Ok, not a discussion piece starter - and arguably more bile than theory. But rather than flounder on the starting blocks... The Dongas: I fucking hated these middle class cunts first time round when they were in the news with Twyford Down, but fortunately for me more or less forgot about the flavour of them until tonight until I stumbled upon a program on the telly tonight.
I've had some mates over the years who got swept up in similar protests in the name of people or bits of the ground that didn't particularly care one way or the other (nor cared for peoples views contrary to their own) and wondered if people can share an insight into what the fuck these pretendy 'direct action' clowns were smoking - obviously I'm as unbiased as the next person, and welcome any insights that may be had for the purpose of better understanding and furthering full communism. Etc.
Hi plasmatelly, I was heavily
Hi plasmatelly,
I was heavily involved in Twyford Down.
As you titled your email "middle class tribe..." i will touch on class composition. A wide range of people were involved in the struggle there, including members of the dominant class. However as regards the class background of those who identified at the time as part of the 'dongas tribe', in my view like most traveler groups at the time a far greater proportion had ran away from estates, care homes etc. than promising careers. Some of the media constructed a image of the dongas as good protestors/travelers vs the bad protesters of EF!/castlemorten rave etc. For journalist "good" in this sense obviously means 'like me', i.e middle class. The construction of this image was partly aided by the unsurprising fact that those who stepped forward to speak to the media were often themselves middle class. An even more banal reason was that the struggle took place near Winchester, overall a very posh town. Subsequent anti-road struggles elsewhere, often peopled by more or less the same folk, had very different narratives wrapped on them by the media.
I do not have a entirely rosy view of everything at Twyford (i was for example part of a group temporarily banned from site by the dongas tribe after a tactical disagreement), but overall the time I spent their was hugely inspiring so I am keen to answer any narrowed down questions you may have and point you to relevant material etc
Well I watched that
Well I watched that documentary and frankly thought it a welcome and positive relief from the deluge of horrible UK election coverage. The 'Dongas' weren't my 'cup of tea' but there was a relevant reference to the inspiration that struggle gave to other anti-roads struggles linked to other class issues beyond the anyway not unimportant desire to protect some of our accesible green countryside. In particular this was addressed by the aufheben (other contentious issues aside) article here: http://libcom.org/library/m11-anti-road-aufheben which I think also influenced us in Subversion here: http://libcom.org/library/subversion-17
PS: I see Amoros has some views on this kind of struggle as well.
Whilst often some of the
Whilst often some of the cringe worthy nonsense said by folks in Dongas Tribe is off putting. I think it is important to remember that Twyford really kicked off the 90s anti-road movement onto a national level, which wouldn't have happened without the Dongas Tribe for all their mystical pagan nonsense. And i concur with satawal about the diverse social backgrounds these folks came from. Also think that the Aufheben approaoch of looking at the actual consequences of thier action rather then the ídeology' is a better critical approach.
Also the significant overlap between "new age travellers", hippy festivals and ravers with the anti-roads movements is often overlooked especially the beliefs about all being brothers and sisters, caring for "mother earth" and each other etc which were manifest in very pratical ways which played a part in the resilence of the anti-roads movement.
BTW what was the documentary called, as I missed it?
Plasmatelly, I may have found
Plasmatelly, I may have found the Dongas incredibly annoying with some ludicrously posh elements, but your threadstarter is unpleasant, mean spirited and ultra prolier than thou. Not your finest moment mate.
The minute I set eyes on
The minute I set eyes on anyone in lifestylie clobber or hear mention of self sufficient communities etc I start to feel like cracking skulls but sometimes I think there can be a baby/bath water element to my thinking. For example, I went to the Bristol anarchist Bookfair last week and was so put off by dreads, wooly hats and vegan fucking cake sellers that I left without really looking at what was on offer at all. My fail.
Serge Forward
Serge Forward
And?
What? You want more
What? You want more criticism?
Webby wrote Quote: I went to
Webby wrote
I guess my old home town hasn't changed much in my absence then ;)
Fleur wrote: Webby
Fleur
I guess not but one saving grace was seeing Battlescarred there looking singularly dapper!
Webby wrote: was so put off
Webby
I know what you mean. That's exactly why I don't go anywhere near any of those anarchist events anymore. And what is it with all the twee vegan fucking cake sellers? I was on a prisoners justice day demo a couple of years ago and some prat skips over offering out cakes, declaring "They're vegan".
rat wrote: Webby wrote: was
rat
My diet is vegan but I would rather have eaten my dog than buy a cake from someone that looked like Dido on a fucking camping weekend!
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have gone to the bother of
have gone to the bother of registering just to reply.
errr, i wasnt "posh". I went to a shit sink estate comprehensive and lived in a council house growing up. I have had it up to f£$%$%ing here over the years, of this 'the Dongas were all middle class wankers' line- its lazy, its BS and its simply nasty. As well as being, untrue.
Whoever counts themselves "in" or "out" of this little moment in time , particularly summer/winter 1992, there was a very disparate mix of people. Many of us were or had been students but that didnt make us middle class.
In retrospect looking back there was a definitte Trustafarian element, (and i can see a difference between/ the people whove stayed with their 'lifestyle hippy' thing, years after ive had to move on /get along to look for 'poper work' ) but so what?
And- at the time some of us were a bit 'on one' about mother earth but so what? it got us up bulldozers pretty f£$%^ing effectively eh?!
we stopped work , innovately, for months on end.
meh