New Dependencies is an essay I wrote in 2022 about the struggle for autonomous spaces, online and offline, and the similarities between squatting and self-hosting.

Many of us lack space. This applies to the physical world, where living and working spaces in the city are becoming less affordable and more precarious with every day. But this also applies to digital spaces, where software conglomerates lock us into walled gardens and help governments spy on us, in order to sell us ads. But while, in the real world, we have a history of spatial activism that is battle-tested and well-established, in the virtual world we often still struggle to find useful tactics to fight back. We should learn from tactics like squatting and develop more sustainable digital practices!

The spatial metaphors we previously used to describe the internet are now defunct: cyberspace, the electronic frontier, the information superhighway. They speak of a time when the internet could still be surfed, before it evaporated into the cloud. But the struggle for freedom inherent to them has been coopted by the Peter Thiels of the world. The question of what an autonomous but also sustainable and inclusive space on the internet looks like, remains unanswered.

I contrast this with my experiences in the squatting collective Hotel Mokum and our attempts to negotiate autonomous spaces in the real world. Here it becomes apparent that the very idea of autonomy is a myth. These spaces are not autonomous at all, but embedded in layers of support networks, of interdependence and solidarity. The principles and tactics inherent to this activism can point towards solutions when trying to navigate this mess.