Luddite Poetry & Music for Christmas!

[Tony Gosling]

Luddite poetry & music

Chanukah and Christmas are coming and we have the 
perfect Luddite presents for your friends and family.

Words in Praise of Ned Ludd includes a selection 
of poems from our competition earlier this year 
(cover attached). From plaintive and meditative 
moods to stirring calls to action, the poets 
honour the Luddites and their sacrifices in this 
year of their 200th anniversary.

General Ludd’s Triumph, our compilation CD of 
traditional and modern Luddites music, is the 
perfect companion to the poetry anthology. 
Artists include Chumbawamba, Seize the Day, New 
Model Army, Steeleye Span, Martin Davis, Eric 
Angus Whyte, The Hammer and Shears Theatre Company and Robert Calvert.

In order not to take a big financial risk with 
our very limited resources, we need you to let us 
know that you want to buy copies of the book and 
CD. What would be even better would be to send us 
a cheque which we will keep until December 3rd, 
when we will decide to go ahead with these 
projects or not: in the latter case we will just 
tear up your cheque. Please help us ensure that 
these two great projects succeed by emailing us 
immediately with your advance orders. As was 
common in the 19th century, when books were often 
published by getting subscribers in advance, if 
you send us £20 for either the book or CD, you 
will get your name printed in the list of subscribers, as well as a free copy.

The book is priced at £7, and the CD at £10. 
Please send cheques made payable to Human 
Genetics Alert (a friendly organisation who are 
letting us use their bank account) to 22b St Kilda’s Road, London, N16 5BZ.

Last Reminder for Luddite Celebrations in Manchester this weekend

If you’re anywhere near Manchester don’t miss 
our event at the Peoples History Museum 
celebrating the Lancashire Luddites. There will 
be music from One Accord, poetry and talks from 
the Westhoughton History Group and Richard 
Holland, editor of the Luddite Bicentenary Blog. 
For more details visit 
http://www.phm.org.uk/whatson/celebrate-the-luddites-200th-anniversary/.

Machine Breaking Video

On October 27th we organised a bit of fun at the 
Anarchist Book Fair in London, complete with 
Luddites in traditional costume and proper 
Yorkshire Enoch hammers. For videos go to 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SF1fJD_a6o&feature=share&list=UU35dtHqsdO-hCNbkSPCAj1g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFb4dfTcQvU

Change of date for trade union event.

Due to the many other urgent projects we are 
working on we have postponed the date of the 
event on automation and new technologies that was 
scheduled for December 1st until the spring. Watch this space for details.

New items available from Luddites200.

We have recently acquired two new pamphlets and a 
book which are crucial reading for the 
enlightened Luddite. Queen Mab and Ned Ludd by 
historian Peter Lindbaugh puts the Luddite 
uprising in a fascinating global perspective of 
resistance to slavery, imperialism and the 
industrial revolution, and relates the Luddite 
struggle to Percy Shelley’s famous poem Queen 
Mab. The Past Tense London radical history group 
have produced a excellent pamphlet about the 
story of the Spitalfields silk weavers and their 
18th century industrial struggles, which included 
machine breaking. Finally, we have ordered copies 
of Progress Without People, David Nobles 
indispensable history of automation in the 20th 
century and union resistance to it, including the 
1970s Alternative Plan by the British Lucas 
Aerospace workers. Queen Mab and Ned Ludd costs 
£6 and Progress Without People £13 including 
p&p, The Spitalfields pamphlet just £1 p&p. Please send cheques as above.

Current technology politics issues and events.

No to human genetic engineering!

The British government is currently proposing to 
legalise a new technique for treating certain 
genetic diseases that would for the first time 
allow the creation of babies whose genes have 
been intentionally altered. Although food crops, 
bacteria and animals have been genetically 
engineered for the last 20 years there has been a 
world wide consensus, embodied in legislation in 
many countries, including the UK, that we should 
not attempt to do the same with human beings. 
These techniques are not strictly speaking 
genetic engineering, but involve cloning-type, 
manipulation of eggs that result in an embryo 
with altered DNA in its mitochondria (small 
‘organelles’, responsible for energy 
production that are found in all cells).

Apart from the health risks to the children 
involved, crossing this line would lead 
inevitably to a future of ‘designer babies’ 
and a new consumer-driven eugenics. Advocates of 
the new techniques argue that it would help 
prevent severe suffering, but in fact there are 
already perfectly safe and reliable alternatives: 
adoption, or the donation of eggs by another 
woman. Thus, in fact, the only benefit gained by 
these techniques is that the mother is 
genetically related to the child in the normal 
way. Such a social, rather than medical, benefit 
in no ways justifies dragging humanity across 
this line of profound importance.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority 
is currently consulting the public on these 
proposals and it’s imperative that there is a 
strong response. Their online consultation can be 
filled in at 
http://mitochondria.hfea.gov.uk/mitochondria/. 
Human Genetics Alert is campaigning against the 
proposals and is releasing a briefing next week. 
Send an email to david.king at hgalert.org if you would like a copy.

Events

For reports on the recent actions at the proposed 
new Hinkley C nuclear reactor and the week of 
action against drones visit 
http://risingtide.org.uk/content/site-proposed-hinkley-point-c-nuclear-plant-reclaimed-mass-trespass 
and http://dronecampaignnetwork.wordpress.com/.
On Saturday December 1st, anti fracking groups 
are organising ‘The Big Revolt’. For details 
of actions visit 
http://risingtide.org.uk/content/big-rig-revolt-%E2%80%93-sat-1st-dec.

On December 2nd there will be a discussion event 
in London focusing on anarchist perspectives on 
science. For more details visit https://network23.org/anarchistscience/.






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