The Kolding Manifesto - IntroductionA progress report from a talk on technology, democracy, and sustainability |
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On Oct. 3-5, 1997 a good hundred people met at Kolding Højskole, a Danish folk high school, under the heading: Should the numskulls save the world, since the eggheads won't? This was the year when Mariager Fiord died, when Limfjorden, another Danish fiord, died (though just by 30 percent), and when Denmark's CO2 emissions increased by 23 percent. This very year our government announced its goal: a doubling of road haulage over the next 10 years, and a 40 percent consumption increase. With our manifest we wish to voice our criticisms of such a society, and also set up a few goals for the kind of social development that any sensible and thoughtful person will agree is wanted and needed - however impossible they may call it. Thus, the subject-matter is bound to amount to truisms - and with a purpose. Let's get back to simple truths and common sense. That's our challenge! There is a need for a radical break with how we think of progress, how we 'know' things, and with our entire way of living and organising. It's time for the simpletons to try their hand, without more ado, since the eggheads have already done enough harm. And in order to progress we need to resort to a few of the insights, virtues and technologies that have been engulfed in the abysmal churning money-maelstrom. The manifest-ness of our manifesto does not consist in pompous paroles, but in the inevitable and to some extent general nature of its standpoints. We'll leave the debate and means for a future talk - one that will make sense only if taking place among people who want or have the power to rule - true democracy. Our political latitude will have to be recaptured. It is time for the political politician to be reinstated. As for necessities, truisms, terms of Good and Evil, the curse of expert dominance and not least, respect for common sense and common rule, we will be unyielding. This manifesto has not been put to the vote, and consequently has not been formally adopted. Nor is it the work of any single individual. It is a status report - the cross-section of a long-standing, multifaceted communication that has still a long way to go. The manifesto was put together by a working group. It was first presented under the heading, 'Ecology suspended between Humour and Earnest' during our network seminar and annual meeting at Snoghøj Folkehøjskole, Denmark, January 23-25, 1998. We wish to extend our thanks to Den Grønne Fond (the DK Green Foundation) and Græsrodsfonden (the DK Grassroot Fund) for financial support, and to Per Marquard Otzen, 'Information' (a DK newspaper) for his illustrations. To further encourage the debate our website www.eco-net.dk/english includes reference literature. Additional suggestions are welcomed. Lars Myrthu-Nielsen Secretarial manager Network for Ecological Education and Practice |
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