Auguries of Discord

Abstract

In November 2010 London played host to a series of large-scale student demonstrations against the proposed (and now implemented) increase in tuition fees. At the same time, the south coast of England was subject to a high-rate of murmuration: the wave-like accumulation of starlings in the vicinity of mass roosting sites. Brought into synchronicity by broadcast media, these two events point to the ambiguity and productivity of swarm behaviour.

The notion of the swarm posits the paradoxical state of a singular collective, a constellate identity that exists in a position of homogenous heterogeneity. A swarm is not just a large group of creatures but a mass of individuals who are understood as a collective or a colony; an entity that works within and is constituted by a feedback matrix. Generally applied to the activity of bees, ‘swarm’ has come to signify a trans-species form of intelligence and performance. Rather than denoting an insectoid equivalent to ‘flock’ or ‘herd’, the word has assumed significance as a noun and verb that describes “a group of individuals who respond to one another and to their environment in ways that give them the power, as a group, to cope with uncertainty, complexity and change”. This is frequently coupled with a dual application that sees the word being used equally to describe an intended subject of control as well as the means of control. The swarm is indicative of both plural excess and decentralized organization.

This paper investigates the synchronic and homologous connection between non-human and human swarming suggested by the events of November 2010. In offering ‘swarm’ as a concept to analyse protest activity, my intention is not to draw on the metaphorical resonance of the word. Instead, I argue for the need to understand ‘swarm’ and ‘protest’ as concepts that exist within a metonymic relationship, one that is based on a particular point of connection between the two.

Notes

¹ This quote is attributed to T. B. Macaulay. It is used by the OED Online as part of their definition of turbulent as ‘b. Of a state of mind or thought, social or political affairs, etc.’ ‘turbulent, adj.’ OED Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/207572?redirectedFrom=turbulent#eid. Accessed 13 May 2013.

² For a definition and discussion of kettling see Duncan Campbell, ‘Did the G20 summit reveal the future of policing?’ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/03/g20-protests-police-kettling 3 April 2009. Accessed 16 May 2013.

³ ‘[T]urbulent, adj.’ OED Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/207572?redirectedFrom#turbulent#eid. Accessed 13 May 2013.

⁴ ‘[S]warm, n.’ OED Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/195492?rskey=VOI4oY&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid Accessed 13 May 2013.

⁵ For an extensive discussion of capitalist realism see Fisher 2008.

⁶ This line is used in a video made by Anonymous in which they address the Church of Scientology. See Anonymous 2008.

⁷ ‘[S]warm, n.’ OED Online. Accessed 13 May 2013.

⁸ ‘[P]rotest, n.’ OED Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/153191?rskey=WNzaFS&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid Accessed13 May 2013.

⁹ ‘[M]urmuration, n.’ OED Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/123936?redirectedFrom=murmuration+#eid Accessed13 May 2013. Although impressionistic, the term's contemporary currency is nonetheless reflective of the state of play within ornithological research. In 1919 Edmund Selous hypothesized that the multiplex consistency of starling movement pointed to the existence of telepathic communication between birds. Recent experimentation speaks of murmuration as a phenomenon of anisotrophic co-ordination and adaptive mimicry. The theory is that each bird within the group is able the mimic the movement of the surrounding birds to an optimum number of five or six. It is suggested that the murmuration takes the form of a wave-like undulation because this mimicry is numerical rather than spatial. The starlings copy the movements of their surrounding birds over the reach of a series of unequal distances.

¹⁰ Joyce Canaan, ‘10 Reasons why I am a thug’, http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/12/470581.html, 16 December 2010. Accessed 2 May 2013.

¹¹ For information on Edward Woollard, see http://support4edwoollard.wordpress.com/. Accessed 2 May 2013.

¹² Tabitha Troughton, ‘Behind a student kettle’ http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/12/470581.html, 15 December 2010. Accessed 2 May 2013.