TCUK farrago exposes national divisions shocker

It's a shame to see that Techcrunch UK has gone into meltdown. Shel Israel sums it up at Naked Conversations. The most dismal consequence of all this though is the parochialism and xenophobia that has subsequently been exposed:

Loic Lemeur wrongly assumed that conference attendees would not object to Le Web 3 morphing into a platform for French pre-election chest-beating (with keynotes delivered in French, natch);

The attendees (rightly IMHO) reacted with overwhelming negativity, broadly criticing the politicization of what was otherwise a potentially interesting tech conference (as an employee of a French telco, this does not surpise me - nor should it anyone else; there have been numerous precedents for French state intervention in the French tech sector, and vice versa.) Some accused Lemur of attempting to push his own domestic political ambitions, while others implied (again, correctly IMHO) that France is behind the curve in terms of understanding, adopting and incubating the emerging wave of new internet models;

Michael Arrington, in shutting down TCUK, was accused of many things: US imperialism, xenophobia, heavy-handedness, croneyism, hypocrisy. A distinct us-and-them tone has emerged from the fall-out: the US guys don't bother to attend European events, they don't appreciate what's going on outside Silicon Valley; the Brits lack profesionalism, they don't see the importance of protecting a valuable brand...

It's all a storm in a teacup really. But it's interesting to see how the parties involved have exhibited somewhat cliched national characteristics: arrogance (France), isolationism (US), cynicism (UK). Or maybe it's just my cliche-riddled mindset. Whatever. I'm sure everyone will kiss and make up (although I doubt Arrington will be able to show his face in the UK for a while.) In the meantime, I hope Techcrunch UK continues in some sort of incarnation - on the whole it's coverage was good, and it succeeded in creating a positive buzz amongst the nascent startup community in the UK.

Posted by monoman at 01:03 PM on December 14, 2006