Intensities of Labour: from Amphetamine to Cocaine

international | worker & community struggles and protests | other press Sunday April 23, 2006 11:12 by beeep

Great article from an old london pro-situ on drugs and the changing world of work and how your kids are being fed cocaine culture:

"For example, take the privileged sector of immaterial labour as defined by Lazzarato: 'audiovisual production, advertising, fashion, the production of software, photography, cultural activities, etc … activities which tend to define and fix cultural artistic norms, fashions, tastes, consumer standards and, more strategically, public opinion.' Descriptions of this work in the ‘immaterial labour’ canon, however, do not look at the intensities of labour involved. The widespread use of cocaine in this sector is not accidental. Its availability in the UK obviously has to do with a range of factors – the nature of some Latin American economies and their staggering inequalities, sophisticated criminal organisation, the increasing rise in the worldwide transportation of material goods and so on – but it is also because the demand is there. It has been the perfect drug for this relatively privileged sector; not creative in any real sense, but perfect for generating an indiscriminate intensity of enthusiasm for the projects provided in this sector, and for believing in the great importance of what one is doing at any given time."