Friday, April 23, 2010

GROUP DISCUSSION



I think one think that would be helpful is if stack was taken more
consistently and a notebook was kept with hands raised. There begins a
trend toward informal hierarchies when people have to talk over one
another. One thing that could promote our legitimacy as anarchists would
be by demanding MORE organization in our lives with others so they know
we're not against structure, just hierarchy, out of their own personal
experience in dealing with us.

The stack is the list of people who have raised their hands and in what order. It's really important or people start to get aggravated. Name tags help.

I hate when people say that it wouldn't work for a few reasons.

1) A Republic or Democracy was thought not to work at one time. Before the
American revolution there were those who thought that a monarch was more
efficient because he can make decisions on the spot. For this reason they
wanted a monarch. All progress gets the same treatment, which is why it is
so slow to change.

2) The US Articles of Confederation, later replaced by the Constitution,
was very democratic indeed and outlined congress as being run by
recallable delegates and unanimous votes for constitutional changes. This
is very similar to the organization of large anarchist federations today
and in the past.

3) There are examples at work in every instance of living. Our going to
church is anarchistic because it is completely voluntary. It could be more
democratic, but it is a democratic institution. More than that even, it is
federated with the UUA, just like cooperatives are federated through the
US Federation of Worker Cooperatives. Cooperatives the world over are
examples as well as some community land trusts and mutual organizations.

I don't know if you've seen this or not, but this video by Mondragon is
amazing. The potential of worker self-management is incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NORmQ8zaL1c

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