h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Overcome by frustration at teenage apathy, I started asking this question of a few school friends. The survey blossomed and now I'm compiling a catalogue of responses from kids, teachers, family members and friends of all sorts. I'd really love to hear what you have to think. I might post some of your responses as anonymous quotations on another website, but mostly I really want to know what pisses you off so much that you would take a stand against it. If you comment on no other journal in my backlog, comment on this one!

<./>Askh2g2</.> thread: F19585?thread=3844272

And website: http://archivalportfolio.googlepages.com/civildisobedienceproject

Don't suppose this counts as a "civil disobedience" but I don't go to sushi bars/restaurants as a protest against Japanese Whaling.

I see they've recently set off to catch and kill another 900 Minkes -many of last year's catch ended up in pet food.

That's a fascinating question. I actually have no idea.

Talk is cheap. Putting your reputation and possible freedom on the line for a cause is different.

There is a group of survivalists in my region. They refuse to use social security numbers, driver's licenses, produce birth certificates or pay taxes. They supposedly do this in protest of government policies. I think the leaders of the group are just paranoid and want to drop off of the grid. This all certainly limits their ability to earn a livable income and maintain a comfortable standard of living. But they seem content because they think they're sticking it to Uncle Sam.

I would be willing to join boycotts and have done so in the past. This isn't technically civil disobedience. I have been a supporter of environmental causes but don't think I'd chain myself to a tree or anything like that. Fortunately we still have the right to asemble and speak out about issues that concern us. Protest doesn't have to fall into the civil disobedience category.

In addition to sushi (see above) I also boycott Esso (Exxon in US) as a protest against the oil wars. It's not civil unrest but I think it's a civilised way of doing things. Basically I'm against greed.
I always remember Gandhi saying: "The King is wearing enough for both of us!"

Not *another* person telling me my generation doesn't have enough backbone to stand up for anything. That makes three people within 10 days.

Random question: who was the 49 year old woman in the archives?

I'll think about it. Technically I perform acts of civil tongueincheek> At least, that's how I justify it to myself.

Something went terribly wrong there.

should read:

Technically I perfrom acts of civil disbedience all the time by not following rules I don't like.

My mother, actually. I don't know the age of many adults.

Added a few new ones.

Surprising; she's older than my mum

It's a great project, EMR. I'll try to add something when my head is a bit clearer.

I had a feeling. She's younger than my 'mum'. Then again, my mother has been lying about her age for years now. She claims she's 88 so eveyrone will tell her how young she looks.

I'm older than the mother of one of the managers at work

Hi EMR

Well,perhaps unsurprisingly, this old druid has been arrested more times than he can adequately remember. It was back in my twenties and before I had the responsibility of children.

I was hauled away from student rallies, CND marches, ANL counter-demonstrations, Anti-Hunt Saboteur work and from Stonehenge - though my memory is very hazy on that one as I received a thump on the noggin from a kind Police Officer.

Arrested but never charged - lucky really, as a criminal record, particularly for active dissent, follows you around forever and limits your life chances. I have seen what it has done to my friends were not so lucky - who pushed the envelope just that bit too far.

And this is my point. You youngsters are immortal, you laugh at danger, just like I did, but acts of civil disobedience must be considered carefully. You might not give a hoot now if you are arrested and bound over to keep the peace, but think forwards to when you are trying to get a decent job so you can feed your children.

Protest - hell yes! Disobey - absolutely! But use your head and know when to back off. Remember in some countries they shoot demonstrators, including the USA and the UK.

Is it really worth dying for?

Blessings,
Matholwch .

Mothers' ages:
Greetings Cards for Modern Times: "Happy 30th Birthday, Gran!"

Civil Disobedience:
Uncharacteristically moderate of you, Math. What's a religion without a few martys?

Myself...
I suppose an obvious one would be to break the UK law on 'glorification of terrorism' by praising Nelson Mandela's role in the founding of Umkhonto we Sizwe.

Then, I'm off for a rare visit to London in March. I intend walking around Parliament Square in a t-shirt protesting against the law against unlicensed protests within 2km of Parliament. And I don't intend applying for a license first.

But the one I'd really like to do...
Ever since Tony Blair refered to the Iraq War as 'an unfortunate episode that will eventually be over', I've nurtured a desire to punch him repeatedly in his smug little face, saying "Don't worry. This is just an unfortunate episode. It'll be over...eventually."

Hi Eddie

If you want to be a martyr you shouldn't become a parent. Which I am so I won't be, if you get my drift.

As for 'glorifying terrorism', how about inviting Ariel Sharon or Martin McGuiness to Downing Street and doing a press conference with him? They used to be terrorists remember? Got you there Tony B.Liar.

Today's terrorist is tomorrow's pet dictator/favoured president.

Enjoy your brief march around Parliament. Remember the first people that the new terrorist laws were used against were two people reading out the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan at the Cenotaph. Deadly pair, could have gone off at a tangent at any moment - we were lucky there... Then there was that lone terrorist at the Labour Party Conference. That septegenarian was arrested for having an open mind in his possession with intention to heckle.

I'll look out for you on the six-o'clock news.

Blessings,
Matholwch .

Edward, I don't know if you're aware, but Mark Thomas has been organising mass lone protests against the very law you mention:

http://www.markthomasinfo.com/demo/default.asp

A common philosophy when I was in my protesting years was that it's easier to change the system from within than from without. Once you lose the respect of whichever entity you are trying to influence, you're finished.

Strangely, it is the symbolic things that stay with me rather than the placards or letters to the editor or speeches to like-minded groups. Like having an old Kent State sweat shirt stained with red paint that I could wear the day of the shootings. And our tomato juice toasts in honor of the dead and injured to end our CYD meetings. No alcohol allowed in the student union so we couldn't use red wine.

I'm nearly a decade older than your mother, EMR. She's just a kid.

Yes, I was aware of Mark Steel's wonderful effort. I gather that his ambition is to have the Metropolitan Police Force's Protest Licensing Officer retire on grounds of ill health.


On Math's point...I have some sympathy with the idea that protest is for the young. I'm too old to be dodging CS canisters myself, and as a parent myself I'm not planning on camping in the Sierra Maestra and growing a beard. HOWEVER...is there maybe a slight tendency for us to be a little *too* afraid of The Man? Yes, high profile events such as the Walter Wolfgang incident (btw - he's now on the Labour Party's NEC) and teh Forest Gate arrests might almost (almost!) be designed to keep us in a state of paranoia. In reality, so long as you're respectably white and middle class, you can get away with an awful lot. The question is 'So why don't we...?'

"The only safe way to live a life of crime is to do it openly." Hunter S Thompson.

>>No alcohol allowed in the student union so we couldn't use red wine

See? What is this 'allowed' word of which Hypatia speaks?

I suppose all those students and their teachers in that Washington District who were banned from going to see the Al Gore film about the environment could 'protest' by going to see it anyway! In fact, they probably 'should' shouldn't they?