Hubert L Dreyfus Friday 27th March 2009

This blog entry follows the events of April 1st and 2nd and, for that reason, is less concerned with the reading and more with recording the appalling behaviour of the Metropolitan Police in connection with the demonstrations held to protest against the process represented by the G20 summit. On the Wednesday, a man died during the protest at the Bank of England, peaceful protesters at Climate Camp in Bishopsgate were baton charged and, on the Thursday, the convergence centre on Earl Street was violently and unlawfully evicted and rampART was raided by riot police. Members of the collective in the building were forced to the floor, handcuffed and had tazers pointed at them. One member was able to evade tazer fire but was arrested and detained for 24 hours. The raids, and their violent execution, were completely unjustified. Anyone reading this blog should be in no doubt that police surveillance and the tactics that they use against people exercising their lawful right to protest amounts to an infringement of civil liberties. The laws put in place following 9/11 and 7/7 are being used to police dissent and criminalise anyone who dares to speak out against the existing neoliberal world order. This makes it even more imperative that rampART is retained as a space where we can organise against injustice and explore critical responses to the hegemony of free market capitalism outside of the constraints of marketised public space and the universities which are increasingly coming under the domination of market forces. This was forcibly demonstrated by the closing of the University of East London during the two days of action and the cancellation of the Alternative London Summit on the grounds of 'health and safety', an excuse for limiting the movement of people and curtailing public meetings which is now commonly used as a euphemism for 'security', itself a code for protecting private property and preventing the free expression of dissent. I won't comment on the reading (too much has happened for me to remember our discussion in any detail) other than to offer the following quote:

'The committed individual is identified as a workaholic or woman who loves too much. This suggests that to be recognized and appreciated individual commitment requires a shared understanding of what is worth pursuing. But as our culture comes more and more to celebrate critical detachment, self-sufficiency, and rational choice, there are fewer and fewer shared commitments. So, commitment itself begins to look like craziness'.

Let's hear it for craziness.