Talking about a revolution is rare in most places. But Dorset? Well it seems the emotional and intellectual aspects of our minds are stirring. Recently we had a meeting in Dorchester in which 250 people filled the Corn Exchange to discuss an alternative to West Dorset District Council’s apparent anti democratic approach to local decision making. And now 10 days later here we are again in a packed hall at The Lyric Theatre in Bridport. A town that itself is celebrating 2015 as the year of democracy. A disenchantment is swelling in different parts of the county as the public look for alternatives to what they see as party political closed shops who too often ignore what that very public would prefer. Gradually that very public is organising itself in differing ways and finding alternatives to the hierarchical and the patronising.
Four speakers and a packed hall set out to be yet another opportunity to discover and debate the alternatives. Three locals and a Londoner. Ros Kayes (Liberal Democratic parliamentary candidate for West Dorset); Clive Stafford-Smith (founder of Reprieve and has spent 25 years working on behalf of defendants facing the death penalty in the US); Robert Golden (Film maker and photographer) and Pauline Pearce (The ‘Hackney Heroine’).
Robert Golden was the first to speak. Reading from a prepared narrative via his laptop I was initially concerned. I had no need. He was inspirational. Nailing the issues succinctly and eloquently he described the macro and micro problems we are confronted with and the solutions required with his soft American twang. Describing our voting system as nothing more than a ‘Punch and Judy show’ and the corporate dictatorship of most of those politicians his solution focused primarily upon the economic, political and social sustainability of the local with specific reference to Bridport. (Please find his full narrative here). Taking control of the local by locals it enables us to avoid (a description he shares with Jon Ronson ) ‘the sociopathic control over our lives.
Following Robert was the charming and effervescent Pauline Pearce. Pauline, from London, is now well known for her role during the 2011 riots in her borough of Hackney. Describing herself as an ‘urban poverty campaigner’ she declares her party political support for the Liberal Democrats. She sang ‘Ralph Mctell’s Streets of London; explained her background and her role during the riots and advocated her support for change through the community with specific emphasis upon creating something to be proud of for her children. “Everyone should reach out” she stated and I for one agree entirely.
Next was Clive Stafford-Smith. Since I watched his death row documentary ’14 Days in May’ many years ago I have been an avid fan. When Dorset Eye was launched, one of the early people we approached for a community interview was Clive. A man from a privileged background who has renounced, and accepted the influence of, many parts of it. He started off by asking the audience when was the last time that they talked about their ideal world and then reminded us that by not thinking and talking about it we will never get there. Mixing passion with honesty he talked us through his ‘name dropping’ lunches. A conversation with Nigel Farage in which he challenged him to identify just one way in which the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had harmed him specifically. After another drink and much guffawing he admitted he could not.
Another event and another conversation, this time with Gideon Osborne. Following a question about Islamic radicalisation Clive answered that prior to September 11th 2001 few had heard of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Now thanks to the response by western governments almost everyone has heard of them. Radicalisation instead of being a phenomena in small segments of populations is now spreading like a virus across many countries. Torture; imprisonment without a right to a fair trial (in contravention of article 6 of The Human Rights Act); rendition; carpet bombing and political interference in many states have all, alongside the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan provoked behaviour that almost certainly would never have occurred otherwise. To which Gideon Osborne replied ‘what a load of rubbish they have always been like that’. On local issues Clive referred to Oliver Letwin as “perfectly nice chap; he’s just psychotic”. He also informed us that the dreaded G4S were in charge of the security at Guantanamo Bay prison.
His solutions to all this is to use humour and humiliation – those in power hate it he said. Ridicule them directly he guided us. Globalisation, he said is a wonderful thing because we can abuse corporations at any time through many means. If we all do it alongside creating our own local solutions we have the power and we can win. Very, very interesting.
The final speaker was Ros Kayes. She began with a list of what is wrong with politics. These included: the Parties themselves; the Party whips; Party funding; Party hierarchies and political careerists; lobbying (with the claim that KPMG were invited to contribute to the Conservative manifesto and have been instrumental in the buying in of private services by the NHS); political tribalism; a bias media; the voting system and the cynical methods adopted to keep ‘ordinary people’ away from power. An interesting question came from the floor that asked Ros why she did not stand as an Independent. Her response identified the financial support required to fight the election and that the villages across West Dorset were showing increasing support for UKIP and that a split vote between them and the Tories would allow her a very good chance at success. Ros also explained that locally the West Dorset District Council has to change. It is criminalising poorer people and blocking their attempts to find housing by not standing up to the unfair legislation that defends private landlords.
Particular music to my ears was that she is a fan of Michel Foucault, Noam Chomsky, Ernst Schumacher and Tony Benn. Imagine if we could have got them together to join us in a remedy session.
My only complaint was that the time for the floor to share their ideas was too limited. Any ‘revolution’ will be by the people for the people and to marginalise their contribtion is somewhat ironic. These events must be much more interactive otherwise the old hierarchies will be allowed to remain.
The evening was seen out by a rousing rendition of ‘You are My Sunshine’ led by Pauline with everyone on their feet, clapping in true gospel style. These events need to be regular and we at Dorset Eye will do our best to ensure they are. Let us know if you would like take part in organising for the future by contacting us via the site.
Jason Cridland
