Hi Tom & all, It seems to me that the only ones being saved are 'those who rule'; the dodgy corporations who took all the money in the first place. But of course, it's much deeper than that...
>Everywhere else has concentrated on disciplines directly >relevant to their commercial ecosystem. The decision has already been made - everyone else will suffer the consequences of an overwhelming Neoliberalist ideology. "What is neoliberalism? A programme for destroying collective structures which may impede the pure market logic." Pierre Bourdieu. Even though we have been crumbling as societies under the omnipresence of Neoliberalism, it is rarely mentioned or discussed outside of intellectual circles. Talking about it more and not letting it become a taboo subject will allow us to share personal references and perspectives about it. The more we bring the subject up the more easily it can be critiqued. Neoliberalism infiltrates every aspect of our social lives. We now have generations of youth who have grown up knowing nothing different - once autonomous institutions now base all their decisions on neoliberalist, marketing protocols and agendas. This cynical utopia is killing off independent thought and progressively deleting creative production unless it serves its own purposes in following monetary protocols alone. We are now a consumer class and our voices only have weight through product related contexts. Think of zombies. Think of the original film written and directed by George A. Romero, 'Dawn of the Dead' made in 1978. A cunning attack on American consumerist society. The survivors of the epidemic take refuge in a shopping mall only to find their hopes for easy access to material goods are shared by the growing hoards of zombies. The undead return to what they know – shopping. Ballard said "Consumerism does have certain affinities with fascism," he argues. "It's a way of voting not at the ballet box but at the cash counter... The one civic activity we take part in is shopping, particularly in big malls. These are ceremonies of mass affirmation." Even though many experience limitations within certain frameworks, whether in educational or in other working environments. Individuals can still critique through their actions, and respond to the policies handed down by upper management. Upper management always implement the prevailing agendas of government or corporate power. We all know how students are more valued for their economical revenue rather than deeper and contextual potentials. And even though these environments can be the kiss of death to our creative imaginations. To assume that all individuals within these institutions are just slaves conforming to top-down agendas alone, is too simplistic. Such an assumption denies the possibilities of authentic liberation taking place. This is why those who reside outside of institutions should collaborate with those within them, so to bring about a more meaningful experience, grounded on all sides. For me, it's about what people are going to do about it in respect of their own contexts, how they will work with others to make a difference? Wishing you well. marc > It gets worse and will probably mean the end of substantial funding > for experimental arts in the UK. Lets face it, the Arts Council wont > be able to pick up the tab. > > > Is Vince Cable about to end Britain's research empire? > > > In 1960, Harold Macmillan announced the abandonment of Britain's > colonial aspirations with his famous "wind of change" > <http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eraindependence/p/wind_of_change2.htm> > speech. The empire had become too expensive, it was time to withdraw. > This Wednesday, Vince Cable is poised to signal an equally historic > retreat, this time from the empire of knowledge. > > Britain has an unusually comprehensive capability across all the > disciplines of scholarly research. Only the US can match our diversity > of expertise. Everywhere else has concentrated on disciplines directly > relevant to their commercial ecosystem. Germany is famously strong in > engineering, Japan spectacularly weak in the social sciences. > > Our expertise resides largely in our universities and has been > irrigated for decades by increasing funding for research under both > Conservative and Labour governments. The water of funding has allowed > academics to spend time exploring the frontiers of knowledge, > maintaining British outposts in many far-flung realms. Now the > Treasury is considering cuts of 35% in research funding > <http://bit.ly/9v7uH0>, turning off the tap to many fields. If that > happens, expertise will rapidly wither, and our empire will fragment. > > To understand the coming drought, consider just one of the > government's two main channels of funding for academic researchers, > the quality-related (QR) fund provided by the Higher Education Funding > Council for England <http://www.hefce.ac.uk/> (Hefce). Hefce's QR > budget is over £1.6bn a year. In recent years it has ringfenced the > part of QR given to science and engineering disciplines. So when > funding has been squeezed, it has been the social sciences and > humanities that have borne all the cuts. If that policy is maintained > in the face of cuts of 35%, there will be virtually no money left for > the humanities or social sciences. Huge swathes of scholarship will > lose half their irrigation. Many outposts will be abandoned. It will > not be a case simply of trimming here and there. > > Fear of such devastation is why learned societies, usually the most > cordial of allies, have started attacking each other's turf. The Royal > Academy of Engineering <http://www.raeng.org.uk/>, for example, has > recently advised ministers to make cuts in physics > <http://exquisitelife.researchresearch.com/exquisite_life/2010/07/chemical-engineers-back-physicists-in-row-with-royal-academy-of-engineering.html>. > > So as Vince Cable comes to make his first major speech on research on > Wednesday, the stakes are high. It is of course inconceivable that the > business secretary will say anything as frank as that he wants us to > abandon much of our empire of knowledge. But then, Macmillan was also > diplomatic in his language. > > In his speech, the strongest Macmillan came up with was: "The wind of > change is blowing through this continent, and whether we like it or > not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We > must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take > account of it." > > On Wednesday, it is quite possible that the heart of Cable's speech > will be something similar – perhaps: "The need to reduce the budget > deficit is pressing, and whether we like it or not, the cuts required > are a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our > policies on science and research must take account of it." > > If so, then we will know the battles with the Treasury are over, deep > cuts are coming, and that Britain has finally given up trying to > maintain expertise across the entire empire of knowledge. The chill > wind of history will have arrived. And the only question left will be > which outposts to abandon first. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
