[ecrea] Cyberparty: popular politics in digital times conference

Your warmly invited to the Cyberparty conference organised by the new 
Centre for Digital Culture at King's College London on Friday May 13th 
2016, Strand Campus.
http://www.centrefordigitalculture.net/?p=24

The Cyberparty conference - the 4th of our annual digital culture 
conferences (after Girls and Digital Culture, Digital Activism #Now, and 
Politics of Big Data) - will explore the digital transformation of the 
political party and the new party-form of emerging formations as the 
Pirate Party, Podemos and the 5 Star Movement.

To discuss these issues we have gathered a line-up prominent activists 
of emerging digital parties as well as social and political theorists 
examining the nexus between digital communication and politics.

If you plan on attending this event please register via Eventbrite 
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cyberparty-popular-politics-in-digital-times-tickets-23976209488

I hope to see many of you at this conference!

Best,

Paolo
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// Cyberparty: Popular Politics in Digital Times //

In recent years - and in particular since the explosion of the financial 
crisis of 2008 - we have witnessed the rise of an array of new political 
parties - sometimes described as 'digital parties', 'internet parties' 
or 'network parties' - that attempt to utilise digital communication 
technologies as means to construct new forms of political participation 
and organisation against a background of widespread political 
disaffection with mainstream politics.

> From the 5 Star Movement in Italy, to Podemos in Spain, and the Pirate Party in Iceland, Sweden and Germany, to the municipalist formations that recently won the mayoralties of Barcelona and Madrid, the signs of this surprising revival of the political party in digital times are growing. These new political organisations that are entering the political arena in a number of countries in Europe and beyond make use of the tools and practices that typify the present digital era, from Twitter channels and Facebook pages to Whatsapp groups and decision-making platforms. Furthermore, they embody the new demands that reflect the ways of life, fears and desires of an era of mass digital connectivity: demands for free information, privacy, connectivity and basic income.

What is the meaning and what the implications of these emerging digital 
parties? How do they reflect and respond to the current phase of 
economic and political crisis? What are the new issues and policies they 
bring to the fore? What are their forms of organisation, participation 
and leadership?

The Cyberparty conference hosted by the newly formed Centre for Digital 
Culture at King’s College London will explore these issues by bringing 
together experts and activists from the forefront of political 
innovation. It will ask what is specific to the emerging ‘digital 
party-form’ underpinning these formaions, how it compares with the 
mass parties of the industrial era and the electoral-professional 
parties of the neoliberal era and to what extent it can become a vehicle 
for social and political change. Furthermore, it will inquire in which 
ways more traditional political phenomena such as the Labour party under 
the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders' campaign in the US 
are trying to adopt some of the emerging organisational structures and 
practices coming from digital parties.

Different aspects of digital parties will be examined: their forms of 
communication and propaganda; their decision-making platforms; their 
policy platform and social base, with dedicated panels on these issues.

The conference will also host a special panel on digital activism in 
Eastern Europe.

// Confirmed speakers include

Birgitta Jonsdottir (Pirate Party), Davide Barillari (5 Star Movement), 
Bernardo Gutierrez (journalist and activist), Arnau Monterde 
(Universidad Oberta de Catalunya), Francesca Bria (Nesta), Jodi Dean 
(Hobart and William Smith Colleges), Andrew Chadwick (Royal Holloway), 
Sofia de Roa (Podemos), Miguel Ongil Lopez (Podemos), Richard Barbrook 
(Westminster), Emmy Eklundh (King’s), Emiliano Trere (Autonomous 
University of Queretaro), Marco Deseriis (Northeastern University), 
Cristian Vaccari (Royal Holloway), Aaron Bastani (Novara Media), Paolo 
Gerbaudo (King’s), Francisco Jurado (Podemos), Alex Williams (City 
University), and Alex Clarkson (King’s).

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