is it ok to be luddite?

[Seb Thirlway]

>Of course, with Greenpeace some of the activities in which its
members
>engage verge uncomfortably on terrorism at times, and this is
the grey area:
>extremism, radicals, riots, mob mentality, a Suffragette
throwing herself
>bodily under royal hooves et. al. And there is the additional
problematic of
>mediation: it is how the activities and situations are reported
(by the
>media, or historical convention, or in popular mythology) which
decides
>whether any given rebel or uprising or cause is perceived in the
civic
>imagination as righteous and liberating or despicable and
terrorist. (cf.
>John Dillinger in GR)

I had the surreal experience of sitting with people in Newcastle
in one year
(1999) and hearing them talk about the "infamous" City of London
"riot" which they
took part in:
"a demo, with a few idiots making trouble"
and then working in London EC2 on the next anniversary surrounded
by a massive police presence
(the Stock Exchange is across the road) and an atmosphere of
slight apprehension
that those evil anarchists would run into the office and start
breaking heads.

the WTO demonstrations did a lot to help establish this kind of
demonstration as "real" rather
than some freak phenomenon stirred up by malcontent weirdos -
bigger, better: Well done USA!
Note that the (UK) Guardian satisfyingly emphasised the part
played in the WTO demos by steelworkers, farmers and
representatives of developing countries - the unspoken assumption
is that any dissatisfaction expressed from the 1st world -
especially by anyone not economically on the edge -  is
eccentric.



seb