Rupture

Abstract

The history of capitalism is not limited to one original accumulation. When capital started reaching the limits of accumulation within the nation state, where there was suddenly hardly anything left to be expropriated any more, the process of original accumulation started again at the beginning. Capital was forced to reproduce itself again and again, and this process of constant repetition and reproduction moved the notion of territory, activating new sectors of production, distribution and exchange. De-territorialization is not a process of erasing territories, but first and foremost it is a process of re-territoralization: constant cannibalisation of old and constant re-invention of new ones. Biotechnology and genetic engineering are the hallmarks of such a framework, whereas the Internet provides re-territorialization its new address.