"Michi Sailer" <sailmi@stzstams.ac.at>
Michael Sailer, HSII
DISSENT
First of all I have to admit that I don't know much about this topic. I didn't want to
choose a beginning like that because that's what everybody starts with. But in spite of
this I eventually also decided to point out my lack of knowledge because it expresses
that it's not easy to write an essay of 500 words on this topic. The only sources I have
are one page of stuff I wrote down during the lesson and a bit of information in the
book.
I remember the picture of the "suffragettes", the women who organised a
demonstration for their right to vote. This raised my interest for the meaning of the
expression "dissent".
I know that it signifies that someone or a group of people disagree with something.
They are of another opinion maybe even in an opposition.
I have also kept in mind that there are several forms of this sort of disagreement. Some
people can be in an opposition to society which was expressed by the picture of the
naked man on the street surrounded by police men . From my point of view it's a
logical consequence that disagreements can also be shown in a violent way which was
obviously proved by Eric Cantona and his karate - attack.
Another group of people in England who are not satisfied with some of the society's
values are the Punks. In the 1970s the Punks protested against the policy of the
National Front, which provoked some racial tensions. The fact that the Punks can't
identify with the majority of society is strongly expressed by their physical appearance
which differs very much from the ordinary look.
A very large group of people, namely the Irish, were against the British reign in their
country. The Irish had a very intense desire for freedom. The resistance reached its
critical stage in 1910 when a fight for freedom broke out. In 1916 Irish nationalists
fought British troops. Six years later, in 1922, the Irish proclaimed their own
independent state - Ireland.
But the northern part of Ireland (where Catholics and protestants stand in opposition to
each other) remained under British rule. This was another reason for later conflicts. It
was the Irish Republican Army (IRA) who chose violence as a medium to inform the
public about the situation in Northern Ireland. One example of the IRA's actions is the
1985 - bombing in Brighton just one day before the congress started. The conflict in
Northern Ireland has not been solved until today although there have been lots of
negotiations.
Compared with other European countries , Britain is still very much a class - conscious
society. In such a society it is not surprising that the lower classes often feel
suppressed. Dissatisfaction has repeatedly been the reason for conflicts between social
classes in the British history. In 1926 there was a general strike which had been begun
by the coal miners. The government started to search for extra workers and threatened
the workers. Finally the government could end the strike after eight days.
In the 1980s the coal miners started another strike because they wanted to protest
against the closing of many mines.
