I’ve recently been following Tony Curzon-Price’s essay The Liberty of the Networked (and part 2 and part 3) published over at the excellent openDemocracy.net to coincide in with The Convention on Modern Liberty to be held in London and across the UK on February 28th. Tony’s paper considers the social role of technology with regards to political thought and activity, comparing the liberty of the Ancients with the liberty of the Moderns to discover the liberty of the Networked....
When Dave Briggs asks ‘how close is local?’ on the Local Democracy blog, he asks a very important question about democracy. If democracy is to be the rule of the the people, asking ‘how close is local?’ is asking the perennial question of democracy: which people? Knowing who is governed is as important as knowing that those people govern themselves.
Our democracy is stratified like a company organisational chart. A simplistic drawing would show Government at the top and parish councils at the bottom and a myriad of other organisations with decision-marking powers over any number of areas of our daily lives arranged on the intervening levels....
“The Climate Rush is a group of gallant women and intrepid men who will act now to save the world.” This is anarchism for the middle classes, or at least those that don’t want too much risk when out protesting. This group came to popular attention last year with a take-over of Parliament Square celebrating the centenary of the Suffragette Rush and campaigning in support of three demands: No new coal power stations, an immediate stop to all airport expansion, and 80% reductions in carbon by 2050....
Merry Christmas everybody.
I’ve got my decks out and spun round a few new tunes for a merry mixxmas session 2008. It’s all about playing track 10. Seriously. You’ll understand when it drops (about 40mins in…)
Tracklisting:
Plump Night Out ‘Elektonaughts Bumper RMX’ Brothers Bud ‘Remedy’ Plump Night Out ‘Pucker Up! Pucker Up! RMX’ Brothers Bud ‘The Sting’ Beat Assassins ‘vs’ Ludacris ‘Stand Up’ DJ DefKline and Red Polo ‘Can I Dance’ (The Like A Bear Mix) - Ghetto Style Guaranteed Crisp Biscuit ‘Brooklyn Banger’#18 Dreadzone ‘Once Upon A Time [In Jamaica]’ (Brothers Bud Mix) 3DB ‘Baader’ (Dreadzone Mix) Bassbin Twins ‘Woppa’ [Cool And Deadly] Son Of Kick ‘Bad Groove’ Twin Motion ‘Scream!...
Earlier this week 50 or so Plane Stupid activists managed to breach Stansted Airport’s perimeter security fence. Idiots. If someone really wanted to shutdown an airport and cause over a week of disruption, all they would have to do is get enough people to sit down.
Last month anti-government protesters in Thailand where able to close the country’s major international airport for over a week. Hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of flights were disrupted and rerouted where possible....