Twenty plus years ago I got hold of a book called Suspects, by the film writer David Thomson. The conceit was that Jeff Bailey - the Jimmy Stewart character in It's a Wonderful Life and George Bailey - Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past (amazing film noir) - were brothers. Well, what if "Joe"... Continue Reading →
Why we are doomed: of meetings, ghosts and the QWERTY keyboard
So, I wrote this over a year ago. Nothing I have seen from the "new" organisations on the scene gives me any cause to revise what I wrote back then. I am less prone to flounces and resentment grenades, but only marginally so. There's a much shorter (and life is short, so read that instead?)... Continue Reading →
Perm or Perineum? Of social movement emotions, retronyms and… sexism.
We’re all going to die. And we’re all going to die in large or small (1) part because social movement organisations run on emotion rather than anything approaching strategy. And they spend all their time trying to get the next hit (2), rather than getting folks to do the long, slow, boring work of social... Continue Reading →
Anything but the E word. Holdfast Bay council rejects #climate emergency motion
"The shit is hitting the fan," but it’s not an emergency, according to Holdfast Bay Councillors Holdfast Bay’s elected members have overwhelmingly rejected a bid for the council to declare a climate emergency. In front of a packed public gallery of young and old, councillors were at pains to display their environmental concerns and credentials,... Continue Reading →
Expect (lots) more magical thinking, from eco-types as well as reactionaries
Easy it is to see the dynamics playing out in people we don't like. Easy it is to see how the complexities, ambiguities and downright extra-messiness of Modern Life can lead people to reach for simple(minded) "solutions" and slogans like "Make America Great Again" and "Take Back Control." Not so easy to spot it, or... Continue Reading →
Look Sharp- underlying vectors and factors for the emotacycle?
My very smart Canadian friend (no, not you, Cameron - I have another very smart Canadian friend) just sent me an interview conducted with a researcher/activist called Marcie Smith, by a chap called Branko Marcetic. It's title is Gene Sharp, the Cold War Intellectual Whose Ideas Seduced the Left and it is brilliant (as in... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 