Just before we went into the East Cowes Public meeting yesterday, we bumped into friend of VB, Dan Roberts.
You might recognise Dan’s name from the piece we did about his amazing wooden tricycle, which he cycled from Cowes to the depths of Spain last year.
Well, Dan is back now and he’s certainly a man who likes to keep himself busy.
His frustration at the Isle of Wight council’s plans to close nine of the eleven libraries on the Island, inspired him to create, from scratch, a traditional 17th Century printing press.
The press prints out a pledge to actively campaign against re-election of councillors who vote for the library cuts.
Dan told us more, click on the play button to listen
[audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/dan-roberts-printing-press.mp3]
In Dan’s own words, here’s what he has to say about the pledge discussed on the podcast and why it’s so important to him.
The point of this pledge campaign is to make councillors truly accountable for their actions by making a direct link between the way they vote on the plan to close nine of our eleven libraries and their own job security.
At election time, councillors rely on a handful of helpers to get their message across, and we hope that the prospect of having hundreds of people campaigning against those who vote for the cuts will help concentrate their minds on the importance of finding alternatives.
In a world where machines and means of communication are increasingly electronic, people seem to be fascinated by anything that has cog-wheels and visible moving parts – especially if it is made of wood. That’s why we thought that making a 17th century style printing press might be an effective way to get our message across.
It’s also reminiscent of the 17th and 18th century pamphleteers like Swift who demonstrated the power of grass-roots publishing to give ordinary people a voice.
The technique is limited by the number of times we can slap paint on the roller and crank individual sheets of paper through the roller while standing on chill street corners so we also plan to use the advantages of modern technology by setting up a web page where people can register their pledges (details to follow).
People needn’t be worried about the idea of making a pledge – it is as much or as little as you want it to be. ‘Actively campaign’ doesn’t imply supporting any particular party or candidate. It could mean standing yourself as a Public Libraries candidate at the next election or it could just be saying to your friends “Do you remember?…so-and-so voted to get rid of our library. Perhaps we shouldn’t vote for them this time’.
Click on images for larger versions
