Hier een klein pareltje. Een 'tongue in cheek' sociologische analyse van linkse vergadercultuur in de jaren zeventig van de hand van wereldvermaarde schrijver/semioticus Umberto Eco. Het onderscheidt libido-speak van left-speak, en schetst enkele klassieke typologieën: de deliberatieve, justitiële of impulsieve vergadering, elk met eigen beginselen, en een eigen trukendoos voor vergaderhegemonie. Doe er je voordeel mee.
Meetings of Desire
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco
Of late the weekly magazine L'Espresso has received a good many requests for help from readers whose activities require them to take part in meetings, it is an experience common to many. Whereas in 1968 the only meetings held were those in universities and factories, nowadays one can find oneself attending a neighbourhood meeting, a residents’ association meeting, a parents of pupils meeting (the so-called decreti delegati), a pupils and teachers meeting, a hospital meeting or even a prison meeting. There are also women's meetings (feminist or otherwise), meetings of those charged with the enforcement of public order, meetings of homosexuals, theatrecompany actors, coop members, editorial meetings, etc. Even to write this article, friends and collaborators were contacted and a meeting was called of people experienced in attending meetings. The contents are the result of a collective vote, its authors having been delegated by the meeting to write it. In the end, one author delegated the other to do the writing!
