1. Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Luddite uprisings: Technology politics then and now
2. Help celebrate 200th anniversary of the Luddite uprising - Background on the Luddites
NOTE: Here are some recordings of speakers at a recent Luddite conference on May 6 at Birkbeck College, London:
http://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/2011/05/luddites-without-condescension-report.html
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1. Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Luddite uprisings: Technology politics then and now
Date: Wednesday June 8th, 7pm
Venue: Feminist Library meeting room, 5a Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7XW.
Nearest tube Lambeth North,
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154817494584557
Organised by: Luddites200 Organising Forum This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://www.luddites200.org.uk
No admission charge, donations welcome. Please contact organisers about disabled access.
In 1811-12 artisan cloth workers in the Midlands and North of England rose up against factory owners who were imposing new machines and putting them out of work.
Since the 1950s the Luddites have been painted as fools opposed to all technology and progress, but in fact the Luddites were very selective in their attacks, breaking only machines they thought were 'hurtful to Commonality'.
What can the Luddites teach us about the ongoing use of technology to replace workers' jobs, as well as issues like GM food, nuclear power, reproductive technology and surveillance? Can we escape the myth that technology always brings progress? On the anniversary of the first action against a GM crop site in Britain, come and discuss the issues with speakers from the Luddites200 Organising Forum, Stop GM, a trade union activist, and the Stop Nuclear Network.
PLUS! Luddite entertainment and CAKE
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2. Help celebrate 200th anniversary of the Luddite uprising
http://www.luddites200.org.uk/
November 2011 January 2013 marks the 200th anniversary of the Luddite uprisings, in which artisan cloth workers smashed machines which were destroying their trades, undercutting wages and forcing them into unemployment and destitution.
Today, the industrial system that the Luddites were rebelling against has led to climate change and huge losses of biodiversity, and its new technologies, such as information technology, genetic engineering and nanotechnology raise equally profound issues. Yet anyone who raises concern about the price and side-effects of new technologies is harshly condemned as a 'luddite', someone supposedly irrationally opposed to technology and progress.
In fact, the Luddites were not 'luddites' in that sense: the idea that they were opposed to all technology is a history written by the victors. In fact the Luddites opposed only technology 'hurtful to Commonality', ie. to the common good, rather than the narrow interests of the few. They destroyed some machines whilst leaving alone others in the same workshop. So being a luddite today means being a sceptic about the dogma of technology as progress, not about denying the real benefits of some technologies. It means insisting that the crucial decisions about which technologies are developed are made democratically, not just imposed by corporations and technocratic elites. And it means standing up for our own ideas of what progress really is.
Computers and digital technology like this website are certainly hurtful to Commonality in some ways, although they have their advantages, and are hard to avoid entirely. Over the coming months we plan to launch some debates about the way that we all have become dependent upon them.
The Luddites200 Organising Forum are celebrating this anniversary partly because we want to honour the Luddites' struggle and challenge the myths about them. But we also want to use this opportunity to catalyse a more vigorous public debate about technology and its social and environmental consequences, a debate that goes beyond dogma and name-calling. We would love you to get involved.