Following Enfants d'Immigrés, we decided to create the “Over
My Dead Body” project, applying the concept of the virtual demonstration
to global issues. The context for this was a sense of rising desperation
in the face of a freewheeling world, in which human and environmental
welfare are constantly being desecrated in the name of short term political
and financial interests.
The project was inaugurated in November 2002. The following people
worked on it: Boris Alet, Lysiane Beaumel, Philippe Bertrand, Daniel Lopez,
Pierre Priot, Sylvie Rabie, Joseph Rabie.
The "Over My Dead Body" project is a world wide, virtual, online
demonstration, politicising the major themes of neo-liberal globalisation
and the economy, imperial predation, the environment, antiracism, etc.
The federating platform is the promotion of "the politics of generosity",
in the framework of the contradiction that exists between two world views:
that of "survival of the fittest", expressed through the stranglehold
of financial and nationalist self-interest; that of solidarity on the
basis of a unique, collective human destiny, sharing resources at the
disposition of all.
People are invited to participate, and are represented symbolically
in the demonstration by their name, place of residence, and if they so
wish, photo, and virtual placard. Take a moment to watch people pass by,
seeing where they come from and what they have to say.
Thus people from the four corners of the globe may “march” together,
and in this way the demonstration is a powerful and active metaphor for
fraternity and global mobilisation around a common cause, weaving a transversal
thread between activists working each within their local contexts.
The site also contains a section called "The State of Things",
which presents an evolving portrait of the world today. As the demonstrators
pass by in the top part of the screen, "The State of Things" in
the bottom part displays an ongoing slide show presenting news items,
views, initiatives, etc.
The "About" section contains the project Manifesto, information
on Who We Are, Downloads... |
In 2003-4 the "Over My Dead Body" project created and distributed
diverse resources in relation with ongoing events. The war against Iraq,
the ambiguity between stated objectives and hidden agendas, overthrowing
a country's dictator and transforming it into an economic vassal, were
issues explored by the project: "Over My Dead Body" produced
Agitprop posters against the war. The occupation of Palestine and the
need for a two state solution is a preoccupation, which led to the creation
of a two sided chronicle. Institutions such as the World Trade Organisation,
the World Economic Forum in Davos, the G8 annual meetings, which, with
no legitimate mandate from the world's population are imposing an economic
regime that furthers the profiteering of the powerful at the expense
of the poor, constitute important targets for the “Over my Dead
Body’s” project…
The project was chosen for exhibit in the Nonetart Festival in Rosaria,
Argentina in 2003, and for the Wigged Productions online exhibition Globalization
(http://www.wiggedproductions.com). Rhizome in New York featured it in
its Net Art News. The French magazine Télérmama.fr chose
it as site of the day, and Libération referenced it in an article
on antiwar sites. The posters have been exhibited at a group exhibiton
of work opposing the war in Iraq at Columbia University, New York, and
were also shown at the big group exhibition at the World Social Forum
in Mumbai, India in January 2004. Two posters were published in "Peace
Signs - the anti-war movement illustrated" by James Mann.
If you share our view on these issues, we invite you to join the demonstration.
The presence of each person counts: a trickle becomes a torrent that becomes
a river, rolling for change… |
