Search Results for: blocking

The Role of #Blocking in Horizontal Projects: Mannequins Dancing to Barely Visible Strings

(DRAFT) In this post, I explore how #blocking hinders positive social change in horizontal projects. By #blocking, I mean various tactics: ignoring core issues, prioritizing everyday agendas to obscure systemic problems, and using significant issues to distract from necessary changes. Understanding Outcome-Driven Horizontal Projects Outcome-driven horizontal projects, such as Climate Camp, face sustainability challenges. A … Continue reading The Role of #Blocking in Horizontal Projects: Mannequins Dancing to Barely Visible Strings →

Trust and control and the role of gatekeepers in blocking

Published Date 9/30/11 10:43 AM Everyone understands the role of “gatekeepers” in traditional media. I want to look at how there are very similar issues with radical and progressive media. Most blocking and authoritarianism in activist organising is not conscious, rather its roots lie in psychological traits rather than ideological thinking. Everyone might be a … Continue reading Trust and control and the role of gatekeepers in blocking →

There is a wide gap between the people who talk about changing society and the people who actually have to live in the current mess

The #fashionista left problem isn’t simply “bad messaging”, but the loss of relationships, class politics and ordinary participation. This left path is #blocking, leading to a serious problem, that there is a growing gap between the people who talk about changing society and the people who actually have to live with the consequences of the … Continue reading There is a wide gap between the people who talk about changing society and the people who actually have to live in the current mess →

The old system is already compost, the question is what we grow from this mess

We need to stop talking about “climate change” as though we are discussing a slightly inconvenient change in the weather. Climate change is too soft, too neutral. Climate change makes it sound as though something simply happened to us. It didn’t, we pushed this mess, we built an economic system that treats the living world … Continue reading The old system is already compost, the question is what we grow from this mess →

The individual, is not, the starting point for the #OMN

One of the most useful ways to understand the mess we are in today is to ask a deceptively simple question – what comes first – the individual or the network? #Mainstreaming economics startes with the individual, were sociology, anthropology and related traditions start somewhere else – with relationships, institutions, communities and the social structures … Continue reading The individual, is not, the starting point for the #OMN →

Media, the deathcult and climatechaos

The current wave of wildfires across Europe is not simply a natural disaster, it is also exposing a deeper mess, the failure of our information systems. Instead of explaining why Europe is burning, significant sections of the corporate media are either ignoring #climatechaos or distracting by blaming rewilding, net-zero policies and environmental protections. Rather than … Continue reading Media, the deathcult and climatechaos →

This was my thinking on the Fediverse a few years ago – building commons

The #Fediverse is an accidental reboot of the #openweb, it wasn’t designed from the top down, it emerged because thousands of people built alternatives to the #dotcons. That’s its greatest strength, it’s also why it’s so messy. Herding cats – the #Fediverse has no central authority, every project, server, and community has its own priorities, … Continue reading This was my thinking on the Fediverse a few years ago – building commons →

Which Nature Are We Growing?

Today I was half joke about ducks and geese, but there’s something underneath the joke if you lift the lid. After Darwin, many nineteenth-century elitists became fascinated with cataloguing nature. Too often, though, they also saw their own society reflected back at them. Hierarchy, competition, borders and domination weren’t simply political arrangements any more, they … Continue reading Which Nature Are We Growing? →

Stupid Individualism: How We End Up Fighting Over Nothing

One of the biggest problems we face isn’t technology, politics or even money. It’s #stupidindividualism. By this I don’t mean individual freedom, freedom matters. I mean the habit of seeing every issue only through “my” immediate circumstances, with no memory of how we got here and no thought for the wider community. A small example … Continue reading Stupid Individualism: How We End Up Fighting Over Nothing →

The tools we need to compost the #deathcult

The current mess and tragedy is that the tools we need most are often the first things that stressed, messy, #elitist systems defund, discredit, and dismantle. Why? Because these tools threaten the psychological certainty that people cling to when the world feels unstable. The ability to sit with uncertainty, to question assumptions, to admit complexity. … Continue reading The tools we need to compost the #deathcult →

The Fluffy Trap is when Activism forgets the spiky path

There is a recurring problem in modern activism and alternative movements, the attempt to remove the uncomfortable parts, everything has to be friendly, to be safe, to be acceptable. The difficult questions, the conflicts, the power arguments, the risks and the sharper edges get pushed aside because they are seen as “too political”, “too negative” … Continue reading The Fluffy Trap is when Activism forgets the spiky path →