I am amazed/bemused by the the multitude of messages concerned with
gardening. I'm beginning to wonder whether CGF stands for Critical
Gardening Forum. Has the good weather (in Britain at least) had
something to do with this?
As a keen non-gardener (I have a couple of impressive 'weed-beds'), I
have, nevertheless, found many of the comments quite interesting.
There is obviously plenty of food for thought (baby-bio?) in this
issue.
Without wishing to denigrate any of the contributors, I must confess
to a degree of puzzlement as to why so many critical geographers
freely air their views on this topic but there has not been one
contribution (as far as I can recall) on 'big' issues such as
political unrest in Indonesia raising all sorts of questions
concerning UK and western links with a regime whose levels of
oppression appear to equal those of the west's favourite pariah
Saddam Hussein. Similar comment can be made in relation to
Burma/Myanmar. Despite this, the west's reaction has been one of
'constructive engagement' rather than vilification, sanctions and
military threats. Indonesia even annexed another country some years
ago (East Timor) in a similar manner to Iraq's temporary annexation
of Kuwait. The only difference was the lack of western intervention.
Similarly, no one on the Forum has commented on the 'peace process'
in the north of Ireland - or on the impact of one year of
'Blairism'. In fact, I think the only reference to the north of
Ireland appeared in Peter Shirlow's contibution to the
gardening debate.
As I say, I don't mean to cast aspersions on those
engaged in such discussions. I would accept that it is highly
problematic to begin to differentiate between so-called 'big' issues
(as I referred to them above) and other, by implication, 'lesser'
issues.
I offer the above in a spirit of critical observation.
Happy gardening
David
Dr. David Storey
Geography Department &
Centre for Rural Research
University College Worcester
Henwick Grove
Worcester WR2 6AJ
England
Tel: 01905 855189
Fax: 01905 855132
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