Petition Feedback

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Thoughts on an attempt to weave radical analysis into a petition against a hated fence?


TAKE DOWN THE FENCE!
We, the undersigned, call on the city, Killam Properties, and all others concerned to see to the removal of the fence which blocks the south end of Chebucto Lane. That this customary thoroughfare has been blocked by private business interests – without consultation of or concern
for the surrounding neighbourhood – is an affront to values of community and democracy. That measures (greasing the fence, etc.) have been taken which could potentially injure community members attempting to use this well established path is particularly disturbing. It speaks to outright contempt on the part of the property owners for the well established custom of neighbourhood residents.

[RedWorker]

This is 'radical analysis'? It could have been taken straight out of a bourgeois narrative. Hell, even a specific tendency of the American right-wing "Libertarians" could have written it. (one tendency would stand for allowing businesses to dump nuclear waste next to someone's home as long as they have ownership of the property; another tendency would argue that this violates the right of the individual and perhaps even property rights)

"This is nothing but the latest action which reveals that the current social system, run by the owners of the biggest businesses, prioritizes profit before any need, even if the rights of anyone have to be violated. Opposing this action will be meaningless without opposing the system behind it." could, meanwhile, have been a sentence which could be said to "weave radical analysis".

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

This is 'radical analysis'? It could have been taken straight out of a bourgeois narrative. Hell, even a specific tendency of the American right-wing "Libertarians" could have written it. (one tendency would stand for allowing businesses to dump nuclear waste next to someone's home as long as they have ownership of the property; another tendency would argue that this violates the right of the individual and perhaps even property rights)

"This is nothing but the latest action which reveals that the current social system, run by the owners of the biggest businesses, prioritizes profit before any need, even if the rights of anyone have to be violated. Opposing this action will be meaningless without opposing the system behind it." could, meanwhile, have been a sentence which could be said to "weave radical analysis".

So, suppose you wanted to see a fence torn down, and wanted to generate neighborhood support . . . in a way that problematize private landlords closing off the commons . . . how would you word it?

(To clarify - this isn't being done in isolation - the fence is regularly destroyed by angry folk around the neighborhood, only to be replaced)