The Pirate Organization: Lessons From the Fringes of Capitalism (17 page)

The pirate organization marks the accursed part of capitalism that always eludes it. Driven into conquering unexplored horizons, irrepressibly marking and coding, defining and fencing in, capitalism is subjected to the opposing view of its inclusiveness—namely, to generate otherness, an organizational Other. The pirate organization promotes an alternative public cause, which will eventually be surpassed. While utopias seek to create well-organized, peaceful, and long-standing spaces, the pirate organization promises little. Or rather it proposes a utopia-free world, constantly changing, never isolated, never centric, forever contingent, confrontational, and temporary.

NOTES

Chapter One

1. Toshiya Ueno, “Piracy Now and Then,”
http://nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9810/msg00105.html
. Ueno here refers to Daniel Defoe, author of
Robinson Crusoe
(1719) and
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates
(1724); the latter book was written by Captain Charles Johnson, an alleged pen name of Defoe.

2. For information about the historical reconstruction of sea piracy as a contemporary myth, see Martin Parker, “Pirates, Merchants and Anarchists: Representations of International Business,”
Management and Organizational History
4 (2009): 167–185.

Chapter Two

1. Readers interested in piracy should consult the bibliography at the end of the book, which lists the main texts from which we have developed our essay. The references considered to be less essential for building an argument do not appear in the bibliography, which is therefore nonexhaustive.

Chapter Three

1. Peter Sloterdijk,
La Palais de Cristal: A l’Intérieur du Capitalisme Planétaire
(Paris: Maren Sell, 2006).

2. As Charles De Visscher emphasized, “The essential place of territory in the state organization and its highly symbolic meaning explain the proclivity … if not to identify the territory with the State, at least to contemplate its spatial definition as being inseparable from the sovereignty.” Charles De Visscher,
Theory and Reality in Public International Law
(Paris: Pedone, 1953), 250.

3. The two volumes of
Capitalism and Schizophrenia
by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari published in 1972 and 1980 (
L’Anti-Œdipe [Capitalisme et Schizophrénie])
, Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1972, and
Mille Plateaux [Capitalisme et Schizophrénie 2]
, Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1980) put forth an iconoclastic analysis of the modern state’s formation and capitalist expansion. Their work paved the way for a theory of land-based globalization by extending beyond the limited framework of economic analysis. As Sloterdijk rightly pointed out, few philosophers dare to address the delicate task of tackling capitalism, which, nevertheless, happens to be the most consequential social phenomenon of our times. The importance of these texts is based on an essential observation that serves as a departure point for their authors: capitalism is neither a theory nor a treatise on liberty and its political consequences. Capitalism has not always existed, and there is no indication that it will never end.

4. Liberalism, in the classical sense used throughout the text, does not overlap with the current meaning of
liberal
in the United States. For an American reader, it would rather be a synonym for
libertarianism
or
neoliberalism
. To avoid confusion, we speak of the
liberalists
to refer to advocates of classical liberalism, who value individual freedom above everything else (and, importantly, not only
economic
freedom, as do recent proponents of neoliberalism).

5. See, for example, Jean-Claude Michéa,
The Realm of Lesser Evil: An Essay on Liberal Civilization
(Paris: Climats, 2008), and his critical examination of the minimal principles required for liberalism.

Chapter Four

1. Throughout the book, we use the term
corsair
to refer to organized groups committing acts of piracy in the name of a sovereign entity. Often, corsairs operating on the sea in the modern age are referred to as
privateers
. For the sake of consistency, we have decided to use the same term,
corsair
, for all types of territories—seas, airwaves, cyberspace, and DNA.

2. This paragraph was inspired by a chapter by Anne Pérotin-Dumon, “The Pirate and the Emperor,” in J.D. Tracy (ed.),
The Political Economy of Merchant Empires: State Power and World Trade, 1350–1750
(Cambridge, UK; New York; Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 196–227.

3. As Pérotin-Dumon says, “Since Antiquity, there has been a consensus that the pirate should be considered as a
hostis humani generis
and his offense an attack on the law of nations. But this general opinion has not been concretized as a tool of law; a proper ‘law of nations’ never existed.” According to her, the definitional indeterminacy surrounding piracy still exists nowadays: “It appears that the conclusion of experts who discussed this at the time of the League of Nations (1919–1946) remains valid: There is no authoritative definition of international piracy.” Ibid., 203.

4. This painting can be seen at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The curious reader who lives too far away from Philly can take a look at it here:
http://philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/102076.html
.

5. In Pérotin-Dumon, “The Pirate and the Emperor,” in J.D. Tracy (ed.),
The Political Economy of Merchant Empires
(Cambridge, UK; New York; Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 204.

6. In Violet Barbour, “Privateers and Pirates of the West Indies,”
American Historical Review
, 16:3 (1911): 529–566.

7. David E. Sanger, “Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran,”
New York Times
, June 1, 2012. This animation video about the inner workings of the Stuxnet virus is a must-see:
http://vimeo.com/25118844
.

8. David F. Marley, “The Lure of Spanish Gold,” in David Cordingly (ed.),
Pirates
(North Dighton, UK: World Publications Group, 2005), 16–35.

9. David Cordingly, “Buccaneer Explorers,” in Cordingly,
Pirates
, 62.

Chapter Five

1. Quoted, among others, by Hannah Arendt in
The Origins of Totalitarianism
(New York: Schocken Books, 1951). Rhodesia remained for long an unrecognized state after Cecil Rhodes’s company acquired roughly 400,000 km
²
of land in the south of Africa in the late nineteenth century.

2. Jean Servier,
Histoire de l’Utopie
(Paris: Gallimard, Folio Essais, 1991).

3. A notable exception—and one that could start a war—concerns several large portions of unclaimed land located by the North Pole. Because global warming is making the corresponding underground resources increasingly accessible, several sovereign countries, including Canada, Russia, and Denmark, are now fighting over territorial control of these huge energy reserves.

4. Johan Schluter, Danish Anti-Piracy Group, quoted by Ryan Moffitt, “The Worst Part of Censorship Is [This Phrase Has Been Seized by Ice],” in
No Safe Harbor: Essay About Pirate Politics
, United States Pirate Party, CreateSpace.

5. This definition is that of Rodolphe Durand,
Organizational Evolution and Strategic Management
(London: Sage Publishers, 2006), 13. It refers to works in the field of “organization theory,” as put into perspective, for instance, by Richard W. Scott,
Organizations: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems
, 5th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003).

Chapter Six

1. Marcus Rediker,
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700–1750
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 306.

2.
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and West Indies
, vol. 1719–1720, no. 578 (London: National Archives, 1994), cited by David Cordingly (ed.),
Pirates
(North Dighton, UK: World Publications Group, 2005), 8.

3. An excerpt from Philip Gosse,
The History of Piracy
(Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1932); Marcus Rediker,
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
; and Peter Leeson,
The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009).

4. Jean-Pierre Moreau,
Une Histoire des Pirates
(Paris: Tallandier, 2006), 69. Translated by the authors.

5. Ibid., 50–51.

6. Henning Hillman and Christina Gathmann, “Overseas Trade and the Decline of Privateering” (working paper, Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 2009).

7. Marcus Rediker,
Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age
(Boston: Beacon Press, 2004), 47.

8. Dian Murray, “Chinese Pirates,” in Cordingly,
Pirates
, 212–235. See Gosse,
The History of Pirates
, 270–280, where the name of the pirate is Mrs. Ching.

9. Olivier Tesquet,
WikiLeaks: A True Account
(Paris: OWNIBOOKS Basics, 2011), 13. The quote is by Julian Assange, leader and founder of WikiLeaks.

Chapter Seven

1. See for instance the works of Peter T. Leeson on pirate organization and in particular his book entitled
The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009).

2. The previous description reflects the organization of the most radical pirates of the time. Not all pirate crews were this extreme in their egalitarian practices.

3. This code was promulgated in 1721 and the first publication of it took place in 1724, in Charles Johnson,
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates
, London, 1724.

4. Leeson,
The Invisible Hook
, 43.

Chapter Eight

1. This chapter draws heavily on the book by Adrian Johns titled
Death of a Pirate: British Radio and the Making of the Information Age
(New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011).

2. Ibid., 18.

Chapter Nine

1. Femme S. Gaastra,
The Dutch East India Company: Expansion and Decline
(Leiden, the Netherlands: Walburg Pers, 2003), and Vitorino Magelhães Godinho, “The Portuguese and the ‘Carreira da India,’ 1497–1810,” in J. R. Bruijn and F. S. Gaastra, (eds.),
Ships, Sailors and Spices
(Amsterdam: NEHA, 1993), 1–48.

2. Maurice Aymard (ed.),
Dutch Capitalism and World Capitalism
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982).

3. See, for instance, James D. Tracy,
The Political Economy of Merchant Empires: State Power and World Trade, 1350–1750
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 13.

4. Christopher Hill,
Liberty Against the Law: Some Seventeenth-Century Controversies
(London: Penguin Books, 1996), 115.

5. Adrian Johns,
Death of a Pirate: British Radio and the Making of the Information Age
(New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2009).

6. Tim Jordan,
Hacking: Digital Media and Technological Determinism
(Cambridge, MA: Polity Press, 2008), 3.

7. Virginia Mayo, “Court Rules that Google-NSA Spy Ties Can Remain Secret,”
USA Today
, May 12, 2012.

8. Andy Greenberg, “An Interview with Julian Assange,”
Forbes
, November 29, 2010,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2010/11/29/an-interview-with-wikileaks-julian-assange/
.

9. For more information on the history of copyright in the publishing industry, we recommend the thorough and excellent book by Adrian Johns,
Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), and Rick Falkvinge’s short and impactful “History of Copyright,” in United States Pirate Party (eds),
No Safe Harbor: Essays About Pirate Politics
, CreateSpace, 146.

10. Rick Falkvinge, “History of Copryright,” in
No Safe Harbor
. For an extensive history of copyright in the publishing industry, see the reference work by Adrian Johns,
Piracy
, cited just above.

Chapter Ten

1. The quote is from Adrian Johns,
Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 491.

2. The verb
to hack
originally meant discovering an original and elegant solution to a complex technical problem, and whose distribution within a community wins it admiration by peers.

3. “Peer Production Communities Survey 2011,”
http://extreme.ajatukseni.net/2011/07/10/peer-production-communities-survey-2011
, cited by owni.fr.

4. Apologies to our readers, but as is probably clear based on the particular context of the anti-indecency measures, deleting the F word in the text or replacing it with the politically correct “f——” would have been utterly self-defeating. The complete quote is available here:
http://olografix.org/loris/open/manifesto.htm
.

5. Bruce Sterling,
The Hacker Crackdown
(New York: Bantam Books, 1992), and Johan Söderberg,
Hacking Capitalism: The FOSS Software Movement
(New York: Routledge, 2008). See also the seminal work by Steven Levy,
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
(Garden City, NJ: Doubleday, 1984).