Thanks for the warning, John & Patrice!

Fortunately, we are insulated from the full glare of UK publicity by
being second-class UK citizens. (i.e. We are English but we don't live
in LONDON - so we are virtually invisible, and unrepresented by government).

In fact, I have gathered from some of our friends who live and work in
North London, that the media bubble in the UK is super-concentrated on
an area only about 10km wide! If you're outside there, then you're
almost invisible.

I have managed to generate national level publicity a couple of times
before, in 1996 when I was starting "Redundant Technology Initiative",
and in 2002/2003. Then I and my friends managed to leverage the
publicity quite successfully, but it is amazing how quickly the media
fires go cold in a country where the media, politics, finance and
culture are almost completely centralised.

We've found since then that we have a higher INTERnational profile than
we do a NATION profile. This tends to confuse London-based journalists!

Nonetheless, it is as well to be aware of the dangers. But who can
disagree with our non-confrontational, evolutionary (rather than
revolutionary) approach? We simply don't like wasted potential (of
technology or people) we do like doing it ourselves, we do like
creativity, and we do like to ask questions.

Best Regards,

James
=====

On 21/02/12 05:38, Patrice Riemens wrote:
> Hear Hear!
> (with congrats all the same, as we know thgat publicity/PR = funding ...)
> Greetz from Athens (last hours) p+1D! (3 in Am* ...)
>
>
>
>
>> Hei James!
>>
>>
>>> The 50 winners have been announced
>>>
>> FWIW, it may not be a bad thing to strategically keep in mind Hakim Bey's
>> Permanent Autonomous Zone admonition:
>>
>> "THE QUESTION OF PUBLICITY
>>
>> Recent events in the US and Europe have shown that
>> self-organized/autonomous
>> groups strike fear into the heart of the State. MOVE in Philadelphia, the
>> Koreshites of Waco, Deadheads, Rainbow Tribes, computer-hackers,
>> squatters,
>> etc., have been targeted for varying intensity-levels of extermination.
>> And yet
>> other autonomous groups go unnoticed, or at least unpersecuted. What makes
>> the
>> difference? One factor may be the malign effect of publicity or mediation.
>> The
>> Media experience a vampiric thirst for the shadow-Passion play of
>> "Terrorism",
>> Babylon's public ritual of expiation, scapegoating, and blood-sacrifice.
>> Once
>> any autonomous group allows this particular "gaze" to fall upon it, the
>> shit
>> hits the fan:-the Media will try to arrange a mini-armageddon to satisfy
>> its
>> junk-sickness for spectacle and death.
>>
>> Now, the PAZ makes a fine sitting target for such a Media smart-bomb.
>> Beseiged
>> inside its "con-pound", the self-organized group can only succumb to some
>> sort
>> of cheap pre-determined martyrdom. Presumably this role appeals only to
>> neurotic
>> masochists??? In any case, most groups will want to live out their natural
>> span
>> or trajectory in peace and quiet. A good tactic here might be to avoid
>> publicity
>> from the Mass Media as if it were the plague. A bit of natural paranoia
>> comes in
>> handy, so long as it doesn't become an end in itself. One must be cunning
>> in
>> order to get away with being bold. A touch of camouflage, a flair for
>> invisibility, a sense of tact as a tactic...might be as useful to a PAZ as
>> a
>> TAZ. Humble suggestions:-Use only "intimate media" (zines, phonetrees,
>> BBSs,
>> free radio and mini-FM, public-access cable, etc.)-avoid blustering-macho-
>> confrontationist attitude-you don't need five seconds on the Evening News
>> ("Police Raid Cultists") to validate your existence. Our slogan might
>> be:-"Get a
>> life, not a life-style."
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Brico@???
>> http://lists.dyne.org/mailman/listinfo/brico
>>
>>
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