There is a deep frustration with #mainstreaming culture, with its strong tendency to elevate the wrong people and prioritize misguided actions. How can we “think better” beyond the traps of the current socio-political mess.
- The scum rises, in #mainstreaming culture, those who conform to the system, rather than challenge it, often rise to the top. This creates a cycle where meaningful change is stifled by mediocrity and opportunism.
- Grassroots value, social progress has historically emerged from the #grassroots. By stepping away from the toxic mainstream, we can refocus on nurturing these sources of real value.
- The wrong thing gets done, funders and institutional forces often push agendas that diverge from grassroots needs, resulting in projects that perpetuate the status quo.
- Paralysis of choice, the perceived lack of viable options (e.g., “you have no choice but to do the wrong thing”) leads to a sense of helplessness and frustration.
Thinking better, we need frameworks that reject the flawed foundations of #mainstreaming while building collective action. Let’s look at some broad outlines:
- Anarchist paths focus on horizontal organization, mutual aid, and direct action.
Strengths: Empowers communities, resists hierarchy, and builds autonomy.
Weaknesses: Often struggles with long-term scalability and coordination. - Trotskyist/Stalinist paths centralized control with a focus on revolutionary goals and structural transformation.
Strengths: Can mobilize large-scale change and challenge systemic power structures.
Weaknesses: builds authoritarianism, co-option, and detachment from grassroots needs. - Liberal paths lead to incremental reforms within existing systems.
Strengths: Pragmatic and accessible, with a focus on policy and advocacy.
Weaknesses: Co-opted by #mainstreaming agendas, leading to superficial solutions.
The #4opens approach, is a permissionless path to sidestep these systemic failures. This approach aligns with anarchist values of autonomy while addressing their scalability challenges through structured openness and federation. Some practical steps to nurture grassroots power:
Step away from toxicity, recognize when systems and individuals perpetuate harm, and refocus energy on constructive grassroots work.
Muddle through together, embrace imperfection and collective experimentation. Mistakes are inevitable, but progress emerges from the process.
Push back against funders’ agendas, build alternative funding models (e.g., community support, cooperative economies) to reduce reliance on top-down directives.
Focus on trust networks, invest in relationships and trust-building at the grassroots level. Trust is the antidote to the cynicism of #mainstreaming.
Hold space for uncomfortable conversations, lean into the discomfort of challenging entrenched norms and assumptions within movements.
The challenge is a very real mess, we’re stuck in a cycle where “the wrong thing” gets done under pressure from flawed paths. Breaking free requires stepping away, nurturing #grassroots alternatives, and committing to frameworks like the #4opens that push more collective empowerment over individual gain and #mainstreaming institutional control.
For more of this there is a grump old sod working on the same things over here https://seizethemeans.communitarium.org/baslow/communitaria-what-we-need-to-do-i-think
The question, how do we bring more people into this space of stepping away and creating something better?