# We need a digital shock doctrine for the left A : blog post Status : draft One part of the left's strategy to take down Big Tech and replace it with our alternatives should be a digital shock doctrine - a tactical and proactive use of digital shocks to puncture the systemic resilience of Big Tech. ## Bad resilience Resilience is not necessarily a good thing[^fn:1]. In systems, resilience is the capacity to survive crises, disruptions, shocks, and attacks[^fn:2]. It determines whether disturbances result in some form of systemic transition or whether the old system persists. A resilient system absorbs shocks. Capitalism is a system, a very complex and very adaptive system[^fn:3], and, unfortunately for society and for the planet, one that is both endlessly prone to generating crises[^fn:4] yet remarkably resilient in surviving them[^fn:5]. Capitalism has caused havoc for centuries yet still persists. But its interminable existence is not because we've reached 'the end of history'[^fn:6]. We're just stuck in a bad system state, and systems can always be changed. ## Harnessing shocks How to puncture capitalism's resilience and steer towards a better system state? No small task, but one part of a strategy is to plan for moments of chaos and use them so that they become points of leverage to achieve emancipation rather than consolidation of existing power structures[^fn:7]. This is a shock doctrine, and as contended by Graham Jones: the left needs one[^fn:8]. A shock doctrine is a political strategy for navigating crises; a way of using (and creating) shocks as points of leverage and transition.[^fn:9]. Unfortunately, to date shocks have been used most effectively for completely the wrong ends - to consolidate neoliberal power. This neoliberal shock doctrine was first documented in detail by Naomi Klein. There are some stark examples in the 21st century: the second Iraq war was exploited by the neoliberal shock doctrine[^fn:10], as was the financial crisis of 2008[^fn:11]. Climate distasters are regularly exploited by the neoliberal shock doctrine[^fn:12]. What would a socialist shock doctrine entail? In Jones' formulation, a shock doctrine for the left contains elements of both smashing and taming (capitalism), building (alternatives) and healing (each other)[^fn:13]. These are a respin of Erik Olin Wright's four types of anti-capitalism[^fn:14]. In 'smashing', the left should take disruptive actions to create chaos as points of leverage[^fn:15]. The direction our world takes in moments of chaos is defined by the ideas and institutions that are already available[^fn:16], so the left needs a programme building and promoting alternative institutional forms[^fn:17]. In all of these actions we need to make constant space for healing. And, along the way there's likely the necessity for interaction with and attempts at reforms and regulation of existing power structures. The shock doctrine of the left ties these strategies all together in an attempt to make capitalism less resilient and socialism more able to replace it. ## Digital capitalism and its shocks Digital technologies and ICT are a core component of modern economic activity. Control over information flows is a vital factor in modern class conflict[^fn:18]. And they have been almost entirely captured by the right. A small cabal of capitalist firms ('Big Tech') have near total control over these commanding heights of society[^fn:19]. They accumulate obscene amounts of wealth, capital and power through digital technologies[^fn:20]. Control of information vectors, social media, big data, and artificial intelligence have accelerated the dominance of capitalism to a new level. Digital capitalism is accelerating existing shocks such as climate change. And with digital capitalism come specifically digital shocks. The end of Windows 10[^fn:21], the Trump administration's use of American tech dominance in trade wars, the boom of AI[^fn:22], the global memory shortage crisis[^fn:23]: all points of crisis that the left needs to respond to to our advantage, not ceding further control to the forces of capital. ## A digital shock doctrine for the left Digital ecosocialism - the application of digital technologies for ecosocialist ends[^fn:24] - is the counter to runaway digital capitalism[^fn:25]. We need a digital shock doctrine, a shock doctrine for the hacker class, as part of a transition strategy to digital ecosocialism. What might it entail? Following Jones' outline, a digital shock doctrine for the left would combine smashing (digital capitalism), building digital alternatives, caring for those affected, and taming the existing dominant structures on the path to transition. This is similar to the triad of digital transition strategies outlined by James Muldoon in Platform Socialism - we must resist, we must regulate and we must recode[^fn:26]. Many elements of these strategies are already in place and some shocks we seem prepared for. European governments are now taking digital sovereignty seriously and have ready-made alternatives like Linux to turn to thanks to libre software movements building alternatives for years. Of course, libre software is not automatically liberatory software[^fn:27], but embedded in a wider ecosocialist political ecology it can be. The premature ditching of millions of functional computers from the end of 10 and the strict requirements of Windows 11 is a potentially environmentally catastrophic act of waste. Again libre software provides an opportunity to nudge people away from the capitalist technology that is Windows, and into the use of libre technology such as Linux. Capitalist resilience is strong however, and a return to business as usual with record purchases of new machinesand migration to Windows 11 is happening. With the cost of consumer prices increasing as a result of memory being commandeered for AI. Tech companies are raking it in, while individuals are left facing more costs of living. Here, keeping the equipment you already have lasting for longer seems like the sensible choice. Preexisting solutions for this - such as Linux again, and networks of repair cafes helping people navigate this - highlight the need for preexisting infrastructure to weather a shock. Some shocks we seem entirely unprepared for. The boom of AI is currently restructuring society almost entirely to the benefit of the capitalists. The left seems on the back foot in this development - some are resisting AI, some are looking to reform AI, and some are looking to rebuild AI, none with much success and generally with internecine conflict along the way. Meanwhile the silicon empires consolidates more power and capital. If not the boom, perhaps we can be better prepared for the bust. Different shocks will need different strategies. We need a systemic picture of how to approach these shocks when they occur, and use them as moments to steer our digital ecosystems towards something better. We must intervene informed by a map of how things are and how our interventions can shape them productively[^fn:28]. It seems clear that part of any strategy for transition from capitalism to ecosocialism will require something akin to a digital shock doctrine for the left. I hope to explore this further in future posts. ## Offcuts I recently read [[What is and how do we achieve a resilient digital democracy?]] by [[Christian Fuchs]]. It's a great article, outlining the tools we might need to build leftist digital infrastructures that can withstand attempts to destroy it from the right. But beyond resilience, we also need a programme for transition - how do we get from the current stage of digital capitalism to something better? We could be instigating our own shocks too. # Footnotes 1 [[Resilience is not necessarily a good thing]]. 2 [[Resilience is the capacity of a system to survive crises, disruptions, shocks, and attacks]]. 3 [[Capitalism is a complex adaptive system]]. 4 [[Capitalism is prone to crisis]]. 5 [[capitalism is a very resilient system]]. 6 [[We haven't reached the end of history]]. 7 [[The left should use moments of chaos to achieve emancipation]]. 8 [[The left needs a shock doctrine]]. 9 [[A shock doctrine is a political strategy for navigating crises]]. 10 [[The second Iraq War was exploited by the neoliberal shock doctrine]]. 11 [[The financial crisis of 2008 was exploited by the neoliberal shock doctrine]]. 12 [[Climate disasters are exploited by the neoliberal shock doctrine]]. 13 [[The shock doctrine for the left contains elements of smashing, building, healing and taming]]. 14 [[Four types of anti-capitalism]]. 15 [[The left should take disruptive actions to create chaos as points of leverage for system change]]. 16 [[The direction our world takes in moments of chaos is defined by the ideas and institutions that are already available]]. 17 [[The left needs a programme of building and promoting alternative institutional forms]] 18 [[Control over information flows is a vital factor in modern class conflict]]. 19 [[Big Tech controls the digital commanding heights of the economy]]. 20 [[In digital capitalism, the accumulation of capital and power is mediated by digital technologies]] 21 [[Windows 10 end-of-life is a digital shock]]. 22 [[The boom of AI is a digital shock]] 23 [[The global memory shortage crisis is a digital shock]]. 24 [[Digital ecosocialism is the application of digital technologies for ecosocialist ends]]. 25 [[Digital ecosocialism is the counter to digital capitalism]] 26 [[The triad of digital transition strategies]] 27 [[Libre software is not automatically liberatory software]]. 28 [[We must intervene informed by a map of how things are and how our intervention can shape them productively]].