[matilda] Re: Defining Matilda

Tue Sep 20 14:01:25 BST 2005

Hi

I think Helens text is great :-)

I have reproduced it below in a format that will work
better on the list archives (no need to scroll
left-to-right to read it...), also some thoughts of mine
follow...

On Tue 20-Sep-2005 at 11:43:24AM +0100, Helen and Nick
wrote:
> 
> "Matilda is a much needed free space where activists,
> artists and muscians can get together to enable culture
> to flourish that is counter to mainstream. Rather than
> be passive consumers of a culture that puts profit and
> products before people and their freedom, Matilda is a
> space where we can 'Do it Ourselves' and create genuine
> expressions of what it means to be us and the kind of
> world we want to live in. Rather than sitting back and
> hope that some one else will change our lives, our city
> and our environment for the better and create culture
> that is meaningful to us, this social centre is about
> taking collective action to make positive, exciting and
> creative, alternatives happen.
> 
> We have chosen to work together under the Peoples'
> Global Action Hallmarks, which is a broad framework that
> provides a set of principles under which social
> movements around the world work together. It enables us
> not only to visualise the alternatives we seek to
> establish within our own city, but within the wider
> global grassroots movement for positive social change.
> The PGA Hallmarks can be broadly summarised in the
> following way:
> 
> * Rejection of all repressive social and economic
> structures that exploit and dehumanise us;
> 
> * Sharing out power amongst everyone so that we all have
> the ability to play a part in creating the lives we want
> to live;
> 
> * Taking action to make alternatives happen rather than
> meekly asking those with power to change our lives for
> the better.
> 
> As things stand in this city, without access to money or
> property you can not have a creative and challenging
> input to the development of this city. There are so many
> people that have positive things to offer the people of
> this city from which social and economic benefits can
> flow. Without space these ideas are still born. Matilda
> is our opportunity to bring about a new type of
> regeneration that is both physical and emotional, one
> that is exciting and vibrant, and most of all one that
> reflects who we are and what we want to be."

I can't make the meeting on Wednesday to discuss this so
I'm just going to say what I think here, though I would
have liked the oppertunity to actually discuss face to
face with peole why I think the PGA hallmarks make sense
for the collective...

First off, to address some concerns people have raised:

1. No time to discuss this [1].

   Ever since the idea of adopting the PGA hallmarks was
   raised we have never actually discussed them, we have
   only discussed discussing them, this goes back to July
   -- now over 3 months ago...

   I hope there is time on Wednesday to actually discuss
   them -- and to discuss the issues people have with
   them...

   Perhaps there will also be time for people to point out
   the positive spin offs there would be of adopting them
   -- we would be joining a global movement of resistance,
   activists from around the world would know how to
   relate to Matilda... 

2. Opposition to capitalism [2].

   OK, so some people involved with Matilda are not really
   convinced that capitalism is the problem...

   Where to start... I'm not going to address this in this
   email, it would take an essay...

   I think that this indicates that we could really do
   with having more political discussions, I'd be happy to
   get stuck into this -- I'm fairly confident that those
   of us who do think that capitalism is the problem
   probably can convince those who don't... given time...

   But, in the meantime, would the supporters of
   capitalism block the collective agreeing a
   anti-capitalist position? I hope not... 

3. The use of the term confrontation [2].   

   Matilda was initially set up as a convergence centre
   for those opposing the G8 in Sheffield -- do people
   really think that we would have had more impact if we
   had sent them letters compared with defying the bans
   and protesting on the streets? 

   Many of the events hosted at Matilda have been
   organised by groups that also have a confrontational
   attitude, Dissent, Indymedia, No Borders etc...

4. Calling for direct action [2].

   What about what we agreed that M.A.T.I.L.D.A. stands
   for? "Massive Alternative Terrain of Insurrection, Love
   and Direct Action" -- do those who oppose direct action
   want the name changing also?

   People are aware of the history of direct action aren't
   they, from Gandi to King etc...? I really don't
   understand why there is a problem with this...

5. What do terms like "capitalism, imperialism, feudalism
   and [destructive] globalisation" mean [3].

   Well we could have a long discussion about the meaning
   of just about any word... Sure these words mean
   slightly different things to different people, so do
   many words...

   I think it would be good to have a discussion about
   this but I don't see that not every agreeing 100% on
   what these words mean should be a reason to not adopt
   any political principals...

   Perhaps any discussion we have about this could be
   started with the Wikipedia pages on these things...

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperialism
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalisation

   These at least provide some background reading material
   on the terms...  

6. What is the point of having any kind of statment?

   This was raised in two ways at the meeting last night,
   one person said that the World Bank has the
   catchphrase "Working for a World Free of Poverty" so
   what meaning does it have if we have any principals?

   Well, just because they are lying hypocrits I don't see
   why we should be...

   The other way this was raised was to say that the
   principals of Matilda should be the sum of the
   decisions so far, well, as someone else said, it would
   be interesting to see this written up, you could start
   with the notes of the meetings [4] and then take the
   list archives [5]... I look forwards to seeing the
   result of this.. 

Personally I think that we should agree Benjamin's
Matilda introduction:

  https://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/Matilda_introduction

Helens Matilda vision:

  https://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/Matilda_vision

The PGA Hallmarks (as a kind of appendix to Helens text):

  https://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/PGA_hallmarks

And of course the Matilda rules that have been built up:

  https://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/Matilda_rules

Finally, what if we don't adopt the PGA hallmarks --
people have said that they are concerned that they will
put people off.... well not adopting them will also put
people off -- I'm personally not so interested in putting
time and energy into a project that isn't clear about it's
rejection of capitalism and the creation of
alternatives...

The PGA page on the Wikipedia is a short summury of what
the PGA is:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Global_Action

Chris

[1] http://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/matilda/2005-July/000075.html

[2] http://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/matilda/2005-July/000072.html

[3] http://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/matilda/2005-July/000080.html

[4] https://wiki.sheffieldsocialforum.org.uk/Meetings_Archive

[5] http://lists.aktivix.org/pipermail/matilda/

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