The Onto-Politics of Postcapitalist Assemblages: A New Political Species?

We live in a world of strange and powerful creatures. Not the kind you’d find roaming the Amazon or lurking in the ocean depths, but creatures of a more abstract, yet no less real kind: assemblages. These are the dynamic, interconnected networks of human and non-human elements that produce and shape our social, political, and economic realities. They’re the flows of capital that course through global markets, the algorithms that guide our online experiences, the legal frameworks that bind us together, the urban spaces we inhabit, and the very languages we use to make sense of it all.

Assemblage theory, emerging from the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, offers a powerful new lens for understanding the world. It helps us see that “things” – be they institutions, technologies, or even ideas – are not static, but rather dynamic processes of becoming, constantly shaped by the interactions of their constituent parts.

And within this universe of assemblages, a new species has begun to emerge, one that challenges the dominant order of things: Postcapitalist Assemblages.

Unveiling the Fifth Assemblage: Introducing Postcapitalist Assemblages

For decades, Deleuze and Guattari, and their intellectual descendants like Manuel DeLanda and Thomas Nail, have mapped the terrain of political assemblages. They’ve identified four distinct species, each with its own unique properties and tendencies:

1. Territorial Assemblages: Rooted in land, custom, and tradition, these are the assemblages of early civilizations, tribes, and indigenous communities. Their codes are those of kinship, ritual, and a deep connection to place.
2. State Assemblages: Emerging from the territorial, these are the assemblages of centralized power, bureaucracy, and the law. Their codes are those of sovereignty, hierarchy, and control.
3. Capitalist Assemblages: Built on the foundations of the market and the pursuit of profit, these are the assemblages of globalized trade, finance, and the commodification of everything. Their codes are those of exchange value, competition, and the endless pursuit of growth.
4. Nomadic Assemblages: Eschewing fixed territories and hierarchies, these are the assemblages of migrants, wanderers, and those who operate in the smooth spaces between the striations of power. Their codes are those of movement, adaptability, and the creation of new connections.

But within the fissures of the current system, a fifth species is taking root – Postcapitalist Assemblages. These are the assemblages of communities, organizations, and networks that are actively building a world beyond the limitations of the market and the state. They are driven by a different set of values and operate with a different set of codes.

Beyond Territory, State, and Capital: How Postcapitalist Assemblages Disrupt

Postcapitalist Assemblages are not simply a rejection of the other four assemblages. They are a reconfiguration, a remix, a re-coding of those elements to create something radically new. Like a virus that hacks the cellular machinery of its host, Postcapitalist Assemblages infiltrate and repurpose the existing structures of power, bending them towards a different end.

• Territorial Assemblages: Postcapitalist Assemblages recognize the importance of place and community, but they seek to detach these from the constraints of traditional hierarchies and the enclosure of the commons. They promote bioregionalism, indigenous sovereignty, and community land trusts as ways of reconnecting people to the land and creating a more equitable distribution of resources. Think of the Zapatistas’ self-governing communities in Chiapas, Mexico.
• State Assemblages: Postcapitalist Assemblages embrace the need for governance, but they challenge the centralized, bureaucratic, and often oppressive nature of the modern state. They promote decentralization, direct democracy, and participatory budgeting as ways of empowering citizens and creating a more responsive and accountable political system.
• Capitalist Assemblages: Postcapitalist Assemblages recognize the innovative potential of markets, but they reject the dominance of the profit motive and the commodification of everything. They promote sharing economies, cooperatives, and the commons as ways of creating a more equitable, sustainable, and socially just economy.
• Nomadic Assemblages: Postcapitalist Assemblages embrace the fluidity and interconnectedness of the digital age, but they seek to use these qualities to build solidarity and create a more equitable distribution of resources and opportunities. They promote transnational networks, open-source technologies, and migrant rights as ways of challenging the borders and hierarchies of the existing system.

The Algorithm of the Common: Exploring the Unique Properties of Postcapitalist Assemblages

Postcapitalist Assemblages are not simply a negation of the old order. They are the construction of a new order, one based on a different set of principles and driven by a different algorithm – the algorithm of the common.

1. Decentralization: Postcapitalist Assemblages reject the concentration of power and resources in the hands of the few. They promote distributed networks, horizontal organization, and participatory decision-making as ways of empowering individuals and communities. Think of the decision-making processes of the Occupy movement.
2. Democracy: Postcapitalist Assemblages believe that everyone should have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. They promote direct democracy, consensus-based governance, and citizen assemblies as ways of creating a more participatory and inclusive political system.
3. The Commons: Postcapitalist Assemblages recognize the importance of shared resources and the need for collective stewardship. They promote community land trusts, open-source technologies, and cooperative businesses as ways of creating a more equitable and sustainable distribution of wealth.

Postcapitalist Assemblages are still in their early stages of development. They are a work in progress, an experiment, a new species struggling to find its place in the world. But they offer a glimpse of a different future, a world beyond the limitations of the market and the state, a world where the common good is no longer a distant dream but a tangible reality, a world where the algorithm of cooperation might finally rewrite the code of our social and political lives.

Think of it this way: the history of political organization is a history of different kinds of assemblages. Just as evolution has produced a wide array of species, from the single-celled organism to the complex human being, so too has social evolution produced a variety of assemblages, from the hunter-gatherer band to the modern nation-state. And just as in nature, where new species emerge from the old, so too do new political assemblages arise from the existing order, challenging, adapting and transforming the old ways of doing things. The emergence of Postcapitalist Assemblages is not just a theoretical possibility, but a tangible reality. All over the world, communities, organizations, and networks are experimenting with new ways of living and working together, building a world based on a different set of principles. From the worker-owned cooperatives of Mondragon to the indigenous self-governing communities of Chiapas, from the open-source software movement to the Transition Town network, the seeds of a postcapitalist future are being planted.

The question now is, will these seeds grow strong enough to create a new dominant form of political organization? Will the algorithm of the common eventually rewrite the code of our social and political lives? It’s a question whose answer depends not just on the properties of the new assemblages themselves, but also on the nature of the environment they inhabit and the strength of the forces that seek to resist them. But one thing is clear: we are in the midst of a momentous historical shift, a shift whose outcome is far from certain. The future is unwritten. And the challenge for those who seek a better world is to find a way to make the impossible possible.

The next step in this exploration of Postcapitalist Assemblages will be to take a closer look at one of their most intriguing and promising incarnations: DisCOs (Distributed Cooperative Organizations). Stay tuned for the next post in this series.