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| Sam Richards' Speech on 'Wake up Totnes' Day |
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These are the full notes for the speech made by Sam Richards at the Save Dartington College Day on 27.10.2007. The speech was shortened and improvised around on the day…
Twelve months ago no one outside the power elite at Dartington knew of the plan to close the college. Then when the news broke in November there was one hundred per cent opposition to the plan. When we started the Save Dartington College Campaign everyone we spoke to was appalled by the news, and incredulous that such a stupidly destructive thing could happen. It was impossible to find anyone who was in favour of the plan.
So who, exactly, is in favour of closing the college? I can think of a few people: the College executive, the College Board of Governors, the Trustees of Dartington Hall, some people in the RDA (although there has been some ambiguity there), and some people at the Higher Education Funding Council for England – including the regional official David Noyce who twice refused to meet us.
How many people does that amount to? At a rough guess I’d say about forty. Forty people decided to close a unique arts college, an inestimable national and international treasure. Forty people decided to do this without consultation. Forty people decided to wreak havoc on the local community. And why? Because they had neither the imagination to see their way through a crisis nor the humility to ask for support, suggestions and help from anywhere in the arts world, the local community, or even the Schumacher College’s contacts.
On the other hand, who is opposed to the closure? Answer: most students past and present, most staff, support staff at college, many local artists and business-people – especially the many who moved to the Totnes area in order to be near the college, most (if not all) elected representatives of the people – town, district and county councillors, artists worldwide, the two local MPs, and, to be honest, everyone we talk to. I don’t know how many people this represents but it is thousands if not tens of thousands. Forty people versus tens of thousands. Is that democracy?
So here’s a big question How do roughly forty people impose their will on thousands? And further, how have they now convinced a fair number of people that the whole thing is a “done deal” when it clearly isn’t? The answer is that they’ve been playing games. They pay legal teams and public relations firms who are specialists in power games, in fact, some of the oldest power games in the book. Here are the main ones.
POWER GAME NUMBER 1: THE MUSHROOM GAME
To play this game you treat everyone like mushrooms – you keep them in the dark and feed them shit. In other words, you plan in secret. You withhold information. You never tell the full story, or name all the people involved behind the scenes.
Even the 1st Port Report was withheld until the Campaign, with the help of MP Anthony Steen, forced Andrew Brewerton to publish it – and even then it was tucked away in an obscure part of the College website. You had to know what you were looking for to find it.
POWER GAME NUMBER 2: THE DEADLINE GAME
To play this game all you need to do is to fix deadlines for important meetings and supposedly crucial decisions. Anyone who establishes a deadline also establishes power.
Of course, you make out that other views, the views of mushrooms, are welcome. You’re always open to suggestions, but if you deliberately set the deadline so soon that there’s no time for alternative plans to be assembled and researched you can just shrug your shoulders and say “sorry”. This leaves your own plan as the only one.
POWER GAME NUMBER 3: THE IRREVOCABLE DECISION GAME
To play this game all you have to do is pretend that decisions, once made, can’t be gone back on. It doesn’t matter how wrong, how stupid or how unpopular – once the decision is made its irrevocable.
I say pretend because, in point of fact there’s no decision made by human beings that can’t be unmade by human beings. But you don’t tell the mushrooms that. After all, laws are made and unmade, added to or abandoned, by Parliament. We no longer duck witches or send children down coal mines (not that there are any left). After centuries of feudalism we now allowed everyone to vote, including women. There’s no more slavery in America or official apartheid in South Africa. I could go on but you get the point. These examples represent decisions that were made about far bigger issues than the closure of Dartington College, and they were opposed and revoked.
So I don’t care how far down the line arrangements with University College Falmouth have gone. They can still be reversed at any time. But you don’t tell the mushrooms that.
POWER GAME NUMBER 4: THE BULLYING AND SCAPEGOATING GAME – OTHERWISE KNOWN AS DIVIDE AND RULE
This game makes sure there’s no serious dissent on the part of the mushrooms. You do it by creating a lousy atmosphere in the workplace, by bullying, and by heavy-handed, authoritarian style management.
If you really want to play this game ruthlessly you find a scapegoat, someone you can make an example of. You victimise this person in the hope that all the other mushrooms will think: “goodness me, look what happens when you stick your neck out. Better not do that…”
What happened to me was part of this particular power game. I was sacked, in effect, for taking the Mickey out of the Headmaster – something that was blown up into a crime as serious as if I’d raped a student, embezzled college funds, turned up drunk or hit someone. Gross misconduct they called it. Gross misconduct! Poking fun. Satire. Criticism. Gross misconduct! I ask you…
GAME NUMBER 5 is simply known as SOD DEMOCRACY
All you need to remember are a few basic points.
a) The views of all people who might be affected by your plans are irrelevant and can be ignored
b) Elected representatives at town, district and country level are not to be told what’s happening – not consulted and certainly not asked for their views.
c) Treat with contempt any sincere alternative plan.
d) Pretend to give options, give the illusion of some kind of choice: Falmouth, South Devon College, Falmouth, Plymouth University, Falmouth, Plymouth College of Art & Design, Falmouth, and maybe Falmouth
e) Even on the day of the 27th October protest Andrew Brewerton was still playing a version of this game. Apparently he said on a radio interview that the protest wouldn’t make any difference. In other words: It doesn’t matter what anyone has to say. He’s not listening, never mind talking to anyone. Why does that not surprise me?
GAME NUMBER 6: FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT
Act as though the whole plan is going ahead. Spend silly sums of money on printed literature called “Merger News” and staff trips to Falmouth.
So what can we do? What is the message from our protest?
Firstly, don’t be fooled by their power games, and don’t be a mushroom. There’s still everything to fight for.
Secondly, we call for a one year moratorium plus a thorough investigation that we can all believe in, plus a willingness for lateral thinking towards solutions that do not involve abandoning 46 years work. The Minister for the Southwest, Ben Bradshaw, should be involved in this. So far Mr. Bradshaw has declared that it is inappropriate for him to intervene. This is nonsense. Politicians, governments intervene in social, economic, welfare and political affairs all the time. That’s what they’re paid for. Sometimes they intervene when it really is inappropriate – such as when Tony Blair joined George Bush’s war in Iraq. I send a message to Mr. Bradshaw: WE WILL NOT BE FOBBED OFF BY LAZY MINISTERIAL COWARDISE. GET INVOLVED MR. BRADSHAW. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL ISSUES IN THE WHOLE OF THE SOUTH WEST. You can’t wash your hands of it. We won’t let you.
I’d like to finish with a quote from Leonard Elmhirst. In mid-1960s the college was going through a crisis. Peter Cox admits in his book The Arts at Dartington that he wondered whether it would have to close, only a few years after opening. He was despondent. Leonard Elmhirst burst into his office and said: “You know, we must never give up”.
And that is the truth: we must never give up.
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