17th March 2011, 02:20 PM
I have been following the corrospondence on Britarch on the past day or two. Whilst I applaud the fact that FINALLY the great and the good that subscribe to Britarch have woken up to realisation of the problems that archaeology is struggling with at the moment, I find myself struggling to accept Andy's analysis and proposals for action.
There is no doubt in my mind that we are in the middle of a battle, but it is classic 'class-war' and not a set piece involving tin soldiers and toy drums. We need to 'save' archaeology sure, but we can only do whilst applying ourselves to saving all those other aspects of society that we hold dear. If we separate archaeology from the wider struggle, we will be falling into the trap often laid by the Tories (lets stop calling these shysters Lib-Cons) - and defeated by our own divisions.
I agree with one thing in Andy's letter - we need to create a united front and at least that part of the anaylsis is perceptive - however it has to be a front united across a society wide campaign and not just for archaeology. I suspect therefore that trying to organise a united front through either the CBA or Current Archaeology - where as Andy points out there are many who openly 'support the Cameron Government's programme or at least some of the economic reasoning behind it' - then the campaign is doomed to failure before it even starts.
There is no doubt in my mind that we are in the middle of a battle, but it is classic 'class-war' and not a set piece involving tin soldiers and toy drums. We need to 'save' archaeology sure, but we can only do whilst applying ourselves to saving all those other aspects of society that we hold dear. If we separate archaeology from the wider struggle, we will be falling into the trap often laid by the Tories (lets stop calling these shysters Lib-Cons) - and defeated by our own divisions.
I agree with one thing in Andy's letter - we need to create a united front and at least that part of the anaylsis is perceptive - however it has to be a front united across a society wide campaign and not just for archaeology. I suspect therefore that trying to organise a united front through either the CBA or Current Archaeology - where as Andy points out there are many who openly 'support the Cameron Government's programme or at least some of the economic reasoning behind it' - then the campaign is doomed to failure before it even starts.
With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...