Things can change,
\nbut it might take some time for radical social changes to
\nbecome really noticeable.<\/p>\n
I was thinking about this the other day as I reflected upon just
\nhow few people smoke these days.<\/p>\n
One of the things that I have always noted about politics is
\nthat a lot of what goes on is very much based in terms of
\ndebating the struggles the past.<\/p>\n
Now it might all be very fascinating to a debate what we ( I ) did
\nin the past, but you just can’t keep doing this and expect to
\nmaintain a clear view upon just what the current issues or
\npolitical problems might be.<\/p>\n
Having been involved within the peace movement for over 40
\nyears I recognise this danger within myself, but the question is
\njust how do I get rid of the kind of historical baggage which
\ncomes with a long history of activism?<\/p>\n
One of the reasons that I gave my own archive to IISH in
\nAmsterdam, was so that it might free me from this kind of
\nlooking back on the past,
\nand thus free myself up in order to get on with some new
\nprojects.<\/p>\n
By and large this seems to of worked for me,
\nbut it would still be worth while if I could do a couple of oral
\nhistory recordings within the next year or so.<\/p>\n
That way I wouldn’t be tempted to start playing the grand old
\nveteran in about 20 years time,
\nbut still get to record what I’ve done in the past.<\/p>\n
What I don’t want to do is write up my own autobiography.<\/p>\n
Now I might like us to note various dates in my own history,
\nbut I would not like to write them all up.<\/p>\n
Writing up ones own history is very much like trying to proof
\nread ones own work:
\nIt’s best left for someone else to do it for one.<\/p>\n
So now I’m looking for someone to sit down for a few hours
\nwith me in front of a microphone.<\/p>\n
After that it will be time for me to really concentrate upon
\nsomething new.<\/p>\n
I’ve seen too many activists surrounded by their old paper
\ndocuments, which can hold them to thinking about the past.<\/p>\n
I’ve also noted just how nice it is to live in a place which is not
\nones own political archive.<\/p>\n
I know just which of these two lifestyles I want to enjoy in my
\nold age.<\/p>\n
Just FYI :-
\nWhat sparked me to write this has been some of the recent
\nwork I have been doing in terms of changes with some of the
\nprojects in which I am currently involved,
\nbut more on them at some other stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Things can change, but it might take some time for radical social changes to become really noticeable. I was thinking about this the other day as I reflected upon just how few people smoke these days. One of the things that I have always noted about politics is that a lot of what goes on … Continue reading Things Can Change, But Not By Me Living In the Past.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theproject.me.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}