Ever since Greenpeace bought a piece of land on the site of the proposed third runway at Heathrow airport, London, they have been receiving suggestions for what to do with it. They have already established an allotment and are planting an orchard, but now they want to go one step further and for that they want to get ideas.
They want to see how the Airplot could be fortified, so that, if the police and the bulldozers come to turf people out, they will be able to physically block the construction of a new runway. Hopefully it will never come to that, because there's no way a new government can continue to support the runway plans, but it's good to be prepared.
Towards the goal of inhibiting and ultimately preventing the construction and operation of the ‘third runway’. Develop and adopt a multi-strand approach to run both concurrently and consecutively, to include both physical, legal, political and temporal aspects.
Others will submit proposals of how the actual building itself will be laid out and constructed, but this is only the most salient part of what should be a much broader strategy. It is this that I have tried to consider, and offer this submission as a complementary piece.
Use time as a factor. As it will be possibly decades before physical runway construction may begin, this allows for complex legal and planning hurdles to be set up, and time for trees and wildlife habitats to establish.
LEGAL
Invoke as many legal hurdles as possible; but not ones that will need defending by Greenpeace in court.
Establish a community on site of residents/ workers and afford them tenure with the highest legal protection possible, to draw out the legal eviction process. Make an established community of international importance and significance, perhaps an eco-community.
Take full advantage of Planning law – both of runway process, but also permissions of Airplot construction, which needs to be achieved quickly. Anticipate moves that may be made by others to delay this, which will prevent nature-based strategies coming to maturity.
POLITICAL
Work towards removing political will to proceed with the development.
Fund research into alternative sites for Heathrow in its entirety, eg Thames river mouth, which could have benefits of reduced flooding for whole Thames estuary, with added bonus of protected flood zones/ wildlife habitats.
Nurture empathy of public. Millions of people affected directly by noise overhead.
Cultivate dialogue and debate:
- Do we really need more planes? People can usually get flights whenever they want, so the argument is only of the economy, but who does that really benefit?
- How to reduce environmental impact, rather than focus on blame and responsibility that undermines efforts to improve the environment.
Investigate possibility of airport authorities developing alternative runway sites around Heathrow, which could circumvent everything planned and achieved on Airplot site.
PHYSICAL
BUILDING – central building
Multi-nodal building complex, with one very obvious, centrally placed landmark to draw focus and attention away from other, more important, sections underground. Each part capable of independent existence and functioning.
Time consuming and expensive construction that is difficult to demolish, eg pre-tensioned concrete. Building perimeter with low shallow sloping buttresses, similar to motorway toll gates. Bulldozer (like anti-tank) approaches: concentric ring of pine trees that can be quickly felled so pointing outwards – accumulate against movement of vehicles attempting to approach.
APPROACH – main site
Turn into marsh/ wetland around the main building with only one access route (see below) - hard to approach by vehicle or people in great numbers. Any runway related construction would need to drain a wetland area - time consuming. Moat around central building with quickly removable bridge terminating the single track access. Marsh/ wetland provides wide range of habitats for wildlife that can become protected by law as becomes well established. Create complementary habitats to create nature showcase to attract visitors, to raise profile of nature, Airplot and related issues: environment and pollution – distinguish unsustainable development and holistic sustainability.
ACCESS
Diagram below shows a single route site access made up of multiple, non-parallel raised walkways that change width and spacing, designed to prevent all types of vehicles passing, but allow pedestrians, cycles, and pushchairs. Forms areas to meet, play, grow plants – provides sense of place.
For strength, probably needs to be concrete, but could contain recycled aggregate and hardcore beneath. More sustainable materials such as timber or earth mound, could more easily be removed by a bulldozer moving forward along the access route. Whilst concrete is curing, surface can be decorated as a project to build sense of community.
['Too many vectors, not enough memory' comes from an error message on a printout from an early large format paper plotter]
A solution is not only an answer to a problem, but also a fluid into which something has been mixed and has dissolved.
This is the start of the second annual series of Id of the Ingenu. The first half was innocent, random, isolated; the second half is progressive, pensive, necessary. [After The Tall Dwarfs]
The previous series has been an observational analysis; the following series are proposals designed to promote dialogue on issues that face us as citizens of a troubled planet. Any ‘solutions’ however, should not be isolated and over-layered interference actually adding to problems, however well intentioned, but practical ideas deriving from a series of investigations into learning what we have forgotten about who we are, where we live.
It begins from the standpoint that the situation we have is what it is. What is required, therefore, is an objective view, that does not look for fault or blame, (that should only ever emerge out of finding solutions by seeking causes; blame should not be a primary objective in itself).
It is misleading to try to compare to an ideal. Thinking in isolation, while potentially useful initially, then needs to be evolved and tied to practical and useful application to issues that are a priority for the majority.
The ‘murder’ of an initial idea is a necessary consequence of the process of it’s becoming; to guard an idea too closely to ourselves will forever keep it perfect in its potential, but ultimately it will wither from lack of light.
CHANGE AND BALANCE
The reaction to intransigence can, ironically, be equally unbalanced. For example, the more senior of our citizens have a reputation of being somewhat fixed in their ways and opinions, perhaps out of familiarity, perhaps not.
There is a risk that frustration at a lack of willingness to change, or even engage in dialogue, evokes a response that is too opposed, and thus equally out of kilter, the same as atheists actually being as centred on religion as much as devout believers, because their view point is diametrically opposite, and so positioned in relation to it.
If we can get past this impasse, we are then able to distinguish the best and worst, the relevant and the useful, regardless of where or when a particular thing or notion came from. This will perhaps address some issues of prejudice as a side, but no less worthy, benefit.
We all believe we are right. There will be no absolute solutions. Any progress will be complex, difficult, messy, and be achieved through humility, understanding and consensus, but will nevertheless involve tough decisions that can no longer be shied away from.
- Ingenu
Un globo, dos globos, tres globos,
One balloon, two balloons, three balloons,
La Luna es un globo que se me escapó,
The Moon is a balloon that has got away from me,
Un globo, dos globos, tres globos
One balloon, two balloons, three balloons,
La tierra es un globo donde vivo yo.
The Earth is a balloon where I live.
- Theme tune from 1970’s Spanish children’s television programme
Disaster rescue
We have recently been witnessing the terrible aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. This is only one instance of a whole range of events that lead to rapid breakdown of habitual rhythms of society. What seems to dictate how bad a natural disaster is, is not only the magnitude of the event itself, but what occurs afterwards in terms of how well aid is managed and how quickly normalcy can be re-established.
Such events makes it difficult to bring clean water, food, medical attention, stabilise the situation, and establish some degree of order to stop looting and people’s desperation leading to focus straying from the main priorities. These are all practical essentials, but there is also the emotional aspect: people have gone through a traumatic experience; they often do not know if their families are alive or dead.
In many areas where natural disasters occur, people’s livelihood is tied to the very place where they live. So for that to be gone is of much more gravity than in other places with more established societal infrastructure where homes will be replaced, people will return to jobs, children will go back to school and power and drainage will function again because they were the norms. But if you have built your own house on land that provides food then it is of another factor level of significance for this to have gone. Your world has literally disappeared.
The first few hours are therefore critical, but also usually the hardest to react in, as it has just happened so there has been little notice, and it is difficult to access because the land is unstable, or underwater depending on the nature of the disaster.
CENTRI-POD
The Centri-Pod is designed to be dropped into a disaster zone immediately after it has happened. It is carried from three Chinook (twin rotor) helicopters. [A Chinook can carry ten tonnes, so engineers need to calculate and balance how many helicopters can safely carry one object and therefore what the Centri-Pod can weigh, allowing for payload]
It can be stable in almost any terrain: its single foot means it is upright on any angle of ground, and is kept stable by the centrifugal force of the counterweight that spins around the main body. Additionally, there are tensile cable guy ropes that can be fired into the surrounding ground to further stabilise it if there are, for example, after tremors.
It can be filled with food, water, shelter, medical and emergency supplies as required. In case of a flood, equipment to process dirty water could produce clean water so not necessitate bringing (heavy) water supplies. Even removable floors that supported equipment can be removed to form temporary bridges nearby if required. This would also allow for more head-room to be created inside so it can then function as a temporary hospital or communications/ base of operations.
By having a presence on the ground quickly, reports of the actual situation can be regularly relayed to further refine subsequent aid requirements.
They need to be based at various points around the globe to be able to react quickly and be in place as soon as the initial natural phenomenon has passed/ subsided and no longer poses a danger to the Centri-Pod itself.
The above configuration is phase one. Three phases in total are envisaged. Phase two would have thrust capability, perhaps adapted from vertical take off military jets, and so be able to take off and land unassisted.
Phase three would put a Pod in orbit around the globe to monitor the environment and take regular readings, as well as observe and report on activities contravening environmental laws and regulations.
The advantage of the Centri-Pod (phase one) is that it could be built tomorrow – there is no undiscovered technology. (By keeping it simple it will be able to be easily repaired on site if damaged.) Whether it comes about or not is more a matter of political will.
The need for Centri-Pod operations to be independently funded and managed cannot be overstated. There is always the danger, and often the case, that well intentioned technological advances are adopted and skewed for less than equitable purposes.
Logroño was an old settlement, first of the Romans, under the name of Vareia, a commercial port, and then of the Celts. From the 10th century, possession of Logroño was disputed between the kings of Navarre and those of Castile; the region was finally annexed to Castile. Alfonso VI of Castile granted Logroño in 1095 a charter of rights that served as a model for other Spanish cities. In 1609 and 1610 Logroño was the main seat of the Basque witch trials.
The population of Logroño in 2008 was 153,736 and a metropolitan population of nearly 197,000 inhabitans. The city is a centre of the trade in Rioja wine, for which the area is noted.
Calle del Laurel, known as "the path of the elephants" and Calle San Juan are typical streets where various restaurants and tapas-bars offer the best pinchos and tapas in northern Spain. Calle Portales is the main street in the old town, where people like to walk and sit in the terraces to have a meal or good wine.
The recent Venice Biennale had as a theme "Fare Mondi: Making Worlds", but perhaps a more appropriate sub-theme would be ‘where is art at?’ It is an important point; as I was once told by a guy called Ronnie out of Jersey City: ‘It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at’, which has always remained good advice.
However, it connotes more than the fact that the Biennale was, inevitably, an eclectic mix of work; it makes salient the key strands of emerging debates and dialogues in art. The Biennale works ranged from the sublimely beautiful to barely developed under-graduate level pieces. So far so good.
FROM SMOCK TO SHOCK
So called ‘shock’ art, most memorably in recent times the ‘Young British Artists’ (YBA), starting almost twenty years ago, gave us the likes of severed animal parts and later un-made beds. No problem with that per se, but over and above the shock value, where is the content? What might the nature of content be? What is its relevance, and consequently, that old conundrum, what is the meaning of art?
This sort of work is a natural progression from Duchamp’s Fountain, one of his ‘readymades’, referring to the urinal he exhibited in 1917. Duchamp described his intent with the piece was to shift the focus of art from physical craft to intellectual interpretation. Good point well made, but in many ways it only needed making once.
But if a piece is merely a metaphor or symbol for a personal intellectual process, it becomes esoteric, and fails in it’s primary role to explore, elucidate and reflect.
To hold a mirror up to certain aspects of society, and allow us to reflect on it, regardless of how niche an aspect of society it may be is an important process. Thus the ongoing importance and relevance of art is assured, regardless of trend or style, as long as it continues to fulfil this role. It is the broad eclectic nature of art that means this role is being robustly carried out; no aspect of how we live remains untouched. In this way art, as a whole, is democratic, much more so than elected political representatives whose personal agendas distort democratic mechanisms towards over prescriptive outcomes.
Any debate on where art is at, or where is it going, must test the boundaries of what constitutes art to establish where they are, so some will cross the line, but they still remain relevant as part of the wider debate.
It is not enough to have a good idea or insight into certain aspects of society. It needs to be developed and represented in a manner that can be engaged with and is manifest with some sense of craft or technical skill, which is a more traditional view, but references the earliest notion of art of differentiating people who thought or produced above a subsistence level.
COKE ON A STICK
The ‘object-out-of-context-coke-can-on-a-pedestal’ is perhaps only possibly relevant by a recognised artist that has established body of thought so there is a context. But even that is in many ways a repeat of the Duchamp urinal, which understandably is repeated each generation for the sake of their own affirmation and exploration – experience is a great thing.
It was on this point that the work in Venice was split: works of the type that we have seen so many times before, descended for Duchamp’s urinal, and work that engaged us in some way, rather than rely on a chance connection that a more personal piece may have.
There is an interesting angle, that as we increasingly lose cultural commons, so art pieces will tend to become more esoteric or ‘place’ specific, either way, relating to a smaller audience. There is nothing wrong in someone personally exploring issues through art, indeed a very healthy pursuit, but this must be distinguished from work that offers contemplation of aspects of society and how we live.
Although, far be it for me to counter anything that would encourage the notion of Baudelaire’s flâneur – probably our best chance of responding appropriately to increasingly commercial society with all it’s trappings of shopping as a leisure pursuit and celebrity reverence (at the most trivial end of the spectrum of consideration).
Increasing information overload, dictates we need to be engaged personally for a work to have any sense of meaning to us. Spatial (eg Serra) or narrative or interactive (recent child’s slides in the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, London) connect with the viewer in this way.
Sense of engagement, whether spatially or through a sense of inherent narrative or being interactive, addresses the issue overload and repetition, and renders a piece of art relevant, albeit to a reduced number of people, but many more groups. Perhaps famous for fifteen people rather than fifteen minutes.
This gives more to relevance to the notion ‘I like it’, but is that enough? But where does that leave ‘I understand it’, or ‘it is relevant to me because...’ So perhaps it actually pushes art more towards entertainment. So the question becomes, can art be entertainment, but still fulfil its role as highlighting certain notions of our society. If something is just beautiful, is that enough? Even that says something about current society: the beautiful is more not only revered, as it always has been, but now increasingly seen as aspirational, with debilitating results on people’s expectations for their own lives.
Making works with a potential for broad relevance at a societal level, as (very) distinct from populist/ lowest common denominator or even ‘nice’ (read hotel corridor pieces), addresses the issue of work being for an elite. By making works esoteric either by being too personal or supported by contrived conceptual theories, it is making art into a divisive weapon, by which sociological stratas are artificially reinforced. (For an interesting take on Meritocracy (US) Vs Class (UK) see Toby Young, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, chapter 27, Forgotten but Not Gone, p 241)
Theory behind (the process of evolving) a piece provides guidance and relevance through its development, and helps keep the final piece true to the initial concept or idea. But, when the concept becomes a crutch by which the piece cannot stand without, then it is on flimsy ground indeed.
MEANING OF ART
The emotional content put into a piece by an artist is surely not there just to evoke the same emotional response by a viewer. It should evoke a response of course, positive or negative - if it is any good - but a response that engages with the emotional baggage that the viewer inevitably brings to the party. If not, the work is a personal and esoteric piece. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes it biographical and thus limits its relevance for public display.
AND FINALLY ...
The British entry in Venice was a typical manifestation of the British mentality: isolated, prickly, unapproachable, and that was just the entrance. Timed entries prevented anybody from meandering in on there way around, and consequently many just passed it by, re-affirming the ivory tower outlook.
This month we look at change: opportunities for it, attitude towards it, and implications of denying it. But first:
We have recently been witnessing the signs of a return to ‘normal’ with regard to banks and financial institutions. The talk over the last six months of the chance to ‘learn lessons’, and how it can ‘never go back to how it was’, has turned out to be empty rhetoric.
There had been a real chance to trammel banking to a more equitable course, but that door is now firmly closed - an insult to the thousands whose lives have been deeply affected by the events of the last year.
But to dwell on this will get us nowhere. If there had of been change, what would the nature of it have been; what changes do we need to make to make our society less polarised and more sustainable across social, environmental and economic means?
MYOPIC EXPERIENCE
The recently missed chance by the UK Government to re-trammel banks when they were on their knees could have sent a clear message with a couple of de-capitations. Now they are back on their feet, we are seeing a return to the bad old days of inappropriate bonuses, and business as usual. But bonuses are not the worst; merely the most salient aspect of a much deeper cycle of bondage which has resulted in the ongoing suffering of 1000’s of people led into severe debt, now trapped into a dark corner, as well as the collapse of 100’s of ‘real’ companies, further adding to the unemployment. So, as unbelievable as it may seem, we are heading for a situation even worse than we have been experiencing, as such an extreme swing of a pendulum will inevitably swing very far the other way.
BACK ON TRACK
If we accept that our global operating practices have been increasingly un-sustainable, there is therefore a need think outside existing mechanisms; to at least de-structure and re-configure. If so, what are the objectives and focus of restructuring?
Focus solely on growth and profit is divorced from how we live – it encourages blinkered thinking. If a company pays its rent, salaries, research, insurances, etc, then it is a viable company. So when we hear of profits 'plummeting' by X%, we are misled; any profit at all means a company is still a going concern, yet falling profits throw us into a panic with real consequences because we only focus on that aspect of the business due to shareholder priorities.
How can we draw back together the key strands of society, and what has changed in the meantime? How can we limit knock on effects of ‘investment' activity, and re-trammel un-sustainable practices?
Perhaps if we focus on activities and industries that relate to subsistence, not in a Neanderthal survival way, but to the quality of life that is right and appropriate to now, and should be shared by all. This way we move towards modes of living that relate more directly to how we live, and systems may become more circular, rather than linear, so it will be harder to ignore problems and implications of how we live. This would hopefully lead us to a more sustainable existence, and we would be less susceptible and be able to mitigate better against the extremes of vicissitude we are currently experiencing.
OUT OF SIGHT
Perhaps the lack of appetite for change is, at least partly, because we do not look far enough ahead to see the possible benefits of change, we only see the short term costs.
The period of time by which we tend to think ahead, and consequently implement measures accordingly, has been gradually reducing since around the mid-twentieth century. And this trend is accompanied by a shift to a more purely commercial outlook.
We passed the four year mark some time ago (political cycle), and even the financial cycle (one year), and have now reached the point where political will looks no further ahead than the next peak or trough of the media circus – sometimes as little as a few days.
This affects thinking and policies in a fundamental way by not considering the longer term and skewing the shorter term with knee-jerk reactive decisions, but, unfortunately, with long term consequences.
TRANSIENCY
One of the effects of ongoing political short term thinking and being increasingly commercially minded is fractured neighbourhoods and impoverished communities.
One of the most salient causes is oft quoted as small flats - too small for a decent quality of life. Both as built and also when operated as private rental accommodation means people have less sense of connection to it or the place in which it is situated. But it is easy to project problems on to physical receptors; there are some much deeper reasons: we increasingly live, commute, and socialise in different places, further disconnecting us from a sense of connection to one place or a cohesive realm of existence.
Affordable housing is now substantially delivered by the private sector, under duress, as part of private developments. Governments and councils are pushing for 40 – 50% affordable housing, with developers resisting through a whole range of excuses and hurdles. But does this just create parallel worlds? Is it actually cruel to place someone with significantly less means – not just financial, but in terms of opportunities and actual wherewithawal – cheek by jowl with very wealthy homes in some cases? These people will never mix in any meaningful sense, and so does it just create two parallel existences, with the worst off probably not able to shop in many of the local facilities, further highlighting the differences? There are only ever degrees of difference; it is by no means black and white.
This polarised situation can be seen in the extreme with some of the council built estates from the 60s and 70s in ‘better’ parts of London, for example, although many of these now are presumably fully private. However, places such as Sao Paulo, Brazil or certain parts of China take this difference to another level entirely – shanty towns next to shiny new apartment towers.
London has a large degree of distinction of the physical fabric, so the difference is very obvious, compared to somewhere like, say, Madrid. Madrid has its different neighbourhoods, the same as anywhere, but because the typical typology is the apartment block the difference is much less marked.
This is not an argument for ghettoes, but an enquiry in to how we actually live now, and how this situation can be integrally catered for the general benefit of all. To get beyond the notion of ‘pepperpotting’ social homes, and making it tenure blind. All this achieves is that people cannot tell, so all looks well, but we have smoothed over the more significant underlying sociological issues.
Maybe this overlaying of larger and wider personal networks that further divorces us from a small number of physical places is how we live now. Maybe we should just accept it, and work with that in terms of how to improve quality of life for all, rather than hanker for the idealised urban that does not, nor probably ever did, exist. What are the nature of links in this kind of world? How do we connect with people in such an environment?
COLOUR BY NUMBERS
Perhaps better run cities, towns and villages would have less stark differences; a smoother transition from types of place or even people. This is dangerous territory. Is it always a good thing to be confronted by different people from ourselves, to broaden our horizons, decrease our ignorance? But when does too much difference build up and overspill into hate and even violence?
We all make unconscious judgments of people, be it by where they live, colour of their skin, or sexual leanings. It is human nature. With ever more information overload this is further exacerbated, so we forget that using such markers are only guides, not actually how people are.
AND FINALLY ...
Time often brings experience, but sometimes people demand respect simply because they have been around for a long time, but there are many that merely repeat the same year over and over, and have not gained significant experience as such or perceptive insights from them, although they may have logged a lot of facts of things that have occurred over a life time, but really have only consumed other’s experience from the armchair of their life.
Change is not something we can stem. Even if we stand still metaphorically, things around us will shift, so our relative position has moved, so the people’s perspective of us will have changed, so we just become more anachronistic unless we derive learning from our previous experiences and give them relevance. The only certainty is change.
Asturias lies in the North West of Spain. It is a region of mountains, forests and beautiful coast - one of the most un-spoilt in Spain. (The provincial government is actively removing illegal buildings within 500m of the coast.) The local cuisine includes goats cheese, cloudy cider, and cheesecake.
- Fort England Vs ‘Europe’ and other people from 'abroad'
MERRYE ENGLAND
The media lead us to believe that we are mono-faceted in terms of who we are culturally; It sells more papers, as it can outrage us, or play to our emotions, if we are more polarised. A regular, and one of the most salient examples, is newspapers exploiting the idea of being ‘English’ – to be accused of such is a reductive accusation. I feel I can be English, British and European all at the same time.
The human is a seething mass of contradictions and complexity, whether we like it or not. It is a useful and necessary guide to designate certain characteristics on people, but it is not actual; merely an adumbrate representation of one aspect of our personality as it outwardly appears – an impression only. If it were really the case, such a designation would be an impoverishment of the human spirit.
Although, a constant battering can weaken a spirit until, to all intents and purposes, a person becomes an accumulation of that reduced mode of thought. I am of course thinking of that neo-fascist rag, the ‘Daily Mail’ – a most pernicious publication.
MID-WEEK EPIPHANY
There is an apparent difference between the English (as opposed to British – the Welsh and Scottish have a more defined endemic sense of culture) and our continental (sic) counterparts. It is much referred to both positively and negatively. The ‘Mediterranean’ lifestyle is much envied, more so because it is an idealised and non-existent; easier to idealise because it is non-existent.
Despite the innumerable number of examples of quotable differences between them, to pare down the essence of what the difference is between ‘English’ and ‘European’ however, is quite a different thing.
I have been pondering this issue for many years with no clear outcome - until recently. Earlier this month I went to the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London (great theatre) to see ‘Waiting for Godot’ (excellent play) with the protagonists being Ian McKellen and Patrick Stuart (superb actors – McKellen being better for being less ‘theatrical’). None of this however was having much bearing on me at all: The theatre was stiflingly warm; the ‘glass’ of wine in my hand was undrinkable; and, the ‘glass’ was a white polystyrene cup – the kind children might drink from at birthday party.
What struck me most clearly was how everyone else in the audience (my partner excepted thankfully – although she is ‘European’) seemed oblivious to all of these debilitations. It was at this point that the realisation of the essential nature of the English is: we can take the constituent elements of any situation and isolate them, thus allowing us to focus on just one. Being able to ignore the worst and latch onto the best, or least bad, of them all, and blinker out the rest – a ‘fractured’ endemic psyche.
This explains so much of the English mind-set: It allows us to admire the excellent decor of a restaurant while the food is mediocre and wine overpriced; It allowed us two hundred years ago to sit on a terrace in humid colonial India drinking tea whilst oblivious to everything else - it is essentially a survival technique for bad environments. In contrast to mainland Europeans, it is the lack of an integrated experience.
[Digression: But not integrated in a technological sense. Apple has acknowledged recently that i-Phones have a discrete ‘kill’ switch, which allows them to access and delete applications they deem inappropriate. Where is the sense of ownership, personal control and rights as a citizen?
Also, recently it has emerged that Amazon is able to, and has, deleted e-books from peoples e-readers, downloaded from other service providers. They claim rather than ownership it is more about a relationship with a service provider. And the book they were deleting? 1984; how ‘1984’ is that.]
CHICKENS IN THE ROOST
It is though, a double edged sword (sword of Damacles?). It means there is a great flexibility to change to new circumstances, which means we can be successful commercially, linguistically and financially, but that is because there are few deep cultural roots, so it is a diminished mode of existence, leading to an ever increasing pace, as we seek and need more and more imagery to consume and entertain us. This leaves the lowest sectors of society feeling it most keenly, as the gap between expectation and reality widens.
The notion of the double edged sword, both allowing the English to be quantitatively ‘successful’ but also left qualitatively impoverished, touches on the ironic implications of what, or who, are the ‘English’. The English colonisers of the final quarter of the last millennium, predominantly in India and the Caribbean (following in the footsteps of our mainland European counterparts in the middle of the last millennium in the Southern Americas), created an idealised notion in the minds of the colonised of the ‘homeland’. This may have been as a result of people simply being homesick, and idealising what they no longer had, as we are all wont to do. Perhaps also seeding the early manifestations of this ‘fractured’ endemic psyche, by dealing with new surroundings by ignoring the unfamiliar aspects of them.
England has regularly experienced immigration, or at least for most of the last millennium, so the notion that being ‘English’ is a monolithic thing is not only non-sensical, but simply not true. It is this regular stream of people that has enriched us culturally and socially, which we would benefit more from if we would be more accepting and positive about it.
This idealised notion of homeland more recently manifests as ‘illegal’ immigration, as many ‘English’ try to ignore the tacit responsibility for previous actions, and forget that we colonised and forever fundamentally changed many parts of the world. Is the desire for people wanting to come to the ‘home’ country of their former colonisers the ultimate conclusion of having pressed onto the colonised, through ignorant behaviour, that the oppressor’s way of life was somehow better? If we had been more integrating instead of dominating, as we were initially in India, we would perhaps be on a different path now. But this attitude is premised on seeing immigration as necessarily a bad thing. Personally, I feel my life enriched for the variety of people I see on the street.
CIVILLY HARMONIOUS
Chinese (living in traditional housing arranged along informal alleys - Lungs) treat semi-public space as semi-private, whilst English treat semi-private space as semi-public. Chinese neighbourhoods have manned gateways, but the gates are never closed, while the spaces between houses are used for all manner of domestic activities – semi-private activities in a semi-public place. In contrast, the English in the common stair (semi-private) of a block of flats, for example, will only give an awkward and begrudged ‘morning’ to people who we know to be our neighbours. This pushes (English) behaviour to the extremes of the public; semi-public; semi-private; private sequence of the spatial and psychological spectrum, which in turn leads to erosion of any sense of community; it is the two central parts of the chain (semi-public and semi-private) that cultivate the subtle bonds that constitute community.
In this regard, the distinction between British and English is highlighted by the healthy Scottish tradition and appetite for housing blocks with communal gardens in the centre. The English love of terraced houses (or semi’s now we are all middle class) should perhaps be embraced if it is endemically difficult to achieve a proper sense of community; better to acknowledge something’s true nature and go with that, than to see it as admitting defeat, or worse continue to foist inappropriate ‘European’ housing models on an unappreciative English public.
This polarised sense of altruism is at least partially rooted in the English lack of (non-formal) social skills or emotional collateral, which tends towards us behaving stiffly, which is often interpreted as arrogant. Over time, there is a compound effect between this ‘stiff upper lip’ and the ‘fractured’ endemic psyche, that leads to behaviours such as typical English not considering it necessary to learn a ‘foreign’ language when travelling ‘abroad’ – further exacerbating people’s perception of us, and fuelling the continuation of our ‘superior’ attitude, even if it does just stem from social awkwardness. This awkwardness is evidenced by the odd phenomenon of avoiding work colleagues on the commute to work. Again, not because we don’t like them or want to talk to them, but a mortal fear that we may not be able to think of anything to say, or simply ‘not want to bother them’. In a social situation it manifests as an overtly gregarious behaviour pattern.
Most deeply felt is the lack of sense of the civic; we do not feel affinity to the streets or places around us as part of our mental space. They are something we navigate to get to other places – from one ‘castle’ to another. This compounds the lack of integration of strands of society that can meld to spiral positively, so the whole is more than the sum of the parts – as in mainland Europe, although that is not without it’s issues. But what ‘Europe’ retains is a core, and essence if you like, of a decent (genuine) quality of life, comprised of simple things, that can be enjoyed by all.
The loss and current lack of significant endemic culture (not art, theatre, etc – culture in a national sense) has led to the diminishment of cultural festivals (again, not literary or music type of festivals – but the ‘fiestas’ of Spain, for example, which we envy so, drawing from long forgotten, but deeply embedded cultural patterns). The implications of this are the loss of certain times of year when everyone comes together in a community to revel: celebration, release and perhaps a little drunken debauchery. Even our beloved ancient Greeks based their culture on dream and rapture. This release fulfilled a need in society to escape the pressures and repetitive drudgery of the rest of the year. Although it was a way to keep the masses tame from an aristocratic perspective, it re-connected us to nature when held on auspicious dates such as solstice, maintained the memory of the past and reinforced community bonds. With festivals now so scooped out of meaning, the need is fulfilled by the likes of hen and stag parties, where an isolated group causes disruption to others, so further isolates us from our fellow citizens – at least in a proper festival everyone is drunk together.
THE POLITICS BIT
Over a long period of time, the ‘fractured’ endemic psyche has been a contributing factor to the inherent short term thinking that has led England to be the disjointed and dysfunctional place that it is today. Whether you consider transport, health, education, housing, or employment – lack of ongoing investment over many decades has left these key aspects of society impoverished and without any sense of cohesivity or integration.
And yet we cling on to the idea that they are the ‘best in the world’ – most laughably our every-day cuisine. Whilst great cuisine and design, for example, exists, it is produced and consumed by a small tier of people; the majority have a reduced quality of life.
After any disaster or weakness has been exposed we always hear how there will be an inquiry so it will never happen again and our [insert latest embarrassing government failure] will be the best in the world. It doesn’t need to be the best in the world, it just needs to work properly. It is a sad indictment that we try to live on the laurels of a (very questionable) past – a touch of the emperor’s new clothes syndrome, but the facade is fast crumbling.
The unholy trinity of media, politicians and (dis-informed) raw public opinion de-rails a proper democratic process: discussion pulled from pillar to post, with certain topics brought forward inappropriately due to public pressure arbitrarily swayed by media playing to polarised opinion and beliefs previously primed by earlier cant. A further strand seems to be marketing pressures; advertisers demand a certain minimum number of units shifted, so a publishers primary goal becomes that, rather than reporting on events of significance and relevance that have recently occurred. The media is a contributory factor to society, not a benign observer, with growing influence. For example, whilst not an actual cause, we have seen it hugely exacerbate the economic meltdown of recent months. Recently the Eighties are back in fashion, but most worryingly it is 1984 that seems to be the year we are approaching most keenly.
Conflict, rather than dialogue and process, comes about when leaders fail to fulfil their responsibilities. In some ways, we are all leaders. Not accepting proper responsibility, is to be irresponsible.
... AND FINALLY
The recent spate (well two) of high profile gem raids has interesting resonances with broader societal shifts. As we are increasingly led to desire and expect more things, and ever more rapidly, and that the lives of vacuous entertainers are pushed ever higher as models of aspiration, so we further diverge from reasonable possibilities of achievement for the populus. It is no coincidence that these raids were for gems: the highest symbols of status and wealth. That gems are an embodiment of these skewed aspirations in miniature (as well as being really glittery), we can only expect more such raids in the future, and hope it is a release valve for increasing revolutionary verve (?)
TROUBLE AND STRIFE Things change. Cities expand, technology develops, climate alters, people die. As such, we need people who can engage with the implications. Those who can explore and navigate, and project on how things will be. Regulations of society and habits of people become fixed, or change very slowly, in contrast to aspects of society which can change very rapidly. The consequent rift is at best a missed opportunity, and at worst a threat to society, so who will recognise when the context changes that originally brought about those regulations and habits?
The rich palimpsest of society becomes unstable if the accretions of those layers are not bonded together. The ‘subversive’ is the basis for the main ingredient which becomes the glue that holds, and links, subsequent layers together. Those who are often held to be ‘rebellious’ or ‘subversive’ elements, have aspects of their personality that question the way things are.
If this critical rejection of convention matures into a well considered idea of how an aspect of how we live will change or can be improved, then we have something that is of great value, which should be supported, even earlier on when that tendency may still manifest as ‘toublesome’. But not everyone will develop the skills and wherewithal to pursue and achieve such ends. Usually as we become older, most conform to the norms of the social environment around us.
So how can we distinguish what may become something interesting, and what is just teenage angst? We cannot. But, we can provide opportunities and environments where such behaviour is less abrasive, and where these tendencies can be explored for their underlying impetus and given space to evolve.
IN YA’ FACE INTERFACE Whilst ultimately integral, societal interface explored as distinct from inner frustration, would allow separate tendencies to be temporarily isolated to see them more clearly. Young people should be given better opportunities to explore their interface with society, in different arenas and at different scales – people, family, neighbours, strangers, authority. This can operate alongside their ‘own’ development, which is more about exploring inner frustrations, with parameters rather than limits (in most quarters). This perception of inner and outer self is of early Christian origin, so very deeply embedded in our cultural psyche, as distinct from the ancient Greek notions of sophrosyne and poiesis which enabled a well integrated society, with a refined sense of civic and community; something mostly lost to us.
In this way we may see more positive manifestation rather than negative outpouring, with development of latent skills and discovery and refinement of natural tendencies. We are seeing the results of not giving young people appropriate outlets, particularly young men. As such, we are losing out on the full range of diverse individuals, as well as, more bureaucratically, less taxes from people not fulfilling their potential.
A bridge could be established by acknowledging that people need to recognise and consider changes in our society, and linking it to a mentoring system, that can create and establish these environments where early frustrations can be refined into something more tangible.
As I have said before, young people seem more often talked about, rather than to. Such programmes as outlined above would acknowledge this lack, and also address the need to complement the reduction of the sense of civic, with it’s concomitant reduction in public investment, as private interests come to the fore and increasingly dominate thinking.
SAMSARA Vs MOKSHA The path of life can take many forms, but human nature, understandably, tends to default to non-action, so many paths go untrodden.
Change is precipitated in life by a fork in the road of the path our life travels; it can be passed by and ignored, but in a sense to pass a fork is to choose. It is not always a clear fork: sometimes we travel a path too quickly, and miss paths that are more hidden, off to the side; or at a busy crossroads, with many people to distract us and prevent us from seeing clearly.
The influence of others is something to be engaged with; we perhaps only really control half of what we do. We should be open to the influence of what that other half may bring. When things do not work out exactly as we had hoped, it is not necessarily a bad thing. It depends on our outlook and attitude to change.
It is not about choosing the path we are on, but understanding why we are on that path. If we do, when a fork in the road approaches, we naturally tend the right way.
When we are at ease in our life; familiar with the situation of our family and community; unthinking about the routine that has established, the ‘weight’ that we feel is light. As some things become abandoned, or they sit outside our recognisable environs - the parameters of our conscious existence, so the ‘weight’ increases. The discovery of new or abandoned things can be both interesting and rewarding. Sometimes we chance across such things, but a concerted search for such things will take us into unfamiliar territory, and many people from the world behind will reciprocate when we turn our back on them to walk away.
PERSPECTIVE SHIFT We can be different things, even at the same time, and we can change; it is not true that a leopard doesn’t change their spots: The context of our life can have a significant influence on how we act and what we say – essentially who we are, as far as how we are perceived.
As we mature, we are perceived from a different context, but also from a perspective that context has less of an influence on us as we continuously explore ourselves through interactions and exchanges, and come to know what we do not believe, what we do not like, what we are not good at – this being part of realising what we do believe, like or are good at.
Some embrace change, others cling to the status quo, and only change when it is forced upon them. A balance between the two would be less polarised. Sometimes major change is forced upon us – do we resist or do we embrace? It depends; surely we should consider the implications of our actions and test our thoughts against our own beliefs and opinions, and of those we love and those who are worthy of respect.
FINAL THOUGHTS Sometimes the price of change can be too high. Whilst I would advocate change as a default or at least an active mode of thought to counter continuation of the status quo without questioning evolving context, change is not always good. North America has been, both recently (although more recently Obama is changing the present – he seems intelligent, considered, and thoughtful) and consistently through the last century, a de-stabilising influence across the world: from the effects of greed through commercial endeavours, to the acts of war and clandestine terrorism committed in pursuit of those ends – if you are looking for the world’s number one terrorist, ‘Dr’ Henry Kissinger has to be your man.
‘From each according to their ability; to each according to their need.’ - Marx
