The Spaces Between Grassroots Documentary ... - Ezra Winton

such initiatives become crucial for what Fraser calls “actually existing democracy in
capitalist societies.” (Fraser, 1992, p.17)
Alexander Kluge has much to say on this topic as well, and while his terminology
may differ slightly, his “oppositional public sphere” is akin to the concept of a
counterpublic. Kluge emphasizes the importance of the public sphere to the construction
of community:
…the ‘public sphere’ is the most fundamental project that exists. In terms
of community, of what I have in common with other people, it is the basis
for processes of social change. This means, I can forget about the concept
of politics if I neglect the production of a public sphere. This is a claim to
legitimacy which we must carefully insist upon and oppose against the
many private needs – despite the fact that disappointment with the
bourgeois public sphere, its failures, betrayals and distortions has led
many leftist groups to reject a public sphere altogether. (Kluge, 1982,
p.213)
Kluge has called the public sphere the “factory of politics” (Ibid) that is negotiated by
“crawling under fences … erected by corporations, by censorship, [and] by authority”
(Ibid., p.214) in order to build community spaces. Because the base of society is so
complex, Kluge believes that not all aspects of dominant, hegemonic spheres are always
successful at muting diverse voices and counter-initiatives. He maintains, “All methods
of domination and those of profit (whose agents do not always want to dominate but
rather to make profit and thereby dominate markets, economies, salaries, etc.) contain a
calculation of marginal utility.” (Ibid) It is precisely in the margins where counterpublics
flourish, in the ‘spaces between’ shopping malls, four lane highways, factories and
megaplexes. There, one will often find diversity that thrives on participation and
complexity, spaces where films are shared, discussed, and debated. Kluge reminds us,
that there are “incredible struggles and compromises involved when one wants to see a
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