agony auntie

Facing up to Facebook

DearSubcomandauntie , I’m addicted to Facebook, spending days onlinedesperateto add more‘friends’to my profileand consumed with theneed to spill themostintimatedetails aboutmy life. What should I do? Lostin Cyberspace

DearLostin Cyberspace , Auntiehas always caughtthewhiffofthe zeitgeist, toyed with itand moved on before thepartystarts – Stalkbookis no exception. Marshall McLuhan said ‘Publication is a selfinvasion ofprivacy’– it’s ourultimate freedom, so whygiveitaway? When your housegets burgled becauseyou announced in detail yourupcoming holiday, don’tbe surprised iftheinsurancecompanythinks you’rean idiot– Auntiethinks thesame. You need a realitycheckwhen you sufferanxietybecauseyou’vefewer Facebook‘friends’than thatloserChloefrom primaryschool, and competein the friendship raceon thebasis thatiftheyare aliveand on thesameplanetthen theyall countthesame. Fortherecord, ‘friend’ doesn’tmean thetraineratthegym you oncewentto fiveyears ago. Auntiequicklytired ofcorresponding with peopleshespenta lifetimeavoiding (and Andrewin Facebook’s London network, Auntieis nota ‘naughtyschoolgirl’, you sleazyperve). There’s a reason when the ‘friend’you haven’tthoughtaboutin years writes ‘Let’s meetup soon’whyit’s bestit doesn’thappen. And hell, what’s this ‘meeting up’business anyway– whybother when Facebookis open 24/7and you can avoid thebuses. Yourlifeis notqualitativelyimproved by hourlyupdates on Mattfrom Birmingham’s shoefetish; and justbecauseKath in Liverpool likes curries too itdoesn’tmean she’s yoursoulmate. Takea deep breath and kill yourpage. Wehavea world to win, barricades to storm, dancing to bedone, pubs to crawl and peopleto snog. It’s better than a virtual ‘poke’anyday. auntie@redpepper.org.uk

oct/nov2007 red pepper

07

implicated in the production of each other’s inequalities. The Chavez-Livingstone initiative and tax justice campaigns are highlighted to make her point. Such initiatives, however, also raise the thorny issue of what counts as a democratic practice: what is accountability and what does it mean to be responsible to others? Massey suggests we put less emphasis on abstract categories like ‘local’ or ‘global’, focusing instead on the power geometries that make places responsible and accountable to each other. She shows how London is implicated in the production of shocking inequalities worldwide. But just as Massey has done much to disrupt distinct, abstract categories of space, foregrounding interconnections between places, perhaps we should also get away from talking in the abstract about different models of politics. For too long, radical politics has taken deterministic views of models of politics, rather than looking at how they play out differently, through different situated practices. In the Chavez-Livingstone case, the coming together of territorial, representative government with post-territorial, single issuebased politics (and no doubt other ways of doing politics) had productive consequences. Neither models of politics nor categories of space operate in the abstract. When we treat them as if they do, attacking or defending them as such, we close down the possibilities for democratic spaces. The network I direct – ‘The Space of Democracy

Joel A nderson

Anita Roddick The redesigned Red Pepper magazine and website would not have been possible withoutthe supportofAnita Roddick, news of whose death reached us as we were putting the finishing touches to this issue. Herloss shocked and saddened us all. She will be greatlymissed byeveryone whose lives she touched and who were inspired byherunflagging vision and beliefin the possibilityofa betterworld. Oursincerestthanks forherhelp and support, and our heartfeltcondolences to her husband, Gordon, and her daughters, Sam and Justine.

and the Democracy of Space’ – seeks to address such issues, by bringing together over 400 people with similar concerns. As illustrated in the most recent debate, involving Tony Benn, Bernard Crick, Hilary Wainwright and David Chandler, the spatialisation of radical politics requires that we attend to situated practices. Jonathan Pugh Newcastle University Director of ‘The Space of Democracy and the Democracy of Space network’

Eager members In the summer issue of Red Pepper (Aug/Sept 2007), Agony Subcomandauntie described herself as a ‘political lesbian’. This has broken many a male heart here at GLC Reunited, where a number of our members had been harbouring hopes of attracting her affections. We are wondering, however, whether a quick shag would be out of the question if we convert to political lesbianism ourselves? Horace Cutler London

Musicoftheforgotten: celebrating thearts and cultureofAfrica’s lastcolony London’s firstWestern Sahara musicand arts festival

Showcasing therich cultureoftheSaharawi peopleto raiseawareness and supportfortheirplight. Largelyignored and forgotten bythewestern powers and its media, theSaharawis werepromised a UN-organised self-determination referendum in early1992, butarestill waiting foritto take place15years later. TheSandblastFestival will bring 20 Saharawi artists based in therefugee camps and from Spain to theUKforthefirsttime, to presenttheirstorythrough theperforming and visual arts, culminating in a concentration ofmulti-media events atRich Mixin EastLondon overtheweekend of3and 4 November. 29October-4November2007 www.sandblast-arts.org