Went to the people’s premier of Franny Armstrong’s film Age of Stupid last night, and have the feeling I have been at the birth of a social movement that really has the potential to send an unequivocal mandate to government. My activist spirit has been dormant for a while now; it’s disheartening when you can’t take politicians at face value, and have to spend time and energy speculating, theorizing or unravelling spin and outright deceit.
Last night, at the press conference following the film’s screening, I completely got Ed Miliband’s argument that his time was best spent lessening the impact of something that was going to happen anyway (coal-fired power), and believed it was heartfelt. (He is the UK’s Secretary of State, Department for Energy and Climate Change.) But I also appreciated the ruthlessness Franny displayed in showing the way forward; of delivering the smack on the bottom that forced this movement, mewling and crying, into life. (For a short summary of what happened at the press conference, see today’s Guardian article.)
If in a democracy a critical mass of opinion is reached, a government should respond or be dissolved. How much easier for a government to form opinion and manufacture consent. But last night felt like a showdown, and the people pulling the strings of new media defeated the stranglehold of the spin doctors. In this short interregnum between old and new media, the channels of mass communication went unguarded, and someone to contend with rolled in. (Interesting to see Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former press spokesperson, there on the green carpet, nailing his colours to the new mast!)
I thought Franny Armstrong was really impressive at the press conference last night – mischievous, persistent, courageous. Like a modern-day Socrates, she was a gadfly stinging the sluggish Ed Miliband, and UK citizens, to life. Anyway, she has roused me to action!
Her social movement and her ‘Not Stupid’ pledge has the feel of a gathering critical mass of opinion. If you want to be part of it, sign up here: http://www.ageofstupid.net/notstupid !
And if you want to get up to speed with some of the issues raised last night I can recommend these Earthscan books, all accessible reads for non-specialists:
Chris Goodall’s How to Live a Low-carbon Life, described in the New Scientist as ‘The definitive guide to reducing your carbon footprint’. Chris Goodall is the man the president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, approached to help develop the country’s radical carbon-neutrality plan, announced in the media yesterday. Jonathan Harrington’s Climate Diet covers similar ground.
The Atlas of Climate Change condenses the history, causes, consequences and scientific background of climate change into powerful easy-to-read maps, graphics, tables and concise commentary. In The Guardian: ‘You could wade through dense academic detail from the IPCC. Or you could root out The Atlas of Climate Change [which] condenses key findings from the scientists.'
Jonathon Porritt’s Capitalism As if the World Matters presents The Five Capitals Framework, a form of capitalism that values ALL forms of capital, including natural, human, social, manufactured and financial capital.
