[diggers350] technophobia

[Jon Hallé]

re: the pseudo-anonymous posting about internet etc

email and the internet are the only means of mass communication and mass
media which are cheap enough for activists to use in most cases.

quite a lot of activists i know access the internet for no more than the
price of the calls. this applies to some mobile users i know too in vans and
boats. ie free computer, modem, isp connection, email account.

what that means is that for the vast majority of people in the UK, these new
media are available 'on the blag'.

the undoubted fact that the strange art of blagging is not more widespread
here is to my mind a sign that the movements we are involved in have yet to
build solid wide bases in the community at large. i guess we knew that
already!

but the answer is: more blagging! in the long run, it would be great to
build a society in which access to information was an acknowledged right of
all people. technology must in the end be made to serve people and not
profits. but as a matter of strategy right now we have to get what we can in
a more underground way. in the case of internet etc this does not even mean
dodging the law, which is usually the case.

While many do not have a phone line, the vast majority of deterred users are
probably turned off by a lack of information, ie not knowing anyone who can
sort them out a free machine, etc. Its also the reason that homeless people
sleep in the doorways of empty houses they could be comfortably squatting.


being indignant about deprivation is good, it leads to anger which can
create commitment. but indignation on its own is not a tool for change, not
unless you believe you can change the world by kicking up a stink. in the
absence of credible democratic institutions of any sort within the grasp of
the UK public, we are obliged to use our own networks.

to me thats what direct action means. unfortunately i have never seen a time
when demonstrations made a difference in the UK, although i know that in
earlier times here and at the moment elsewhere they have enormous power.

as for the note on class: the thatcher/blair years have finally stripped the
working people of this country of their power and self-belief in all but a
handful of cases. there is no mass of working people who have common cause
and common pride any more. i wish to god there were. in terms of political
position, the vast mass of people in the UK of whatever income bracket are
stuck outside both the mainstream of power and the undercurrent. the idea
that the middle class run things is absurd, they just get paid more to toe
the line. And if human welfare is purely economic, why are so many
travellers having it so much larger than the execs?

if the attempt to rebuild meaning and pride into people and communities is
going to succeed, we need every fucker we can get. class attacks miss the
point. <i would say that, i'm middle class innit>

i say that email and the internet are the best models of communication for
many of the needs of the new grassroots. As a movement, we should not reject
these tools, but should address the very real problems of access to the
medium. what do people think: we could set up an email list to get together
cheap computer info, make it into a website and a booklet to go to claimants
unions, etc. what else?


dig,

jon







***********************************
Jon Halle

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