990218.1251 tamarisk farm

here’s the view from stef in melbourne ( full text ) :

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Speaking as a total outsider –

Seems to me that the idea of the individual nation-state is giving way to …err….another nation-state, but on a bigger scale.

I believe that people living in this confusing, contradictory, world-weary time are somehow recognising that massive changes are needed for the human race to progress – that the outdated heirarchies don’t work, and that the weary old competitive models have created many of the things we don’t want in society (Europe’s a great example of that).

However, from what you’ve said, look like those in control are trying (and maybe they’ve succeeded) to retain control by channelling this tide into an arrangement that is basically more of the same – but now it’ll be the nation of Europe vs the nation of the US etc, a replay of times when the tiny city-states formed into countries.

Has anybody asked Europe’s citizens whether they want this to happen or not?

As the Australian saying so eloquently puts it, Same Shit, Different Bucket.

PS Maybe I should censor that last quote in case I’m reported to the Euro Net Police….

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smiley mr blair has of course promised us a referendum . once he’s sure we’re sufficiently < informed > to get the answer right . the last paragraph of that gaurdian article ran as follows :
<
The bankers have succeeded in launching the Euro zone, and it will now be the industrialists who shape it. What the voters will make of it remains to be seen.
>
puts everyone in their place , eh ?

unusually there were three ( yes that’s 3 ! ) decent articles in this week’s new statesman [ traditionally left wing rag , quietly infiltrated by the forces of new righteousness and splendour ] . must be to stop the old subscribers getting too jittery . the statesman launched a charmingly clunky and hopeless website last autumn . but when i looked in last night , i found it had been replaced by a gleaming new one that’s alarmingly well constructed . couldn’t see any credits . interested if anyone knows who built it .

anyway , these are the articles :

http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/199902120022.htm on the emergence of a new < global social movement > opposing the sinister world trade organisation
http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/199902120028.htm on the folly of trying to plan cities – or implicitly anything – rationally ( written by paul barker of own beloved institute of community studies )
http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/199902120027.htm a hilariously vitriolic piece on the sparkly new < museum > in auckland , new zealand ( tom , christian : did you visit it ? )

here on aggie i’m feeling distinctly queesy about this evening’s impending tutorial . hope nobody turns up .

: cH