Pirate Cinema: One Cancellation Notice Less

[pirate cinema berlin]

Dear co-pirates,

the last two Sundays at Pirate Cinema were beautiful, probably even special - 
if you've been here, you know why. We felt really lucky that we started our new 
season in the right moment, and that so many - and then so few - of you came 
when we could still see each other in person, talk and drink and watch movies 
and listen to music. From here on, however, we are all going to be involved in 
an entirely new exercise: not just in stochastical ethics and the new forms of 
solidarity-at-a-distance, but also, much more fundamentally, in world-making.

Unlike the taxi driver with whom we joked last week about working from home, 
many of those lucky enough to inhabit the cultural sector are bustling with 
ideas how to adapt to the new situation, as they are converting their social 
and professional lives into video conferences and streaming platforms.(1) It 
seems like a surprisingly smooth and swift transition. But lets take these 
activities for what they are: occupational therapy. Which is not to belittle 
their therapeutic function: In a moment like this, when the contours of the new 
are still hard to make out, it's important to cherish a few old habits.

So what would "Pirate Cinema Online" be? Above all, a misnomer, because Pirate 
Cinema has always been online: not into online, but from online. And one of the 
premises of our operation has always been that online activities, including 
piracy, make little sense if they aren't feeding back into a physical space 
where random people can meet, for many other purposes than those suggested by 
the form of the "content" that is provided for them. We hope the coming weeks 
will prove us wrong - but we know that's really just a rhetorical figure.

In case you need movies to watch at home, check out https://0xdb.org - if you 
find something you like, please get in touch. Better even: use existing pirate 
infrastructure. That's the part of the internet that is most resilient in times 
of crisis. If you need guidance to find these places, don't hesitate to ask. 
But our guess is that it's not the lack of online entertainment or home cinema 
options that the era we have all just entered will one day be remembered for.

We are not going to waste any time here celebrating the indefinite irrelevance 
of copyrights. The idea that artists, authors, filmmakers or musicians should 
survive by charging rent for some ficticious "intellectual property" is going 
to look very old very soon. And the fact that the extension of this obscene 
concept of "I.P." into the biosphere, agriculture and pharmaceutical research 
means nothing else than, plain and simple: genocide - that's not news, really.

What's new - and in times of distress, it can be comforting to see how quickly 
things can change - is the suspension of rent, taxes, utility fees and interest 
payments, the socialization of health care, and the sudden realization that the 
era we have just left may actually be over, once and for all. There is no doubt 
that, from here on and for quite a while, actions are your only true belongings.

To paraphrase What The Virus Said (2): Don't give in to the biopolitical 
hysterias. Take care of yourself, of those you love and of what you love in 
those you don't know. Rethink along with them, decisively, what a just form of 
life would be, organize clusters of right living, and end all carelessness now. 

Stay smart, stay resolute, observe animals and plants, make use of humour!

from piratecinema with love



P.S.: And of course, there _is_ going to be Pirate Cinema Online on Sunday!

Watch out for a separate announcement.



(1) Please do a bad job of putting your courses online:
https://anygoodthing.com/2020/03/12/

(2) What The Virus Said:
https://lundi.am/What-the-virus-said

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