The need for Active Community
We are told that the poor are grateful for charity. Some of them are, no doubt, but the best among the poor are never grateful, they are ungrateful, disobedient and rebellious. They are quite right to be so. Disobedience in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. Oscar Wylde
Wait for things to be done?
In our communities we can be quiet and wait for things to be done, other people to act and government agents to get-round-to-it. Or ask yourself the question. When has this ever worked? The answer is never. All we have to look forward to in none action is the excuses and reasons of someone else who will be happy with your apathy. Apathy breads denial and a reliance in the explanations and ideologies of others. For-
"When we believe in the out dated Malthusian
explanation of the slums (the law of population growth makes them inevitable),
slums cease to trouble us.
When we believe the biggest good is a balanced budget the misery of
those cut from relief rolls is a secondary mater.
When we are convinced that any worthy man can get a job, unemployment
can be disregarded, and measures to alleviate it can be opposed.
When we believe bombs dropped on peoples of other countries, by permanent
armies, on enormous budgets, and power given to them by modern centralization,
is for the peoples of those countries own good, we can believe in our
countries idea of democracy."
This statements was written by Stewart chase in 1937 in a book called
the Tyranny of Words The last paragraph in the light of recent events
rings with a certain poignancy of how little has changed in the ideas
of those who corrupt, lie and kill in the name of democracy. How does
this connect with communities? If we add the next paragraph to the equation.
When, (in the same country the bombs here sent from) we can slash spending
in the public sector to facilitate a pan European monetary union, then
we can accept the closure of hospitals, nurseries, community facilities
and schools to subsidize it.
Think about it. The buck ends in communities.It is communities who sponsor war suffer the financial burden, human cost and social effects of it and have no say in when and where it will be perpetrated. We are always told that there is no money when it comes to public facilities in the health, education, and community sector. Governments do not respect these services as achieved and owned by the taxpayer and in trust of government. But rather as expenses, overheads and a burden on state capital; profits, shares, and war funding - which is also sponsored by the public purse.
Direct action?
So given these circumstances which must be apparent to any but the
stupid if they have been listening to, even casually, political debate
over the last six months. How do you get anything needed, done, or improved
in your community when you are dealing with an administration whose
only concern is with bigger things? You can do two things. You can make
paper demands. (Write to the council, apply for grants, which could
be fruitful if you have the stamina for the bureaucratic labyrinth -
or the process of you or your groups ideas and suggestions being watered
down to suit which ever agents criterion judges them. Or, you can take
direct action.
If you need a bus shelter build one (out of anything). If you need a
safe space for your kids to play, find a bit of space fence it Sign-post
it well and use it. Ok you may or may not win your demand but at least
people will know about them and have the opportunity of joining you.
At least you will expose the oppression of those who control your environment.
And at the very least you didn't waste your time in a ritual of participation
you can't control, with a body of people who say that they have your
interests in mind but haven't. Lets face it. If they did you probably
wouldn't have the problem in the first place.