Rick Gladstone, “Behind a Veil of Anonymity, Online Vigilantes Battle the Islamic State,” New York Times, March 24, 2015 →.
See Jonas Staal, “To Make a World, Part III: Stateless Democracy,” e-flux journal no. 63 (March 2015) →.
“Turkey’s role has been different but no less significant than Saudi Arabia’s in aiding ISIS and other jihadi groups. Its most important action has been to keep open its 560-mile border with Syria. This gave ISIS, al-Nusra, and other opposition groups a safe rear base from which to bring in men and weapons … Most foreign jihadis have crossed Turkey on their way to Syria and Iraq … Turkey … sees the advantages of ISIS weakening Assad and the Syrian Kurds.” Patrick Cockburn, The Rise of the Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution (London: Verso Books, 2015), 36–7.
The coalition of #OpFrance consisted of Mauritania Attacker, Virusa worm, Dr SAMIM, Man Rezpector, AnonxoxTn, V0RT3X, Mr.Domoz, HusseiN98D, Mauriitania K!ll3r, CoderSec, Mrlele, Don Maverick RevCrew, Extazy007, Black Cracker, hAxOr tr0jAn, Mr.Ajword, X-Wanted, BillGate, M-c0d3r, n0name-hax0r, rummykhan, Donnazmi, Th3_r3b0rn, Psyco_hacker, TIto Sfaxieno, Stingerbyte, Ghostralia, and Red Hell Sofyan. The group published its list of online targets here →.
“Islamic hackers damage thousands of French domains in opFrance,” Cyberwarzone, January 18, 2015 →.
Manuel Beltrán, personal correspondence.
The propagandistic nature of this campaign was effectively described by French philosopher Alain Badiou: “The confusion reached its climax when we saw the state calling on people to come and demonstrate—in true authoritarian style. Here in the land of ‘freedom of expression,’ we have a demo at the state’s command! We might even wonder if Valls thought about imprisoning the people who didn’t show up for it. Here and there people were punished for not going along with the one minute’s silence.” “The Red Flag and the Tricolore by Alain Badiou,” Verso blog, February 3, 2015 →.
Angelique Chrisafis and Samuel Gibbs, “French media groups to hold emergency meeting after Isis cyber-attack,” The Guardian, April 9, 2015 →.
Inevitably, this brings to mind the reflections of historian Boris Groys on that other historical black square, by Supremacist Kazimir Malevich: “Malevich’s Black Square was the most radical gesture of this acceptance. It announced the death of any cultural nostalgia, of any sentimental attachment to the culture of the past. Black Square was like an open window through which the revolutionary spirits of radical destruction could enter the space of culture and reduce it to ashes … Malevich shows us what it means to be a revolutionary artist. It means joining the universal material flow that destroys all temporary political and aesthetic orders. Here, the goal is not change—understood as change from an existing, ‘bad’ order to a new, ‘good’ order. Rather, revolutionary art abandons all goals—and enters the non-teleological, potentially infinite process which the artist cannot and does not want to bring to an end.” Boris Groys, “Becoming Revolutionary: On Kazimir Malevich,” e-flux journal no. 47 (September 2013) →.
Kareem Shaheen, “Isis fighters destroy ancient artefacts at Mosul museum,” The Guardian, February 26, 2015 →.
Justin Huggler, “Statues destroyed by Islamic State in Mosul ‘were fakes with originals safely in Baghdad,’” Telegraph, March 15, 2015 →.
“ISIL Destroyed Original Artifacts, Not Copies—Iraqi Culture Minister,” Sputnik International, March 12, 2015 →.
“ISIS transferred original monuments abroad, destroyed fake ones in Mosul video,” ARA News, March 4, 2015; Martin Chulov, “A sledgehammer to civilisation: Islamic State’s war on culture,” The Guardian, April 7, 2015 →.
Rory McCarthy and Maev Kennedy, “Babylon wrecked by war,” The Guardian, January 15, 2005 →; Marjoleine de Vos, “Archief in scherven,” NRC Handelsblad, April 4–5, 2015
Cultural Property Training Resource, “The Impact of War on Iraq’s Cultural Heritage: Operation Iraqi Freedom” →.
“ISIS to Exhibit Floating Pavilion of Art Destruction at Venice Biennale,” Hyperallergic, April 1, 2015 →.
See Jonas Staal, Ideological Guide to the Venice Biennial (2013) →.
Rijin Sahakian, “On the Closing of Sada for Iraqi Art,” Warscapes, April 6, 2015 →.