‽istis ponders coal, hypocrisy, irony and a focal point (weekending
December 10th 2022)
This week the UK Government approved the opening of a coal mine, to dig out
fossil fuels again for the steel-making industry…
Clicking on this link: https://www.westcumbriamining.com/
following a headline announcing the plan, a message was presented on ‽istis’
laptop:
‘Welcome to West Cumbria Mining.
We’ll be back soon!
Sorry for the inconvenience. We’re
performing some maintenance at the moment. If you need to you can always
contact us at info@westcumbriamining.com for updates, otherwise we’ll be back
up shortly!
— The West Cumbria Mining Team’
‽ And perhaps a cry of ‘hypocrisy’ broke out:
·
a current (and especially historic) high polluting
country that could still be described as developed / rich / global North /
over-developed / developed-at-others’-expense / developed-and-maintained-at
others’-expense (delete as appropriate, or add your own); that has perhaps seemed
to lecture or shame other countries about their world-and-habitat-polluting-and-destroying
ways… is opening a coal mine!
‽ And possibly a note of ‘irony’ was struck:
·
Thatcher’s mine closures, Sunak’s and Gove’s mine
openings; both strategies promoted in pursuit of partisan gain and ideology?
‽ And maybe a new focal point was created:
· the former chemical works on the outskirts of Whitehaven in Cumbria is the site of the proposed mine and could become this decade’s ‘Greenham’; a centre for a progressive protest movement; the beating heart and drum of a continued articulation and creative and practical expression of new and different ways of doing things: more co-operative than competitive; less for private profit, more for public good; less for immediate gain, more for long term sustainability; less for grim and dirty and life-limiting work, more for green and clean and healthy jobs; less for security ‘against’ external threat (‘Putin’s war’), more for safeguarding and securing ‘for’ all of us and especially for those who will follow – if the focal point of our imagination, hope and vision can be set that far ahead‽
©
‽istis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and
past blog entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
