Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app


10:10 am - March 9th 2011

by Sunny Hundal    


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Two programmers: Ben Carey and Henrik Delehag, have created what they claims is the “first Marxist iPhone app”.

They tell us:

The “Marxist” reference should be taken with a pinch of salt these days of course, but it’s an attempt to do something other than just treat mobile devices as cash cows, and try something a bit more experimental and political.

So what is the app about?

‘Situationist’ connects you to random strangers to “help you snap out of the routine of contemporary capitalist life”. It is an application based on your geo-location. It alerts members to each other’s proximity and gets them to interact in random “situations”.

These situations vary from the friendly (“Compliment me on my haircut”) to the subversive (“Help me rouse everyone around us into revolutionary fervour and storm the nearest TV station”).

Members simply upload their photo and pick the situations they want to happen to them from a shortlist, in the knowledge that they might then occur anywhere, and at any time.

The application is named after the Marxist movement that sparked the May 68 Paris riots, the Situationist International, and is the brainchild of Benrik, artists and authors of the cult “This Diary Will Change Your Life” series.

Ben Carey of Benrik adds:

When the media deliberately demonise strangers as paedophiles, stalkers or terrorists, it is time to fight back and reconnect with our fellow citizens and human beings.

They say they are also “aware of the ironies of calling an iPhone app ‘marxist’, and have written more about it here.

The Situationist went live on Monday. It is a free app, and free of advertising.

Download it from here.

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. IanVisits

Range 10 meters… beep, no one found.

Range 50 meters… beep, no one found.

Range 100 meters… beep, no one found.

Range 500 meters… beep, no one found.

Range 5 miles… beep, no one found.

Range 10 miles… beep, no one found.

Range 50 miles… beep, we found a marxist in your area!

2. cjcjc

Oh the “ironies”

What is the difference in prinicple between this and (eg) Grindr (the latter is for men who want to meet for sex)?

Still, I like the idea!

3. Shatterface

A great app for idiological dogging, or for finding the GPS co-ordinates of whoever the state wants to round up next.

‘When the media deliberately demonise strangers as paedophiles, stalkers or terrorists, it is time to fight back and reconnect with our fellow citizens and human beings.’

Or you could go the pub.

4. Shatterface

And given the number of Marxists in this country, aren’t you all on first name terms anyway?

5. cjcjc

I have signed up, though one of the options is “whisper in my ear”….!

6. J

[deleted]

7. steveb

6
Agree with your last paragraph.

8. Tim Worstall

Quite, Grindr for political wonks.

Much less fun than the real thing I’d wager.

9. Roger

An iPhone app for pervs!

10. Akheloios

A last a low cost implementation of the Big Society.

‘Need help to move large wardrobe.’

50m away! I can help with that!

”Need help running large Public Service catering to people with special needs in a high stress environment’

75m away! I can do that after I shift this guy’s wardrobe!

11. Watchman

Of course, a true Marxist should not own something produced by Apple surely?

So can we expect the Android version soon…

12. Planeshift

“. It alerts members to each other’s proximity and gets them to interact in random “situations”. ”

Bollocks.

It will just tell them to sell each other a paper.

13. Alisdair Cameron

VeryMarxist, using the proprietary,walled-garden of turbo-capitalist control-freaks Apple.

14. cjcjc

“turbo capitalist control freaks”

You do know that buying their stuff is not compulsory?

I have downloaded the app but still not quite sure how it works…


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. Liberal Conspiracy

    Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  2. Leah Kiernan

    RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  3. Richard Hebditch

    RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  4. Robot J. McCarthy

    War On Truthiness RT @libcon Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  5. Ellie Mae O'Hagan

    Will go nicely with my new irony app RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  6. Angelus Diablo

    RT @MissEllieMae: Will go nicely with my new irony app RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  7. Deyan Marconny.

    RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  8. Sean Hanley

    RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  9. Jim Jepps

    RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  10. notbloss

    and now, the Marxist iPhone app. a bit like Grindr, but with more dialectic. http://bit.ly/h4qq0i

  11. Isin Elicin

    Yok art?k:)) Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app
    https://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/03/09/duo-launch-the-first-marxist-iphone-app/

  12. rabasure

    RT @sunny_hundal: Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app. It helps ppl hook up with each other http://t.co/XIC7Tdl

  13. Keir beales

    RT @sunny_hundal: Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app. It helps ppl hook up with each other http://t.co/XIC7Tdl

  14. Rach

    RT @sunny_hundal: Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app. It helps ppl hook up with each other http://t.co/XIC7Tdl

  15. Beatrix Kiddo

    RT @sunny_hundal: Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app. It helps ppl hook up with each other http://t.co/XIC7Tdl

  16. czol

    Are many iPhone users Marxists? RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  17. Serkan POLATER

    RT @IsinElicin: Yok art?k:)) Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app
    https://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/03/09/duo-launch-the-first-marxis …

  18. Ilker Halil TURER

    RT @IsinElicin: Yok art?k:)) Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app
    https://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/03/09/duo-launch-the-first-marxis …

  19. muzaffer tan

    RT @IsinElicin: Yok art?k:)) Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app
    https://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/03/09/duo-launch-the-first-marxis …

  20. sandy

    heheh, marxist iphone app. wonder if this is how my parents would've met if it was around back in the day: http://tinyurl.com/5w4al75

  21. Honey Ryder

    RT @sunny_hundal: Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app. It helps ppl hook up with each other http://t.co/XIC7Tdl

  22. onur k?l?ç

    RT @sunny_hundal: Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app. It helps ppl hook up with each other http://t.co/XIC7Tdl

  23. Robot J. McCarthy

    There you go again RT @smyy131 hahaa:D the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/h4qq0i v @IsinElicin

  24. David Trussler

    RT @sunny_hundal Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app … http://t.co/XIC7Tdl < Think an Android app would be more Marxist.

  25. Jude Gibbons

    RT @davidTrussler: RT @sunny_hundal Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app … http://t.co/XIC7Tdl < Think an Android ap …

  26. Rosa

    RT @sunny_hundal: Two programmers launch the first Marxist iPhone app. It helps ppl hook up with each other http://t.co/XIC7Tdl

  27. Kemal Karaçelik

    RT @IsinElicin: Yok art?k:)) Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app
    https://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/03/09/duo-launch-the-first-marxis …

  28. KKAkoz

    Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app | Liberal Conspiracy http://t.co/L0eAsXP via @libcon

  29. g@grandgood.com

    "‘Situationist’ connects you to random strangers to “help you snap out of the routine of contemporary capitalist life”" http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  30. >>Nostalgia For Infinity - Linkfest: March 6th – March 11th

    […] Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app | Liberal Conspiracy – ‘Situationist’ connects you to random strangers to “help you snap out of the routine of contemporary capitalist life”. It is an application based on your geo-location. It alerts members to each other’s proximity and gets them to interact in random “situations”. These situations vary from the friendly (“Compliment me on my haircut”) to the subversive (“Help me rouse everyone around us into revolutionary fervour and storm the nearest TV station”). Tags: mobileapps technology socialmedia situationism […]

  31. criticalpraxis

    RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9

  32. Simon Jones

    RT @criticalpraxis: RT @libcon: Duo launch the first Marxist iPhone app http://bit.ly/gVOMk9





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