Witness Seminar: The Green
break-through of 1989: meaning, significance and legacy
Thursday 14th October, 2010
13:30 - 18.30
Institute of Historical Research, Senate
House, Malet Street, London (map and
directions)
New: 22 February 2011: the video recording of the seminar has now been posted online.
(the transcription of the
discussion will follow shortly)
This witness seminar seeks to consider and contextualise the 'break-through'
year of 1989 in the British environmental movement, through the testimony of
leading figures of the time, and participation from the seminar's audience.
The seminar will examine the remarkable growth of the environmental movement in
the late 1980s (seen through the flourishing income, profile and supporter base
of leading NGOs such as Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and WWF), culminating
in 1989. It will explore how far NGOs were masters of their own destiny, or to
what degree they were simply beneficiaries of a unique confluence of trends and
circumstances. Finally, it will seek to understand why the break-through was not
sustained into the 1990s, and assess what overall significance should be
attributed to these years in the history of the British environmental movement.
Witnesses include:
Robin Grove-White (Director,
Campaign to Protect Rural England, 1981-1987)
Julia Hales (co-editor, Green Consumer Guide, 1988)
Stephen Joseph (Executive Director,
Campaign for Better Transport (Transport 2000), 1988 onwards)
George Medley (Director,
WWF-UK, 1978-1993)
Peter Melchett (Executive Director,
Greenpeace, 1989-2000)
Sara Parkin (Speaker,
Green Party, 1989-1992)
Nicholas Schoon (Environment correspondent, The Independent, 1990-1998)
Charles Secrett (Director,
Friends of the Earth, 1993-2002)
Roger Geffen (London
Cycling Campaign, Reclaim the Streets, anti-road protester, 1989-)
Programme:
13:00 - 13:30: Registration
13.30 - 17.00: Witness Seminar
17.00 - 18.30: Drinks reception
Briefing Paper (PDF) - It would be helpful if all participants could have
read this prior to this event.
Places are limited and pre-registration for this event is essential. To
register, please contact Herjeet Marway,
h.marway@bham.ac.uk
The seminar is co-convened by the NGOs in Britain project, University of
Birmingham, and the Centre for Contemporary British History at King's College,
London (CCBH@King's). The convenors of this seminar would like to thank the
Leverhulme Trust, for their financial support.
Please note: the purpose of a witness seminar is to provoke a round-table
discussion that will allow contemporaries to explain their contribution and
reflect upon their experiences, thereby producing material not currently
captured by the historical record. The event, including all contributions from
the audience, will be recorded and transcribed. Transcripts are sent to all
contributors for their approval and contributors can redact their utterances,
prior to publication. The approved text will be published and will be made
available on the website of the CCBH@King's.
For further details about the event, please contact Herjeet Marway,
h.marway@bham.ac.uk
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