GSG
>Most people I know - who are not the comfortable
>middle-classes implicated by comments such as the above - would like
>nothing better than not have to worry about where the money for the next
>bill is paid, whether or not they can afford to MOT the car, etc. They, in
>fact, would dearly love to have the luxury of being able to contribute to a
>debate like this.....
Hmm. Well, I won't get into a debate about needs and wants right now. The
point of June 18th was to try to bring anger from the reality of life in
parts of the world who do not even have the luxury of having to worry about
cars, to the the North, where these people and environments, despite (or
because of) media attention, are largely invisible. You can certainly argue
about whether the aim was acheived or not by this particular method.
However, I think that relatively comfortable people (and in global terms,
yes, most Northern people are relatively comfortable - but this is another
huge area...) will always be annoyed at others throwing too much truth in
their faces, whether or not it is done by street protest or some less
confrontational method.
>To imply that aspirations towards something other than narrow identity
>politics, the impossible goal of insituting mode of production/way of
>life/whatever you want to call it that is non-exploitative (a contradiction
>in terms, but a goal that increasingly is desirable apparently just
>setting up in a tee-pee and freezing every winter (and now Im setting up
>the figure of straw to rail against) are somehow wrong beggars belief.
I don't know quite what you are going on about here. The world I want is
one where people in Africa (for example) do not suffer, starve, and die
because politicians (and people) in the North refuse to do anything about
the total unfairness of global trading and financial systems on the grounds
that it keeps them relatively happy and prosperous. I want a world where we
don't load our problems onto future generations, other parts of the world,
and on other species in order to bring limited short term benefits to a
few. The world's problems won't be solved by the continuance of current
economic trajectories. What do you suggest we do about it?
>And
what?
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David Wood
PhD Research Student ('Intelligence Sites in Rural North Yorkshire')
Centre for Rural Economy
Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Marketing
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
0191 222 5305
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