The Mosquito: Sonic War Machine

One can easily imagine Mike Davis, kode9, subtopia, ballardian, and many others singing from the same song sheet on this issue. Whilst their characteristic modes of engagement are admirable in their own terms, I believe the piece from Spiked! I've chosen distinguishes itself, (blessedly sans the punditry of Civitas Institute miscreants such as Patrick West, which sometimes plagues Spiked!), on account of how it highlights the cultural and social lines of communication that need be opened up for the sake of a critical response; i.e. in Habermasian terms, a reinvigoration of a "public sphere", amounting to a more expansive solution than the "Buzz Off" campaign that has arisen in opposition to the device (to reiterate: commendable as that stance may well be in and of itself up to a certain point). A necessary theoretical supplement might also be found on the e-journal "Surveillance and Society", at least to the extent their Foucauldian perspectives on the panopticon are tempered by the aforementioned Habermasian approach.

In other words, stated as briefly as possible, it is my view that the disciplinary solutions in question fill the power vacuum that exists because of not exactly the absence of a functioning public sphere per se, but rather the depletion symptomatic of increasing privatisation by risk managers ("re-feudalisation" was Habermas' apt descriptive term for such a state of affairs). Although the video quality is poor, the chosen clip still manages to fulfill the minimal journalistic requirement of establishing the respective standpoints of the social activists involved (both pro and con the Mosquito).

The Mosquito captures adult fears and uncertainties about the next generation. This faceless, hidden device, which doesn’t have to be manned by anyone and which does not involve communicating any words or ideas to young people (just a piercing noise), sums up the authorities’ sense of distance and dislocation from youth. In this sense, the Mosquito could make matters even worse: it is a constant deafening reminder to those within range that they are untrustworthy and have a propensity for Doing Wrong. It treats young people effectively like roaming beasts, shunted from one place to the next by little more than noise. The buzz follows them as they wander around… reminding them they are not yet ‘fit’ for adulthood, or to be out in public. Is it any wonder that some young people feel alienated, even angry, and sometimes respond by smashing something up or getting pissed? The failure of adult society to reason with young people, to talk to them, or even to provide them with some half-decent facilities to hang out in, can only exacerbate their feeling of being cut adrift.
Getting the Mosquito to ‘buzz off’ is a good start. But let us also challenge the cultural and political view of young people as both dangerous and endangered, and instead try communicating with them.

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/earticle/4501/