Complexity and Social Movements: Multitudes at the Edge of Chaos ...

Identities, protest dynamics and technology 63
The Prague plateau increased the network cohesion of activist groups
within the Czech Republic and actively tied them into European and Global
networks multiplying the potential for ‘weak ties’ (Welsh 2004). The presence
of Czech, and other Eastern European groups, within the European Social
Forum testifies to this aspect of capacity building. Protest repertoires from
S26 were integrated within subsequent protest events in Prague as the
government of the Czech Republic increasingly aligned itself with the ‘new
Europe’ identified by American interests.
Perhaps more fundamentally S26 consolidated and spread the questioning
of the ‘freedoms’ associated with the transition to market economies. In
this sense the social associations from below, prioritised by Havel, began
rendering the working of business political under the ‘new conditions’.
The Czech political executive’s increasing alignment with American initiatives
began to be viewed as rendering Czech citizens ‘passive victims of
international capital’ (www.ce-review.org/00/32/culik32.html).
Discovery of information about the WTO, WB and IMF represented a
prominent theme in interviews which emphasised apparently trivial personal
exchanges: the loan of a book; attendance at a talk or meeting via a friendship
network; involvement with elements of the global networks such as Vandana
Shiva’s community (Interview Czech Activist [6]); personal contact with people
present in Washington, Seattle or London. In this manner the complex process
of defining stakes, identifying key institutional pressure points and viable
means of political engagement relevant to the prevailing cultures begins constituting
a ‘cultural politics’ distinct from political culture (Lash and Urry 1994).
Within Prague the activists involved in S26 established the Infocafe
Anarres (www.ainfos.ca/) to provide, an educational and cultural resource
for the local community; a space for the Czech movement to use for its
political and cultural needs; and as a space for social and political projects.
The associated website carries information on libertarian and self-help
events translated into 12 languages illustrating a significant transformation
of local activist capacities when compared to the run up to S26. 14 These
developments more than outweigh the initial deficits arising from S26
which included the closure of the La Dronka squat. Prague Indymedia
ceased operating in July 2004 leaving Infocafe Anarres substantially
replicating the groups, functions. The global movements’ articulation of
environmental damage and capitalist economics introduced Czech ‘greens’
to a set of concerns which had not been linked prior to S26.
After ten years of a civil drowse the public somewhat clumsily learnt
that criticism and a public display of dissent, as long as it does not
break a letter of law, is a legitimate instrument of democracy.
(Interview Czech Activist [6])
By November 2000, a group of MEPs wrote formally to Vaclav Havel
protesting against the actions of the Ministry of Interior urging him to
personally secure the release of the remaining prisoners.