinent, began to dominate tradi- governments, but the EU long ago established
tional manufacturing and mining activities, the principle of free movement for citizens of
thereby increasing their national incomes. As a its member states. Free movement became prob-
result, these countries developed a large middle lematic after the admission of the countries of
class that could afford to buy expensive goods Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), whose standard
from Europe, Japan, and the USA. The expansion of living in the protectionist economies of the
of international trade began to be a positive-sum state-socialist period had fallen far behind that
game. This is often obscured by politicians and of the majority of western Europeans. This led
business people who talk in terms of a “global to far greater numbers of migrants than had been
race,” in which their countries must partici- envisaged when the principle of free movement
pate, with a strong sense that there must be had been established. Most western member states
winners and losers. They do this in order to took measures to delay the extension of the free
encourage workers to accept limited wage rises movement right for several years after countries
and cuts in public spending in order to boost were admitted to the Union, in the expectation
“competitiveness.” They forget (or conceal) that that an improvement would take place in eastern
38 Colin Crouch The Economy 39

economies, reducing immigration flows. The UK, 9 increasingly unequally divided. The World 10
bit.ly/2q5IUaC bit.ly/32ikbOw
Ireland, and Sweden did not take advantage of Institute for Development Economics Research The Gini coefficient calcu-
this possibility, and therefore experienced a of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) lates the level of inequality
of incomes in a country,
large initial wave of immigration until the rest has calculated Gini coefficient measures of where 1.00 represents
a society in which all
of western Europe opened its borders. For nearly inequality for most countries.10 The China of the income is concentrated in
all western European countries except the UK, Communist Cultural Revolution was very poor and the hands of one person,
and 0.00 one with perfect
immigration from CEE has ceased to be controver- the regime brutal, but relatively egalitarian, income equality.

sial, but considerable conflict has been aroused with a Gini coefficient of around 0.30 (broadly
by a quite different phenomenon: waves of refu- similar to the Nordic and certain central
gees and asylum seekers escaping from wars and European countries). With China’s entry into the
other disasters in the Middle East and North global economy, inequality rose steeply: by 2015,
Africa. Although not a direct consequence of the the Gini coefficient had increased to 0.55 — more
reduction of barriers to trade, this phenomenon unequal than the USA at 0.42. However, poverty
has several links to globalization in general, has also declined in China. Taking the World
and is certainly responsible for some of the Bank’s definition of extreme poverty as meaning
opposition to it. workers earning less than $US1.90 a day at 2013
values, in 1990, 60% of the Chinese population
Gains and losses from globalization were living in poverty-stricken households; by
We must now put some flesh on these generaliza- 2016, that level had dropped to 1.9%. Chinese
tions with some key examples, focusing mainly life expectancy at age 0 was 69 years in 1990;
on the world’s most populous country, China, on in 2016, it stood at 76 — one year higher than US
which much western anxiety over globalization life expectancy had been in 1990. In 1990, 5.4%
has concentrated. (Unless otherwise stated, the of Chinese children died before they had reached
following data are taken from the World Bank’s the age of 5 years; in 2016, it was 1.1% (the
most recent World Development Indicators. ) 9
same as the USA in 1990). In 1990, only 37% of
The overall wealth of the Chinese people has those of secondary school age were enrolled at
certainly increased. In 1990, gross national school; by 2016, that figure had reached 94%
income per capita in purchasing power parities (slightly higher than the USA in 1990, which had
stood at $US990 (in the USA, it was $23,730). By been 91%). These achievements came at a price,
2016, it had become $15,500 (the US equivalent mainly in air pollution. In 1990, Chinese indus-
was then $58,030). In 1990, exports represented trial, transport, heating and other activities
14% of China’s gross domestic product (GDP); by generated 2.17 metric tons of carbon dioxide per
2016, this had risen to 20% of the far larger inhabitant. By 2016, this had risen to 7.55 (the
economy (the comparable figures for the USA equivalent figures for the USA were 19.32 and
are 9% and 13%). But China also increased its 16.4).
imports from the rest of the world, from 11% to The studies by Bourguignon and Milanovic cited
17% of GDP (the USA’s figure increased from the above tackle what the latter terms the paradox
same 1990 level as China’s to only 15%). China’s of inequality: inequality has declined across
advance has therefore involved not only exports, the world as a whole, but increased within most
but also imports from the rest of the world. countries. Although global real per-capita income
China’s growing wealth has, however, been increased between 1988 and 2012, the world’s
40 Colin Crouch The Economy 41

very poorest saw no improvement. The global ally across high-income countries from 56.5% in 11
bit.ly/2MfZbm2
middle (i.e., the 45th to 65th percentiles of 1991 to 56.2% in 2016. 11
The decline was concen- 12
the world’s income distribution, mainly found in trated on men (from 68.4% to 64.0%), the rate for bit.ly/2pDEl7h

China and other industrializing countries) saw women growing from 45.3% to 48.5%. Across the 13
Guy Standing, Work after
a major improvement in their living standards, world as a whole, employment declined from 62.4% Globalization: Building
but the 80th to 95th percentiles (broadly, the to 59.2%, and affected both genders. The decline Occupational Citizenship
(Cheltenham: Edward
western middle class) experienced some decline. in China was in fact considerably greater, from Elgar, 2009); The Precariat:
The New Dangerous Class
The richest 1% in the world, on the other hand, 75.4% to 67.3%, and again affected both men and (London: Bloomsbury, 2011).
saw a massive improvement in their standards, and women. Unfortunately, global data are available
now account for 29% of all income and 46% of all only for this 15–64 age range, which is becoming
wealth. of decreasing use when so many people over 15
One of the main industries in which China are in education. World Bank data show that,
and some other developing countries have had a across the world, the proportion of children of
particular impact on world trade is that of crude secondary school age who were enrolled in school
steel (others include low-value-added clothing rose from 52.53% in 1991 to 76.42% in 2015. The
and textiles, and light consumer goods). Steel figure for China rose from 39.63% to 94.29%; for
has been particularly problematic following the India, from 37.29% to 73.97%. Wealthier coun-
recent slowdown in China’s economic expansion. tries were already close to 100% in 1991, but the
It is estimated that the country will need to numbers have continued to rise. Global enrolment
shed over a million jobs in steelmaking over the in tertiary education has risen from 13.84% in
next few years. Meanwhile, it has been accused 1991 to 35.69% in 2015; in China, from 2.93% to
by the EU, the USA and others of dumping steel 43.39%; in India, from 6.09% to 26.88%. There has
at heavily subsidized prices. That kind of action also been considerable expansion of higher educa-
is prohibited by the World Trade Organization, tion in the wealthy countries.
and cases are pending, but charges are not easy Since 2001, the EU has standardized an
to prove, and the processes take time. In the employment count for the age range 20–64 for
meantime, there is panic about the effect of the its member states, which is a more realistic
alleged dumping on production in the advanced estimate of the size of the potential labor
economies. Setting those issues temporarily force.12 Experience varies among countries, but,
aside, it is clear that China and India have had overall, employment in the EU rose from 66.9%
a major impact on global steel production in in 2001 to 71.1% in 2016, despite the 2008
recent decades. […] financial crisis and 2010 Euro crisis happening
between the two dates cited. Although employ-
Employment and migration ment in most developed countries has thrived,
Looking beyond steel to the whole economy, this has often been at the cost of increas-
there has been some decline in overall employ- ingly precarious employment conditions, as
ment rates since the early 1990s, but these are Guy Standing has described.13 Young people are
not confined to the advanced countries and are often able to find only temporary jobs, or have
very small. Data from the International Labor contracts that pay them only when an employer
Organization (ILO) show the employment rate for calls them into work (what in the UK are called
the population aged 15 to 64 declining margin- “zero-hours contracts”), or which treat them
42 Colin Crouch The Economy 43

as self-employed. In a study of the US labor 14 50% in Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, the 17
Arne L. Kalleberg, Good OECD, 2017,
market, Arne Kalleberg 14
showed that, between Jobs, Bad Jobs (New York: Netherlands, Romania, and Slovenia. Nowhere was bit.ly/33utcUT
the 1970s and the early years of the present Russell Sage, 2011). it below 37%.
18
century, there had been a major increase in 15 Another widely used measure of unsatisfac- European Foundation for
Colin Crouch, Governing the Improvement of Living
temporary, self-employed, and low-paid jobs in Social Risks in Post-Crisis tory labor market conditions, despite reasonably and Working Conditions,
the USA. He listed a number of factors behind Europe (Cheltenham: strong overall employment levels in most coun- undated, Work-Related
Edward Elgar, 2015). Stress, bit.ly/32f3Ni3
this development. Globalization and immigration tries, is the number of young people not in
16
were included, but others were improvements in OECD, 2018 education, employment, or training (known
technology that had created a labor surplus, as NEETs). Of course, many young people are
and deliberate political choice by successive in employment, but in temporary or otherwise
US governments to deregulate labor standards precarious and unsatisfactory positions; but the
and to fail to increase minimum wages. Crouch15 NEET statistic tells us about something even
calculated that, in 2012, in EU member states more desperate: young people simply lost to a
plus Norway, anything from 33% (Norway) to future place in the economy. According to OECD
71% (Greece) of workers were either without statistics,17 in 2016 the number of NEETs reached
work, temporarily employed, or self-employed. over 20% of young people aged between 15 and 29
While some self-employed workers are content in most of southern Europe (Greece, Italy, and
to be such, including some very well-rewarded Spain) and also in Mexico and Turkey; over 15% in
professional practitioners, a high number of France, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and Slovakia;
self-employed usually indicates people either and over 10% in Australia, Belgium, Canada, the
unable to find standard employment or being Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia,
described as self-employed by those for whom Lithuania, New Zealand, Russia, Slovenia, the UK,
they work in order to avoid various employer and the USA.
obligations. There is considerable debate over Further signs of the burdens being placed on
whether part-time workers should automatically workers in the contemporary economy appear in
be included among those in precarious or other- the concerns being raised about work stress, as
wise undesirable labor-market conditions, as found in research by the European Foundation for
many people work part-time by choice. There is the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
even complaint that, in some countries, there (EuroFound).18 It is difficult to appraise whether
are inadequate opportunities for part-time there have been actual changes or just increased
work, reducing women’s labor-market partici- consciousness — though the fact that EuroFound
pation in particular. Calculations have been identified more evidence of stress in poorer EU
made, for OECD member states, of the number of member countries than in wealthier ones with
part-timers saying that they are working part- strong welfare states suggests that this is not a
time only because they cannot find full-time case of a “rich country problem.” People in many
employment.16 If we add these to the existing different kinds of work are reporting various
statistics, we find that in 2012 the propor- combinations of physical and mental stress in
tion of the population aged between 20 and their jobs, including difficulties in managing a
64 who were not in standard employment was balance between work and the rest of life.
above 70% in Greece, Italy, and Spain; above All these developments reflect a change in
60% in Ireland, Poland, and Portugal; above the relationship between supply of and demand
44 Colin Crouch The Economy 45

for labor, though by no means all result from 19 a consequence of competition among governments
Fritz Scharpf, Crisis and
globalization. There would have been pressure to Choice in European Social to attract transnational corporations and wealthy
substitute machines for human workers as a result Democracy (Ithaca, NY: individuals by offering them low taxes. This is
Cornell University Press,
of technological opportunities. Nevertheless, 1991). an aspect of globalization. Albeit indirectly,
globalization has certainly played a part in therefore, globalization is partly respon-
producing a worldwide labor surplus, which logi- sible for the decline in good jobs. For a time
cally must find at least short- and medium-term at the end of the last century, it seemed that
expression in reduced work incomes and worse these changes would result in mass unemployment.
working conditions in already-industrialized Eventually, however, there occurred a growth in
countries. Globalization’s role here takes two services jobs for low-skilled and moderately
forms: changes in the occupational structure, and skilled people, who have had to compensate for
immigration. their poor skills by accepting precariousness and
First, the shift of much productive industry insecurity.
to newly industrializing countries means that Second, globalization is responsible for much
in wealthy countries work has to be found mainly of the migration that has taken place in recent
in services. For many people this means skilled years, whether this happens through freedom-
work in more congenial conditions than in manu- of-movement provisions such as those in the EU,
facturing. There has been a general improvement corporate recruitment plans, governments encour-
in education standards in wealthy countries, aging immigration to resolve labor shortages and
enabling many younger people to move into these improve a country’s demographic profile, or the
more rewarding, up-market jobs. However, for illegal immigration that inevitably takes place
low-skilled workers, the situation is different. when there are large disparities between income
As the German political scientist Fritz Scharpf levels in different countries and mass transport
demonstrated back in 1991, production industries is reasonably available. It is often argued that
improved the productivity of such workers by immigrants reduce wages, since it seems clear
putting technology at their disposal and enabling from elementary economic theory that an increase
them to enjoy good wages and job security. 19
While in the supply of labor without a concomitant
there is technological support for workers in increase in its demand will lead to a reduc-
some services sectors, and this has increased tion in its price. Immigration is here just one
considerably with information technology, it of a number of potential sudden increases in
is less significant than in manufacturing. For labor supply. Others include the major increase
some other low-skilled workers, there used to be in female employment that has taken place, and
employment in public services — jobs that did not internal migration from depressed to flour-
pay much but which offered considerable secu- ishing cities and regions. In all such cases, it
rity. That has declined as conditions in public might seem rational to seek to boost wages by
employment have become tougher as a result of restricting access to the labor market (as was
reductions in government spending. This has been often done by early trade union movements). But
a consequence partly of neoliberal ideology, the evidence is against these expectations. In
partly of declining tax revenues consequent the 1980s and 1990s, and especially after unifi-
on reductions in taxes on corporations and the cation, Germany tried to restrict labor supply
global rich. These reductions are in turn partly by not reducing barriers to women’s entry into
46 Colin Crouch The Economy 47

the labor force. In contrast, the Scandinavian has been inadequate training or because the
countries and the UK took steps to make it easier work is unattractive. This is the case with
for mothers to work. The German labor market many activities in the hospitality, health, and
stagnated, but these of Denmark, Sweden, and the care sectors. If immigrants were not available,
UK flourished. Eventually, Germany changed its employers might have to raise wages in order to
approach. recruit local staff. However, consumer demand
The reason for the paradoxical result is that (or, in the case of public services, govern-
the simple model of an increase in labor supply ment willingness to fund) may be inadequate to
tells only part of the story. An increase in the raise wages. In that case, the result of a labor
supply of working people means an increase in the shortage is simply a reduction in supply of the
number of consumers, and therefore an increase service concerned. Many restaurants and care
in demand. The impact of this varies consider- centers would close if immigrants were not avail-
ably across sectors. Where there is already a able to work in them. Further, although, if the
strong supply of local labor and rather inelastic supply of suitable local labor is insufficient
demand, the short-term impact of immigration is and cannot easily be increased, the result of
likely to lead to a reduction in wages, but there employers outbidding each other to recruit from
are other scenarios. For example, in seasonal a small pool will certainly increase wages in
agriculture (a major sector for immigrant labor), the sector concerned, there will be an increase
there are often shortages of local workers, if in prices for everyone else. Under conditions of
only because it is difficult for people living tight labor supply, one person’s wage increase is
within a wealthy society to get by on seasonal another’s price increase. The pursuit of gener-
wages. It is easier for an immigrant from a poor ally higher incomes through the enforcement of
country, who can go home during the off-seasons, labor scarcity is a self-defeating project.
living in a cheaper economy on savings from the It is true that, in some cases, labor supply
income received. These workers have no nega- could be increased by improving training, and
tive impact on local wages in the country to that the availability of already-skilled immi-
which they come, but their spending in the local grants might enable employers to avoid investing
economy may boost the wages of others there; they in training. This will be effective mainly in
also contribute tax payments to the national medium-skilled sectors, where skills can be
economy. The fact that they are willing to work imparted quickly enough to address current short-
in a seasonal pattern and for wages unacceptable ages. For more highly skilled activities, where
to people in that economy keeps the prices of training lasting several years is needed, the
fruit and vegetables low, raising the value of incentives do not work. A current crisis in
the wages of others. Were the immigrants to be recruiting hospital nurses cannot be met by
prevented from coming, the sector would probably launching a new training program. Incentives to
move to another country, the first country losing provide training for such occupations has to
the consumer spending and tax payments of the come from outside current market pressures, which
immigrants it has rejected. is why so much training of this kind is either
In other sectors, immigrants perform highly provided by public policy or becomes an unre-
or moderately skilled tasks where there are solved problem leading to permanently reduced
shortages of local labor, either because there activity in the sectors concerned. Immigrants
48 Colin Crouch The Economy 49

can rarely be “blamed” for employers’ and govern- form across the ethnic and cultural divides,
ments’ failure to train. people of different appearance become taken-for-
If it were really the case that reducing the granted sights in the high street and at sporting
supply of labor was a positive move, then we and other events. Immigrants are most likely to
should find that towns and regions experiencing be the victims of xenophobic campaigns when there
sudden population loss should have the most is a sudden increase in their numbers; when they
vibrant local economies. In reality, we find come as seasonal workers who return home at the
the opposite. Declining labor means declining end of seasons and never settle; or in areas
consumption, therefore a decline in demand, where they are not found at all, but xenophobic
therefore lower wages, therefore more population movements are able to spread rumors about these
loss as people emigrate, in a continuing spiral. strange creatures whom no one has actually seen.
Immigration is just part of the general issue In the US presidential elections of 2016, support
of free trade in free markets: free economic for the anti-immigrant candidate Donald Trump was
activity is a positive-sum game, but it does highest in areas with the lowest levels of immi-
throw up problems, difficult moments when the gration. In the UK referendum on EU membership
speed and size of change create insecurity in of the same year, where hostility to immigrants
people’s lives. These problems must be addressed was central to the anti-EU campaign, the vote to
by specific policies, not by overall rejection of leave was highest in areas where there were very
the free trade model. In the case of immigration, few immigrants, where they were mainly employed
threats to wage levels (if they exist) can be in seasonal agriculture, or where their numbers
met through minimum wage policies. Inadequacies had suddenly increased. Votes for the anti-immi-
in training can be met through public training grant party Alternative für Deutschland in the
policies. The free-movement rules of the EU are 2017 German parliamentary elections were highest
a good example of this approach: there is free in eastern, formerly state-socialist regions
movement, but it is subject to certain condi- where very few immigrants live.
tions that member states can apply if their labor It is important to consider at what point
market stability is threatened by immigration. hostility to immigrants and the settled ethnic
But opposition to immigrants is rarely just minorities who are inevitably included in the
part of the general issue of free trade in attacks on the newcomers does damage to the
free markets. Immigrants come from ways of life fabric of a society that outweighs the economic,
different in various ways from the local one. It cultural, and demographic benefits they bring.
is incontestable that some people feel uncom- In some countries, that hostility has already
fortable in the company of people from other changed the political context, from time to
cultures. Therefore, against the advantages of time bringing extreme nationalist and anti-
immigrant workers has to be set the turmoil globalization parties to government office in
caused if political movements succeed in stirring Austria, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Italy, the
up hostility towards them. Experience in many Netherlands, Norway, and Poland, and to play a
countries suggests that hostility subsides when major role in France, Sweden, and elsewhere. The
immigrant families have been settled for two or USA has a president closely associated with anti-
more generations and, paradoxically, where their immigrant and anti-Islamic organizations; and
numbers are highest. Friendship and family bonds the UK embarked on a process of ending its over
50 Colin Crouch The Economy 51

forty years’ membership of the EU, without at the because they can choose where to locate, firms 20
Enrico Moretti, The New
time having a clear alternative in mind, largely tend to cluster in generally attractive places. Geography of Jobs (Boston
because of hostility to EU freedom-of-movement Because their space needs are typically low, the MA: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, 2016); OECD,
policies. Globalization is a major cause of effects of this clustering on land prices are Competitive Cities in the
Global Economy, OECD
migration; hostility to immigrants is currently relatively slow to develop. Only rarely do old Territorial Reviews (Paris:
threatening the viability of globalization. This industrial cities become the focuses of these OECD, 2006).

is the vicious circle currently confronting the new activities. One consequence of this is that
protagonists of globalization. the best-educated and most highly skilled young
Indirectly relevant to the issue of immigra- people move away from declining industrial areas
tion are some negative consequences attributed to the new centers of employment, leaving behind
to globalization experienced primarily by older an increasingly despairing population.20
men, former employees of the traditional indus- It is here, in these specific industries,
tries rendered uncompetitive by the rise of the cities, and regions, and in the ugly social envi-
new economies. They have seen the activities in ronment confronting many immigrants and members
which they took pride decline, and their tradi- of ethnic minorities, that we find the negative
tional communities collapse. Even if new jobs impacts of globalization in the existing advanced
have come to their areas, they have often been economies. Viewing the issue in this way reveals
in non-prestigious services activities, and the damage that globalization has produced, but
more often for their daughters than for their also the positive impact of innovation, growing
sons. The heavily male base of employment in wealth, and cultural diversity in other loca-
manufacturing and mining is not reproduced in tions and sectors. These are usually cosmopolitan
the majority of services sectors. This more places that have attracted immigrants from around
gender-balanced workforce is welcomed by many the world, making their contribution to inno-
people, but for those — especially, but not vation and diversity. To seek to turn back the
only, men — brought up in communities based on clock on globalization is to seek to put an end
those sectors and the patriarchal gender rela- to this dynamism. But the “forgotten” cities and
tions associated with them, the experience can regions remain a major challenge.
be disorienting. Further, with the exception of There is a similar problematic imbalance in
the public-service professions (e.g., health, the newly industrializing countries. Longevity,
education), which tend to be distributed evenly health and education have improved for millions
across populations, those services activities of people in China and other parts of Asia, but
that provide highly skilled, highly rewarded jobs workers in the rapidly developing manufacturing
tend to be concentrated in capitals and a small cities are suffering from harsh labor regimes
number of other dynamic cities. Unlike agri- and heavily polluted atmospheres. They have been
culture and much manufacturing, many services uprooted from farming areas where they were poor
activities (especially those based on informa- and lived highly restricted lives, but where
tion technology) have no geographical constraints they often had settled communities. In their
to their location. Originally, geographers had mobility to new, growing industrial areas, they
thought that this would lead these sectors to be have shared the dislocation and disorientation of
evenly distributed across population centers, but people left behind in the old industrial areas of
the evidence suggests that the opposite happens: the western world.
52 Colin Crouch The Economy 53

A race to the bottom? 21 countries had spent public money on infra-

World Bank, Global
Central to criticisms of globalization for many Economic Prospects and the structural developments, including such human
on the left has been the complaint that it Developing Countries 2001 infrastructure as expanded education and improved
(Washington, DC: World
enables multinational corporations to play coun- Bank, 2001). health — social democratic rather than neoliberal
tries off against each other in the so-called priorities. They had also improved the reli-
“race to the bottom,” threatening to cease ability of the rule of law. Meanwhile, countries
production in those with strong labor laws or that had not done these things were vulnerable
high corporate taxes. If the logic of the race to to negative developments that made their posi-
the bottom fully prevailed, there would no longer tion worse. The two main ones can be laid at
be any private-sector employment in the strong least partly at neoliberalism’s door. First was
welfare states of northwest Europe; everything a vicious spiral: if countries were doing badly,
would have fled to the low-wage dictatorships of they suffered from financial flight, which made
the Far East or to countries with the poorest their predicament worse. The freedom of capital
labor standards. But corporations often want movements that is a fundamental feature of
the good-quality human and physical infrastruc- neoliberal “reforms” makes this kind of desta-
ture that only relatively high-tax regimes and bilizing change more likely to occur. Second,
high-quality labor can provide. Such countries failing to enter the world manufacturing economy,
continue to be very successful in attracting but often rich in the mineral resources on which
foreign direct investment. Against this, it is that economy depends, these mainly African coun-
also the case that across most advanced economies tries became increasingly dependent on earnings
the burden of taxation has shifted from capital from mineral exploitation. Wealth is gained from
to relatively low-paid labor over the past three mineral exploitation by controlling the land
decades — evidence that important aspects of a in which the minerals are found. For countries
race to the bottom have been in place, increasing with low levels of law enforcement and poorly
inequality and reducing the money available for defined borders, this has led to a major increase
public services and infrastructure projects. in civil wars for control of mineral deposits,
On the other hand, globalization is far from further weakening national economies. This might
owing all its existing achievements to neolib- have happened under any economic regime, but the
eralism. A World Bank study in 2001 21
found that dominance of neoliberal policies made it diffi-
major factors favoring the increased partici- cult for governments in poor countries to protect
pation of developing countries in world trade their economies from fitting in with whatever
were reductions in transport costs and improved fate participation in global markets assigned to
communications through information technology. them. Forests and other natural environments have
These are technological rather than political been destroyed, ecological balance disturbed,
changes — though reduced transport costs have and diseases spread across the world, as govern-
led to more goods being carried farther around ments have searched to engage their countries in
the world with no regard for atmospheric and the global economy, and as elites have sought to
marine pollution costs. The Bank also tried to share in the rich pickings that such engagement
analyze why some parts of the world had managed brings. Global neoliberal hegemony allowed them
to benefit from world trade, while others (espe- to do this without taking social and environ-
cially Africa) had not done so. Successful mental costs into consideration.
54 Colin Crouch The Economy 55

However, western opponents of globalization, tical bodies to do so. Within global supply 22
Statistics Denmark, Nordic
particularly those who profess humanitarian chains, a finished complex product, like a Countries in Global Value
concerns, need to ask through what means other motor vehicle, accumulates components from a Chains (Copenhagen:
Statistics Denmark, 2017).
than globalization it would ever be possible number of countries, often being exported and
23
for billions of people outside the advanced re-imported several times during the process. A OECD, 2017. “Import
economies to emerge from poverty. While their joint research effort of the OECD and the Council Content of Exports,”
bit.ly/2MdefAM
countries faced forbidding tariffs and controls of Nordic Ministers, published by Statistics
24
over markets, excluding them from western econo- Denmark,22 demonstrated the impossibility of sepa- Desmond Cohen,
mies, they could develop only through endogenous rating individual national economic efforts from “Economic Sovereignty: a
Delusion,” in Social Europe,
growth, which in turn required their own protec- “the rest of the world.” The Nordic economies September 20, 2017:
bit.ly/2BmUWix
tionism to prevent their infant industries are, of course, small, but the OECD has calcu-
from being swamped by goods from the advanced lated the import content of exports for a wide 25
An extended version of
economies. Their achievements were, with very range of countries, showing that even for large this example can be found
in Colin Crouch, “Riddle:
few exceptions, meagre: cut off from innova- economies this can be high — for example: China When Is a Chlorinated
tions taking place elsewhere in the world, their 29.4%, Germany 25.4%, UK 21.9%, Japan 18.2%, Chicken Better than a
Regulated Banana?” in
leading firms relaxed behind tariff walls and USA 15.3%, and Russia 13.7% (2014 statistics).23 Social Europe, August 7,
2017: bit.ly/2VG6nuR
political favors. Had such a world continued Desmond Cohen has argued that, when these data
without the series of reforms starting from the are put alongside the widespread sub-contracting
GATT and culminating in the WTO, poor countries of public-service delivery to international firms
would have remained excluded from prosperity. that has occurred in several countries, as well
Increased trade has also brought strengthening as the compromises that have to be accepted in
relations of all kinds across much of the world; international trade deals, the idea of economic
this is the other side of the coin of cultural sovereignty in the modern economy is no longer
challenge represented by immigration. People viable.24
have learned more about other countries, trav- An instructive illustration of this point
elled to them, adopted some of their customs, concerns the different attitudes of British
eating habits, social attitudes, and cultures. supporters of leaving the EU in favor of seeking
These flows have been multi-directional, but in a special trading relationship with the USA over
particular people in poorer countries have been the questions of chlorine-washed chicken and
encouraged to want to know more about richer the regulation of banana quality labelling.25
ones, and some have migrated to them. Within the Chlorine-washing of chicken is among a number of
EU single market, this has been particularly chemical processes used in US agriculture that
easy, leading to major flows from central to are banned under EU regulations, but which at
western European countries; but it happened to least some members of the British government are
the USA too. willing to accept as part of a trade deal with
the USA. For present purposes, substantive issues
The illusion of economic sovereignty of US abattoir hygiene standards are not impor-
Globalization has reached a point where it is tant. The question is whether changing one’s food
not even possible to distinguish clearly between standards, not because one wants to do so, but
an export and an import, despite the Quixotic in order to secure a trade deal with a far more
attempts of international and national statis- powerful country, is a compromise of sovereignty.
56 Colin Crouch The Economy 57

Not so, in the view of British advocates of a jointly produced and agreed regulation, on the
trade deal with the USA. The very same advocates basis of shared technical and economic data, with
do, however, see agreements reached among EU everyone concerned having rights to oppose and
member states — including the UK itself — on trading object, but in the end accepting a group deci-
standards as affronts to sovereignty. The main sion. It is that quality of sharing and joint
example that they have used to symbolize this production that seems to offend the idea of
is EU regulations designed to ensure that there economic sovereignty.
is a common standard across the EU in defining Economic treaties of all kinds involve
a Grade I or Grade II banana. This is seen as compromises of independent decision-making,
an affront to sovereignty, because it prevented and participation in the modern world economy
the UK from having its own banana classifica- requires large numbers of these. Moves to shared
tion. But the rule was not “imposed” on the UK; decision-making rather than just across-the-
its representatives were among those involved table deals are among the main means available
in making it. Why is there a difference in atti- for bridging the gap between political debates
tude in the UK to the two forms of acceptance of and decisions, which remain obstinately national,
a food-quality rule, one via a trade agreement, and economic rule-making, which is fundamen-
the other by means of a jointly agreed rule? tally transnational. To see these means as
This is not a case of a preference among British uniquely compromising is to refuse to use a valu-
nationalists for dealing with countries in what able political instrument, preferring an idea
they have started to call the “Anglosphere;” the of sovereignty derived from military concepts
UK is clearly willing to make post-Brexit trade of earlier centuries. In an increasingly inte-
agreements with the EU, and if such a deal were grated world, countries gain from pooling their
to involve continuing to use EU banana nomencla- sovereignty in order to secure transnational
ture, there would be no objection. The difference regulation of economic forces.
in the chicken and banana cases is the proce-
dure through which the agreements are reached, Conclusion: the balance sheet
and that is what takes us to the heart of of globalization
British — and probably other — misguided understand- Had globalization not taken place — had we, that
ings of sovereignty. is to say, remained in national fortress econo-
In a trade deal between countries, both sides mies, with carefully monitored trade and tariff
want something from the other and are willing to walls, strict limits on foreign travel and even
compromise to get it, sometimes having to offer stricter ones on immigration — most of the world
something about which they are not too happy; would today be considerably poorer; the amount
the overall deal makes that worthwhile. But they of illegal immigration, with all its conse-
remain separate countries, they sit on opposite quences of increased criminality, would have
sides of the table, and do not share much common been greater; relations among states would have
information. When an organization like the EU been more hostile. On the other hand, there have
makes a regulation, there will also be different been casualties from globalization: some world
interests among countries and compromises that regions (mainly most of Africa) have been left
are not always happy, but what is being reached out, and we have all been presented with general
is not a deal between separate parties, but a political, cultural, and social challenges, the
58 Colin Crouch The Economy 59

full extent of which we still have not experi- globalized world of autonomous national
enced. Even in the rich countries, there have economies; even if it were clear to which decades
been losers — cities and regions that have not that “return” might refer, the world has been
shared in the overall gains, and many workers who so changed by globalization that there can be no
have experienced declining standards of security. simple idea of “return.” It is far more construc-
The main winners have been the planet’s richest tive to work out how in some policy fields the
people, with an overall increase in inequality, idea of national economic sovereignty needs
especially between the very rich and everyone to give way to one of pooled sovereignty in
else, partly through changes in taxation as coun- pursuit of a better transnational regulation
tries have competed to attract footloose firms of the globalized economy. For many opponents
and individuals, though partly through changes of globalization, the issue is not primarily
only indirectly linked to globalization. There economic, but something about their deeper sense
have been further major negative side-effects, of who they are as social persons, and the rela-
including environmental damage. tionship of that identity to those of others
Nevertheless, were globalization now to go with whom they are forced to come into reluctant
into reverse, the world would become poorer, contact. It is to these issues raised that we
which would bring its own conflicts within coun- must now turn.
tries, and intensify tension among them as
governments and businesses would see the erection
of trade barriers by others as hostile acts. It
is not possible to withdraw from an open trading
relationship without the action being perceived
as unfriendly by those from whom a country is
separating itself, leading to a further dete-
rioration in relations. The UK government
discovered this as it tried haplessly to argue
to the EU that its decision to leave it was not
an unfriendly act. For rich countries to surround
themselves with new protectionist walls would
not only hurt producers in the developing world,
but also lead to major increases in prices and
restrictions of choice for domestic consumers.
Severe restrictions would have to be placed on
the movement of goods, persons, and capital to
prevent citizens and businesses from circum-
venting such restrictions. Would it be possible
to do this, especially for publics who have
become accustomed to economic freedom, without
imposing controls on people’s lives of the kind
found in eastern Europe until 1990?
There can be no simple “return” to a pre-
Every Day A
sanofi-aventis

The drug industry says

that
due to the availability of a great many
people
who never take drugs,
it has its testing done in places
where no drugs are taken.

It allows
a great many contracts
to be signed by thumb.

The signatories’ death rate

rises in proportion
to the number of tests.
The number of tests
in places where no medicine is taken
has grown since 1990
by 2000 percent.

In the year 2010

668 people
died in India
during these tests.

Until 2009
the families of the dead received
no compensation.
In 2010
the Bayer Corporation paid
off 5 of 138,
Sanofi Aventis corporation
paid 3 of 152 families
50,000 rupees,
which is 3,125 dollars
and which is what a taxi driver there
earns in a year.

Meanwhile in Germany
in 2008
60,000 euros
Alice Creischer were paid per corpse.
Establishment of Matters
Alice Creischer: born 1960 in Gerolstein (D); studied philosophy, of Fact / 2 Which is something that shouldn’t enter the equation,
German studies, and art in Düsseldorf; lives and works in Berlin. Every Day A – sanofi-aventis since everyone is equal in death,
Together with Andreas Siekmann she curated the projects ”Ex though it does, involuntarily,
Source: [e-drug] Poor compen-
Argentina“ at Museo Nacional de Arte, La Paz (2011), Palais de sation to MNCs clinical trials as the drug industry proceeds to calculate,
Glace, Buenos Aires (2006) and Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2004); and victims, From: “Chandra and this calculation is tied
”Principio Potosí“ at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Gulhati” <seeemgee@ythoo. to the impossibility of transplanting the rule of law,
co.uk>
Madrid and Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2010). She took part Translated by David Riff, 2012 / which seems nailed to places
at documenta 12 (2007). Edited by Matthew Hyland, 2015 where drugs are taken.
Every Day B
total

In 1992, Total agreed with the government of Myanmar

to convey natural gas from the ocean to Thailand.
It now produces a volume
of 758 million cubic meters
every day.

Total has companions

that are called Unilocal, ptt, and Chevron
and that seek to devour each other
every day.
They split the profits with the government.

The government sees to it

that the bunkers for the battalions
are already provided,
that the embankments on which the pipes are welded
are tramped down,
and that the landing field is tarred
when the engineers alight from their machines.

The bunkers, the embankments, the pipes

pretend to create themselves on their own,
they are lying.

When we are caught sleeping

by the patrol,
they will beat us
until
we pick up our baggage again.
And when we arrive,
they will order us
to immediately
pick up the shovels and axes,
to cut a swath
and operate the roots out of the ground
which is already hard from previous treads.

The engineers leaving their machines

see what we are doing.
The engineers passing by the embankment in their jeeps
don’t stop.
They don’t ask us questions.
And even if someone would ask, Alice Creischer

we would wither away with fear Establishment of Matters

of the one who saw that questions were asked of Fact / 2
like moths Every Day B – total

and under the suspicion Source: http://www.earthrights.

of having told the truth. org/sites/default/files/
publications/Human-Cost-of-
Energy.pdf
Translated by Karl Hofmann /
Edited by Matthew Hyland, 2015
Every Day C
syngenta

Every day,
when the saplings are still small,
we spray the fields.
We don’t wear coats
or boots or masks,
because the company doesn’t want to pay for them,
although we asked them to do so several times.
They say it’s too hot.

Our skin burns

where the container sits on backs.
When we come from the fields
our eyes burn.
It is said that you go blind from the poison
that you spray on the fields,
and that the nails on your fingers and toes come out.

And is that not just?

And mustn’t the death of the birds be paid back?
And who gets the bill if not they
who are here
and tread this soil
every day
with their feet
along the furrows, along and along.

Alice Creischer

Establishment of Matters
of Fact / 2
Every Day C – syngenta

Source: www.paraquat.ch;
Pilot study (English), Burkina
Faso, Monsieur Mangin
Translated by Karl Hofmann /
Edited by Matthew Hyland, 2015
67–90

Duty-Free Art

Hito Steyerl

Hito Steyerl: professor of experimental film and video and

co-founder of the Research Center for Proxy Politics at Berlin’s
University of the Arts. Studied cinematography and documentary film
in Tokyo and Munich and wrote her doctoral thesis at the Academy of
Fine Arts in Vienna. Her research focuses on media, technology, and
the distribution of images. Her texts, performances, and essayist
documentary films deal with postcolonial criticism and feminist
criticism of representational logic. She works at the intersections
of visual art and film as well as theory and practice. She
exhibited her work at institutions worldwide, including Museum
of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2016); Venice Biennale (2015),
and Museum of Modern Art, New York (2014).
68 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 69

“Huge art storage spaces Chapter 1 — The National Museum

This is a file published in 2012 by WikiLeaks. It
1
See bit.ly/2oaf0Bx

are being created worldwide forms part of WikiLeaks’s Syria files database.1 2
The PowerPoint file is

in what could essentially The file is called “316787_Vision Presentation—

Oct 30 2010 Eng.pptx,” in PowerPoint format,
attached to an email sent to
the Ministry of Presidential
Affairs with the subject

be called a luxury no man’s dated October 2010.2 It details Syrian First Lady line “Presentation on the
New Vision for the Syrian
Asma al-Assad’s plans for the future of Syria’s
land, tax havens where
Museums and Heritage
Sites,” Oct. 30, 2010,
museums. Her foundation aims to establish a Email-ID 2089122.

artworks are shuffled around network of museums to promote Syria’s economic

and social development and strengthen national
bit.ly/2new20Z

from one storage room to identity and cultural pride. 3

The French Louvre
In the foundation’s
own words: “Under the

another once they get is listed as a partner in developing this plan.4 patronage of The First Lady,
Asma Al-Assad, the Syrian
Both the Louvre and the Guggenheim Bilbao are Government is launching

traded. This is also one of named as role models for a redesigned National
a cultural initiative of
exceptional ambition—
the transformation of its
Museum in Damascus.
the prime spaces for contem- A conference was planned to unveil the winner
museums and the conser-
vation of its heritage sites.

porary art: an offshore or

To celebrate and inform
of an international competition for the design of this initiative, Cultural
this National Museum in April 2011. Landscapes 2011, a new

extraterritorial museum.” However, three weeks prior to this date,

annual forum, will bring
together an international
assembly of thought leaders
twenty protesters were “reportedly killed as and experts from the worlds
100,000 people marched in the city of Daraa.”5 By of heritage, contemporary
culture, academia and
then, invitations for the conference had already business. This inaugural
edition will take the Syrian
been issued to a host of prominent speakers, experience as a starting
including the directors of the Louvre and the point for a discussion global
in reach and conclusion,”
British Museum. On April 28, 2011, Art Newspaper Feb. 7, 2011, Email-ID
765252 (see attachment
reported that the conference had been cancelled entitled “About Cultural
due to street protests.6 The winner of the archi- Landscapes”). bit.ly/
2oea92j
tectural competition for the National Museum has
never been announced.

Chapter 2 — Never Again

To build a nation, Benedict Anderson has
suggested that there should be print capi- — A view from the outside
of the Sumer Park Kültür
talism7 and a museum to narrate a nation’s Merkezi, Diyarbakir, Turkey.
Photo: Hito Steyerl.
history and design its identity.8 Today — instead
of print — there is data capitalism and a lot 4
However, on June 26, 2011,
of museums. To build a museum, a nation is not partner museums call
for a dismantling of the
necessary. But if nations are a way to organize initiative’s institutional
time and space, so is the museum. And as times framework, the Syria
Heritage Foundation. Earlier
and spaces change, so do museum spaces. that month, the Financial
Times reported that the
The image above shows the municipal art
70 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 71

gallery of Diyarbakir in Turkey. From June to organization had suspended According to Immanuel Kant, time and space are 11
operations. See Lina Saigol, Wikipedia: “The Google
September 2014, it hosted a show on genocide and “First lady struggles to live necessary conditions to perceive or understand ‘Ngram’ Viewer is an online
its consequences, called “Never Again! Apology up to promises,” Financial anything. Without time and space, knowledge, viewer, initially based on
Times, June 9, 2011. Google Books, that charts
and Coming to Terms with the Past.” Its poster on.ft.com/2o98BXa experience, and vision cannot unfold. Kant calls frequencies of any word
or short sentence using
shows former chancellor of West Germany Willy 5 this perspective “criticism.” With this in mind, yearly count of n-grams
Brandt on his knees in front of the Warsaw ghetto Peter Aspden, “The walls of what kind of time and space is necessary for found in the sources
ignorance,” Financial Times, printed since 1800 up
memorial. June 9, 2012. on.ft.com/ contemporary art to become manifest? Or rather: to 2012 in any of the
2oTwm5x following eight languages:
In September 2014, this museum became a What does criticism about contemporary art say American English, British
refugee camp. It did not represent a nation, but 6 about time and space today? English, French, German,
Anna Somers Cocks, “Syria Spanish, Russian, Hebrew,
instead sheltered people fleeing from national turmoil kills Mrs Al-Assad’s To brutally summarize a lot of scholarly and Chinese.” bit.ly/
forum,” The Art Newspaper, 2ndnXcO
disintegrations. Apr. 28, 2011. bit.ly/ texts: contemporary art is made possible by
After the Islamic State (IS) militia crossed 2o0UCmw neoliberal capital plus the internet, bien- 12
Osborne argues that
and effectively abolished parts of the border 7 nials, art fairs, parallel pop-up histories, contemporary art expresses
Benedict Anderson, the “disjunctive unity
between Syria and Iraq in August 2014, 9
between Imagined Communities: growing income inequality. Let’s add asym- of present times … As a
fifty thousand and one hundred thousand Yezidi Reflections on the Origin metric warfare — as one of the reasons for the historical concept, the
and Spread of Nationalism, contemporary thus involves
refugees escaped the region of Shengal in revised and extended ed. vast redistribution of wealth — real estate a projection of unity onto
(London: Verso, 1991), 224. the differential totality of
northern Iraq. Most of them had trekked on foot speculation, tax evasion, money laundering, and the times of human lives …”
across Mt. Shengal, assisted by Kurdish rebel 8 deregulated financial markets to this list. Peter Osborne, Anywhere
Anderson, “Census, Map, or Not At All: Philosophy of
groups, who had opened a safe corridor. While Museum,” excerpt from To paraphrase philosopher Peter Osborne’s Contemporary Art (London:
Imagined Communities, Verso, 2013), 22.
the majority stayed in refugee camps in Rojava, available at bit.ly/ illuminating insights on this topic: contempo-
northern Syria, and several camps in northern 2pHFYkt rary art shows us the lack of a (global) time
Iraq, many refugees crossed into Turkey’s Kurdish 9 and space. Moreover, it projects a fictional
The exodus of Yazidis from
regions, where they were welcomed with amazing Shengal is described in unity onto a variety of different ideas of time
hospitality. The city of Diyarbakir opened its Liz Sly, “Exodus from the and space, thus providing a common surface where
mountain: Yazidis flood — Google books’ N-gram
municipal gallery as an emergency shelter. into Iraq following U.S. there is none.12 viewer tracks the word
airstrikes,” Washington Post, “impossible” in all the books
Once settled on mats within the gallery space, Aug. 10, 2014. wapo.st/ Contemporary art thus becomes a proxy for on its database printed
many refugees started asking for SIM cards to try 339CGVH the global commons, for the lack of any common in between the years
1800-2000.
to reach missing family members by cell phone. 10 ground, temporality, or space. It is defined
His name is Baris Seyitvan. 13
This is the desk of the curator, left empty. 10
by a proliferation of locations, and a lack of As in the case of the
accountability. It works by way of major real relation between Germany
(or EU-taxpayers) and
Chapter 3 — Conditions of Possibility estate operations transforming cities worldwide Greece. Eighty-nine percent
of the so-called bailout
According to the Google N-gram viewer,11 the usage as they reorganize urban space. It is even a funds have gone to inter-
of the word “impossible” has steeply dropped space of civil wars that trigger art market booms national banks. Only the
remaining 11 percent has
since around the mid-twentieth century. But what — Sumer Park Kültür a decade or so later through the redistribution reached the Greek national
Merkezi, Diyarbakir, Turkey. budget. Even if only a
does this tell us? Does it mean that fewer and Photo: Hito Steyerl of wealth by warfare. It takes place on servers fraction of this money
fewer things are impossible? Does this mean that and by means of fiber-optic infrastructure, and ends up at auction, how
would auctions nowadays
impossibility “as such” is in historical decline? whenever public debt miraculously transforms into fare without the constant
subsidies from public funds
Perhaps it just means that the conditions for private wealth. Contemporary art happens when that mysteriously end up as
possibilities as such are subject to change over taxpayers are deluded into believing they are private assets?

time? Are both the possible and the impossible bailing out other sovereign states when in fact
defined by historical and external conditions? they are subsidizing international banks that
72 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 73

thus get compensated for pushing high-risk debt taxpayers, and modules supplant buildings: 16
“Freeports:
onto vulnerable nations. 13
Or when this or that [Freeports’] attractions are similar to those Über-warehouses for the
regime decides it needs the PR equivalent of a offered by offshore financial centres: security ultra-rich,” The Economist,
Nov. 23, 2013. econ.st/
nip and tuck procedure. and confidentiality, not much scrutiny … and an 2pJjcsB
— Geneva Freeport signage
But contemporary art also creates new physical alerts visitors to its guard array of tax advantages … Goods in freeports are 17
spaces that bypass national sovereignty. Let me dogs. Photo: Hito Steyerl. technically in transit, even if in reality the Marie Maurisse, “La
«caverne d’Ali Baba» de
give you a contemporary example: freeport art 14 ports are used more and more as permanent homes Genève, plus grand port
“Suffice it to say, there franc du monde, ignore la
storage. This is the mother of all freeport art is wide belief among art for accumulated wealth.16 crise,” Le Figaro, Sept. 20,
storage spaces: Geneva freeport, a tax-free zone dealers, advisers and The freeport is thus a zone for permanent 2014: “Selon un document
insurers that there is confidentiel, le port franc de
in Geneva that includes parts of an old freight enough art tucked away transit. Although it is fixed, does the free- Genève dans son ensemble
here to create one of the générerait chaque année
station and an industrial storage building. The world’s great museums.” port also define perpetual ephemerality? Is it pas moins de 300 millions
free-trade zone takes up the backyard and the David Segal, “Swiss simply an extraterritorial zone, or is it also de francs de retombées
Freeports Are Home for a économiques sur le canton“
fourth floor of the old storage building, so Growing Treasury of Art,” a rogue sector carefully settled for financial (According to a confidential
New York Times, July 21, document, Geneva freeport
that different jurisdictions run through one and 201. nyti.ms/2AEtVXp profitability17? in total would generate no
the same building, as the other floors are set The freeport contains multiple contradic- less than 300 million Swiss
15 francs of revenue for the
outside the freeport zone. A new art storage Keller Easterling, tions: it is a zone of terminal impermanence; canton).
Extrastatecraft: The Power
space was opened last year. Up until only a few of Infrastructure Space it is also a zone of legalized extralegality 18
years ago, the freeport wasn’t even officially (London: Verso, 2014). maintained by nation-states trying to emulate Thomas Elsaesser,
“‘Constructive instability’,
considered part of Switzerland. failed states as closely as possible by selec- or: The life of things as the
cinema’s afterlife?” 2008,
This building is rumored to house thousands of tively losing control. Thomas Elsaesser once 19f. The text's manifold
Picassos, but no one knows an exact number since used the term “constructive instability” to implications for conte-
morary political thought
documentation is rather opaque. There is little describe the aerodynamic properties of fighter and its relation to managed
collapse cannot be under-
doubt, though, that its contents could compete jets that gain decisive advantages by navi- estimated, in relation to its
with any very large museum. 14
gating at the brink of system failure, arguing discussion of technology
but also political usage: “Its
Let’s assume that this is one of the most that they more or less “fall” or “fail” in the engineering provenance
has been overlaid by a
important art spaces in the world right now. It desired direction.18 This constructive insta- neo-con political usage, for
is not only not public, but it is also sitting bility is implemented within nation-states by instance, by Condoleezza
Rice when she called the
inside a very interesting geography. incorporating zones where they “fail” on purpose. deaths among the civilian
population and the resulting
From a legal standpoint, freeport art storage Switzerland, for example, contains “245 open chaos during the Lebanon-
spaces are somewhat extraterritorial. Some are customs warehouses,”19 enclosing zones of legal Israel war in the summer
of 2006 the consequence
located in the transit zones of airports or in and administrative exception. Are this state and of ‘constructive instability.’”
bit.ly/31SWBbe
tax-free zones. Keller Easterling describes others a container for different types of juris-
the free zone as a “fenced enclave for ware- dictions that get applied, or rather do not get 19
Cynthia O’Murchu, “Swiss
housing.”15 It has now become a primary organ of applied, in relation to the wealth of corpora- businessman arrested in
art market probe,” Financial
global urbanism copied and pasted to locations tions or individuals? Does this kind of state Times, Feb. 26, 2015.
worldwide. It is an example of “extrastate- become a package for opportunistic stateless- ft.com/2oeavWH

craft,” as Easterling terms it, within a ness? As Elsaesser points out, his whole idea
“mongrel form of exception” beyond the laws of of “constructive instability” originated with a
the nation-state. In this deregulatory state of discussion of Swiss artists Fischli and Weiss’s
exemption, corporations are privileged at the work The Way Things Go (1987). Here all sorts
expense of common citizens, “investors” replace of things are knocked off balance in celebratory
74 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 75

collapse. The film’s glorious motto is: “Balance 20 lobby, showrooms and furniture were designed
“Freeports,” The Economist. 21
is most beautiful just at the point when it is by contemporary designers Ron Arad and Johanna Cris Prystay, “Singapore
about to collapse”. Grawunder. A gigantic arcing sculpture by Bling,” Wall Street Journal,
May 21, 2010.
Among many other things, freeports also Mr. Arad, titled Cage sans Frontières, (Cage on.wsj.com/2newdcF

become a zone for duty-free art, a zone where Without Borders) spans the entire lobby.
control and failure are calibrated according Paintings that line the exposed concrete
to “constructive instability” so that things — Trezor is a digital wallet walls lend the facility the air of a gallery.
for bitcoin transactions.
cheerfully hang in a permanently frozen failing Image: CC by-SA 3.0 Private rooms and vaults, barricaded by seven-
balance. ton doors, line the corridors. Near the lobby,
private galleries give collectors a chance to
Chapter 4 — Duty-Free Art view or show potential buyers their art under
Huge art storage spaces are being created world- museum-quality spotlights. A planned second
wide in what could essentially be called a luxury phase will double the size of the facility to
no man’s land, tax havens where artworks are 538,000 square feet. Collectors are picked up
shuffled around from one storage room to another by FreePort staff at their plane and whisked
once they get traded. This is also one of the by limousine, any time of day or night, to the
prime spaces for contemporary art: an offshore facility. If the client is packing valuables,
or extraterritorial museum. In September 2014, an armed escort will be provided.21
Luxembourg opened its own freeport. The country The title Cage Without Borders has a double
is not alone in trying to replicate the success meaning. It not only means that the cage has
of the Geneva freeport: “A freeport that opened no limits, but also that the prison is now
at Changi Airport in Singapore in 2010 is already everywhere, in an extrastatecraft art with-
close to full. Monaco has one, too. A planned drawal facility that seeps through the cracks
‘freeport of culture’ in Beijing would be the of national sovereignty and establishes its own
world’s largest art-storage facility.” 20
A major logistic network. In this ubiquitous prison,
player in setting up many of these facilities is rules still apply, though it might be diffi-
the art handling company Natural Le Coultre, run cult to specify exactly which ones, to whom or
by Swiss national Yves Bouvier. what they apply, and how they are implemented.
Freeport art storage facilities are secret Whatever they are, their grip seems to consider-
museums. Their spatial conditions are reflected ably loosen in inverse proportion to the value
in their designs. In contrast to the rather of the assets in question. But this construction
perfunctory Swiss facility, designers stepped up is not only a device realized in one particular
their game at the freeport art storage facility location in 3-D space. It is also basically a
in Singapore: stack of juridical, logistical, economic, and
Designed by Swiss architects, Swiss engi- data-based operations, a pile of platforms medi-
neers and Swiss security experts, the ating between clouds and users via state laws,
270,000-square-foot facility is part bunker, communication protocols, corporate standards,
part gallery. Unlike the free-port facili- etc., that interconnect not only via fiber-optic
ties in Switzerland, which are staid yet connections but aviation routes as well.22
secure warehouses, the Singapore FreePort Freeport art storage is to this “stack” as
sought to combine security and style. The the national museum traditionally was to the
76 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 77

nation. It sits in between countries in pockets Damascus at 4:25 PM), while Mr. Stephan Petermann is 23
An extremely intelligent
of superimposing sovereignties where national coming from Vienna on Austrian airlines (arriving in Damascus remark from an audience
jurisdiction has either voluntarily retreated before Mr. Koolhaas at 3:00 PM). member in Moscow added
that this was to be seen as
or been demolished. If biennials, art fairs, 3-D They are staying at the Art House or at the Four Seasons a huge benefit, as a lot of
shoddy “market art” would
renderings of gentrified real estate, starchitect — Containers in the yard of hotel until their departure on Thursday (at 4:00 pm).24 get safely quarantined
museums decorating various regimes, etc., are Natural Le Coultre, Ports without anyone having to
Francs, Geneve. Photo: Hito see it. I sympathize very
the corporate surfaces of these areas, the secret Steyerl. WikiLeaks’s Syria database comprises around 2.5 much with her point of view.

museums are their dark web, their Silk Road into 22 million emails from 680 domains, yet the authen- 24
which things disappear, as into an abyss of Benjamin Bratton, “On ticity of these documents was not verified by See bit.ly/2pCVIoI
the Nomos of the Cloud:
withdrawal.23 The Stack, Deep Address, WikiLeaks. It can be verified, however, that the 25
Integral Geography,” Bill Carter and Amy
Think of the artworks and their movement. They Nov. 2011: “The Stack, PR company Brown Lloyd James was involved in Chozick,“Syria’s Assads
travel inside a network of tax-free zones and the megastructure, can trying to enhance the image of the Assad family.25 Turned to West for Glossy
be understood as a P.R.,” New York Times, June
also inside the storage spaces themselves. They confluence of interoperable In early 2011, shortly before the start of the 10, 2012. nyti.ms/
standards-based complex 2pHug9w
may not even get uncrated. They move from one material-information Syrian civil war, a Vogue story, presciently
storage room to the next without being seen. They system of systems, photographed by war photographer James Nachtwey, 26
organized according The story has since
stay inside boxes and travel outside national to a vertical section, portrays Asma al-Assad as the “Rose of the been withdrawn. More
topographic model of background can be found
territories with a minimum of tracking or regis- layers and protocols. The Desert,” a modernizer and patron of culture.26 here: Max Fisher, “The Only
tration, like insurgents, drugs, derivative Stack is a standardized In February 2012, one year into the war, Remaining Online Copy
universal section. The of Vogue’s Asma al-Assad
financial products, and other so-called invest- Stack, as we encounter Anonymous and affiliated organizations hacked Profile,” The Atlantic, Jan. 3,
it and as I prototype it, 2012. bit.ly/31R0LQE
ment vehicles. For all we know, the crates could is composed equally of into the email server of the Syrian Ministry
even be empty. It is a museum of the internet social, human and ‘analog’ of Presidential Affairs, in solidarity with
layers (chthonic energy
era, but a museum of the dark net, where movement sources, gestures, affects, Syrian bloggers, protesters, and activists.27 The
user-actants, interfaces,
is obscured and data-space is clouded. cities and streets, rooms inboxes of seventy-eight of Assad’s aides and
Movements of a very different kind are and buildings, organic and advisers were accessed. Apparently, some used
inorganic envelopes) and
detailed in WikiLeaks’s Syria files. informational, non-human the same password: “12345.”28 The leaked emails
computational and ‘digital’
layers (multiplexed fiber included correspondence — mostly through inter-
----- Original Message ----- optic cables, datacenters, mediaries — between Mansour Azzam, the Minister
databases, data standards
From: [email protected] and protocols, urban-scale of Presidential Affairs, and the studios of Rem
networks, embedded
To: [email protected] systems, universal Koolhaas (OMA), Richard Rogers, and Herzog and de
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 4:06 PM addressing tables). Its hard Meuron regarding various issues.29 To paraphrase
and soft systems inter-
Subject: Fw: Flight itenary OMA staff mingle and swap phase the content of some emails: Rogers and Koolhaas
states, some becoming
***AMENDMENT***** ‘harder’ or ‘softer’ according were being invited to speak in Damascus and,
to occult conditions. with Koolhaas, these visits extended to project
(Serres, hard soft). As a
Dear Mr. Azzam, social cybernetics, The discussions including the National Parliament.30
Stack that we know and
design composes both Herzog de Meuron offered a complimentary concept
This is to confirm the arrival of Mr. Rem Koolhaas and his equilibrium and emergence, design proposal for the Al-Assad House for
one oscillating into the
personal assistant Mr. Stephan Petermann on this coming other in indecipherable Culture in Aleppo, and expressed interest in the
and unaccountable
Monday July 12th. We need visa for them as we spoke before rhythm, territorializing and selection process for the parliament project.31 A
(both are Dutch). Their passport photos are attached. They are de-territorializing the same lot of this correspondence is really just gossip
component for diagonal
arriving separately and at different times. Mr. Koolhaas coming purposes.” about the studios by way of intermediaries. There
Bratton.info
from China through Dubai on Emirates airlines (arriving in is also lots of spam. No communication with any
78 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 79

of the studios is documented after the end of 27 important (if not much more important) than Lord 33
Michael Stone, “Anonymous Studio Herzog de Meuron
November 2010. With protests starting in January supplies WikiLeaks with Richard Rogers, in terms of celebrity and profes- has been contacted for
2011, a full-blown uprising began in Syria by ‘Syria files,’” The Examiner, sional status.”38 comment but has not
July 9, 2012. This article replied as of the time of
the end of March of that year. All conversations quotes Anonymous’ initial From the conversation between OMA and Sinan publication. For the answer
declaration: “While the from Rem Koolhaas’s studio,
and negotiations between officials and archi- United Nations sat back and Ali Hassan, it becomes clear that OMA’s proposal OMA, see below.
tects seem to have stopped as scrutiny of the theorized on the situation might be based on a project realized in Libya
in Syria, Anonymous took 34
Assad regime increased in the buildup to actual action. Assisting bloggers, previously: “This would be a similar scope to the See bit.ly/2pCVL3S
protesters and activists
hostilities. It has not yet been possible to in avoiding surveillance, Libyan Sahara vision we showed you, and the one 35
independently confirm the authenticity of these disseminating media, that Rem discussed with the President.”39 Martin Bailey,“Gaddafi’s
interfering with regime son reveals true colours,”
documents,32 so for the time being, their status communications and In an interview in June 2010, Koolhaas stated The Art Newspaper, March
networks, monitoring 2, 2011.
is that of unmoored sets of data, which may or the Syrian internet for that people close to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
may not have anything to do with their presumed disruptions or attempts at approached him.40 At the time, he was widely seen 36
surveillance—and waging a “Rem Koolhaas is very
authors and receivers. 33
But they most definitely relentless information and as a reformer. OMA’s project in Libya revolved keen to visit Damascus
psychological campaign with strong interest to
are sets of data, hosted by WikiLeaks servers against Assad and his around preservation and was exhibited at the participate in public sector
that can be described in terms of their circu- murderous and genocidal Venice Biennale.41 The project was later mentioned and urban gentrification
government.” and regeneration of the city,
lation regardless of presumed provenance and wikileaks.org as a possible precedent for a project proposal and trying to keep away
from commercial develop-
authorship.34 28 for the desert region around Palmyra, Syria. ments and suburban master
Above is Saif al-Islam Gaddafi’s painting, Barak Ravid, “Bashar Assad Since the uprising in early 2011, this area has plans, yet we wanted to
emails leaked, tips for ABC sense and feel the current
War (2001). Saif is the son of the late head of interview revealed,” Haaretz, been deeply affected by the ensuing civil war. conditions of architectural
Feb. 7, 2012. bit.ly/ and urbanization in the
Libya, Muammar Gaddafi and was a political figure 2oRT1iA At present, the International Criminal court city before establishing
in Libya prior to his father’s deposition by has requested Saif Gaddafi’s extradition from any commitment . I also
29 wanted to engage Rem
rebel forces backed by NATO airstrikes in 2011. The emails can be accessed Libya, where he remains imprisoned.42 in Damascus architec-
here wikileaks.org/ tural school and establish
This painting was exhibited as part of a show syria-files/docs/ internship program with
called “The Desert is not Silent” in London in Chapter 5 — A Dream OMA and the university.”
30 See the full email here
2002. See the email here WARNING: THIS IS THE ONLY FICTIONAL CHAPTER IN bit.ly/2o0I12J
bit.ly/2o0I12J
War depicts NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia in THIS TALK 37
1999. The artist writes: “A civil war broke out 31 To come back to the original question: What “Rem Koolhaas is very
See the email here keen to visit Damascus
in Kosovo, which shattered the picture and its bit.ly/2o1kA9s32 happened to time and space? Why are they broken with strong interest to
participate in public sector
theme. The sea unleashed itself, anger fell 32 and disjointed? Why is space shattered into and urban gentrification
from the sky, which came up against a stream See bit.ly/2o0I12J container-like franchising modules, dark webs, and regeneration of the city,
and trying to keep away
of blood.” 35
Saif al-Islam said in a statement civil wars, and tax havens replicating all over from commercial develop-
ments and suburban master
at the time: “Not only do we buy weapons and the world? plans, yet we wanted to
sell gas and oil, but we have culture, art and With these thoughts in mind, I fell asleep sense and feel the current
conditions of architectural
history.”36 and started dreaming … and my dream was pretty and urbanization in the
city before establishing
In September 2010, OMA expressed the desire to strange. I dreamt about some diagrams in one of any commitment . I also
work in Syria.37 A subsequent email from Sinan Ali — Artist Saif al-Islam Peter Osborne’s recent texts. wanted to engage Rem
Gaddafi stands beside his in Damascus architec-
Hassan — a local architect who acts as an inter- painting War (2001), which They describe a genealogy of contemporary art; tural school and establish
depicts NATO’s bombing of internship program with
mediary — to Mansour Azzam flaunts the advantages Yugoslavia in 1999. I wasn’t focusing on their content, but instead OMA and the university.”
of such a collaboration: “Rem was the previous on their form. The first thing I noticed was See the full email here
bit.ly/2o0I12J
supervisor and boss of Zaha Hadid in addition that the succession of concentric circles seemed
to the fact that he is considered to be more to indicate a dent, or a dimple, in any case, a
80 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 81

3-D cavity. But why would time and space start you? Let me tell you what’s happening in there: 2010. “An unlikely new
client is Libya, specifically
sagging, so to speak? Could there be an issue time and space are smashed and rearranged into ‘a subtle group of people
with gravity? Maybe a micro-black hole could little pieces like in a freak particle acceler- around the [Gaddafi] son
there who want to pull the
cause these circles to curve? But then again, it ator, and the result is the cage without borders country toward Europe.’”
bit.ly/324XOfi
is much more likely that something else caused called contemporary art today.
this dimple. AND THIS IS WHERE THE FICTIONAL PART
Suddenly, I found the answer to the ques- ABRUPTLY ENDS
tion. I started losing gravity and flying up I woke in shock and found myself reading this
towards space. Peter Osborne was floating around — Here, a genealogy of pdf document aloud.
contemporary art is repre-
there too, and with an unlikely Texas accent, he sented diagrammatically by

pointed down and showed me this sight.

Seen from above, Peter’s diagram transformed
into a sight. If you look at it from above, the
slight cavity vanishes. It becomes a flat screen.
From here on, people just ended up seeing the
genealogy of contemporary art in Peter’s diagrams
instead of a depression indicating that the — Crosshairs aiming at
target had been hit already and that a gaping target

crater had opened at the site of impact. Seen

from above, the genealogy of contemporary art was
acting as a proxy or a screen: a sight to cover
the site of impact. Behind his astronaut’s visor,
Peter croaked.
This is the role of contemporary art. It is a 41
OMA’s exhibition at the
proxy, a stand-in. It is projected onto a site 2010 Venice Biennale,
entitled CRONOCAOS,
of impact, after time and space have been shat- included a section on
tered into a disjunctive unity — and proceed to the Libyan desert. The
exhibition was based
collapse into rainbow-colored stacks designed by around “critical preservation
stories.” bit.ly/2o0I12J
starchitects.
Contemporary art is a kind of layer or proxy 42
A warrant for Saif Gaddafi’s
which pretends that everything is still ok, while arrest was issued by the
ICC on June 27, 2011.
people are reeling from the effects of shock bit.ly/30NdHpq
policies, shock and awe campaigns, reality TV,
38
power cuts, any other form of cuts, cat GIFs, Ibid.

tear gas — all of which are all completely disman- 39

tling and rewiring the sensory apparatus and Syrian president Bashar
al-Assad. See the full email
potentially also human faculties of reasoning here bit.ly/2o0I12J

and understanding by causing a state of shock and 40

confusion, of permanent hyperactive depression. Suzie Rushton, “The shape
of things to come: Rem
You don’t know what’s going on behind the Koolhaas’s striking designs,”
The Independent, June 21,
doors of the freeport storage rooms either, do
82 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 83

Chapter 6 — And Now to Justin Bieber Chapter 7 — An Email Sent From Switzerland 43
Shane Harris, “How Did
This is the Twitter feed of E! Online on May and its Reply Syria’s Hacker Army
4, 2013, which has someone posing as Bieber Suddenly Get So Good?,”
Foreign Policy, Sept. 4,
triumphantly blurting out: “I’m a gay.” As you From: Hito Steyerl mailto:xy [at] protonmail.ch 2013. bit.ly/2NNAihb.
For more details, see this
can see, the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) has Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2015 8:05 PM interesting report: John
hacked the Twitter account. Who is the SEA? It To: Office Reception Scott-Railton and Morgan
Marquis-Boire, “A Call
is a group of pro-Assad regime hackers. They Subject: Request for confirmation of authenticity to Harm: New Malware
Attacks Target the Syrian
also hacked Le Monde in France a few weeks Opposition,” CitizenLab.org,
ago. Previously, the SEA had commandeered: the Dear Sirs, June 21, 2013. bit.ly/
2o0I12J
websites of the New York Times, the Washington
44
Post, and the recruitment division of the US I would like to kindly ask you to confirm the authenticity Max Fisher, “Syrian hackers
Marine Corps. The group also hacked the Twitter of various email communications between OMA/AMO and claim AP hack that tipped
stock market by $136
feed of the Associated Press and sent out a false Syrian government officials and intermediaries published by billion. Is it terrorism?,”
Washington Post, April 23,
report about a bombing at the White House. 43
WikiLeaks as part of their “Syria files” in 2012. 2013. 2013. bit.ly/
The above diagram shows the consequences of I am a Berlin-based filmmaker and writer working on a 2o0I12J

this tweet on Wall Street. In three minutes, lecture about the transformations of national museums under 45
Hunter Stuart, “Syrian
the “fake tweet erased $136 billion in equity conditions of civil war, both in data- and 3D physical space. Electronic Army Denies
market value.”44 Anonymous Syria and its multiple There is no intent to scandalize the communication Being Attacked By
Anonymous,” bit.ly/
allies had hacked the Syrian Electronic Army and between OMA and the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs. 35guULe

dumped coordinates of alleged members onto the The intent is to ask how both internet communication and the 46
dark web.45 The data-space of Syria is embattled, (near-) collapse of some nations-states affect the planning of Joshua Keating, “WikiLeaks
to move to Sealand?,”
hacked, fragmented. Moreover, it extends from contemporary museum spaces. Foreign Policy, Feb. 1, 2012.
bit.ly/2o0I12J
the AP to Wall Street to Russian and Australian In this context it would be interesting to know more about
servers, as well as to the Twitter accounts of the circumstances that led to the end of project discussions in
a celebrity magazine. It extends to WikiLeaks’s Syria. I am sure that your office had its reasons for this and it
servers, where the Syria files are hosted, and would be great to be able to include these in the discussion.
which had to move around quite a lot previously, Pls find below a list of links I plan on quoting.
being ousted from Amazon in 2010. It was once
rumored that WikiLeaks tried to move its servers Best regards,
to an offshore location, an exterritorial former
oil platform called Sealand.46 This would in fact Hito Steyerl
have replicated the freeport scenario from a
different angle. https://wikileaks.org/syria-files/docs/2089311_urgent.html
But to ask a more general question: How does https://wikileaks.org/syria- files/docs/2092135_very-
the internet, or more precisely networked opera- important.html
tions between different databases, affect the https://wikileaks.org/syria- files/docs/2091860_fwd-.html
physical construction of museums — or the impossi- http://bit.ly/18jZeWr
bility thereof?
Sent from ProtonMail, encrypted email based in
Switzerland.
84 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 85

RE: Request for confirmation of authenticity 47 flags users for NSA scrutiny, thus effectively 49
Information under the This ambiguity charac-
From: Jeremy Higginbotham heading “Swiss Security” on reversing its desired effect. 49
The screen terizes popular web
To: Hito Steyerl [email protected] the the ProtonMail website. of anonymity turns out to be a paradoxical tools that are supposed
bit.ly/2o1kGOm to safeguard anonymity,
CC: Legal [email protected], xy [email protected] device. such as Tor. The Edward
48 Snowden leaks revealed
At: 26/02/2015 7:13 am One recent example: The ambiguous effect of policies destined to that the mere usage of Tor,
bit.ly/2oNPimi increase anonymity also figures into a different or even searching the web
for privacy-enhancing tools,
Dear Hito Steyerl, level of freeport activity. actually flags people for
NSA scrutiny (see bit.ly/
On February 25, 2015, Monaco prosecutors 2AMH94t). A software
Thank you for your email. We are not able to confirm the arrested Yves Bouvier — the owner of Natural Le designed to screen out
surveillance actually ends
authenticity of the documents linked below. Coultre, the company involved with the Luxemburg, up attracting it.

However, we wish you good luck with your work. Geneva, and Singapore freeports — for suspected 50
art fraud: “The investigation is believed to Angelique Chrisafis,
“Leading Swiss art broker
Best regards, centre on inflating prices in very big art trans- arrested over alleged price-
fixing scam,” Guardian, Feb.
actions in which Bouvier was an intermediary.”50 26, 2015. bit.ly/
Jeremy Higginbotham Bouvier allegedly took advantage of the fact that 2oLqdse. Bouvier has
rejected these allegations,
Head of Public Affairs most artworks held in freeports are owned by what putting the blame on the
allegedly defrauded Russian
OMA are called “sociétés écran” (literally “screen oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.
companies”). Since transactions were made through
(contact address redacted) these anonymous proxies, buyer and seller were
not able to communicate and control the amount
After the Edward Snowden leaks, I started using of commission fees charged. The screen that was
ProtonMail, an initiative by Cern researchers, supposed to provide anonymity for owners may
who are graciously providing a free encrypted also have worked against them. Invisibility is a
email platform. This is how they decribe their screen that sometimes works both ways — through
project, using the map of Switzerland: not always. It works in favor of whoever is
All information on the ProtonMail servers is controlling the screen.
stored under the jurisdiction of the Cantonal
Court of Geneva, taking advantage of the Chapter 8 — Shooting at Clocks —
privacy laws of Switzerland and the Canton. The Public Museum
But OMA/AMO’s friendly response is not stored in To build a nation, Benedict Anderson suggested
a freeport, it is just stored under “regular” there should be print capitalism and a museum.
Swiss jurisdiction in a former military command Nowadays, it is not impossible to build a museum
center deep inside the Swiss alps. 47
This is the without a nation. We can even look at it more
jurisdiction and encryption I use to try to make generally and see both nations and museums as
any potential government interference with some just another way to organize time and space, in
of my data just a tiny bit more cumbersome. I this case, by smashing them to pieces. But aren’t
am in fact taking advantage of legal protec- time and space smashed whenever a new paradigm
tions that have enabled tax evasion and money for a museum is created? This indeed happened
laundering through Swiss banks and other facili- in France’s July Revolution of 1830, of which
ties on an astounding scale.48 On the other hand, Walter Benjamin tells a story.51 Revolutionaries
the mere usage of privacy-related web tools were shooting at clocks. They had previously
86 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 87

also overturned the calendar, renaming months and 51 But the entirety of this archive is not 53
Walter Benjamin, “Theses Note the different strategies
changing their duration. on the Philosophy of adapted to human perception, or at least not for publicizing massive
And this is the period when the Louvre was History,” thesis XV, in to individual perception. Like all large-scale leaks employed by, on
Illuminations, ed. Hannah the one hand, WikiLeaks,
stormed yet again — as during every major Paris Arendt (New York: databases — including WikiLeaks’s Syria files — it and on the other, Edward
Schocken Books, 1988), Snowden, Laura Poitras,
uprising in the nineteenth century. The prototype 261–62. takes the form of a trove of information without Glenn Greenwald, and their
for a public museum was created when time and (or with very little) narrative, substantiation, numerous collaborators.
52
space were smashed and welded anew. The Louvre Ali Shamseddine and John or interpretation. It may be partly visible to
Rich, “An Introduction to
was created by being stormed. It was stormed in the New Syrian National the public, but not necessarily entirely intel-
1792 during the French Revolution and turned from Archive,” e-flux journal 60 ligible. It remains partly inaccessible, not by
(Dec. 2014). bit.ly/
a feudal collection of spoils — a period version 2oQ40ZW means of exclusion, but because it overwhelms the
of freeport art storage spaces — into a public art perceptual capacity and attention span of any
museum, presumably the first in the world, intro- single individual.53
ducing a model of national culture. Afterwards,
it turned into the cultural flagship of a colo- Chapter 9 — Autonomy
nial empire that tried to authoritatively seed Let’s go back to the examples at the beginning:
that culture elsewhere, before more recently freeport art storage spaces and the municipal
going into the business of trying to create gallery of Diyarbakır, that became a refugee
franchises in feudal states, dictatorships, and camp. One space withdraws artworks from the world
combinations thereof. by hoarding them, while the other basically shel-
But the current National Museum of Syria is of tered the escapees of collapsing states. How and
a different order. Contrary to plans inspired by — An ad promotes Duty where can art be shown publicly, in physical 3-D
Free Shopping in Hong
the “Bilbao effect,” the museum is hosted online, Kong. space, without endangering its authors, while
on countless servers in multiple locations. taking into account the breathtaking spatial and
As Jon Rich and Ali Shamseddine have noted, it temporal changes expressed by these two exam-
is a collection of online videos — of documents and ples? What form could a new model of the public
records of innumerable killings, atrocities, and museum take, and how would the notion of the
attacks that remain widely unseen. 52
This is the de “public” itself change radically in the process
facto National Museum of Syria, not a Louvre fran- of thinking though this?
chise acquired by an Assad foundation. This Let’s think back to the freeport art storage
accidental archive of videos and other documents spaces and their stock of duty-free art. My
is made in different genres and styles, showing suggestion is not to shun or belittle this propo-
people digging through rubble, or Twitter-accel– sition, but to push it even further.
erated decapitations in HD. It shows aerial The idea of duty-free art has one major advan-
attacks from below, not above. The documents and tage over the nation-state cultural model:
records produced on the ground end up on a vari– duty-free art ought to have no duty — no duty to
ety of servers worldwide. They are available — in perform, to represent, to teach, to embody value.
theory — on any screen, except in the locations It should not be indebted to anyone, nor serve a
where they were made, where the act of uploading cause or a master, nor be a means to anything.
something to YouTube can get people killed. This Duty-free art should not be a means to represent
spatiotemporal inversion is almost like a rever– a culture, a nation, money, or anything else.
sal of the freeport aggregate art collections. Even the duty-free art in the freeport storage
88 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 89

spaces is not duty free. It is only tax-free. It 54 both from its authors and owners. Remember the 56
Most pronouncedly However limited basic
has the duty of being an asset. expressed by Peter Bürger, disclaimer by OMA? Now imagine every art work democracy may have been
Seen like this, duty-free art is essentially Theorie der Avantgarde in freeports to be certified by this text: “I in Switzerland, given that
(Frankfurt: Suhrkamp general female suffrage
what traditional autonomous art might have been, Verlag, 1974). English am not able to confirm the authenticity of this was not established until
translation: Theory of the 1971, and in Appenzell
had it not been elitist and oblivious to its own Avant-Garde, trans. Michael artwork.” Innerrhoden not until 1990.
conditions of production.54 Shaw (Minneapolis: This is the Cultural Center in Suruç, Turkey.
University of Minnesota
But duty-free art is more than a reissue of Press, 1984): 90. It is across the border from the city of Kobanê,
the old idea of autonomous art. It also trans- 55 the administrative center of the autonomous
forms the meaning of the battered term “artistic Which might fulfill the canton of the same name, which itself is located
traditional role of a
autonomy.” Autonomous art under current temporal “financial tombstone”—a in the Rojava region of northern Syria. It is not
gadget that commemorates — The Cultural Center in
and spatial circumstances needs to take these concluded transaction. a coincidence that the autonomous entities in Suruç, Turkey, here repre-
very spatial and temporal conditions into consid- bit.ly/2pHoNzw Rojava are called cantons: they have been modeled sented, is across the border
from the city of Kobanê, the
eration. Art’s conditions of possibility are after Swiss cantons, to emphasize the role that administrative center of the
autonomous canton of the
no longer just the elitist “ivory tower,” but basic democracy played in initially establishing same name, which itself is
also the dictator’s contemporary art foundation, them.56 located in the Rojava region
of northern Syria. Photo:
the oligarch’s or weapons manufacturer’s tax- After the attack on the Kobanê canton by Hito Steyerl

evasion scheme, the hedge fund’s trophy,55 the art fighters from the so-called IS in September 2014,
student’s debt bondage, leaked troves of data, the Cultural Center was temporarily turned into
aggregate spam, and the product of huge amounts another refugee camp, hosting several hundred
of unpaid “voluntary” labor — all of which results people who fled from the besieged region around
in art’s accumulation in freeport storage spaces Kobanê. One of the refugees watched circling
and its physical destruction in zones of war or bombers through binoculars as the cultural
accelerated privatization. Autonomous art within workers and I discussed the role of culture and
this context could try to understand political art.
autonomy as an experiment in building alterna- But why am I showing you this? Remember
tives to a nation-state model that continues the top-down view of contemporary art? In my
to proclaim national culture while simultane- dream — and perhaps also in reality — contempo-
ously practicing “constructive instability” by rary art was a layer that served to screen out
including gated communities for high-net-worth the smashing of time and space on the ground.
individuals, much like microversions of failed It served to project a disjunctive unity onto
states. To come back to the example of a geography marked by systems constructively
Switzerland: this country is so pervaded by “failing” to increase profitability, nation-
extraterritorial enclaves with downsized regu- states engulfed in civil war, fragmented time,
lations that it could be more precisely defined and vast and major inequality. But a screen
as a x-percent rogue entity within a solid watch has two sides and potentially very different
industry. But extrastatecraft can also be defined functions. It can decrease but also enhance visi-
as political autonomy under completely different bility, protect and reveal, project and record,
circumstances and with very different results, expose and conceal.
as recent experiments in autonomy from Hong Kong And now please edit this image: it shows the
to Rojava have demonstrated. same situation from below, from under the screen.
But autonomous art could even be art set free It points very literally at a bottom-up
90 Hito Steyerl Duty-Free Art 91

model from a ground zero where time and space, 57

A term invented by Sven
and in some cases borders and nation-states, Lütticken.
are smashed, as during the time when the first
public museum was founded, creating not only junk
space — a term coined by Rem Koolhaas that deeply
influenced my work — but also junk time.57
When we look at this screen from above, we see
a model of contemporary art, which has created
the secret museum as one of its most impor-
tant spaces, a model of terminal impermanence,
of privacy and concealment, of constructive
instability.
If we only knew what the guy with the binocu-
lars sees from below, we might see its future
public counterpart.
93–115

Working Proposal:
6 Issues about UFC*

Inconstancy of
Memories, Rainy
Seasons and
Post-Development

Andreas Siekmann

Andreas Siekmann: born 1961 in Hamm (D), studied art in Düsseldorf,

lives and works in Berlin. Exhibitions at Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid
(2010), and Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2010). Together
with Alice Creischer he curated the projects “Ex Argentina“ at
Museo Nacional de Arte, La Paz (2011), Palais de Glace, Buenos
Aires (2006) and Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2004); and “Principio
Potosí“ at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid and
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2010). He took part at Skulptur
Projekte Münster (2007), and documenta 11 (2002) and documenta 12
* United Fruit Company (2007).
94 95

฀
96 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 97

1 1. Nectar from the skulls of the slain

MECW Volume 12, 125;
bit.ly/2NNNfHW
In the summer of 1853, Karl Marx wrote three
articles for the New York Daily Tribune: June
10: “British Rule in India,” June 24: “The East
India Company, its History and the Results of its
Activities,” July 22: “The Future Results of
British Rule in India.”
On June 10, he reported on the famine in
Poona (known today as Pune), the collapse of
the spinning mills, and the ruin of the Indian
cotton industry. He describes the trade flows
of the East India Company and the international
connections of exploitation. He cites a report
of the British House of Commons on Indian issues:
“… and though the villages themselves have
been sometimes injured, and even desolated by
war, famine or disease, the same name, the same
limits, the same interests, and even the same
families have continued for ages. The inhabitants
gave themselves no trouble about the breaking
up and divisions of kingdoms; while the village
remains entire, they care not to what power it
is transferred, or to what sovereign it devolves;
its internal economy remains unchanged.”1 But
he despises this indifference towards the
forms of government, which for us could be an
enchantment. He is in love with the telegraph
poles, the power of steam, and the railway
tracks. He writes: “There have been in Asia,
98 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 99

2 generally, from immemorial times, but three 4 government is a necessary force of history that
Ibid. Ibid., 217;
departments of Government — that of Finance, bit.ly/2CpWzMS here becomes nature — as sure, predictable, indis-
3 or the plunder of the interior; that of War, pensable, and true as the course of history:
Ibid. 5
or the plunder of the exterior; and, finally, Jason M. Colby, The “Bourgeois industry and commerce create these
the department of Public Works” 2
which is, for Business of Empire material conditions of a new world in the same
(London: Cornell
example, responsible for the irrigation of the University Press, 2011), way as geological revolutions have created
101.
soil and the creation of grain inventories. He the surface of the Earth. When a great social
thinks of the famines and the destruction of revolution shall have mastered the results of
infrastructure as a historical strait through the bourgeois epoch, the market of the world and
which one must pass in order to be connected the modern powers of production, and subjected
to what Hegel called the Weltgeist (World them to the common control of the most advanced
Spirit). For Marx, the Weltgeist realizes itself peoples, then only will human progress cease
through technical progress. The subsistent life, to resemble that hideous, pagan idol, who would
which according to Hegel has no conscience not drink the nectar but from the skulls of the
of itself, these “small stereotype forms of slain.”4
social organism … are disappearing, not so much
through the brutal interference of the British “There are some … who make fun of us for thinking
tax-gatherer and the British soldier, as through that (United Fruit President) Andrew Preston
the working of English steam and English free could come and take over Costa Rica for himself.
trade.”3
It’s a pity that these writers haven’t … read the
The British colonial government was not history of modern conquests carefully. India did
limited to looting, also behaved like a good not lose its independence because Great Britain
investor. The connection to history took place had declared war on the Indian princes. It was
through the construction of railroads, streets, a merchant company similar to the United Fruit
and telegraph lines, whose mere upkeep was a Company which created English interests there
revolution of technical abilities and was to and was the precursor to Great Britain’s regular
result in the cosmopolitan knowledge of the armies.”
population. This was a requirement for the expro-
priation of the expropriators at a later stage. Congressional Deputy Ricardo Jiménez,
In Marx’s view, the crime of the colonial Costa Rica, 1907.5
100 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 101

Each figure 40 persons

2. Fickle tricks of memory 6 they loaded the bodies onto a two-hundred-car

Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
One Hundred Years of train and threw them into the sea.”
“It happened once when someone at the table Solitude (New York: Avon,
1970), 168, 188.
complained about the ruin into which the town had “Those fickle tricks of memory were even more
sunk when the banana company had abandoned it, critical when the killing of the workers was
and Aureliano contradicted him. … His point of brought up. Every time that Aureliano mentioned
view, contrary to the general interpretation, was the matter, not only the proprietress but some
that Macondo had been a prosperous place and well people older than she would repudiate the myth
on its way until it was disordered and corrupted of the workers hemmed in at the station and the
and suppressed by the banana company, whose train with two hundred cars loaded with dead
engineers brought on the deluge as a pretext to people, and they would even insist that, after
avoid promises made to the workers. … The child all, everything had been set forth in judicial
described with precise and convincing details documents and in primary-school textbooks: that
how the army had machine-gunned more than three the banana company had never existed.”6
thousand workers penned up by the station and how
102 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 103

Punishment received by laborers drunk in the tasks of the engineer Henry Meiggs

3. Railroads

In 1855 financial juggler Henry Meiggs fled from

San Francisco to Chile to escape prosecution for
real-estate fraud. He became the railway king of
Peru and Chile because his interests included
the extraction of silver and guano, trans-
ported to the ports by rail. He died during the
construction of a railroad in Costa Rica that
was then completed by his nephew Minor C. Keith.
How did the connection to world history unfold
in Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica? Did the workers
become engineers?
104 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 105

4. Departments of Plunder a) Department of Finances

The word “extractivism” originates from “extrac- The railroad completed by Minor C. Keith in Costa
tion” and means extracting, disintegrating, Rica generated no profit but became a trans-
gaining. Something is pulled out of the ground, mission belt for the export of bananas to the
brought to the port, and exported. Extractivism USA. A history of competition, mergers, and
is part of a cyclical movement of capital hostile takeovers of fruit companies followed,
(assets): the exploitation of resources when continuing right up to the present day.
profit is in crisis due to the exploitation of
labor. Why does the exploitation of labor get
into crisis?
106 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 107

Macondo

b) Department of War 7 in the country and radical members of the Liberal

United Fruit Historical
Society, 2001-2006, Party and members of the Socialist and Communist
This history of trade wars is mirrored by the prepared by Marcelo Parties participate strongly. National Labor
Bucheli in collaboration
history of military interventions and corruption with Ian Read: Union bigwigs Carlos Mahecha and Maria Cano
bit.ly/2CnQsZl.
in the countries that produce bananas. It is a travel to the ‘Banana Zone’ to organize the
thinly-veiled history of colonial power, which strike. They count on the help of Italian and
treats these countries and their plantations Spanish anarchist immigrants for this. … The
as its own. Such military interventions are a banana workers’ strike continues into January and
war against the workers and against governments gets national attention since it is supported by
wishing to enforce labor rights or land reforms. the Liberal Party. The Conservative Party, which
This war continues to the present day. controls the government, decides to send the army
into the Banana Zone. During a demonstration in
Macondo the main plaza of the city of Cienaga the army,
In December 1928 the workers of Colombia’s banana commanded by Carlos Cortes Vargas, fires on the
plantations went on strike. “They demand written strikers and leaves an undetermined (and disputed)
contracts, eight-hour days, six-day weeks and number of strikers dead. The government declares a
the elimination of food coupons. The strike turns state of siege in the Banana Zone and the strike
into the largest labor movement ever witnessed eventually ends.”7
108 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 109

Each figure 65 tons (GDR) New Laender

c) Department of Desire 8 Department. The Education Department prints educa-

Ibid.
tional materials for classroom use promoting
In 1926 United Fruit bought Cuyamel, its banana consumption.”8 This campaign still
competitor, and became the largest banana continues today.
exporter. The same year, United Fruit commis- As with the campaigns for sugar, coffee, tea,
sioned research into banana consumption in the or cocoa, it does not correspond with need, but
USA. “The consultants’ results say that bananas with the desire that is connected with ideol-
are consumed by a large sector of the country’s ogies. Tea and coffee are linked to civilization
middle class and are considered the perfect food and education and motivation of the night shifts
for babies. After this report, United Fruit … using the new electricity. Bananas are linked
begins an aggressive campaign in national with a Fordist image of welfare and care. In
newspapers and magazines targeted at middle- 1914, economist Eugen Böhm von Bawerk described
class families. needs as the “locomotive” of an economy devised
Fruit Dispatch establishes the Education to fulfil demand. But this concept of demand
Department in addition to the Advertising fulfilment is wrong.
110 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 111

Each hand 13 Billion $ over-the-counter market (OTC)

d) I will now briefly talk about 9 farming communities, factories, and urban spaces.
Raol Zibechi, “Encuentro
extractivism de los Pueblos del Anya And it is in those spaces that we, at the bottom
Yala por el Agua y la of society, have learnt to resist, to organize,
Pachamama, Cuenca,
"I believe we are now living in a second phase Ecuador,” July 10, 2011: so that we can frustrate capitalist exploitation
bit.ly/2pSCP1v
of neo-liberalism. The first took place in the and the extraction of value. As a result, capital
1990s, you experienced it here in Ecuador, and has withdrawn from production, starting to
there were a number of riots against it. This accumulate through financial speculation and what
was the neo-liberalism of privatization: it we call extractivism. Capitalism has stepped up
arrived in Latin America, privatizing, raiding, a level and now speculates with gold and silver,
destroying the state, and appropriating commu- with land and water, and with life itself… Today,
nitarian structures, including many state-owned the most valued products are precious minerals
companies. This stage concluded around the year (gold, silver, and so on) and food, and therefore
2000, but only because we stopped it ourselves, what we are seeing is actually speculation over
through resistance — there were dozens of popular people’s lives.
uprisings throughout Latin America, from Mexico We people are a disturbance in this capital
to Patagonia. Now we are seeing the start of accumulation and, as I see it, we need to
a second neoliberal phase, which can be called maintain a very clear understanding of this
extractivism … A fundamental worldwide change position. Regardless of who is in government,
is now taking place … Countries occupying the if they do not change the situation, they will
center space are experiencing a severe crisis, continue to do the bidding of the powerful. …
which has also led to a crisis in production … Firstly, there is no extractivism, mining, soya
Production is no longer the principal source of farming or monocultures without the militari-
capital accumulation, and we need to develop zation of society. And this is not by mistake,
an in-depth understanding of the reasons behind militarization is part of the extractivism model.
this. Production always exists where there are There is no open-pit mining, no mega-mining,
people, men and women. It exists in rural and without militarization."9
112 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 113

5. What we have to discuss contract that is supposed to respond to the

strikers’ demands. The contract is to be signed
Fear when the rain stops. The rain is the time that
The productivity of the economy doesn’t align to elapses between demand and right, but instead
needs, nor does it create development. Moreover, the company leaves the place before the right
it is driven by the fears of its actors. It is is redeemed. It is not possible to conclude
not the fear of emptiness, but the fear of the contracts between investors and workers, but
other. The economy races because its actors chase rather …
after each other. Each individual actor is scared
that one day they will be forced to jump out Fickle tricks of memory
of the window. How do wars react to this fear “And they would even insist that, after all,
regarding the capacity for exploitation of soils, everything had been set forth in judicial
fruit, and people? How can we discuss extrac- documents and in primary-school textbooks: that
tivism in relation to this? the banana company had never existed.” So is
Macondo a place where “they care not to what
Rainy season power it is transferred, or to what sovereign
The banana company leaves Macondo in the it devolves,” is it the place in the school-
rain, which lasts four years, eleven months books? But we cannot content ourselves with this.
and two days. The rain starts — like a punishing We cannot forget this resistance and the time
deluge — after the massacre of the workers. After that elapses between a right and its redemption,
the massacre, the banana company promises a because we keep alive the memory of the crime and
its history.

February 3, 1975
114 Andreas Siekmann Working Proposal 115

10 6. Development 11 away from subsistence and into commercial

Christel Neusüß, Ibid., 231.
quoted by Maria Mies production’.”11
in “Housewifisation, “Later, once it’s been properly established, 12
Globalisation, Subsistence- Alberto Acosta, “El Buen
Perspective,” in Marcel [capitalism] won’t need violence anymore. It will Vivir en la senda de “The expression ‘Buen vivir’ (the Good Life) is
van der Linden, Karl Heinz posdesarollo,” in Gabriela
Roth, eds., Beyond Marx: work productively — peacefully, somewhat to the not an elaborate political concept. Instead,
Massuh, ed., Renunciar al
Theorising the Global detriment of labour-power, it’s true, but without bien común. Extractivismo it gathers possibilities for new forms of
Labour Relations of the y (pos)desarollo en America
Twenty-First Century anything resembling the murderous escapades of Latina (Buenos Aires: coexistence. It is not about adopting a recipe
(Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2014), Mardulce, 2012).
217. the conquistadors. This is the point at which already outlined in official documents, such as
our comrade [Rosa Luxemburg] strictly refuses the constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador with
to believe Marx. He’s wrong, it’s plain to see. their plans for development policy according
Violence is booming … The hour of birth can’t to the criteria of the Good Life. The Good
possibly last this long, four hundred years, Life suggests a qualitative pattern to detach
still oozing blood and filth.” 10
the traditional concept of progress from its
“It is subsistence that is fundamentally productivist drift, as well as the one-sided
opposed to capital, not wage-labour. For capital, orientation towards “development” and its mecha-
it is a question of transforming all autonomous nistic vision of economic growth, and many other
life into commodities and inserting it into a such synonyms for “progress and development.”
commodity-relation. … Capital has been waging But it is not just about this resolution. The
war on subsistence for more than two hundred Good Life … attempts to conceive of a different
years. The former president of the World Bank, relationship between production, exchange,
Robert McNamara, once formulated the actual goal cooperation, and accumulation. It tries to come
of capitalism very clearly: ‘to draw peasants up with criteria for sufficiency … The Good Life
defies the permanent betrayal of democracy …”12

Each figure 1000 workers, since 1997… Rainforest Alliance 1993 May 11, 1998 Foro Social de las Américas, Asunción, Paraguay, August 20
In the Stomach
of the Predators

There is a vault in Spitzbergen in the side of the mountain

for all the seeds from all over the world.
It was put there by the same companies
that destroy these seeds
by undertaking their appropriation.
Now the companies are using this vault
to perpetuate their own phenomenon
as a universal form of expression.

Wolf: Of bread, of maize.

Of manioc, of cassava.
Of potatoes.
Of rice.
Of some trees made completely of flowers.
Of the excess gold and pearls in Las Indias.
Of the nature of that soil and how to extract all these riches.
Of beeches.

Hyena: From the beeches shall you strip the fresh leaves
only by hand
in May and in June
and in the allocated areas.

You should scrape resin from trees

more than 4 feet tall
every 2 years.
And the cuts that you inflict
must not exceed 2 inches.

Collect brush for brooms

from the ground.
Do not break it from the branches.

Failure to comply is punishable with a fine of 5 talers.

Failure to pay is punishable with no less than 48 hours in jail
or service in the woods
of the proprietor,
with 1 workday = to 2 days in jail.
Alice Creischer That’s how hard it is to serve the proprietor.
In the Stomach of the Predators

Sources: Joseph De Acosta,

The Natural and Moral Historie
of the Indies, trans. Edward
Grimston (London, 1604).
Minutes of the 6th Rhenish
Provincial Diet, Coblenz 1841.
Plato, Parmenides.
Ion Creangă, “The Fairy-tale of
the White Moor” (Povestea lui
Harap-Alb) in Romanian Fairy
Tales (Bucharest 1987).
Translated by David Riff, 2013
There is a cadaster in Benin And to see what no one wants to see -
the same size as the entire country. the trees with their crowns upside down,
It was implemented by the Millennium Challenge Program the cattle with its legs in the sky.
which dedicates its efforts to the advancement And to see people stare at us with open mouths
of the human right to the freedom of sale. and not to know why you are staring
The cadaster helps to turn the sale of land and why you aren’t amazed at your own beauty.
into a universal form of expression.
Its data goes to Wall Street at a discount.

Bear: If 1 work day = 2 days in jail,

then 1 is equal and unequal
in the same moment of time.
1 glove, 1 collar, 1 stick
4 acres, 3 ares, 10 hectares
can be 1 and nothing
at the same moment.
Because we have removed these equations from time
taking them into our own hands.

Hyena: So great is the beauty of the proprietor’s hand

that it can now perpetrate its own equations as
a universal form of expression.
And everything partakes in it in this same moment
because by partaking of it everything becomes 1.

In Istanbul there is a construction volume

of 34.6 billion $.
It was bankrolled by investors from all over the world.
The investors invest in order to make investments.
The population can watch these investments
from the outskirts of town, on bleachers of rubble.
They look into the crater and bet
on the permanence of the vacancy rates.

Sometimes it unsettles us to know

that some things like
fruit flies, peanuts, hair, and dust
could name themselves as equations
as they fall through our fingers.

This is why we will never look at these things

as they fall
for fear of sinking into the abyss of appearances,
bad magic, card tricks, and bullshit.
121–131

Petrocosmos

Bureau d’Études

Bureau d’Études: group of artists and teachers, live and work in

Saint Menoux (F). For the past twenty years, the group has been
developing research on the structures of power and capitalism (www.
bureaudetudes.org). The group now lives in the countryside, working
on a full-scale collective project across agriculture, commons, and
resymbolizing experiments (www.fermedelamhotte.fr). Bureau d’Études
is co-founder of the “Laboratory Planet” collective and journal
(laboratoryplanet.org) and of the “Aliens in Green” project
(aliensingreen.eu). Some recent projects and exhibitions at Utrecht
Science Park, Utrecht University (NL), 2015-2017 (www.zerofoot-
printcampus.nl) and ZKM, Karlsruhe (2016).
122 Bureau d’Études Petrocosmos 123

“Who could have imagined Two centuries of fossil fuel usage have
enthroned the North Pole as a pivotal region
the power of these fossil for centuries to come. As the ice melts in the

fuels which, emerging from twenty-first century, a new sea is emerging

and what yesterday was frozen and hostile will
the archives of the Earth soon be transformed into a temperate zone. Long
largely deserted, Eurasia could well be a new
where they had been buried Eldorado for populations from the regions in the

for tens of millions of south that have become uninhabitable.

Who could have imagined the power of these
years, proceeded to heat up fossil fuels which, emerging from the archives

the atmosphere, the land, of the Earth where they had been buried for tens
of millions of years, proceeded to heat up the
and the oceans, reawakening atmosphere, the land, and the oceans, reawak-
ening the specter of the fifth mass extinction
the specter of the fifth event of 65 million years ago? Greenhouse gas

mass extinction event of 65 emissions seem to be recreating the climate

of the Paleocene-Eocene, when the planet was
million years ago?” tropical and ice-free. Homo sapiens did not yet
exist, and nor did any known civilization …

The push for the pole

No one on Earth today can imagine the even-
tual future of human societies. The melting of
the Siberian permafrost is accelerating global
heating by releasing huge clouds of carbon
dioxide and of methane, a greenhouse gas thirty
times more damaging than CO2. It also emits
nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas three hundred
times more potent than CO2, which was long used
as an anesthetic for surgery and as an attrac-
tion in nineteenth-century fairgrounds, where it
induced states of hilarity, euphoria, giggling,
and hallucinations. The poet Robert Southey
wrote: “I am sure the air in heaven must be this
wonder working gas of delight.” And indeed, a
dream arises from the melting of the Arctic ice:
the land freed of ice could turn green while
cities appear where once there was nothing but
barren whiteness …
124 Bureau d’Études Petrocosmos 125

This dream of a great northern civilization 1 varnish, perfumes, deodorants, shampoos, soaps, 4
Hugh Llewellyn Wright Mills, The Power
echoes an old story. For the North Pole is Keenleyside, Canada’s etc. — their toxic effects on animals and humans Elite: New Edition (New
one of the mythical locations of the Earthly Deputy Minister of Mines are known, interfering with biological systems York: Oxford University
and Resources (1942), Press, 2000).
Paradise, witness the work by a former President quoted in Barry Scott (reproductive, digestive, endocrine, nervous)
Zellen, Arctic Doom, Arctic
of the University of Boston, Dr. Warren, enti- Boom: The Geopolitics of and causing a broad range of health problems.
tled The Paradise Found or the Cradle of the Climate Change (Santa Phthalates are considered to be xenoestrogens
Barbara: ABC Clio, 2009),
Human Race at the North Pole (1893). This myth 8. that imitate hormones, disturbing endocrine
is making a comeback as the thaw gathers pace, 2 functions and raising fears of a feminization of
announcing a new polar civilization: “What the Mark Cohen and George males.
Armelagos, Paleopathology
Aegean Sea was to classical antiquity, what the at the Origins of Agriculture Plastics have been found at North Pole where,
(Cambridge: Academic
Mediterranean was to the Roman world, what the Press, 1984). together with other toxic substances, they are
Atlantic Ocean was to the expanding Europe of disrupting reproductive functions and causing
3
Renaissance days, the Arctic Ocean is becoming Jan Zalasiewicz et al., anomalies in whales, seals, and seabirds.
“The Geological Cycle of
to the world of aircraft and atomic power.” 1
Plastics and Their Use as Several large-scale studies carried out in the
Contrary to Keenleyside’s vision, the Arctic a Stratigraphic Indicator Arctic have confirmed that the region’s main
of the Anthropocene,”
Ocean was not the Mediterranean of the Cold War. Anthropocene 13 (2016), predators, such as polar bears and belugas, are
4–17.
But as the East/West barrier recedes, it might contaminated by chemical products including
well be the Mediterranean of the Anthropocene. polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlo-
According to the Russian parliament’s State rine pesticides, and flame retardants, and by
Committee for Northern Affairs, the Arctic the plastic residues that now circle the Earth’s
icecap could have disappeared by 2070 … oceans in the form of huge floating continents.
If the Mediterranean saw the birth of agri-
cultural and pastoral civilizations with their The emergence of Eurasia
accompanying cortege of malnutrition, epidemics, Oil is the lifeblood of globalization, this
famine, and class divisions, 2
then one can wonder planetary project of the world’s elites. As
about the fate of a civilization centered around the history of the twentieth century has abun-
a temperate Arctic Ocean. The truth is, we have dantly shown, the interests of these largely
no idea. All we know is how oil has modified Anglo-American elites have been underpinned
Earth’s climate, ecosystems, and organisms. We by collaboration with the military, share-
know that plastics, these petrochemical mate- holders, and managers.4 This alliance explains
rials that embodied modernity’s promise to why American military bases, consultants, and
create a perfect world, clean and plentiful, private contractors continue to guard oilfields
under techno-scientific control, are now to be and pipelines in Colombia, in the Caspian, in
found in food chains and in our blood. Africa, in the Balkans, and in the Middle East.
With annual global production at around 300 From an institutional viewpoint, globaliza-
million cubic meters (2016), “enough plastic tion was underpinned by the Bretton Woods system
has been manufactured since the mid-20th century put in place in 1944, with US dollars as the
to cover Earth in a single layer of plastic principle currency for world business and the
wrap.”3 To take only phthalates — a class of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)
synthetic polymers used as plasticizers, espe- as the central institutions managing this huge
cially in cosmetic products such as nail enterprise. Beginning in 1971, central banks
126 Bureau d’Études Petrocosmos 127

were obliged to keep dollars in reserve to 5 World wars to establish hegemony could be 8
Halford Mackinder, Kent E. Calder, Super
protect against monetary crises, support export Democratic Ideals and replaced by a different world order based on a Continent: The Logic
exchange rates, or finance oil imports. However, Reality (New York: Henry sharing of responsibilities. Such a distrib- of Eurasian Integration
Holt and Company, 1919), (Stanford: Stanford
this great structure of global political and 150. uted globalism would replace the abstract University Press, 2019).

economic governance is now coming apart. The 6 rules imposed by the American hegemon.8 This 9
formation and reinforcement of interdepend- Nicholas Spykman, The distributism differs from the regulation-based Theodore J. Lowi, “American
Geography of Peace (New Business, Public Policy,
ences between China, Russia, Africa, Central York: Alfred Knopf, 1944), approach used by the Americans,9 and could Case Studies, and Political
43. Theory,” World Politics
Asia, and Europe reflects the emergence of a new develop concepts other than those on which the 16, no. 4 (July 1964), pp.
continent that is home to the world’s largest 7 Westphalian order was based: sovereignty, terri- 676–716.
Charles P. Kindleberger,
reserves of oil, coal, and gas. The vision of The World in Depression, torial states, and a balance of power.10 10
1929–1939 (Berkeley: Paul Evans, “Historians
the political geographer Halford MacKinder seems University of California At present, the American project is in and Chinese World Order:
to be becoming reality. In his famous text on Press, 1973). decline. The role of the dollar as the key Fairbank, Wang, and the
Matter of ‘Intermediate
“The Geographical Pivot of History,” presented reserve currency, which seemed to be carved Relevance,’” in China and
International Relations:
at the Royal Geographical Society in London in stone, is now being called into question. The Chinese View and
in January 1904, he describes Eurasia as the Whereas in October 2010, the Chinese yuan the Contribution of Wang
Gungwu, ed. Zheng
natural seat of planetary power, determining ranked thirty-fifth among the world’s most used Yongnian (New York:
Routledge, 2010).
the future of world politics on account of its currencies, by December 2013 it had jumped to
access to resources and its strategic loca- eighth place. And three years later, on July
tion. The heart of Eurasia is one that pumps oil 1, 2016, the yuan became the fifth currency to
and gas, traversed by the pipelines and rail- be included by the IMF in its system of special
ways of the New Silk Roads. MacKinder said: drawing rights, taking third place behind the
“Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland. US dollar and the euro. Major globalization
Who rules the Heartland commands the World projects such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Island. Who rules the World Island commands the (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment
World.” 5
In the meantime, as Nicholas Spykman Partnership (TTIP), were halted by President
has proclaimed, the formula has changed: “Who Donald Trump on his first full day in office
controls the Rimland rules Eurasia; who rules at the end of January 2017. As part of the same
Eurasia controls the destinies of the World.”6 dynamic, new multilateral institutions are
Eurasia is only now beginning to take shape emerging, including the Asian Infrastructure
as a continent. But one can already see a nexus Investment Bank that competes with the IMF and
of twenty-first-century civilization emerging, the World Bank; the Silk Road Fund created in
at the heart of what MacKinder calls the pivotal 2014 to develop the infrastructures of the New
zone, the axis of world history. In this new Silk Roads; and the New Development Bank created
continental organization, China occupies the in 2015 by Brazil, Russia, India, China and
position of the Central Kingdom. But it does South Africa.
not have a hegemonic vocation, and the Chinese
Empire will not replace the American Empire. Territories without oil, territory
The theory of hegemony, according to which without water
the stability of global organization requires a There is a direct territorial correlation
single hegemon to serve as lender, market, and between the use of energy, its control, and
defender of last recourse,7 is now in crisis. the development of civilization, just as there
128 Bureau d’Études Petrocosmos 129

is a direct correlation between the pres- 11 drought and that close to 200 million people are
Maude Barlow and Tony
ence of temperate water and the development of Clarke, L’or bleu: L’eau, le exposed every year to its direct impact in the
a biosphere. But the two zones do not meet in grand enjeu du XXIe siècle form of famine and epidemics. Drought, deserti-
(Paris: Fayard, 2002).
modern industrial society. fication, and resource scarcity have aggravated
Oil is a precondition for the creation of all conflicts between agricultural and livestock
commodities. It is, as Schumacher observed, farmers. The drying out of Lake Chad brings
a basic element as important to our societies economic marginalization and creates a fertile
as water, air, and soil. But after a century breeding ground for recruitment by terrorist
of oil-based civilization, a new situation is groups as social values and moral authority
appearing: life in all its diversity is dying erode.
while commercial products multiply to infinity We can imagine the levels of violence that
around the world. That which (besides the sun) will accompany the advent of the post-oil
sustains life is becoming scarce. Wetlands are world. We can imagine a new northern nexus of
disappearing everywhere due to the effects of strategic, economic, and military interests.
climate heating. In Asia, more than 500 square Looking down on the earth from space, we can
kilometers vanish every year to make way for imagine expanses of water surrounded by missile
urbanization, industry, and irrigation. By 2080, launchers.
with rising sea levels, 40 to 50 percent of the For years now, scientists who measure the
world’s coastal wetlands will have disappeared. size of the polar ice sheet from space have been
Desertification affects 3.6 billion hectares of announcing that it has never been smaller. And
land in more than one hundred countries, and each year marks a new record in its shrinking.
irrigation increases the pressure on rivers, Perceiving the human push northwards presupposes
lakes, and groundwater.11 the ability to project the present into what is
Elsewhere, the first decade of the new millen- not yet there, into what does not (yet) exist,
nium marked the passing of Hubbert’s peak into the future — the emergence of the Pole as a
oil, signaling the future exhaustion of fossil geographical power. It is not only the point of
resources and anticipating similar peaks for orientation for every compass, but also a future
other raw materials. And it is true that these habitat.
resources are now diminishing, by 2 percent per This habitat has some strange characteris-
annum, causing huge direct and indirect economic tics: the only direction is south, and the Pole
and social damage to industrial society. is not in any time zone — it is the spot from
One can already foresee a worsening of wars which the lines of longitude begin. As the old
for control over the remaining fossil fuels, realm of icy peace comes undone, it is in this
wars that will only become more numerous, their strange place that new international ship-
violence growing as temperatures rise and fresh ping routes are opening up, with the North-West
water becomes scarce. Passage connecting the markets of Asia, North
Africa, where 70 percent of the population America, and Europe, but without the vulner-
lives off the land, is one of the continents able pinch-points of current routes like the
most affected by and most vulnerable to climate Malacca Straits or the Panama and Suez Canals.
change. Expert estimates suggest that one third A container ship sailing from China to New York
of Africa’s population lives in zones subject to via the Arctic rather than through the Panama
130 Bureau d’Études Petrocosmos 131

Canal would reduce its voyage by three thousand 12 not taking into account the fact that they would 14
Vice Admiral Thomas Andrew Nikiforuk, The
kilometers and save two million dollars in fuel J. Barrett, USCG (Ret.), consume more energy in food than they would Energy of Slaves: Oil and the
costs. 12 Deputy Secretary of produce by pedaling.14 This world is as impos- New Servitude (Vancouver:
Transportation, Remarks Greystone, 2012).
Such an outlook suffices to tame these once to the MARAD Arctic sible as the world of oil has become. It will
Transportation Conference,
remote zones of empires and states, arid zones Washington, DC, June 5, therefore be other worlds that we will have to
battered by wind and cold, plunged into darkness 2008. force ourselves to bring into being. To achieve
for half of the year, home to small popula- 13 this, we will have to go back and ask those who
Alberto Angela, A Day in
tions living under extreme conditions. Now, as the Life of Ancient Rome: for millennia have been developing the art of
the Inuit of Nunavut have understood, the trans- Daily Life, Mysteries, and confronting the extraordinary.
Curiosities (New York:
formation of the Pole points to a future whose Europa Editions, 2009).

face is becoming more and more clearly visible

with every passing day and which seems, for
some, to be full of promise. The population of
Greenland see the color in their country’s name
becoming a reality, imagining new fertile land
for farming, abundant accessible raw materials,
and new deposits of oil and gas. In a referendum
held on November 25, 2008, 75 percent voted for
increased autonomy.
However, there is nothing to suggest that the
green lands of the North will become fertile.
All that is certain is the prospect of a world
without oil where soils will often be dried
out and surrounded by acid oceans. The other
certainty, as Italian anthropologist Alberto
Angela puts it in his work of historical fiction
A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome, is that a cup
of gasoline is equivalent to the energy needed
by fifty slaves to push a Fiat for two hours.13
Human energy is feeble compared with the power
of oil, and a world without oil (in the absence
of an equivalent substitute) would resemble
a labor camp where it would be necessary to
pedal twelve hours a day, seven days a week,
for three years and eight months, without vaca-
tions, to produce the equivalent of one barrel
of oil. An average North American who uses 23.6
barrels of oil every year would have to employ
the equivalent of eighty-nine virtual slaves to
cover this level of energy consumption, and a
family of five would need almost five hundred,
Every Day
the new forests
company
In 2004 the New Forests Company began
with 5 million euros from the European Investment Bank,
easily outbid by Agri-Vie,
which has six seats on the supervisory board,
which is in turn fed by the International Finance Co.,
a branch, a bifurcation, a leaf-vein of the World Bank ...

In 2004 the New Forests Company began

negotiations with the government in U
on licensing land
for 3 plants à 20,000 hectares
to grow timber
in the communities of Mubende, Kiboga, and Bugiri.

In Mubende, Kiboga, Bugiri.

The company promised:

in 10 years
A: to invest 47 million dollars
B: to employ 1,400 persons.
A: A taking of breath, a scraping of rakes on pebble driveways,
boarding schools by mountain lakes.
B: A connection to the dependency of survival on money

The dependency of survival on money.

The company had already planted 12 million pine trees beforehand

in the same regions,
to check their growth,
and they are thriving excellently.

Excellently.

The investment has severe restrictions,

says the company.
It is forbidden to let livestock pasture under the trees,
and no more lying in the grass and
blowing on the blades.
Under the trees it is forbidden
to plant vegetables or collect wood,
Alice Creischer
with which charcoal can be gained to prepare food.
In the Stomach of the Predators
Every Day – the new All this demands,
forests company
before the money flows,
Source: Mr. Augustin Allen an examination
Witness in: Oxfam Case Study of who is eligible to stay there and for what reason.
The New Forests Company and
its Uganda plantations The examination brought the right of residence for 31 families
September 22, 2011 to the light of day.
https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/
s3fs-public/file_attachments/
cs-new-forest-company-uganda-
plantations-220911-en_4.pdf
To the day that cannot divide itself. Remember my land,
three acres of coffee, many trees,
And it furthermore proved mangoes and avocados.
that the other residents are intruders, I had five acres of banana,
that the land belongs to the state, I had cows for milk, ten beehives, two beautiful houses.
which is thus legitimized People used to call me Omataka –
to issue licenses someone who owns land.
to the New Forests Company Now that is no more.
for a long period of time. I am one of the poorest.

For a long period of time,

a scraping of rakes on pebbles,
mountain lakes and boarding schools by mountain lakes.
Undivided days.
Undivided days.

In 2005, resettlement started with tractors

with 670 horsepower
whose tanks drink 1,900 liters of gas at once
and whose shovels plow villages
like hair is shaven from the head with a knife.
This took place in Kiboga in June 2006
and in February 2006 in Mubende.

It is said that 22,500 people

were displaced
and that this number could be considerably higher.
But the company says that it was
15,191 at the most.
This number was ascertained by a district official
from Kiboga.

And that even this number

is possibly
too high,
because the official is unreliable,
because it is said
—although they paid him for this survey—
that he often lies in the grass
instead of counting,
under the rows of pine trees
staring through the order of needles
to the sky,
as if it were a crater
and not a mountain lake.
Every Day
funding of land
taxes in poona
Waiwand :
The tenants have to borrow to pay the taxes.
Pimpalgon
They even have to borrow in good years.
Deulgaon
They borrow in some cases.
Kanagaon
The harvests are seldom ripe when the tax is due,
therefore the tenants have to borrow.
Nandgaon.
They borrow when there is little rain
and pawn the uncut harvest.
Dhond
They borrow and pawn the harvest on the stalk.
Girim
They borrow to their account and pawn the harvest on the stalk.
Sonwari
They borrow to pay the taxes.
They sell the livestock.
Wadhana
They pay the first rate by borrowing on the stalk.
If the harvest fails, they sell the land.
Morgaon
They pay the first rate by borrowing on the harvest on the stalk.
When there is no harvest, they borrow against interest.
Ambi
Ditto
Tardoli
Ditto

Alice Creischer

In the Stomach of the Predators

Every Day – funding
of land taxes in poona

Source: Romesh Chunder Dutt,

Famines and Land Assessments
in India (London 1900)
139–157

Amazon Worker
Cage
Simon Denny

Simon Denny: born in Auckland (NZ), studied at Elam School of Fine

Arts, University of Auckland and Städelschule, Frankfurt (D). Solo
exhibitions at institutions worldwide, including: MONA, Tasmania
(until April 2020); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017); OCAT
Shenzhen (2017); Serpentine Galleries, London (2015); MoMa PS1, New
York (2015); and MuMOK, Vienna (2013). In 2015, he represented New
Zealand at the 56th Venice Biennale. He is professor of time-based
media at University of Fine Arts, Hamburg (D).
an excavated document

In 2018 Kate Crawford and Vladen Joler published Anatomy of an AI System, which that can be moved through a warehouse by the same motorized system that shifts shelves
described the Amazon Echo as “an anatomical map of human labor, data and planetary filled with merchandise.” They went on to describe this patented design as “an extraor-
resources” in a diagram and an essay. In the course of their macro mapping of the Echo’s dinary illustration of worker alienation, a stark moment in the relationship between
planetary and life impact, they highlighted an Amazon patent filing from 2016 for “a humans and machines. … Here, the worker becomes a part of a machinic ballet, held
metal cage intended for the worker, equipped with different cybernetic add-ons, upright in a cage which dictates and constrains their movement.”
a worker enclosure

As Crawford and Joler (and the patent itself) described, the cage design would insert full of Amazon stock. They optimize and organize stock according to principles of
the human worker into the same automated systems as the shelving units depicted in this economy and not human legibility. These automated vehicles operate in “human exclusion
article from Business Insider. Developed by Amazon Robotics (formerly Kiva Systems zones” inside Amazon’s “fulfillment centers”. The patented cage becomes a way for
until an $700m acquisition by Amazon in 2012), the orange floor units (at one point humans to re-enter these machine-populated exclusion zones.
called Betty Bots, at others simply “drive” units) carry and sort large shelving units
in an exclusive logistics system

The Seattle Times initiated mainstream press coverage on the cage (highlighting just a number of news outlets. Amazon commented that it had never implemented the technology
one of the many developments described in Crawford and Joler’s publication). The story and had no plans to do so. Pictured are excerpts from the first Seattle Times report and
received a moment of widespread attention, reverberated across Twitter and appeared in a journalist’s attempt at explaining the intended use of the cage.
a conservative echo

Fox News even went as far as making a kind of animated rendering showing how the cage conditions and the worthlessness of waged work in a contemporary world faced with
was intended to be used. A meme also emerged, with the “Wage Cage” circulating in increasing automation (and the implied devaluation of human labor) and defined by
popular conservative channels on Reddit and 4chan. Familiar meme characters played out extractive capitalism.
their usual narratives and power structures – with the cage representing poor working
a
o el constructed

The patent drawing was interpreted as faithfully as possible,

and a full-sized model of the cage was built using metal.
Reflecting its origins in a document, the object is rendered with
a uniform matt white surface. It remains trapped within the confines
of a patent drawing: nothing depicted functions, its cartoon-like
proportions are kept — it is a diagram.
Labeling numbers are also included in the sculptural rendering, complete with labeling
lines mapped from the drawing. These numbers without explanation maintain a dependency
on an external explanatory system.
r w
r t h
r nc ifty-f f enty-t
e n o
t nt w ed i o iefs e rts of
r a the . A “ s r l process
’ o owin a s of te ’ t t i u en all-
t f
159–171

The Anarchist
Banker

Jan Peter Hammer

Jan Peter Hammer: MFA from Hunter College, CUNY (2003); lives and
works in Berlin and Oslo. Since 2016: artistic research fellow at
KhiO, Oslo Academy of the Arts. His works have been shown at:
Bergen Assembly (2019); 69th Berlinale (2018); Kunstverein in
Hamburg (2018); MACBA, Barcelona (2015); 14th Istanbul Biennale
(2015); Migros Museum, Zurich (2015); LABOR, Mexico City (2014);
4th Athens Biennale (2013); Steirischer Herbst (2013), Yerba Buena
Art Center, San Francisco (2012); Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples
(2012); 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam (2011).
160 Jan Peter Hammer The Anarchist Banker 161

“Granted, I don’t live like David Hall: Good evening and welcome to the ‘Interview Hour.’ I’m David Hall.
Our guest tonight, Mr. Arthur Ashenking, has been dragged into
these protesters, they’re the spotlight when it emerged that the investment bank he has been

not true anarchists. I am. heading, the BG Bank, has applied for a government bailout after
decades of unprecedented financial prosperity, while he himself
The theory and practice of walked out of the bank with one of the largest bonuses ever awarded
to a single CEO. Visionary or villain is the question in most peoples
anarchism meet in me, yes, mind when it comes to assessing the role played by his management

in me — banker, financier, style in one of our country’s most powerful financial institutions.
Mr. Ashenking, usually an elusive personality, has refused to speak
tycoon, if you will. You to the press or even to a congressional hearing. Tonight, however,

point out that I am not like Mr. Ashenking has agreed to come on our show to give his first
in-depth interview to any news organization, so stay with us for
these anti-globalization a view of the man behind the scandal, his life, his views and his
personal history. Mr. Ashenking, let me start by thanking you for
types in order to create coming on our show tonight. It is a real honor to have you with us.

a distinction. Well that’s Arthur Ashenking: Call me Art, Dave. Can I call you Dave?
true. I am not like them.
They are anarchists in Dave Certainly, Art … Art, I want to start by talking a little bit about
the man behind the banker. I read some time ago that you used to
theory, whereas as I …” call yourself an anarchist. Now, this was during a period in your
life while you were working with the Pro-Act group. You were very
much involved in their anti-Vietnam War movement and also in their
pro-civil rights movement. You spent a good deal of time as a
community organizer and were once even indicted for anti-government
activities. Now, Art, I guess what puzzles me most is how you then
came to become an investment banker, and indeed whilst being an
investment banker you began implementing a policy of deregulation and
lobbying for less government oversight in the financial markets.

Art Because I’m still an anarchist.

Dave In what way are you an anarchist? Unless you’re not using the word in
its …

Art In the true sense of the word. Yes, I am.

Dave So you mean to tell me that you are an anarchist in exactly the same
way as, let’s say, anti-globalization groups are anarchists? Or the
people who throw rocks at the police are anarchists?
162 Jan Peter Hammer The Anarchist Banker 163

Art No, what I mean is that there is no room, no contradiction, between but now I wanted to understand my rebellion. Gradually, I became a
my theories and the way I live my life. Granted, I don’t live like conscious and convinced anarchist.
these protesters, they’re not true anarchists. I am. The theory and
practice of anarchism meet in me, yes, in me — banker, financier, Dave So, the theory and practices that you adhere to today are the same as
tycoon, if you will. You point out that I am not like these anti- what you believed in then?
globalization types in order to create a distinction. Well that’s
true. I am not like them. They are anarchists in theory, whereas as I Art Well, what is an anarchist but a person who is in revolt against
… injustice and social inequality? That’s basically what he is — the
psychological part. Just try and imagine any intelligent kid that
Dave Excuse me for interrupting you there. I think these anti-globaliza- isn’t rebellious. I mean, what does he see, growing up? One man born
tion groups are pretty clear in their agendas. the son of a millionaire, protected from cradle to grave, another man
born in a slum like I was, just another mouth to feed. Nature gives
Art Yes, but I had an epiphany. I understand freedom and how to achieve somebody more strength, more talent, more energy. I can accept that.
it, because I understand repression and how it operates! But, I will not accept somebody being superior to me by virtue of
qualities that he was lucky enough to be born into.
Dave Okay, and now you are displaying a bit of your Marxist leanings …
Dave You could have become a socialist or adhered to some other similar
Art Laugh if you want to, Dave … social philosophy. That would have fitted in with your feelings of
rebellion and resentments over these social inequalities, wouldn’t
Dave I’m sorry sir, I don’t want to joke. But how do you reconcile your you agree?
life, and what I mean by that is your life in banking, your life and
commerce, with this anarchist theory? If what you mean by “anarchist” Art Yes.
is the same that ordinary people mean by anarchists? If I understand
you correctly, well you’re saying that you’re different from them Dave So, why did you choose anarchism, such an extreme form, and not one
because you are more of an anarchist than they are, is that so? of the more moderate ones?

Art It is. Art Yes, I’ll tell you why. I have thought about this quite long, and
I chose anarchism because … The true evil that plagues mankind
Dave Okay? Then I don’t understand at all. is convention, insidious social fictions that cover all natural
realities. Money is a total fiction, as is the state. The institution
Art Do you want to understand? of the family is as absurd as religion.

Dave I do Art, I do. Dave Well, Art, you have your own family. Do you extend your criticism to
them, too?
Art Listen, I was born working class in this city, I inherited nothing
but a lousy social position, lousy living conditions. But I did get a Art Yes, I have a wife and kids, but they belong to the natural reality,
good mind and a strong will. When I was twenty, I began to feel this where the universal adapts itself to this or that material form.
anger, this rebellion against this … against my fate and against the And before you attack me for evading the question of why I chose to
circumstances that created that fate. Not that my fate was as bad as get married when I don’t believe in marriage — it’s simple. I don’t
it could have been, but I felt like I’d gotten a raw deal. That’s want the woman I love to have to suffer the embarrassment of being
when I began to read, and to study. I had always been rebellious, perceived as my mistress. That does not change the fact that these
164 Jan Peter Hammer The Anarchist Banker 165

conventions are evil and need to be abolished. All freethinking Dave Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, I don’t. But, Art, as far as the
people understand that the system is unjust, and that there would be neoliberal discourse goes, a free-market society is by principle
some advantage, some justice, in replacing it with a fairer system. a democratic society. And now, I discover that you are actually in
But where does that idea of justice come from? What is natural, what opposition to social democracy. So, Art, what is it that you actually
is true? Well, something that’s natural, it is completely natural, want?
it is not half-natural, or a quarter, or an eighth, or natural
because it seems natural — because we’re used to it. Social democracy, Art Freedom! Freedom for myself, for others, for humanity. To feel as
for instance, seems natural to us but in reality it’s just another free as we were when we were born. Right? Nature doesn’t make us
fiction. And that’s why I’m so critical of social democracy. It all equal, but we can still be equal. If it wasn’t for these social
reverses the role of the oppressor and the oppressed in the most conventions which prevent equality …
unnatural of ways, by protecting and privileging the weak at the
expense of the strong. Dave Seems to me to be a quite perverse usage of logic there, especially
considering your concerns about social inequalities, and because of
Dave You engage in anti-authoritarian and individualistic rhetoric while that I really don’t understand your hostility towards the welfare
speaking about social conventions and how they hinder personal devel- state at all.
opment, but most people are not crushed by concepts, are they? They
are crushed by circumstances. Art I’ve encountered this outrage before and I’m here to tell you that
you are simply giving voice to fear — a fear that is not your own, a
Art Yes, can I finish my point please, Dave? fear that is not worthy of a free person, a fear that oppresses and
limits your own intelligence …
Dave Excuse me, go ahead.
Art No, no, Dave, let me continue. You worry about social welfare, but
Art You ask how I reconcile my profession with my anarchist beliefs. And the very idea of social welfare includes, and justifies, social
you remember I mentioned an epiphany? I have found the embodiment of exclusion. In a society where free enterprise and the free market
my radical anarchism in the idea of the free market. And that’s what rule there’s no need for welfare, nor is there any need for these
people misunderstand when they call me rightwing or conservative or demeaning safety nets or charities or …
whatever. I’m no conservative. I’m a freedom fighter. And freedom
cannot be won by holding on to these social conventions, which keep Dave I’m sorry, Art, but I really have to disagree. You speak as if
dragging it down. everybody would be starting from a position of equality while you
yourself experienced intense feelings of rebellion when confronted
Dave Are you advocating social Darwinism now? with these very same social inequalities …

Art No, I am advocating egotism. Self-interest, and the benefits that Art Yes, I did, I feel outraged over social inequalities, which is why
follow from an individual’s pursuit of his own wants and needs, is I want to do get rid of the entire apparatus which perpetuates them.
the only legitimate reason for acting. Can I give you an example? Let’s say that my factory is polluting the
river that runs through your city, which makes for a big problem, a
Dave Max Stirner, right? Max Stirner … Stirner however did not consider polarizing problem. On the one hand we have the threat of job losses
himself to be an anarchist. and on the other we have the ecological issues. I would restate it
as a problem of “social cost,” which means the question now becomes:
Art Dave, you surprise me. I didn’t know you had anarchist leanings. Is the value of the fish lost greater or less than the value of
the product that the pollution of the river makes possible? If the
166 Jan Peter Hammer The Anarchist Banker 167

answer to that question is that there is greater value lost if my natural if it brings with it some selfish reward. To give up a
factory has to close, then we will continue to pollute your river, pleasure simply to give it up is not natural. To give up one pleasure
and we will compensate you or pay to have your river moved elsewhere. for another is natural. If there are two things and you cannot have
Notice, too, that if you and I settle this matter between ourselves both, then you must choose.
privately there’s no need for government or the courts to muddy the
waters, where our fishes will still be dying, with their hypocritical Dave Uh, that hardly constitutes a confession, does it?
moral posturing, which is always the way the ruling political class
manages to impede labor and enterprise. Art Well, you asked about the man behind the banker. I’m simply telling
my own doubts and difficulties, and how I overcame them.
Dave Well, you know, there are innumerable studies to prove that the
market is not as free as you say it is, and that in fact government Dave What about the thousands of jobs lost? This was the question.
regulation is necessary in order to protect citizens and small busi-
nesses, who would otherwise be steamrollered … Art Oh, jobs. I remember when I was a community organizer, working with
volunteers, I discovered something very strange about democracy,
Art Granted, we’re not there yet, but the point is that free market something terrible that grows among people who are volunteering out
enterprise and the social revolution it embodies, the only social of their own goodwill — tyranny.
revolution that doesn’t just replace one social fiction with another,
will free us from all these social conventions. Dave Tyranny?

Dave Well, Art, I really don’t think it’s a given that a free market Art Tyranny, yes. I discovered that there are some people who really
creates a free society. You just have look at Chile, for example, loved ordering other people around. Happens all the time. Some drift
where a free-market economy was put in place by a bloody coup. into being the boss, others drift into being the subordinates. You
could see it in the most ordinary ways: Two guys walking down the
Art Well, sometimes the present has to be sacrificed for the future, street get to the corner where one has to go right, the other has to
Dave. Yes, it’s too bad about all the people who had to die, but if go left. One says to the other: “Hey why don’t you come this way?”
you ask Chileans how they’d like living in Cuba I am sure they would The other says, “No, sorry I have to go that way,” but he ends up
say not very much. going with the other guy anyway. Sometimes it’s persuasion, sometimes
it’s sheer persistence, but it’s never logical. There’s always
Dave I’m not sure about that, but you still haven’t made clear how your something instinctive about this subordination, this bullying. That’s
beliefs led you to work in the various financial institutions which just one little example, but you can see what I mean?
you’ve headed, and also how they might have influenced the leveraged
investments you instituted at BG Bank. Moreover, sir, how you walked Dave Well, I think so, but I also don’t see what’s so wrong with that?
out of the bank with a multimillion-dollar bonus while thousands of I think it’s perfectly natural. Within group gatherings, behavior
others lost their jobs. What do you have to say? patterns always develop.

Art When it comes to my personal life I think, okay, working for the Art Exactly so, and remember, this happened in a group with no impor-
future is fine. Working for others so they can be free is only tance, no influence. This was a tiny group of well-intentioned volun-
right. But am I no one, what about me? If I were a Christian, I teers working together to try and build something. And what do they
would happily work for others because I’d get my reward in heaven. create — tyranny. You see the implications?
Since I’m a materialist, I have to think of myself. I only have one
life. This idea of duty, of human solidarity, can only be considered
168 Jan Peter Hammer The Anarchist Banker 169

Dave Well … Yes, I think I do. But I also don’t see how that relates at Art I wasn’t kidding, Dave. I thought about it. But suppose I took out a
all to … dozen capitalists. Would that alter the status quo? No. No, even if I
would be successful in slaughtering a dozen capitalists, what would
Art But then imagine a larger group, with more influence. People engaged that get me? I’d be in prison, I’d be on the run, or I’d be dead, and
in serious political struggle. You tell me if you can see anything the anarchists would have lost a fighter. Conventions are not people
resembling a free, human society emerging out of that tangle of that you can shoot. It wouldn’t be like a soldier shooting a dozen
intersecting tyrannies. It’s odd, isn’t it? And I tell you there are enemy soldiers. It would be like a soldier killing a dozen civilians.
other odd things, too. Like the tyranny of helpfulness, for example. No, I could not hope to destroy conventions by killing the represent-
atives. I would have to find a way to subjugate these conventions,
Dave What? What do you mean by the tyranny of helpfulness? to render them powerless. And that is exactly what I did! The most
important convention of all, at least in our day and age, is what?
Art Well, there were people among us who didn’t order other people Money. So, how could I subjugate money? The simplest way would be to
around. Instead they would help them. First, it doesn’t look like remove myself from its influence, from civilization; to go out into
tyranny of course, looks like just the opposite, but look at it the wild and eat roots and berries; and walk around naked like the
carefully. It’s just another form of tyranny. animals. I wouldn’t be combating anything; I would just be running
away. Yes, anyone who avoids a fight avoids being defeated, but he
Dave I’m sorry, Art, but how does being helpful do that? is also morally defeated because he didn’t fight. No, whatever I
chose to do it would have to involve fighting and not fleeing. There
Art Helping someone, my friend, it’s just another way of assuming that was only one way. I would have to acquire money, and I would have to
they’re incapable. And if they’re not incapable, you’re making them acquire enough of it not to feel its influence. The more I acquired,
incapable. You’re limiting the freedom of another person and basing the freer I would be. And it was only when I realized that, it was
your actions, at least unconsciously, on the idea that that person is only then that I entered the current and commercial phase of my
either incapable of freedom or unworthy of respect. anarchism.

Dave And so was this then your reason for the break with the Pro-Act Dave Gosh, Art, you blow my mind!
group? Because I don’t see them agreeing with you social ideas or …
Art And that’s not all, Dave. Do you remember that you began by drawing
Art No, no, I gave up on politics when I could see that politicians cared attention to the amount of my bonus and pension from BG Bank?
nothing for freedom unless somebody else arranged for it, unless
somebody else bestowed it upon them like a king bestows a title. Dave And the thousands of jobs lost, sir.
Ideals have consequences, my friend, and they weren’t ready for that!
I was alone now. And the most I could do on my own would be to kill a Art Well, there it is.
member — or several members — of the oppressing parties.
Dave There is what?
Dave Okay, Art, you’re not being serious anymore! Alright, let’s shift
gears here for a second. Let’s talk about your … let’s talk about Art I succeeded. I worked, I struggled, I earned money, I earned more
your views on the over-the-counter derivatives market. We’ve all seen money, and in the end I earned a lot of money. And I wasn’t fussy
how the practice of default swaps went far overboard. Wouldn’t that, about the means. I used whatever means I could — financial sophistry,
at least on your side, wouldn’t you then acknowledge the necessity unfair competition. I was fighting the most powerful convention there
for at least some regulation in order to protect investors? is, and I used whatever weapons I could. And I have realized the
limited dream of a practical, clear-minded anarchist. I have achieved
170 Jan Peter Hammer The Anarchist Banker 171

the kind of freedom that’s achievable, the kind of freedom that our would be inconsistent with my anarchist principles. Help them? No,
imperfect society allows. I couldn’t do that either, and for the same reasons. So, I’m guilty
of being not more than one person. Why criticize me for achieving
Dave The conditions of your course of action were not only to create whatever freedom I could? Why don’t you criticize the losers who
freedom but also to not create tyranny. Art, I think you did haven’t done so?
create tyranny. As a banker, as an unscrupulous financier, as
a tycoon — forgive me for using these terms, but you used them Dave Oh, Art, those men didn’t do what you did because they lacked a
yourself — you created a tyranny. Now, Art, I would go so far as to certain amount of intelligence, or they lacked the willpower, or any
say that you have created as much tyranny as these social conventions number of other circumstances, which prevented them from succeeding
that you claim to be fighting. in the way you did …

Art No, you’re wrong. Whatever tyranny came from my struggle against Art Ah, my friend, the degree of intelligence and willpower of an indi-
conventions is intrinsic to the conventions. I did not add to it. I vidual is down to him and to nature. No, I think there might be some
created only freedom, my friend. I freed myself. The one person I was people who are born to be slaves, and who are incapable of sorting
able to free, I freed. their own freedom. But what has that individual to do with a free
society, or with freedom? If a man were born to be a slave, then
Dave Okay, but Art, by the same token, one could be led to believe that no freedom, being inconsistent with the quality of his mind, would be,
representative of power exercises tyranny. When in fact you yourself for him, a tyranny. Wouldn’t you agree?
said that all representatives of power exercise tyranny …
Dave I’m just going to have to stop you there for a moment, Art. I’m
Art No, the tyranny is wielded by the conventions; these leaders are getting a word in my ear that we’re long overdue for a word from our
simply the tools those conventions use to tyrannize society in the sponsors. The conversation tonight took on an unusual twist, I have
same way a knife is the weapon of a murderer, who uses it to kill to admit that, but do stay with us for the second half of our show
someone. where I will be talking with our guest, Mr. Arthur Ashenking, and I
will ask him about his views on the future of investment and indeed
Dave Okay! And now, you’re just being sophistic, you’re not being intel- whether there is a chance of a stock market recovery.
lectually honest at all … Stay with us.

Art And you would hang the general who sacrifices his troops in order to
win. If you go to war, you both win and lose.

Dave But there’s another thing here Art … an anarchist wants freedom not
only for himself, but also for humanity, for the whole of humanity as
far as I understand it.

Art Of course each person must free himself, anything else is incon-
sistent with anarchist principles. And I have freed myself; I have
done my duty, and not only to myself, but to freedom.Why haven’t
others done the same? Did I stop them? No! I showed them every
possible path to follow. What more could I do? Force them to follow
the same path? No, I wouldn’t have done so even if I could. It
Every Day
trevali resources

The residents of the towns of Cenizo and Tres Estrellas

near Colquisiri, Huaral Peru,
express their worries about the degree of
poisoning of their ground.
They demand
a statement by the authorities on this poisoning
caused by the Maria Teresa mine
operating in the entire district,
80 kilometers from the capital.

The mine not only poisons the water and the ground,
but also the people,
who have headaches and often retch when swallowing,
as if they had something in their throat
that seeks to prevent this swallowing,
that also no longer allows
them to concentrate enough
to form entire sentences,
that determines the rate of miscarriages
and the increase in cancer.

All this can be recorded statistically,

just
like trains travel ten times around the planet,
or it can be recorded
as
the effect of a capacity
that heaves 2,000 tons of rock
on one day
inside the mountain.

The residents urgently request

that the authorities
write letters to the company
that in April was called Trevali Resources
and had an address in Toronto,
which then merged with Glencore International
and was then sold to Kria,
whose address is unknown,
and little time remains to find it out
if the hausse
Alice Creischer of lead
Establishment of Matters continues
of Fact / 3 on the markets.
Every Day – trevali resources

Source: http://intranet2.minem.
gob.pe/web/dgaam/certificado_
EIAS_new.asp?Anio=2003&M
es=00&radio1=F&submit=C
onsulta
Translated by Karl Hofmann /
Edited by Matthew Hyland, 2015
175–183

Money and Zero:

Quantification
and Visualization
of the Invisible
in Early Modern
Cultural Techniques

Sybille Krämer

Sybille Krämer: senior professor at Leuphana University Lüneburg;

previously professor of philosophy at Freie Universität Berlin;
visiting professorships at universities including Tokyo, Vienna,
Zurich, Yale; honorary doctorate from Linköping University, Sweden.
Research into theories of the mind, theories of cognition in
Descartes and Leibniz; philosophy of language, writing, and the
image; media philosophy and theory; reflecting on digitality.
Latest publication: Figuration, Anschauung, Erkenntnis. Grundlinien
einer Diagrammatologie (Suhrkamp, 2016).
176 Sybille Krämer Money and Zero 177

“As we can see, money always Quantification and visualization

The astonishing dynamism of European imperialism
1
David S. Landes, Revolution

mediates between things that

in Time: Clocks and the
in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth Making of the Modern World
(Cambridge MA: Harvard

are different, making them centuries is commonly associated with a histor-

ically unique convergence of science and
University Press, 1983).

comparable by objectifying technology. What created this liaison, however, John Noble Wilford, The
Mapmakers: The Story
installing it as the motor of social develop-
the value of goods and
of the Great Pioneers in
Cartography from Antiquity
ment for several centuries, was calculability — a to the Space Age (New York:

interpersonal credit/debt in focus on the ubiquity of numbers that makes what

can be measured and counted the incarnation of
Vintage, 1982), 79ff.

terms of numbers on a scale. all that can be known. But unlike the Pythagorean
“The new approach was
simply this: reduce what

The key thing here, however, view of numbers as the substance of the world, you are trying to think about
to the minimum required by
in the Early Modern period numbers became a its definition; visualize it on

is that money not only means of representation, a kind of universal

paper; [...] be it the fluctu-
ation of wool prices [...] or
the course of Mars through
language in which the activities of counting
expresses the homogenous and measuring made it possible to represent and
the heavens, and divide it,
either by fact or imagination

within heterogeneity, but

into equal quanta. Then
manage heterogeneous things and events in a you can measure it, that is,
homogeneous manner. In this context, to quan- count the quanta.” Alfred

actually brought it forth tify means to break down a more or less complex
W. Crosby, The Measure
of Reality (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press,

and highlighted it during matter into distinct elements — quanta — in such

a way that the matter in question can be repre-
1997), 228.

the evolution of exchange- sented in the language of numerical relations.

As Alfred W. Crosby has shown for the period
based economies. Money does between 1250 and 1600, the quantification of

not merely represent the space and time embodied by the mechanical clock1
and maps based on lines of latitude and longi-
quantifiability of the tude2 not only developed a force that permeated

qualitative — it is money every field of culture, but also became a passion

within society. At the same time, and this is
that makes the qualitative the inspiring part of his study, Crosby made
it clear that the resounding impact of calcula-
quantifiable in the first bility can only be understood in connection with

place.” a no less lastingly and passionately pursued

gesture of visualization:3 the skies, the earth,
and the oceans were surveyed and mapped; central
perspective geometrized artistic means of repre-
sentation and rationalized the act of seeing;
written scores made it possible to express the
proportions between notes in a way that allowed
entirely new music to be composed; on the
battlefield, mass warfare was recast as a clock-
178 Sybille Krämer Money and Zero 179

work-like mechanism — to list just a few symptoms 4 inary money,9 Brian Rotman approaches money 9
Harold Henry Joachim, Brian Rotman, Signifying
of quantification and visualization. Descartes’s Rules for the semiologically, focusing on its function as a Nothing: The Semiotics
It was the philosopher René Descartes who, Direction of the Mind sign or meta-sign. We, on the other hand, want of Zero (Stanford, CA:
(London: Allen & Unwin, Stanford University Press,
within the framework of his athesis universalis, 1957), 81–82. to understand money less as a sign and rather, 1987).

postulated that numbers and proportions should be 5 taking a mediological view, as a medium and 10
viewed as a universal language whose grammar is Sybille Krämer, “Kann das, mediator.10 For this perspective reveals what We understand signs
geistige Auge‘ sehen? and media here not as
capable of expressing all that can be known.4 But Visualisierung und die it is about monetary transactions that created different classes of object,
Konstitution episte- but as different perspec-
this rise of numbers to the status of a universal mischer Gegenstände,” such fertile conditions for quantification: tives from which symbolic
descriptive tool can in turn only be explained in Bettina Heintz, Jörg money embodies the quantitative as categori- practices can be viewed.
Huber, eds., Mit dem Auge The difference between
in connection with calculization — the inven- denken: Strategien der cally distinct from the qualitative. Having cast the two perspectives lies in
Sichtbarmachung in wissen- the respective relationship
tion of formulae by which structures of thought schaftlichen und virtuellen off any characteristic as a concrete good, it between visibility and
and cognitive semantics can be crystallized and Welten (Zürich: Voldemeer, embodies the absence of any specific quality. invisibility. In the sign
2001), 347–66. perspective, the signifiers
objectified in the form of visual markings. 5
Money cannot be enjoyed, it cannot be consumed; are the objects of sensory
6 perception, while the
Since the Early Modern period, a calculized Exceptions: Alfred it does not even get used up in circulation, as signified is the underlying
numerical system has been in use whose written Sohn-Rethel, Das Geld, worn-out money is replaced by the authorizing invisible element. In the
die bare Münze des Apriori media perspective—at
form brings abstract, invisible “knowledge (Berlin: Wagenbach, institution. least when media usage
1990); Jean-Joseph Goux, functions seamlessly—what
objects” — including numbers themselves — into the Freud, Marx: Économie et In the following, we will be ignoring the is displayed is the message,
register of visibility, thus rendering them oper- symbolique (Paris: Seuil, diverse successive forms taken by money in the whereas the medium
1973). itself remains below the
atively manipulable. […] course of its historical evolution, from precious threshold of perception.
7 See Sybille Krämer, “Die
There are, however, two goods (barley, pearls, precious metals) to Heteronomie der Medien:
On the cultural technique studies offering more recent a universal means of payment. The money we are Versuch einer Metaphysik
insights: Hartmut Winkler, der Medialität im Ausgang
of the use of money Diskursökonomie: Versuch referring to here is a money that (a) has set einer Reflexion des Boten,”
über die innere Ökonomie Journal Phåinomenologie,
The rise of quantification to such prominence der Medien (Frankfurt: itself apart from all specific commodities as no. 22 (2004), 18–38.
within the Early Modern mentality is inconceiv- Suhrkamp, 2004); Eske a non-good and (b) no longer owes its value to
Bockelmann, lm Takt 11
able without the role played by money, which des Geldes (Springe: zu a specific reference object that “covers” it. Johannes Lohmann, “Die
Klampen, 2004). Winkler Erfindung des Geldes,” in
had emerged by the end of the sixteenth century discusses correspondences It was the Greeks who first minted money in Philosophisches Jahrbuch
as the defining social medium: since this time, between the circulation of the form of coins, thus setting money apart der Görres-Gesellschaft, no.
signs and commodities; 76 (1968/69), 415–20.
the “invisible hand” of an anonymous market has Bockelmann addresses from the goods whose exchange it was to medi-
links between the evolution
penetrated and controlled almost every area of of money-based economies, ate.11 Here, then, money emancipated itself from
society. It is curious that so little atten- the formalization of time an existence as a special good like gold or
signatures in music, and the
tion has been devoted to the interplay of money scientific developments of silver that still shaped the exchange of wares
the Early Modern period.
and mind6 — perhaps this insight was too long in the cultures of Babylon, India, and China.
seen as the hallmark of a now obsolete Marxist 8 As coinage authorized by the state, the Ionian
This is not an easy question!
worldview?7 Riese assumes that money was left with a single function: to embody
“economics still has no idea
But why is money so ideally suited to the what money is.” Hajo Riese, in concrete form what makes different commodi-
formalization and quantification of practical “Geld: Das letzte Rätsel ties comparable. In ancient Greece, however, the
der Nationalökonomie,” in
work? To answer this, we must begin by asking Waltraud Schelke, Manfred influence of money was limited to the “oikos,”
Nitsch, eds., Rätsel Geld:
another, simpler question: What, in fact, is Annäherungen aus ökono- to the purchasing of supplies for individual
money?8 mischer, soziologischer und households, not yet having advanced to the status
historischer Sicht (Marburg
In his pioneering study of the links between 1995), 45–62, here 45. of a universal social medium.
the number zero, the vanishing point, and imag- That occurred in the Early Modern period when
180 Sybille Krämer Money and Zero 181

money — gradually — no longer served immediate 12 uals in a peaceful manner, allowing ownership 15
See Bockelmann, Im Takt On this approach to media
household needs alone, instead regulating the des Geldes, 213ff. to be transferred, is connected to its status theory based on the idea of
whole of society via market relations. Only in as a medium. Media communicate by making them- mediation and the mediator,
13 which ties in to a degree
the course of the sixteenth century did national For example the Latin selves neutral in relation to that which they with our everyday intuitions
word for money, pecunia, about media, see Krämer,
and transnational economies take shape. 12
And from is derived from pecus, mediate.15 This “self-neutralization” is the key “Die Heteronomie der
then on (almost) everything — goods, services, meaning sacrificial animal. to understanding the mediality of money.16 Money Medien.”
On the sacrificial roots of
and labor — had a price that could be expressed money, see Bernhard Laum, sets itself apart from commodities — goods defined 16
Heiliges Geld: Eine histo- The quantity theory of
in terms of monetary value. In this way, money rische Untersuchung über in terms of their content — as indifferent non- money that now dominates
became a kind of “universal language” in which den sakralen Ursprung des content.17 And unlike qualitative utility value, economics is also based on
Geldes (Tübingen: Mohr, an assumption of neutrality.
all manner of things could be represented. 1924). money thus embodies something that is defined in See David E. W. Laidler,
The Golden Age of Quantity
Money, then, reduces different kinds of things 14 exclusively quantitative terms, which is exchange Theory: The Development
to a common denominator. And it makes sense to Georg Simmel, The value. To paraphrase Simmel, we could say that of Neoclassical Monetary
Philosophy of Money Economics 1870–1914 (New
understand this denominator as the value of the (London, New York: the quality of money consists in its quantity.18 York, 1991). For a critical
Routledge, 2004), 81ff. response, see: Waltraud
thing in question. What money represents is not Two facets of this relinquishment of the qual- Schelkle, “Motive ökono-
simply the quality of a buyable good, however, itative must be distinguished here. On the one mischer Geldkritik,” in
Schelkle, Nitsch, eds.,
but the quality of a social relationship. To hand, in the words of Hartmut Winkler, money is Rätsel Geld, 11–44.

understand money as a medium for the circulation a “context detachment machine.”19 Just as money 17
of commodities is to understand it as an agent of does not show its origins, its future usage is Bockelmann often refers to
this: “On the money side,
mediation between persons. Let us briefly recap not predetermined; in systemic terms, money is value was conceived of
as a pure, self-sufficient,
on this. One person owns what another desires. indexless and traceless. It is indifferent to self-determined unit,
Whereas in robbery (based on violence) and the both persons and things, allowing it to be trans- related to every conceivable
content but also, and as a
giving of gifts (rooted in love) objects change formed into anything that can be bought. In the result, detached from it.”
Bockelmann, Im Takt des
owners in ways that leave behind forms of guilt words of Goethe: “This metal into all things we Geldes, 224.
or debt, the trick with buying and selling is can mould.”20 On the other hand, money is the
18
the establishment of an intersubjective reci- objectification of an abstraction: money “makes Simmel, Philosophy of
Money, 261.
procity of giving and taking between people. In comprehensible the most abstract concept.”21 This
this context, money’s etymological origins in is why the emergence of money as coins marks such 19
Winkler, Diskursökonomie,
religious sacrifice are interesting. 13
And indeed, a decisive cut-off point: exchange value and 45.

as Georg Simmel points out in The Philosophy of quantifiability are manifested in a substrate 20
Money, the price of a commodity defines the size minted specifically for this purpose, allowing Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe, Faust, line 5782
of the “sacrifice” to be made by whoever wishes it to be dealt with. Coins take something invis- (London: Bell, 1919), 206.

to acquire it.14 In the “logic” of the money-based ible — value — and give it an unmistakable and 21
trade in goods, however, the one-sided sacrifice meaningful form: with coins, the abstraction of Simmel, Philosophy of
Money, 128.
is rationalized (and secularized) in favor of a value is manifested empirically. Consequently,
reciprocity of giving and taking: we only get the money-based economy becomes a place where
something if we are prepared to give something matter and form, quality and quantity, utility
in return. This is the trick by which we can value and exchange value are separated not
persuade others to give up what we do not have just in conceptual terms, but in terms of their
ourselves, but which we would like to own. everyday reality. Value now possesses a body
The astonishing power of money to equalize all of its own. The material substance of the
asymmetrical states of desire between individ- “money body” may be variable (metal coins, paper
182 Sybille Krämer Money and Zero 183

notes, in ledgers, on screens), but — and this 22 to an institution. A good becomes money by being 24
Walter Seitter, Physik Ibid., 56.
is as trivial as it is significant — without der Medien: Materialien, enthroned as such by a central body. 24
In modern
some visible expression, and be it no more than Apparate, Präsentierungen societies, this authority that controls the crea- 25
(Weimar: VDG, 2002), 181f: Ibid., 56f.
a written sequence of numbers, there can be no “The form of money, then, tion and supply of money is the central bank.
is thoroughly thing-like, a
money. Every embodiment of money must, however, quality manifested in the Thanks to the power of this institutional author-
fulfil one structural condition: it must take form of pieces, giving the ization, the mediating function of money as a
added nuance of calcula-
the form of easily transportable, non-perish- bility.” In this book, Seitter means of payment rests solely on the belief and
goes into more detail on
able units or pieces; it must be divisible into the notion of the unit/piece expectations of those who use it, and no longer
discrete, countable elements. 22
Money is a “mate- (Stück in German). on any “covering” reference to actual goods. In
rial” that is designed to be countable. 23 a certain way, at least according to economist
Riese calls money the
Let us draw a first conclusion: where money “ultimate medium for Hajo Riese, the central bank creates money “out
acts as a mediator, there is always heteroge- fulfilling contracts” (Riese, of nothing,” as money is neither a good nor a
“Das letzte Rätsel der
neity. At first glance, this means the variety Nationalökonomie”, 47), In resource: “Which is why the genius of this medium
this context, he develops
of goods, rendered comparable (and thus trad- a theory of the “genesis of lies in the fact that the value of a banknote …
able) by the equivalence of money. Here, money money out of credit” (ibid., can be multiplied by ten by printing an extra
55) and the view that “the
is a medium that levels qualitative differences money function is based zero on it.”25
not on acts of exchange but
by means of prices that represent the dimen- on relations of debt” (ibid.,
sion in which the different qualities stand in 57f.).

calculable proportions to one another. At second

glance, the heterogeneity to be bridged appears
as one of social needs and relations, reflecting
the gap that exists between someone who wants
what another has. But this is a difference that
can crystallize out in the social relationship
between debtor and creditor. In this dimension,
money becomes a medium for the fulfillment of
contracts.23
As we can see, money always mediates between
things that are different, making them compa-
rable by objectifying the value of goods and
interpersonal credit/debt in terms of numbers
on a scale. The key thing here, however, is that
money not only expresses the homogenous within
heterogeneity, but actually brought it forth and
highlighted it during the evolution of exchange-
based economies. Money does not merely represent
the quantifiability of the qualitative — it is
money that makes the qualitative quantifiable in
the first place.
At this point, we must speak of the performa-
tivity of money. The validity of money is bound
185–195

Europium

Lisa Rave

Lisa Rave: born 1979 in Guildford (UK), lives and works in Berlin.
Studied experimental film at University of the Arts Berlin with
Heinz Emigholz and photography at Bard College New York. Currently
works at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg (D). Recent
screenings and exhibitions at Toronto Biennale; Hessisches
Landesmuseum Darmstadt; Berlinische Galerie; mumok Vienna (all
2019); Museum of Modern Art, Dubrovnik; Haus der Kulturen der Welt
(HKW) Berlin; Centre for Contemporary Art, Singapore (all 2018);
Lofoten International Art Festival LIAF (2017).
186 Lisa Rave Europium 187

“The Europium anomaly, found The word animism is taken from its Latin root
anima, meaning soul or life.
primarily in the mountains
of China, is now being Coined by ethnologists in the nineteenth century
at the peak of colonialism, animism describes a
discovered in large concen- worldview in which things — animate or inanimate
objects, dead or living matter — all possess a
trations in the earth’s sea spiritual essence and are treated accordingly.

bed, as well as on the moon. Europeans applied the term to the foreign
The deep sea organism uses religions they encountered amongst the native

Europium in the construction communities of the South Seas.

of its shell. […] The

natural material absorbs
energy into its atomic
structure and emits that
energy as visible light.”

— Lisa Rave, Europium

(filmstill), 2014
The indigenous people did not distinguish between
the spiritual and the material worlds. Animals,
plants, rocks, rivers, mountains, thunder, wind
and shadow existed as endowed spiritual things.

Man-made objects, fetish objects, would be prayed

to and wielded a supernatural power.
188 Lisa Rave Europium 189

The aboriginals’ ignorance of science and James Cook, the early explorer of the South Seas,
rational thinking was considered primitive by brought the word taboo into the English language.
the European explorers. A word which he understood to mean that which is
forbidden, consecrated, and beyond the tangible
The French rationalist August Comte considered world of man.
fetishism to be the most underdeveloped form
of belief. This perspective led to missionary To the Tolai, a community living along the coast,
movements of reeducation, integration, and Tabu was also the name for their form of
bestowing upon the travelers half a world away currency, in which shell accumulation was a
the intellectual right of possession. symbol of individual power.

The Sea was named Bismarck, and the land was Saltwater clamshells, harvested from the sea,
called Deutsch Neuguinea. collected along coastlines, were wrapped system-
atically and methodically along the strands of
rattan, its value determined by its length.

Produce and products were exchanged between the

communities, whereas the Tabu currency was used
solely as gift giving.

A process of exchange, in which the receiver of

the Tabu became indebted to the giver and was
therefore compelled by custom to offer a gift in
return of equal or greater value to reverse the
order of debt.

With the arrival of Europeans in the nineteenth

century and the island’s inevitable intro-
duction into the world economy the shell currency
Tabu was transformed and commodified, becoming
a measured object of exchange for goods and
services and shedding its sacred value.

With the growing demand for coconuts, pearls,

and exotic feathers the European products given
in exchange were starting to saturate the local
— A page from Bilder aus economy; the Tolai began asking for Tabu.
der deutschen Südsee:
Fotografien 1884–1921
(Paderborn: Ferdinand Through trade, Tabu became a form of money.
Schöningh, 2004), photo-
graphed by the artist.
190 Lisa Rave Europium 191

Because of initial difficulties faced by the through the body and uses the diluted minerals of
Europeans in obtaining Tabu, Germans began its surroundings to build and grow its shell, its
producing forgeries of the shell currency form.
in Europe. The counterfeits were inevitably
discovered as such, as in the words of one Tolai The material composition of shells is analyzed as
man; a document of their material world.

“Their shell money was too clean, their Tabu First the shell is crushed into a powder. The
was never threaded, sized, cut, given, bought, powder is further reduced through a chemical
broken, whipped, nor touched by the hands of our reaction.
ancestors, there was never any value in it to
begin with.” The experiment reveals an unusually high concen-
tration of Europium, an elemental particle
The empty shell, devoid of the life that once discovered in the twentieth century and catego-
possessed it, smooth, glossy, rough to the touch, rized as a rare earth.
it arouses the instinct to covet and adorn.
*

The nautilus — sacred to the people of Papua New The europium anomaly, found primarily in the
Guinea — was hung outside their doors to ward off mountains of China, is now being discovered in
foreign spirits. large concentrations on Earth’s seafloors, as
well as on the moon.
Cut open and sliced in half, it reveals a
continuous form of growth. The organism changes The deep-sea organism uses europium in the
its size through accumulation, but never changes construction of its shell.
its original shape, its essence.
Though its actual presence is buried deep within
With each new additional growth spurt the and hidden to the eye, traces can be found by
organism copies the preexisting chain and grows mechanical and chemical means.
exponentially from its original shape.
The value of europium lies in its natural phos-
Its organic form, a rhythmic spiral, came to phorescence, a distinctive feature that cannot be
symbolize the perfect harmony and beauty found in imitated artificially or in other forms.
nature, called the “divine proportion.”
The natural material absorbs energy into its
Mathematicians in ancient Greece translated the atomic structure and emits that energy as visible
nautilus’s natural form into a formula called the light.
Golden Ratio that has since defined the bound-
aries of perspective and aesthetics. Because of this distinction, europium revolu-
tionized the color television industry in the
The animal builds its shell from the very 1960s, enhancing color picture quality and
material of its environment. It is filtered brilliance.
192 Lisa Rave Europium 193

— Lisa Rave, Europium

(filmstills), 2014

A former World War II bunker on the outskirts of

Frankfurt has been converted into a high-security
storage facility for rare earths. With two-meter-
thick walls, video surveillance, security
personnel, and a direct connection to the police,
Tradium offers private investors a physical
alternative to paper, gold, and virtual money.
Europium is purchased, stored, transformed, and
commodified.
— Lisa Rave, Europium
(filmstills), 2014
Europium is embedded wherever an image is It is wrapped systematically and methodically.
projected on a display.
In order to prevent forgery, the euro banknotes
Sir William Crookes, a nineteenth-century British were designed with europium embedded in their
chemist, once wrote: “The rare earth elements surfaces, authenticating the money as real
perplex us in our researches, baffle us in our currency.
speculations, and haunt us in our very dreams.”
194 Lisa Rave Europium 195

There is gold, nickel, copper, rare earths –

an enormous amount of materials that can be used
commercially. And what we know is that we have
enough material there for at least five years
of production, mining 6,000 tons daily.
The field there is enormous.

Australians will be working on the ship, but also

local people from Papua New Guinea. We will be
integrating local content and helping the local
communities to support the people in that region.

These are the machines that will operate on

the seafloor. It’s quite a challenge and a very
interesting operation down there. Basically, it’s
surgery at a depth of 1,600 meters.”
— Lisa Rave, Europium
(filmstill), 2014
In various concentrations throughout the money,
the europium defines the shapes of Europe’s
architecture… in bridges, in land, and in symbol.

Interview with Heiko Felderhoff, Reederei Harren

& Partner, Bremen, in cooperation with Nautilus — Lisa Rave, Europium
(filmstill), 2014
Minerals Inc.

“This is an animation of the machines, of how

they are being lowered from the production vessel
into the water and all the way down to the
seafloor. And to emphasize this again; we are
talking about a depth of 1,600 meters, which is
a real technical challenge.

As we can see here, the seafloor is not just

flat, there are mountains as well. Therefore we
use this specific machine to remove the mountain
and to create a flat surface.

Here we can see how the minerals are mined and

crushed at the same time for transportation to
the ship above.
197–211

The Question
of the Economy
Felwine Sarr

Felwine Sarr: born 1972 in Senegal, studied economics and has been
teaching at Université Gaston Berger, Saint-Louis (Senegal), since
2007. In 2011, he became dean of the university’s Economics and
Management faculty and head of the new faculty of Civilizations,
Religions, Arts and Communication (CRAC). In November 2018,
together with Bénédicte Savoy, he presented a report commissioned
by France’s president Emmanuel Macron on the restitution of African
art looted by France, sparking debate worldwide.
198 Felwine Sarr The Question of the Economy 199

“Shocks as significant as The way the question of the economy has been
viewed in Africa is symptomatic of discourse on
1
Economists such as Paul

four centuries of the trans-

Collier, William Easterly,
the continent in general. It has been analyzed and Ross Levine, in their
work on the African

atlantic slave trade and a chiefly in the mode of comparison and, particu-
larly, disparity. Efforts to understand the
continent, focused on
explaining the reasons for
what they call the failures of

century of colonialization factors determining economic growth in African African growth, or the lost
decades of growth in Africa.
countries have focused on the reasons for an
had major demographic,
Taking as reference points
the worst performances of
absence of such growth and, above all, on the the 1980s, they concluded

economic, political, and gap between them and countries considered to

be developed.1 The second characteristic is
that there was an opaque
mystery to be elucidated.
Nearly two decades of

cultural consequences, short-term analysis or, more precisely, what I

growth on the African
continent would have been

throwing sand in the works call wave trough thinking. A certain school of needed, notes Morten
Jerven, for them to begin
economic historiography only thinks about the to readjust their discourse

and inflicting huge costs on continent going back to the 1960s, the period
on the growth of these
countries. The strength
of their metaphors (“the
when many African countries gained independ-
the societies of sub-Saharan ence; sometimes it goes back to colonization; and
lost decades of growth,”
“the bottom billion,” “the

African. Some of these

poverty trap”) had a greater
its most distant temporal horizon is the slave impact on the percep-
trade, beyond which things get lost in the fog. tions of public opinion and

shocks had effects that It offers no economic history beyond the specific
sometimes even on those of
academics than the reality
of empirical data. When

still persist today. moments chosen as points of reference. A longer-

term economic history of the African continent
Tanzania doubles its per
capita income, increasing it

Economists call the degree

from 500 to 1,000 dollars,
reveals a complex trajectory and allows us to instead of investigating
the determining factors of
reposition such “stylized” facts within a longer
of persistence of the perspective.
this growth, it is compared
with Japan, which at the
time had a PCI of 20,000

effects of a shock Geography, Agriculture, and Demography

dollars (Acemoglu and
Robinson, 2012). For a more

hysteresis.”
exhaustive treatment of this
Geography is an important economic factor. It aspect, see Morten Jerven,
Africa, Why Economists
determines the type of agriculture practiced, Get It Wrong (London: Zed,
2015).
the natural and mineable resources available,
the ecological niche, the methods used to circu-
late people and goods, the types of technology
produced or adopted. However, economies shouldn’t
only be defined by geography. Many peoples have
known how to make the best of difficult geogra-
phies and, inversely, sometimes have made poor
use of favorable zones.
Africa is a continent with a surface area of
thirty million square kilometers, composed of
fifty-four states. The United States, China,
India, and part of Western Europe can all fit
inside the geographical area of Africa. Populated
200 Felwine Sarr The Question of the Economy 201

by nearly one billion people, with a growth rate 2 Demography and the Transatlantic Slave Trade 6
Its GNP represents 4.5% John Iliffe, Les Africains.
of 2.6%, in half a century Africa will be the of global GNP in terms The struggle to increase the number of men and Histoire d’un continent
most populous continent with 2.2 billion inhab- of purchasing power and women has thus always been a major characteristic (Paris: Flammarion, 2009),
equals around 2,200 billion 275.
itants — a quarter of the global population. The dollars. of African history.6 In the sixteenth century
7
continent contains a quarter of the world’s land, 3 Africans had a demographic advantage. The popula- William and Mary
60% of all unused arable land, and a third of the Corn and manioc are tion of Africa was estimated at 100 million, 20% Quarterly, The Volume
American plants more and the Structure of
world’s natural resources. It is brimming with calorie-dense than millet of the world population. By the end of the nine- Transatlantic Slave Trade: a
and sorghum. These Reassessment, 3:58 (2001),
mineable resources and energy, nine-tenths of American crops were intro- teenth century, the continent represented just 9% 44.
which have not yet been exploited. Urbanization duced by the Portuguese of the world population. For two centuries, the
in the fourteenth century. 8
is growing: today about 45% of the population African peasants adopted slave trade interrupted population growth in West Patrick Manning,
them and they progressively Slavery and African Life
lives in cities, compared to the beginning of the spread across the continent. Africa. The most conservative estimates indicate (Cambridge: University
twentieth century, when 95% of the population that 11,061,800 people were deported from the Press, 1983).
4
was rural. Since 2000, economic growth has been African soils are poor, African continent via the Atlantic.7 The highest
apart from the Nile Valley
greater than 5%.2 African nations are well repre- and a few other strips of estimates report 24 million people transported
sented among countries with the highest growth fertile volcanic land. In and 200 million deaths related to capture, trans-
the savanna bordering the
rates in the world from 2008 to 2013 (Sierra Sahel, where millet and portation, and the various wars and raids caused
sorghum are cultivated
Leone 9.4%, Rwanda 8.4%, Ethiopia 8.4%, Ghana the rainy season lasts four by the slave trade. The end of demographic growth
8.11%, Mozambique 7.25%). months. In equatorial zones, in Africa took place in the eighteenth century,
the rains are abundant, but
Africans had to face a complex geography: an the streaming water washes the period marking the apogee of the slave
out the soil and strips it of
old continent, the heart of which is composed mineral salts. Catherine trade’s drain on Africa’s population. However,
of vast, rocky plateaus stratified by erosion, Coquery-Vidrovitch, Petite a more precise evaluation of the cost of the
histoire de l’Afrique (Paris: la
where altitudes often surpass two thousand Découverte, 2011). demographic draining due to transatlantic human
meters, composed primarily of ancient bedrock 5 trafficking cannot be obtained by simply sub-
with volcanic fractures (The Rift Valley). Its Certain technological tracting the number of deportees from the African
innovations appeared rather
northern and southern extremities are character- late in African agriculture. population at the time. Africa’s demographic
Mastery of iron allowed for
ized by Mediterranean climates; from the Equator, the making of hoes. The growth in the eighteenth century must be compared
tropical forest gives way to savanna and desert. wheel, although adopted in to what it would have become in the absence of
the Nile Valley, was adopted
African peasants were able to adapt to diverse rather late in other regions the transatlantic slave trade. Based on a model
of the continent. The wheel
climate conditions and to adopt appropriate wasn’t necessary given of demographic processes, Patrick Manning has
cultivation techniques: a polyculture of subsist- the abundance of land and estimated that in 1850, in the absence of the
the low population density
ence crops on the high plateaus, the adoption of that allowed populations slave trade, the population of sub-Saharan Africa
to reach an equilibrium
suitable grains, tubers, and legumes depending between production and should have been 100 million people.8 Africa’s
on the environment; 3
lands left fallow and burnt consumption. population at that time was only 50 million
to the ground for regeneration, and the periodic people while the population of China doubled
migration of villages to conquer new lands. 4
The in the eighteenth century and Europe’s popula-
peasants were able to create flexible agricul- tion, after a brief stagnation in the seventeenth
tural systems and adopt technological innovations century, began to grow again. This growth was key
adapted to their environmental conditions. 5
during Europe’s industrial revolution. Between
[…] 1600 and 1900, Africa’s share of the world popu-
lation (Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the
New World) fell from 30% to 10%.
202 Felwine Sarr The Question of the Economy 203

Transatlantic deportation also exposed Africa 9 factor that helps to explain the weak economic 11
Jan Vansina, Les Anciens Institutions include rules
to new diseases: Europeans introduced tuber- Royaumes de la savane, les performance of African countries. Institutional of behavior, habits, conven-
culosis, bacterial pneumonia, smallpox, and États des savanes méridi- economics has largely documented the fact that tions, customs, but also
onales de l’Afrique centrale, ways of thinking, modeled
venereal syphilis. Sub-Saharan Africa was, for a des origines à l’occupation institutions have an impact on the economic and by culture, religious
coloniale, 2e édition beliefs and practices; they
long time, protected from the plague. But in the (Kinshasa: Presses universi- social progress of nations.11 Bad institutions determine and regulate
seventeenth century, plague epidemics hit the taires du Zaïre, 1976), 183. can trap nations in a state of under-production, human behavior.

Kingdom of Kongo (present-day Angola) along with 10 resulting in weak levels of wealth creation. 12
D. Acemoglu, S. Johnson Abdallah Zouache, “De la
the coasts of Senegal and Guinea around 1744. and J.A. Robinson, “The Colonial powers created political institutions question colonial chez les
These same illnesses returned with colonization Colonial Origins of in their colonies that mirrored European models: anciens et néo-institution-
Comparative Development: nalistes,” Revue d’économie
and after World War II, but Africans were better An Empirical Investigation”, Spain transplanted feudal institutions to Latin politique 124:1 (2014).
American Economics
prepared and therefore more resilient. Added Review 91:5 (2001), America that protected the nobility; Britain
to all of this are the vagaries of a capricious 1369–1401; D. Acemoglu, introduced decentralized political institutions
S. Johnson and J.A.
climate. The continent experienced long cycles of Robinson, “Why is Africa and property rights that promoted competition;
Poor?”, Economic History
drought with occasional respites, epidemics and of Developing Regions 25:1 France favored monopolistic institutions that
epizootic diseases (cattle plague). What would (2010), 21–50. were notably less protective of financial innova-
the African continent have become without the tions. Colonization, by altering the process of
transatlantic slave trade? We will never know. accumulating production factors, had a negative
impact on the development of colonized countries
Roots of the Present (economic and institutional distortions). As
The transatlantic slave trade (deportation) and Abdallah Zouache notes, the most harmful effects
colonialism were synonymous with the draining were generated by the Portuguese, Belgian, and
of wealth and resources as well as people, French models.12
disintegrating societies, distorting institu- The factors determining each nation’s economic
tions, raping cultures, causing alienation, and performance are diverse. In addition to factor
setting dominated societies on disadvantageous endowment, geography, human labor, and tech-
paths. According to Jan Vansina,9 the European nology, history also plays a role. Understanding
conquest of Belgian Congo between 1876 and 1920 this requires an evaluation of the channels
resulted in the destruction of nearly half of through which historical shocks are transmitted.
the total population of the region. Having long Thus, the economic performance of African nations
denied or minimized the impact of colonialism on is linked in part to the initial conditions
the economic trajectory of independent African bequeathed to them after independence by the
nations, the field of economics brought forth former European rulers: in the recent economic
an abundant literature in the 2000s (Acemoglu, history of the continent, these conditions
Robinson, et al.).10 This literature highlights primarily manifested as the destructuring of
the fact that colonialism negatively impacted economies (especially former modes of production)
the development and growth of formerly dominated and the creation of dependency, the establishment
nations. Colonial heritage — measured in terms of slave trade and extraction economies, with the
of the degree of economic penetration by the flimsy industrial fabric of economies that are
former European ruler, the dependence of formerly extraverted, lack diversification, export raw
dominated nations on and shared institutional materials, and are therefore vulnerable to price
identity with the former colonial power — is a volatility.
204 Felwine Sarr The Question of the Economy 205

A second reason for such weak performances is 13 dations of prosperous nations were lost. They 14
Under-adapted models See Léonce Ndikumana and
linked to poor economic governance by the leaders of industrialization, bad are not, however, accountable for the initial James K. Boyce, Africa’s
of the newly independent African nations, who for structural and economic conditions handed to them by history, nor for Odious Debts : How Foreign
politics, unsustainable Loans and Capital Flight
the most part made poor economic choices,13 and level of debt, absence of the unfavorable dynamics inscribed within their Bled a Continent (Zed
economic diversification, Books, 2012).
to power relations that were and are unfavorable inadequate choice of inherited societal trajectories. Simplifying
to the continent both in terms of international primary specialization, things to the extreme and denying the impact of
wasteful management of
economic competition (international trade rules) public finances. historical dynamics on the fate of peoples is a
and in terms of the choice of strategic options demonstration of ignorance or of intellectual bad
in economic policy (an absence of autonomy in the faith. Shocks as significant as four centuries of
choice of such policies: structural adjustment the transatlantic slave trade and a century of
programs, Washington Consensus and Washington colonialization had major demographic, economic,
Consensus Plus, WCO, etc.). All in all, an unfa- political, and cultural consequences, throwing
vorable convergence of internal and external sand in the works and inflicting huge costs
dynamics has led to economic performance that on the societies of sub-Saharan African. Some
falls far short of the continent’s economic of these shocks had effects that still persist
potential. today. Economists call the degree of persis-
tence of the effects of a shock hysteresis. One
Hysteresis and Resilience of the issues at hand involves estimating this
The question of the lasting effects of shocks to to appreciate the level of dependence on initial
the socioeconomic structure of African countries conditions. Following this historic cycle, were
is a crucial one. Often, a discourse that sees the conditions immediately after independence
itself as responsible and that smacks slightly favorable to political stability and economic
of self-flagellation absolutely attempts to deny recovery? The answer is no. Especially because
the consequences of the transatlantic slave trade these shocks were combined with the effects of
and colonialism on the current trajectories of persisting unfavorable conditions: formal inde-
African countries. It calls on them to assume pendences were conceded in exchange for the
responsibility and, above all, to come to terms perpetuation of a system of political, economic,
with the failures linked to poor post-independ- and cultural dependence, all to maintain control
ence governance, to stop evoking the past and over the resources of the African continent.
accusing others to justify their own failures. Predation of these resources continues today
Which is legitimate, incidentally, but only in via imbalanced contracts to exploit natural
part. resources, unequal exchange, flows of illegal
Post-independence era rulers were respon- capital leaving the continent equivalent in
sible for managing the resources, institutions, volume to incoming direct investment and foreign
and conditions that existed when they came to aid,14 economic recolonization by former colonial
office. It was incumbent upon them to transform powers (Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gabon … ) whose big
these conditions. Most of these rulers failed by companies (Bolloré, Total, Eiffage, Areva … )
making poor economic and political choices, some control the essential elements of the produc-
by pillaging the wealth of their countries for tive private sector and the commercial banks in
the benefit of their own clans. In this way, many sub-Saharan African countries. To all this is now
useful years for establishing the solid foun- added China’s economic penetration, which is to
206 Felwine Sarr The Question of the Economy 207

the detriment of the continent: a little infra- it had in the early sixteenth century. By 2050, 15
Sylvie Brunel, L’Afrique
structure in return for the pillaging of Africa’s Africa will represent a quarter of the world’s est-elle si bien partie?
natural resources and the colonizing of its population. A century ago, Africa counted 100 (Auxerre: Science humaines
Éditions, 2014).
lands. million people, with 95% living in rural areas.
Calling attention to these facts is neither Today it has a population of one billion, 45% of
adopting a form of fatalism, nor is it refusing them city dwellers. By 2050, there will be 2.5
to face responsibilities. Moreover, pointing to billion, with 60% in urban areas. The fifty-year
these stylized facts as part of the explana- demographic explosion that brought this tenfold
tion for the African continent’s present economic population increase did not start until 1950. By
difficulties is not synonymous with obscuring the 2050, the largest section of the world’s healthy
responsibility of bad post-independence govern- and active population will be African. In terms
ance and the poor choices of African leaders. But of human capital, transforming this demographic
the phenomenon must be given back its historical dividend into a productive resource poses chal-
density and its complexity by proceeding to a lenges that must be taken up.
precise, clinical examination, classifying the Achieving economic resilience is more deli-
causes and evaluating their relative importance, cate, requiring ruptures with the models of
as well as identifying those among them that production and accumulation inherited from the
persist today. Identifying the exact causes of an colonial period. But it is not impossible, others
illness is a prerequisite for remedy and healing. elsewhere have succeeded at it. Most of the
Once this work is done, the most urgent question African economies that are currently experiencing
is whether resilience and rebound are possible. growth export oil and minable resources.15 African
It is this that concerns us here: reflecting economic growth is driven mainly by extractive
on the conditions for regeneration. Throughout industries and services. Regardless of the slim
their history, African peoples have displayed foreign currency gains they generate, however,
great resilience and great endurance in the face an end must be put to enclave and extraction
of ordeals. The demographic vitality regained economies. They do not help bring about overall
in barely a century is proof of this mettle. No development, instead creating environmental and
dynamic system returns to its original state. The social problems, feeding corruption, and biasing
same can be said of societies. They can, however, intertemporal choice and resource allocation.
regain balance and evolve toward a state that African leaders often face the tricky question
maximizes their chance for survival and growth. of whether to exploit their resources and natural
It is this dynamic equilibrium that must wealth in the context of an urgent need for
be rediscovered. Initial conditions do not foreign currency to balance the public finances
completely determine future conditions. The of their states. Most often, short-term choices
complex dynamic systems that we call societies take precedence in their strategies, as this has
have the property of equifinality, they can reach an immediate impact on the fiscal revenues and
the same result coming from different initial financial resources of states facing a range
conditions. For this task, demographic, economic, of equally urgent needs. These needs lead them
institutional, and mental resilience is required. to accept an absolutely imbalanced and unjust
As far as demography is concerned, the conti- distribution of the wealth extracted from their
nent is on its way to regaining the advantage own land; multinationals carve out the lion’s
208 Felwine Sarr The Question of the Economy 209

share for themselves, under the pretext of tech- 16 and the conclusions it draws are accurate, in
Of the ten countries with
nology transfer or the development of resources double-digit growth rates, part. Literature that recommends solutions to
that would otherwise remain untapped. Whereas in eight are African. accelerate growth dynamics in African countries,
reality, it is long-term investment choices that to make them stronger, more sustainable, and
modify the structure of the economy and allow it inclusive, is also accurate in part, and on a
to grow sustainably and in a balanced manner. number of questions (though not all) there is a
The crux here is to escape from the dictator- consensus on what should be done. If this return
ship of emergencies, to not cheaply sell off the of growth is to be translated into enhanced
resources of a continent rich in all kinds of quality of life, there must be vigorous public
reserves — especially in the case of oil and gas, policies, investments in basic socio-economic
which are nonrenewable energy sources that will infrastructures, as well as strategic choices
run out within a century. targeted at a structural transformation of
Giving citizens control over mining contracts African economies. Tackling the economic chal-
signed by their governments, and over the use lenges of the African continent and responding
of the resulting profits, is an important part adequately to the basic needs of its populations
of the solution to this problem. The ultimate by guaranteeing decent living conditions is an
key lies in improved transgenerational awareness absolute necessity. To do this, it is essential
among African politicians and a more long-term to make good use of the continent’s productive
focus in their actions. One could imagine insti- capacities, to transform its resources and human
tutional apparatuses that delegate the management capital into wealth, to equitably divide up this
of a nation’s natural resources to institutions wealth, and to qualitatively transform African
independent from the electoral cycle and from the societies by raising the quality of life of the
regimes in place. These issues are joined by that continent’s populations and making funds avail-
of food security, which makes Africa’s arable able to finance basic psychosocial functions,
lands a new object of desire. Foreign multina- meaning those that ensure psychological wellbeing
tionals, with the complicity of nation-states, and the proper health of Africa’s civilizational
are trying to appropriate these lands in antici- models.
pation of future global needs for agricultural Most economists agree on the necessity of
products. increasing investments in human capital (educa-
Here, too, questions of intertemporal choice, tion and health) and in infrastructure, on the
of political and economic sovereignty arise. need to diversify economies, to resolve issues
They must be confronted head-on, with the main relating to food security, to improve overall
responsibility falling to politicians. A better yield on production factors via technological
awareness within African civil societies of what innovation, to take better advantage of bene-
is at stake here could help them in this task. fits arising from factor endowments, and on the
need for high-quality institutions and economic
Reinforcing Improvements governance. Countries such as Rwanda, Kenya,
Recent progress in terms of economic growth in Cape Verde, Ghana, Ethiopia, Botswana, Uganda,
several African countries indicates that an and Mauritius, having opted for some of these
upturn is underway. 16
Literature that analyzes solutions, have seen excellent performance in
and takes stock of this situation is abundant, terms of economic growth during the past decade.
210 Felwine Sarr The Question of the Economy 211

However, it is necessary to reinforce these 17 where the economic order tends to become hegem- 19
J. Charmes, “The contri- Economics has become
improvements, to export the replicable aspects bution of informal sector onic, overflowing its natural space and seeking a discipline that has lost
of these models to other African countries, to GDP in Developing to impose its meanings and logic on every dimen- awareness of its place
Countries: Assessment, within the whole (anomy),
to broaden the options for new beginnings, to Estimates, Methods, sion of human existence.19 Culture has an impact that overflows its natural
Orientations for the future”, space and engulfs all
structurally transform economies, to intensify OECD EUROSTAT State on perceptions, attitudes, consumer habits, social relationships by
investments in human capital, and above all to Statistical Committee of investments and savings, individual and collec- imposing its meanings and
the Russian Federation, its logic of profit (privative
mobilize cultural dynamics and put them to work Non-Observed Economy tive choices; it remains a principal determinant appropriation of nature,
Workshop, October space, public goods,
for the continent’s economies; these dynamics are 16th-20th (2000), 14 of the economic act. In human groups, the imagi- transformation of social
largely under-exploited and could act as a lever. nary constitutes social relations, even the most relationships by the labor
18 force).
This analysis is confined material ones. The economic act is first and
to traditional sub-Saharan 20
Thinking about African Economies in their societies. foremost a social relation. The imaginary and Those promoted by groups
Cultural Substratum the symbolic determine its production. Cultural and individuals.

A key characteristic of the economic models factors thus influence economic performance.
employed for the past fifty years on the African The first idea being championed here is
continent is their external origin. Neither the that the efficiency of an economic system is
practices nor the modes of production from which strongly tied to its degree of appropriate-
they result are internal. Hence the dualism of ness to its cultural context. African economies
systems characterized by the coexistence of a would take off if they ran on their own motors.
“formal” economy and a popular economy based on The second idea is that we must go further than
a socio-culture and referred to as “informal,” simply thinking of the effectiveness of African
that, nonetheless, allows most of the popula- economics in terms of a better embedding within
tion to survive and makes a major contribution African cultures. It is above all a question of
to GDP (54.2% in sub-Saharan Africa).17 A primor- examining, in the African context, the intercon-
dial question that is not sufficiently addressed nection of these two orders, culture and economy,
in the various analyses of African economies is with an intention that can be called civili-
how these economies connect with their respec- zational — allowing the realization of those
tive socio-cultures. From a theoretical point of objectives judged to be the best by both the
view, we cannot continue to ignore the essen- individual and the group.20 To accomplish this,
tial role played by economic practices that allow it is necessary to consider the social project in
Africans to secure their livelihoods just because its entirety by analyzing the multiple interac-
these practices belong to an economy deemed to tions between its environmental dimensions; those
be informal, given that this informal economy that aim to assure the conditions for exist-
has emerged from a relationship to the economic ence (economy, ecology) with that address the
shaped by their own culture. meaning of existence itself (culture, philoso-
In traditional African societies, 18
the phies, orders of purpose). It is thus a matter
economic was included in a much broader social of thinking which place the economic order should
system. While fulfilling its classical func- be assigned within the social dynamic. Moreover,
tions (subsistence, resource allocation, etc.), it is our hypothesis that an interconnection of
most importantly it was subordinate to social, the economic and cultural orders that avoided
cultural, and civilizational objectives. This confusing their respective objectives would make
is no longer the case in contemporary societies societal projects more coherent.
Imprint 213

Publication 159–171 Typus cosmographicus Jan Peter Hammer

Transcript of the video universalis (world map with Fred Lonidier
Authors Anarchist Banker, 2010, by America, Europe, Africa, Richard Mosse
Bureau d’Études Jan Peter Hammer. and Asia), 1537. Woodcut Marion von Osten
Alice Creischer from two blocks. Purchased Lisa Rave, Claus Richter
Colin Crouch 175–183 by Kunstmuseum Basel Cameron Rowland
Simon Denny Excerpt and translation in 1933, Inv. 1933.278 Andreas Siekmann.
Søren Grammel from Sybille Krämer, (colors inverted) As well as these invited
Jan Peter Hammer “Das Geld und die Null: artists, the exhibition
Sybille Krämer Die Quantifizierung Concept features works from the
Stephan Lessenich und die Visualisierung Søren Grammel Kunstmuseum Basel
Lisa Rave des Unsichtbaren in collection.
Felwine Sarr Kulturtechniken der Editor
Andreas Siekmann frühen Neuzeit,” in: Macht Eva Falge Curator
Hito Steyerl Wissen Wahrheit, ed. Søren Grammel
Klaus W. Hempfer and Design
Text credits Anita Traninger (Freiburg: Thomas Buxó ( ) and Assistant Curators
Rombach, 2005). Klaartje van Eijk (inDesign™) Eva Falge, Philipp Selzer
15–24 Stefanie Thierstein
Excerpt and translation 185–195 Copy-editing German
from Dr. Stephan Lessenich, Transcript of the video Ulrike Ritter Registrar
Grenzen der Demokratie. Europium, 2014, by Monique Meyer
Teilhabe als Verteilungs– Lisa Rave. Copy-editing English
problem (Ditzingen: Philipp Nicholas Grindell Conservators
Reclam jun. Verlag GmbH, 197–211 Meredith Dale Sonia Fontana
2019). Excerpt from Felwine Sarr Annette Fritsch
“The Question of the Proofreading Annegret Seger
27–59 Economy,” in: Afrotopia, Nicholas Grindell Caroline Wyss-Illgen
Excerpt from Colin Crouch, (University of Minnesota Lina Wyss
The Globalization Backlash Press, 2020). Translations
(Cambridge: Polity, 2019) Nicholas Grindell Exhibition construction
60–65, 116–119, & technology
67–90 132–137, 172–173 Printer Hans-Peter Arni
Duty-Free Art by Alice Creischer DZA Druckerei zu Felix Böttiger
Hito Steyerl was first Poems, 2012-2014 Altenburg GmbH, Germany Claude Bosch
published in e-flux journal The poems were created Philipp Gueniat
#63, March 2015. Credits: as part of the exhibition: Print-run Martin Imhof
Commissioned by Artists Establishment of Matters of 900 Fredi Zumkehr
Space New York as a Fact, at KOW Galerie Berlin
lecture. The text tremen- 2012. In the context of the The curator wishes to Video technology
dously benefitted from exhibition situation, they express sincere thanks to Tweaklab AG
editing by Adam Kleinman were encoded and installed all individuals and parties
and Richard Birkett. as posters. The poem on who have provided texts
p. 116–119 was developed or rights for texts. Kunstmuseum Basel
93–115 for the film In the Stomach
Text by Andreas Siekmann of the Predators, 2012/2013. © Kunstmuseum Director
first published in 2014 for Basel | Gegenwart Josef Helfenstein
the exhibition A Chronicle Image credits St. Alban-Rheinweg 60,
of Interventions at the 4010 Basel, Schweiz Deputy Director
Project Space, Tate Modern, Cover www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch Anita Haldemann
London; Teor/ética San Drawn by Pieter Bruegel
José; curator: Inti Guerro. the Elder (c. 1526/30–1569) ISBN: 978-3-7204-0244-6 Head of Art Care
Engraved by Frans Huys Werner Müller
121–131 (1522–1562)
Translation of a text Published by Hieronymus Exhibition Head of Finance &
accompanying the Cock (1518–1570) Operations
Petropolitics map, 2019, Armed Four-Master Sailing December 7, 2019 — Matthias Schwarz
by Bureau d’Études, artist Towards a Port, c. 1561/62 May 3, 2020
group, September 2019. Copperplate engraving Head of Marketing
It gives the broad perspec- on handmade paper Artists & Development
tives and shows some of the Kunstmuseum Basel, Ursula Biemann Mirjam Baitsch
formal input that shaped Inv. X.2314 Wang Bing
the map’s design. (rotated 180°) Bureau d’Études Head of Programs
Alice Creischer Daniel Kurjaković
139–157 Inside cover Simon Denny
Text and images by Hans Holbein the Younger Melanie Gilligan Head of Art Education
Simon Denny, 2019. (c. 1497/98–1543) Ulrike Grossarth Hannah Horst
Acknowledgements 215

Many thanks to
Simon Baier
Ursula Biemann
Wang Bing
Bureau d’Études
Thomas Buxó
Marietta Clages
Alice Creischer
Colin Crouch
Chantal Crousel
Simon Denny
Klaartje van Eijk
Eva Falge
Melanie Gilligan
Maxwell Graham
Dominique Grisard
Ulrike Grossarth
Jan Peter Hammer
Markus Klammer
Naomi Klein
Sybille Krämer
Chantal Küng
Stephan Lessenich
Fred Lonidier
Karl Marx
Max Mayer
Richard Mosse
Marion von Osten
Lisa Rave
Claus Richter
Cameron Rowland
Felwine Sarr
Matthias Schwarz
Philipp Selzer
Andreas Siekmann
Hito Steyerl
Stefanie Thierstein

e-flux (New York)

Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag
GmbH (Ditzingen)
Polity (Cambridge)
Rombach (Freiburg)
University of Minnesota
Press (Minneapolis)
Bureau d’Études

Circular Flow — On the Global Economy of Inequality

Alice Creischer
Colin Crouch
Simon Denny
Søren Grammel [Ed.]
Jan Peter Hammer
Sybille Krämer
Stephan Lessenich
Lisa Rave
Felwine Sarr
Andreas Siekmann
Hito Steyerl

On the Global Economy

Circular Flow

of Inequality

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