Comments on Mind the Gap!: Mind the Gap News

It's ok. Thanks for your perspective. I do think w...

2005-10-15T12:09:00.000+01:00

It's ok. Thanks for your perspective. I do think we have to get a little more realistic in this respect. What we need to do, I think, is extend the number of active members and perhaps accept that many of the others will not become heavily involved. It's almost a consumer mentality. People seem to want to "consume" rather than produce their politics along with everything else. We have exactly the same probelm in my LGB group.

Hi,I've just caught up with your site after it was...

2005-10-14T12:00:00.000+01:00

Hi,

I've just caught up with your site after it was linked on The F Word.

It's not just feminist/student groups, in fact the mainly-student feminist groups I was in in the late 70s might have had wider participation (the anti-hierarchy thing was big in those days), but everything else I've been involved with since has the same feature.

Assorted peace groups, Friends of the Earth, Amnesty International, residents' associations: you get the same small group doing the committee/activist jobs year after year. In some cases, people stay in the same role for ever and in others they swop round. Most people who join, do little more than pay their subs; most people who attend meetings or write letters are unwilling to move up to a staff or name-in-the-leaflets level, and most of the people who are particularly active are doing 3 or more other things too. I think this is a feature of the couch potato society, or even more general, and sorry, I don't know how to fix it.

Then the people who do the work, because otherwise it won't get done, burn out and the thing falls apart. Don't worry, it'll be back in another incarnation.

I don't mean to be a downer here. Good luck trying to get people to join in.

I haven't blogged about it, no. Although you've ma...

2005-10-11T19:06:00.000+01:00

I haven't blogged about it, no. Although you've made me think about it!

"Having experienced the slow-decision making and p...

2005-10-10T02:29:00.000+01:00

"Having experienced the slow-decision making and power struggles of collectives, I am a huge fan of hierarchies."

Emma - this is a really intriguing statement. Have you blogged about this on gendergeek? Boy would I love to read you expand what is already expressed in your comment (either here, or at gendergeek)...

I expect you're right on all counts emma and I thi...

2005-10-07T22:02:00.000+01:00

I expect you're right on all counts emma and I think we were a bit naive when we first started. I don't mind being one of the coordinators, but I do think we have to find ways of getting the others to take up more positive roles. At some point we -the founders of the group - will move on and it will be a terrible shame if the group dissolves just because we leave.

I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a happy...

2005-10-05T15:10:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a happy collective! In my (limited) experience, people often feel very uncertain about roles within a collective, because there is no one with the authority and responsibility of co-ordinating the work. Having experienced the slow-decision making and power struggles of collectives, I am a huge fan of hierarchies.

I don't know why hierarchies per se have such a close association with patriarchy. It often seemed to me that a hierarchy would have been more inclusive than a collective, because a hierarchy relies so much less on an individual's own ability to put themselves forward, and creates boundaries for paricipation that most people find helpful.

Plus, I always assumed that everyone wanted to be in charge of everything (like I do). Actually, I think most people are really happy to NOT be in charge!