Laboria Cuboniks // The Xenofeminist Manifesto reference notes // Social Science //

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The Xenofeminist Manifesto
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A pocket color manifesto for a new futuristic feminism Injustice should not simply be accepted as “the way things are.” This is the starting point for The Xenofeminist Manifesto, a radical attempt to articulate a feminism fit for the twenty-first century. Unafraid of exploring the potentials of technology, both its tyrannical and emancipatory possibilities, the manifesto seeks to uproot forces of repression that have come to seem inevitable—from the family, to the body, to the idea of gender itself. If nature is unjust, change nature!


Summaries
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Reason, like information, wants to be free.

Zero
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AI

The Xenofeminist Manifesto is a feminist ideology that embraces the technological advancements and complexities of our world. It aims to create a future where gender justice and feminist liberation contribute to a universal politics that benefits all humans, regardless of race, ability, economic status, or geographic location.
Xenofeminism is not a call for immediate revolution, but rather a long-term commitment to history that requires imagination, adaptability, and persistence.
The manifesto views alienation as an opportunity to create new worlds. It acknowledges that everyone experiences some form of alienation and believes that it is through this condition that freedom can be achieved. Freedom is not innate or natural, but rather constructed through the labor of alienation.
The manifesto rejects the glorification of 'nature' and criticizes essentialist naturalism as resembling theology. It advocates for the exorcism of naturalism in order to move forward.
Xenofeminism seeks to strategically utilize existing technologies to reshape the world. While acknowledging the risks and potential for abuse inherent in these tools, it argues for technopolitical interfaces that are responsive to these risks rather than denying them. Technology is not inherently progressive and its use is influenced by culture in a way that makes predictable sequencing and absolute caution impossible.
The manifesto recognizes that the true emancipatory potential of technology has yet to be fully realized. It highlights the need for technologies aimed at addressing unequal access to reproductive and pharmacological tools, environmental crises, economic instability, and exploitative forms of labor.

Interrupt
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AI

The passage on page 27 highlights the need for feminism in the 21st century to address the cognitive and ethical demands brought about by global complexity. It criticizes certain strands of feminism, such as postmodern identity politics and contemporary ecofeminism, for failing to effectively tackle these challenges and bring about significant and lasting change.
On page 29, the manifesto emphasizes its synthetic nature, rejecting analysis alone. It advocates for a dynamic approach that combines both description and prescription to harness the transformative power of modern technologies in relation to gender, sexuality, and power disparities. This approach aims to generate recursive possibilities for change.

Trap
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The Xenofeminist Manifesto rejects the idea of illusion and melancholy as hindrances to political progress. Illusion, which is the belief that the weak can overcome the strong without strategic coordination, leads to unfulfilled promises. Melancholy, common among the left, teaches that emancipation is impossible and only allows for small acts of resistance. This attitude can lead to political inaction or division. The manifesto argues that certain memes like 'anonymity', 'ethics', 'social justice', and 'privilege-checking' need to be re-engineered as they can generate behaviors that are at odds with their intended goals. The manifesto also calls for a manipulation of desires and the use of semiotic operators within highly networked cultural systems in order to achieve collective self-mastery.

Parity
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AI

The Xenofeminist Manifesto promotes gender abolitionism, which does not mean eradicating gendered traits from the human population, but rather constructing a society where these traits no longer serve as a basis for power imbalance. It also highlights the importance of class abolitionism, as capitalism is where oppression is most transparent. Xenofeminism aims to be an adaptable structure that can be continually modified and improved, guided by militant ethical reasoning.

Carry
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AI

The passage on page 65 highlights how the early internet culture, which was text-based, played a significant role in challenging oppressive gender norms and creating spaces for marginalized groups. However, in the twenty-first century, the dominance of visual interfaces has brought back traditional forms of identity policing and gender norms.
On page 71, it is stated that there is a need to create an economy that frees reproductive labor and family life from the burdens of wage labor. Simultaneously, new models of familiality should be developed that are not constrained by the daily grind of work.
Page 73 explores the idea of using biotechnical interventions and hormones as a proactive political strategy. By hacking into gender systems and utilizing hormones, there is potential for political change beyond just individual body aesthetics.
The passage also raises the question of whether the concept of "gender hacking" can be extended into a long-term strategy similar to what hacker culture has done for software. The goal would be to create a platform for free and open-source medicine by leveraging technologies such as pharmaceutical 3D printing, telemedical abortion clinics, DIY-HRT forums, etc. This could lead to a practical form of communism without endangering lives.

Overflow
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AI

On page 79, the text discusses the importance of creating material infrastructures to make explicit the values articulated by a political hegemony or insurgent memeplex. It also raises questions about how individuals can become hosts of this new world and how to build a semiotic parasite that arouses desired desires and fosters an emancipatory and egalitarian community.
On page 84, the concept of Xenofeminism is introduced as the desire to construct an alien future marked by a triumphant X on a mobile map. This X does not represent a destination but rather serves as a key frame for the formation of a new logic. Xenofeminism advocates for a future that breaks free from the repetition of the present and promotes ampliative capacities and spaces of freedom with a richer geometry than traditional societal structures.

Notes
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Background reading
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