Watching an amazing tv series on BBC2: The Lost world of Mitchell and Kenyon, these were pioneer film makers, who around 1900 specialised in filming packed shots of everyday life, people leaving work, outside the (unbelievably many)pubs, weddings, temperance marches, footie, etc, as well as other street scenes. Every person filmed, a potential customer. I was struck by how crowded the streets were, people even sauntered along the main highways, even though there was(admittedly less) traffic on them. Basically people lived their lives much more on the streets. There were so many parades, fairs, events, people obviously wanted to get out of the crowded houses. Thus there was much more opportunity for conversation/dialogue, argument as welll as fights and trouble!
I think this is somewhat relevant as now we live (as someone noted) very self contained lives, though this is not the case in Italy for example, where life is still more on the streets. Reclaim the Streets while never having popular support, even less revolutionary potential, though it certainly fired many young peoples imagination, perhaps came closest to what it must have been like then: the spontaneity, the chance encounters, the energy and edginess, pity there was so little politics on them. However, in many ways, one could say that through the net we are now beginning to live life more on the ‘virtual streets'.
Btwm, I don’t think I am a revolutionary, they are very rare, but more significantly, they seem to ‘eat their own children’ as someone once said. Again, in Britain, they just don’t happen: Don Cruickshank, the narrator tells us
‘poor diet and lack of hygiene led to ill-health, worsened by often dreadful working conditions. These were the days of child labour, people in clogs and women made old before their time. With an average life expectancy of 50 for women and 46 for men, few reached old age, while the smiling faces of young men and women were soon to be darkened by the horrors of the First World War.’
and there was still no revolution.
I also think at heart, we are a very conservative and cautious country, which above all, fears anarchy and desires stability(hence the outrage over pensions.) I was struck my the amount of marches: boy scouts, military, empire day, religious sectarian, etc, in the films. Apparently in the 1880,s there was a working class conservative organisation called the Primrose League, which stood for 'Queen And Empire' which had over a million members! With the move to a rentier class of property owners i think we are likely to become more cautious and conservative, not less, though a major financial crash may change all that. Globally things 'are' somewhat different, with many global citizens saying enough is enough! Imo, here, though
what radicalism there is in the UK is largely a form of bourgois individualism, with little collective understanding or empathy with those at the bottom, more concerned with the classic liberal issues of civil rights/liberties.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/collections/mk/
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They might keep the creepyness down for a genration or two, but buy then they have just killed people's freedom, because,...people will be born into this world were they think it's normal to have cctv camra pointed at your face 24hrs a day. If we let these barstards carry on we're basically signing the freedom of....EVERYone....away.
*scarpers back to the tech forum*
