Sustainability: last refuge of the scoundrel
Thrashing around in the quagmire of infighting amongst political advisors, ministers and civil servants, the British prime minister quickly grabbed for the issue of sustainability. Bereft of any long-term purpose, the government's small entourage of under-employed advisors are wont to fight amongst themselves, leaking against each other, jealously fending off rivals in the quest for proximity to power. To keep the troops focussed is not easy when the defining feature of the New Labour administration is that it has junked its old social democratic ideology of welfarism. In the past Blair has resisted pressure on his government inspired by environmentalist demands. But now, following a Downing Street seminar on the future of the power industry, the government is set to promote sustainability as its latest 'big idea', just as the Third Way has lost its lustre.
A new book published last month explains the plasticity of the sustainability concept. In Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age, aid worker Michael Maren is quoted as saying "Everyone now talked about sustainable development." "If you used the term, it sounded as if you knew what you were talking about." "The Beauty of the term" according to Michael Maren "…was that it could be manipulated for any purpose". In 1992, at the Rio conference on the environment US vice president Al Gore defined sustainable development as "…economic progress without environmental destruction" adding "…that's what sustainable development is all about".
In the Queen's Speech in November 1993 Elizabeth II said that her government would "…promote sustainable development". In its 1991 Annual Report the US Army boasts of 'expertise' in 'environmentally sustainable development'. Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan testified to the Senate Banking Committee on 26 February 1997 that recent stock market gains had "…raised questions of sustainability". Happily the Dow Jones Sustainability Group keeps an Index, because "…the concept of corporate sustainability has long been very attractive to investors because of its aim to increase long-term shareholder value".
Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age is available at GBP19.99, plus GBP5.01 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'. www.audacity.org
T.W.A.T.
The latest gruesome instalments of the war against terror are being played out in India and occupied Palestine. In both cases regional conflicts have been exacerbated by the increased stakes set by Washington in its war against terror. In the Indian sub-continent, the Indian government seized upon the war against terror as support for its own conflict with Pakistan, which was widely believed to be backing terror operations within Indian borders. Tragically, the regional conflict has an important internal dimension for India, whose own Muslim population is larger than that of Pakistan and Bangladesh put together. With the Hindu nationalist BJP in power, the Muslim minority has every reason to suspect that operations against Pakistan are addressed also at them. All too predictably, the regional conflict has become an internal conflict with hundreds killed in inter-communal violence. Tony Blair's recent visit to the region was lauded as peace-brokering - until the British satirical magazine Private Eye pointed out that the British government was selling arms to both parties to the conflict, even as Tony Blair was calling for peace.
Meanwhile on the occupied West Bank, the US message that Ariel Sharon had a free hand in rooting out Palestinian 'terrorists' has led to an all-out slaughter, with even the US State Department belatedly urging Israeli restraint towards civilians. What any of this has to do with the playboy millionaires of Saudi Arabia and their September 11 aerobatics is anyone's guess.
-- James Heartfield Sustaining Architecture in the Anti-Machine Age is available at GBP19.99, plus GBP5.01 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'. www.audacity.org