Some years ago I was ruminating on the idea of the most ideal sustainable community that I had ever encountered. One instantly leapt to mind - St Agnes Place in Kennington!
Later that very evening, by incredible coincidence, I watched on TV, in horror, as the peaceful community of St. Agnes Place was forcibly evicted from their homes by hundreds of truncheon wielding police and then, in an ultimate and revealing act of violence, the demolition of not just perfectly sound Victorian houses and people's homes but the overt negation and abuse of those who care about real sustainability.
The same kind of thing has happened repeatedly through our history, from St Agnes Place and the Battle of The Beanfield (more like the ambush of the beanfield) to the violence encountered by Gandhi and his followers, down to Peterloo and beyond to the likes of the Diggers.
That entity we call 'the System' is, effectively, the values and the institutions established to perpetuate and safeguard those values, by the middle class. The moment there is the slightest sense of an 'alternative' system out come the truncheons.
For the most part Britain has enjoyed little significant civil unrest for many, many decades. However, there is a good argument to say that this is less to do with a social evolution to a more egalitarian society and more to do with a 'bread and circuses' culture that can be maintained due to the economic abundance provided by cheap energy and the exploitation of international markets.
For true sustainability to work the middle classes must face themselves, re-examine their values and take a truly courageous lead by giving up their attachment to excessive privatism.
Violent Class
Some years ago I was ruminating on the idea of the most ideal sustainable community that I had ever encountered. One instantly leapt to mind - St Agnes Place in Kennington!
Later that very evening, by incredible coincidence, I watched on TV, in horror, as the peaceful community of St. Agnes Place was forcibly evicted from their homes by hundreds of truncheon wielding police and then, in an ultimate and revealing act of violence, the demolition of not just perfectly sound Victorian houses and people's homes but the overt negation and abuse of those who care about real sustainability.
The same kind of thing has happened repeatedly through our history, from St Agnes Place and the Battle of The Beanfield (more like the ambush of the beanfield) to the violence encountered by Gandhi and his followers, down to Peterloo and beyond to the likes of the Diggers.
That entity we call 'the System' is, effectively, the values and the institutions established to perpetuate and safeguard those values, by the middle class. The moment there is the slightest sense of an 'alternative' system out come the truncheons.
For the most part Britain has enjoyed little significant civil unrest for many, many decades. However, there is a good argument to say that this is less to do with a social evolution to a more egalitarian society and more to do with a 'bread and circuses' culture that can be maintained due to the economic abundance provided by cheap energy and the exploitation of international markets.
For true sustainability to work the middle classes must face themselves, re-examine their values and take a truly courageous lead by giving up their attachment to excessive privatism.
Digger Dom
Hackney