Unique Publications - Independent Publishing in Glastonbury, UK
  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • News/Blog
  • River Brue Rehabilitation Board
  • Glastonbury Archive Material
  • Other Glastonbury Authors
  • Articles and Stories
  • Antonio Bivar
  • Local Resources
  • Unique Publications History
  • Contact
  • View Shopping Cart

The difficult politics of direct action

19/12/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
I have decided to stop taking part in the Slow Crossing actions that have been taking place in Bere Lane, directed at HGVs coming through the town on the A361. I am not trying to persuade anyone else to stop, though I am still  not clear what the main objective is and how the campaign sees it as being achieved. My real reasons are more complicated.

About 15 years ago I decided to give up political activism for two reasons:

1. Because both electoral politics and pressure-group campaigning tends to polarise people into ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.
2. Because political campaigning requires huge amounts of effort and organisation, often with only an outside chance that this will actually achieve what is wanted. 
I decided instead to put my energy into things that I knew would make the world a better place, even if only in a tiny way. This decision has been vindicated on a number of occasions.

When it came to the present road campaign, both for the sake of supporting friends and because I am acutely aware of the injustice and oppression created by the vastly excessive traffic that rolls past our front doors, I nevertheless entered wholeheartedly into it – and I believe made a difference by raising awareness of the issue and helping to stimulate a community-wide discussion about the real implications of the suggested bypass. Having done that, it seemed only right that I should put my hand up and join the campaign to have HGVs re-routed away from Glastonbury.

However, the slow crossing actions seem to have invoked precisely my two reasons for withdrawing from political activism 15 years ago. Arguments on Facebook and elsewhere, and the apparent effect of having otherwise sympathetic local councillors distancing themselves from our campaign, show the harmful effects of polarisation; at the same time the County Council is close to bankruptcy and even if they had the political will to re-route traffic away from Glastonbury, they couldn’t afford to do so (sadly, whichever route was chosen, it would involve far more than just erecting new sign posts – as the Green Party would have us believe).

I remain convinced that there is a solution to this dilemma, but that it may be one that no-one has yet thought of, and that it will require the whole town pulling together to bring it about. So I want to put my focus on building bridges, and if possible finding people with imagination to work with in that direction.

Here is my latest article for the Glastonbury Oracle, which explores the subject in a bit more depth: 
http://www.unique-publications.co.uk/undertone-of-violence-dec-2019.html
0 Comments

    Archives

    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.