Hi
My reply to dan and David W carride some of these thoughts.
I do think there`s an issue of communivcaiotn that needs sorting before
any popular goodwill is alienated.
There is a sense of sadness whenever an elite claims ordinary people
should be shocked.
I`vew noticed that elsewhere in some of the reviews of the century
lately. Worrying.
I have rudely argued before, in what may have seemed an oblique irony,
for those of the elite [including plenty of academics] who play all the
cards in the tune of global capital. What practice do we have to show
off about?
my feeling is that numerous direct-involvement is much more likely to
get a popular appeal, through demonsrtably helping rather than
hard-claims on attack!
My humble work with allotmnet and other local community garden
organisations, in the UK and elsewhere, ok including a range of class
members, I claim has a chance to have more direct effect on changing
opinions in communicating values and attitudes than the `sexy` if
self-serving excitement of the street run, that i rudely said could be
regarded by `others` as the same Kind of weirdness as jumping about
with red jackets after foxes, gain about as much support, and be as
reected by the majoriy. Ouch. That`s it, though.
David
On Fri, 12 Nov 1999 14:02:13 +0000 David Wood <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> To Dan and others,
>
> Well, let's not got too hung up on DIY stores! I only mentioned them
> because David Crouch had previously as an example of places that weren't
> being reclaimed.
>
> But you are right to point out that DIY stores are places that contain many
> exampels of things that both attract and repel about consumer capitalism.
> Certainly the lifestyles and baubles offered by this society are attractive
> - capitalism would never work if they were not. However, they are also
> places of frustrated desire, alienation and in more ordinary terms, sell
> many products that are the result of displaced human misery and
> environmental overexploitation (ie: misery etc. not visible to the
> consumer) - timber from endangered habitats,paints containing toxic
> chemicals, etc. Where DIY stores have been occupied it is largely to make
> this misery and exploitation visible in terms of action around specific
> commodities.
>
> This is strongly related to the ethos behind the new wave of
> anti-globalisation protest, and is a precursor to it. In the City of London
> it might look like wealth out of nowhere, but it means real suffering that
> we generally don't see. Maybe the majority like DIY just as they like
> living in a wealthy society, but that doesn't make them right. A million
> Elvis fans can't be wrong? Well, as Chuck D said, "Elvis never meant shit
> to me". It is also about information and empowerment. They, the
> transnational ruling class (or whatever you choose to call them) might know
> where we live, but we are starting who they are and where they live and to
> tell the world.
>
> Certainly, protestors against economic globalisation are still very much a
> minority in this country, and probably in the North in general. Protest
> will therefore annoy the settled comfortable majority who don't want to
> hear about the bad things. Protest will annoy people who want a quiet life.
>
> Bring the Noise!
>
> David.
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
>
> 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
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
>
>
----------------------
David Crouch
Anglia Polytechnic University
[log in to unmask]
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