Diggers/Runnymede Action April 23rd

[Mark Barrett]

Hi there

re the April 22nd/23rd action. We're just in the process of firming up
the details and I was hoping to get the lists comments, specifically
on the St Georges Hill aspect of the day. So I'm sending this in the
hope it can get posted up on the list for feedback. Please note the
picnic is open to creative interpretation. It could be a blockade in
the French style, or merely a genteel affair on the green. What does
anyone think? And who, if anyone, is up for being there on the day?
FYI we are planning a bigger Runnymede action on or around the
anniversary of the Magna Carta [June 15] so this is kind of a warm up.
The main focus of this action will therefore be the London stuff that
is taking place from the Imperial War Museum to Parliament Square.

To see overall where we're at with the day's action here:
http://peopleincommon.cyborgcow.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=59#59

And pasted here for your special attention [I hope] an excerpt from
the same blurb re the Diggers bit of the weekend:

"Diggers Picnic Tribute

There are currently plans to have a picnic at St Georges Hill,
Weybridge, on morning/early afternoon of the 23rd April 2006. Watch
this space for more info.

-- Who were the Diggers?

The Diggers were a group of non-conformist Christians who, with their
slogan "The Earth a Common Treasury for All" attempted, in April of
1649 to turn the world upside down at this very site. The Diggers
were an extraordinary group of individuals led by Gerrard Winstanley
and William Everard who bravely stood up for their "commons rights" to
create a number of post-civil war communes, building what they
believed to be God's Kingdom.

They were of course [as you'd expect] betrayed and kicked off the
land, by the very people for whom they'd fought and helped win the
civil war. So much for the New Model and the "Commonwealth"

-- The History of Commons Rights

For more info on the secret history of Commons rights go here:
http://www.metamute.org/en/node/5602
And to read the forgotten Forest Charter, the Charter of the
Commoner's Rights that once went with the Magna Carta go here:
http://www.constitution.org/sech/sech_045.htm

These 13th Century rights actually pre-dated the Diggers, but as a
result of the rise of the
triumph of capitalism and the Enclosures Acts of the 1720s, they have
now been written out of our history. Until now.

St Georges Hill is now an exclusive private estate and golf course.

For more on the Diggers go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers_(True_Levellers)
And here: http://www.wcml.org.uk/culture/songs_diggers.htm

And for a road map of the St Georges Hill location go here:
http://www.zenatode.org.uk/maps/runnymede.html
http://www.diggerstrail.co.uk/st_georges_hill.cfm

St Georges Hill is very close to Weybridge station which can be easily
reached by train from London Waterloo - though there is a slight walk
at the other end so it would be worth coming by bike to join the
picnic."

So, would be really good to get feedback from the list on all of this.

Cheers
Mark B

--
The Picnic meets every Sunday in Parliament Square, on the Green at
around 1.30pm
Join the list at http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/peopleincommon

"Ahimsa" --- refusal to inflict injury on others.
>A) Ahimsa is dictated by our commitment to communication and to
sharing of our pieces of the truth. Violence shuts off channels of
communication.
>B) The concept of ahimsa appears in most major religions, which
suggests that while it may not be practiced by most people, it is
respected as an ideal.
>C) Ahimsa is an expression of our concern that our own and other's
humanity be manifested and respected.