[matilda] RE: PGA Hallmarks

[Danny]

Hello all,

Regarding the PGA Hallmarks I pretty much agree with what Dan said. In
addition I'd like to say that too much of it sounds dogmatic and I couldn't
be sure that any two individuals would be using the same definitions of
"capitalism, imperialism, feudalism and [destructive] globalisation". The
latter term is an immediate example of such confusion - the principle
explicitly refers to "destructive globalisation" implying that it recognises
non-destructive, possibly even positive aspects of "globalisation". Is this
the case or not?

In practice what I have encountered most people doing when using the above
terms is meaning "everything that is bad at the moment". It's lazy and it
quickly alienates people (myself included). Some of you have indicated that
you're scared of creating an "activist ghetto"; if those principles are
adopted (especially if they're adopted uncritically), that's exactly what
we'll get.

If we're going to start discussing some kind of general principles I think
they need to be a whole lot more inclusive.

With regards to the Hacklab - I'm all for it. There are also a number of
other things I think we could use some of the space for, but I won't bring
those up here. I'm happy to start contributing bits and pieces to Matilda
(i.e either donating, buying or lending) providing there's a general
agreement that what people donate / buy / lend for/to Matilda is looked
after and replaced / repaired if necessary.

Cuthbert is on the money regarding getting down to essentials. Yes we do
need to meet, discuss and think about the overall plan, but as I said to
Mozaz on Monday, there's other things we could be getting on with straight
away - such as fixing the flushing mechanism on the ground floor toilet. For
practical purposes what I think we should do is create a list of jobs/fixes
and perhaps rank them as essential / desirable, then those of us with the
time / energy / means can start setting about getting things done.

I'd also like to propose that we start keeping some sort of documentation
(the list of jobs above is a good example - people can then add to / amend
it as necessary).

Best wishes,
Danny.