the s.i.

The Situationniste Internationale (Situationist International) was a leftist politcal and artistic group based in France. Best known for members Raoul Vaneigem (the author of The Revolution of Everyday Life, a direct predecessor to TAZ, as near as I can tell) and Guy Debord (author of Society of the Spectacle), the S.I. was responsible for some prescient and brilliant critiques of modern Western society.

Their name arises from a few terms defined in the first issue of Internationale Situationniste:

constructed situation
A moment of life, concretely and deliberately constructed by the collective organization of unitary environment and the free play of events.

situationist
Relating to the theory or practical activity of constructing situations. One who engages in the construction of situations. A member of the Situationist International.

situationism
A word totally devoid of meaning, improperly derived from the preceding term. There is no situationism, which would mean a theory of interpretation of existing facts. The notion of situationism was obviously conceived by anti-situationists.

(from the S.I. Archives)

A deliberately constructed moment of life, based on environment and events? While the phrase "free play" may be a happy coincidence, the idea seems--if only in its insistance on the temporary nature of the situation--to be a precursor to some of Bey's. So, too, does S.I.'s deliberate attempt to defang academic interpretation; Bey's tongs and Immediatism are colored by their refusal to play along with the all-seeing eye of the mediated society.