Dear All:
I left the RGS a while ago for a number of reasons. I simply don't see the
point of spending energy on such a bankrupt organisation. And now the RGS
is still an acamdemic (?) organisation sponored by a company that sponsors
state terrorism. At what point do such connections become unacceptable?
Obviously for some people it is not yet. Surely it is the case that efforts
to make the RGS the type of organisation w would like are doomed to failure.
It might become slightly more accaptable over time sure, but so what? The
same amount of energy could be spent, in my view, far more productively
building something new and more accepable to many of us. There is a lot to
be gained from building such as organisation. This doesn't mean that people
who are not in the RGS should not submit to the Transactions. Why should it
mean that? Neither does it mean that we do not attend conferences.
Postgraduates can still go to these meetings and get the supposed benefits
of them (though in my experience these benefits include a substantial degree
of marginalisation and exclusion). Surely it is a perfectly effective and
sensible tactic to not give money to such an organisation if at all possible
while doing our best to be heretical in things it spends money on such as
conferences and journals.
In addition most of the objections I have heard to leaving make little sense
to me in the face of clear moral and political questions. If we want to
provide opportunities for postgraduates speak and be heared I'm sure we can
improve on the RGS. I for one would be willing to halp facilitate such
opportunities. If we want a new journal we could surely find someone
willing to publish it or we could do it ourselves. But there are already
handfuls of good journals other than the Transactions and Area.
Basically I don't see what is worth saving from this organisation even if we
could. Ther eare much bigger problems in the world than the character of
the RGS and there are many more alternatives to it than simple revision. I
know utopias are out of fashion but I think we need to imagine something
different and have the bravery to make it happen. It is already happening.
Tim Cresswell
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