File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/marxism-international.9712, message 412


Date: Mon, 29 Dec 1997 11:34:00 -0500
From: Louis Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: M-I: George Monbiot on "Against Nature" (from maclibel)


Article by George Monbiot

There has never been a series on British television like Channel 4's
Against Nature, which ended with a debate on Tuesday night. The
environmentalists it interviewed were lied to about the contents of
the programmes. They were given no chance to respond to the
accusations the series made. They were misrepresentated to the extent
of falsification. One couldn't help suspecting that Against Nature was
driven not by healthy scepticism but by shrill ideology. 

If this were so, where might it have come from? At first we thought
the Far Right might have been involved. But, over the last three
weeks, another picture has begun to form. Against Nature IS the
product of an extreme political ideology, but it comes from a rather
different quarter: an obscure and cranky sect called the Revolutionary
Communist Party. 

Frank Furedi, the series' key interviewee and a protagonist in
Tuesday's debate, has been described as the father of the modern RCP.
He is a regular contributer to the RCP's journal, Living Marxism. Of
the two main contributers to the third programme, one, John Gillott,
is Living Marxism's science correspondent. The other, Robert Plomin,
though not RCP, has recently been interviewed sympathetically by the
magazine. Martin Durkin, the director of the three programmes,
describes himself as a Marxist: the only brand of Marxism which
follows the line the series takes is the RCP's. The husband of his
deputy, Against Nature's assistant producer, is the co-author of the
RCP's manifesto and Books Editor of Living Marxism.

Line by line, point by point, Against Nature follows the agenda laid
down by the RCP. Greens, both the series and Living Marxism maintain,
present themselves as radicals, but are really doom-mongering
imperialists, engaged in the deification of Nature and the rejection
of human progress. Global warming is nothing to worry about, while
sustainable development is a conspiracy against people. Greens have
plotted with the film industry to make science terrifying. Genetic
engineering and human cloning are not to be feared but cherished, as
they will liberate humanity from nature.

The ideologues in the series have some strange bedfellows, but the RCP
has always been good at making selective alliances, whether it is
promoting anti-environmental ideas, or campaigning against a ban on
landmines and in favour of the Bosnian Serb forces and the Hutu
militias. Its members are controversialists, but more than just that:
the principle targets for their attacks are alternative outlets for
radical action.

I had scarcely broached this subject on Tuesday night's debate when
Martin Durkin began - and I do not exaggerate - screaming. I was a
McCarthyite and a despicable conspiracist. What on earth did his
personal political views have to do with this series? 

Well, rather too much. The RCP and its associates can make as many
programmes as they like as long as they do so openly and honestly.
Indeed, among its perversities and cheap controversialism, the RCP has
some interesting and provocative views, which are worth hearing and
debating. But Martin Durkin and his commissioning editor, Sara
Ramsden, maintain that Against Nature is not a polemic, but a
well-balanced documentary series. There was no presenter; instead we
were instructed, in true documentary style, by an authoritative
voice-over. The RCP/Living Marxism interviewees were not captioned as
such, but presented as independent experts. 

It's an extraordinary coup for a tiny group of cranks: three hours of
prime time propaganda. But how on earth did they pull it off? It is
surely inconceivable that Channel 4's top decision-makers, such as
Sara Ramsden, also belong to the party. But many television executives
hate environmentalism. They see it as a grim memento mori at the
bottom of the picture, spoiling the good news about cars, clothes and
consumerism. So when the film-makers suggested an all-out assault on
environmentalists, their proposal fell on fertile ground. The
revolution, as the RCP sees it, has been televised.




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