m of care – feb 26
m of care feb 26 w debbie bookchin and xavi ferrer
via m of care fb share:
Please join us this afternoon (in half an hour) to talk about democratic municipalism with Simona Ferlini, Debbie Bookchin (@debbiebookchin) and Xavi Ferrer (@dosmesdoscinc).
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notes/quotes:
steve parcell: talking on mutual aid.. creative refusals.. foundation of culture.. so when try to understand reality.. mode of production has only captured a piece of that because reduces everything to what can be quantified.. esp dangerous because then can enforce things down to precise amt.. on that leading to violence
not even a legit piece.. because mop ness also intoxicates/rnas/kills
simona: i asked xavi to join.. i’ve been involved in his project of launching diem25.. connecting former network of fearless cities.. amsterdam.. that are promoting civic vision of a radical kind.. he asked me to network in italy .. but somebody from naples was doing this job .. et al
xavi: presented his part in fearless cities.. decided do it at local level.. practical.. but also couldn’t see ourselves org ing something at national level..
as infra – global level.. a means to undo our hierarchical listening
xavi: after yr.. findings: 1\ local 2\ merged social/political/people 3\ global approach.. and we org’d this fearless cities summit in 2017.. david was one of main speakers.. good atmosphere.. resonating.. 2 projects came from this: european municipalist network emn project and 2\ decentralized forum.. amersterdam.. working to support municipalism.. i’m working w them.. covid has changed plans.. ie: can’t gather couple 1000 people.. we’re thinking now.. this forum – not attached to one form/org.. local as new normal.. how: local transition forum.. org something as hybrid as possible.. adapted to each place.. depending on what declares at each place.. creating space between institutions.. for framework as pt of departure use transitions – from/toward: racism/equity, sexism;feminism, growth-extractivism/sustainability, consumerism/community .. we lack how society of future looks like.. so outline the town we want
ie: city sketchup.. ongoing outline.. in the city.. as the day
xavi: way we are org-ing – 8 tracks – climate, tech, fem, racism, econ, public-civic partnerships, funds, housing – creating 8 working groups for this..
gabi asked what is meant by tech transition.. nika answered: To use technology to pass from the disastrous stage to sustainable one.. t
huge
ie: tech as it could be – to ground the chaos of 8bn legit free people.. imagine if we
xavi: then we’ll go to any cities that are interested and offer them the 8 tracks.. to be used on demand and lead by local groups.. can add whatever they want.. use as many tracks as they want.. any format.. et al .. online participatory platform.. video call program.. ask local groups what they need.. final event.. presentation mapping..closing plenary.. decentralized action
emily marion clancy: we have really had great benefit from fearless cities.. (bologna italy).. super useful to get to know other municipalists.. see how diff cities were tackling same issues.. even in other countries.. et al.. found from that.. co org ing events online w ie: barcelona talking about specific issues related to pandemic ie: food, healthcare, transport, housing, .. and how to reimagine those issues right now.. i’d like to be a testament to how useful these networks/orgs are
simona: in next dm doc – we’ve asked emily
debbie bookchin: seen barcelona and how hard everybody is working there.. on successes/challenges on municipalism.. back to xavi to wrap up
should it be hard?.. is that maybe a red flag?
xavi: just to finish.. idea is that you could follow the forum in one place/locale or in one track.. then shared all the cities interested.. then shared trigger questions: what would be cool to program? concrete steps around the tracks? could we think about a joint statement, coordinated action? what do you see yourself doing?.. this is something that *has to be useful for the people locally.. we don’t want to ask people to make an **effort to be part of decent forum.. rather.. ***what do you need/useful for you.. we are asking questions to these people..
ie: **problem deep enough; *mechanism simple enough; system open enough; .. for 8b people to resonate w today.. and to ***last bit – start with curiosity over decision making – the itch-in-the-soul
yash: x.. could you talk on idea of municipalism.. how it fits into that scheme
xavi: if question is what is municipalism.. i can’t answer.. i think it’s playing diff roles at same time.. nobody said their city is municipalist.. this idea of a party is a bit old fashioned.. we need another tool as activists.. also need diff ideology.. instead of ie: anarchism is everything.. and municipalism says something like this.. let’s gather all energy we have locally.. and give space to those who usually don’t have a voice in dm.. which locally it’s much easier.. let’s org/hack the institutions that is closest to the citizen and see what’s happening in this process.. if you read debbie’s father’s literacy.. it’s not just what you do locally but the network you create.. power not built on particular id’d people.. but on needs in a place.. let’s make politics in diff way.. no competing w countries et al.. i would add.. how municipalism works.. it’s about life.. life in center.. normal people living a normal life.. no one lives in a country..t.. let’s make the society and the institutions they rep.. will of society based as close to what people want.. building from local
imagine if we go even more local.. ie: itch-in-8bn-souls.. everyday
nika tweeted this response:
@monk51295 @dosmesdoscinc I think he was saying “people live in town, no one lives in the national state.” But I am thinking: could we or should we all move to the countryside. I am in the center of London now and it is deadly.
Original Tweet: https://twitter.com/nikadubrovsky/status/1365697858670891016
we need an infrastructure.. where it doesn’t matter where you live.. has to do with our interconnectedness.. no place can be legit free if any places are not legit free (ie: deadly).. has to be all of us for it to work.. part\ial ness is keeping us spinning our wheels in tragedy of the non common
debbie: wonderful defn.. she also shared this in chat: A good website for information on municipalism both in theory and practice is here at the Minim Municipals Observatory where you can find reports, a database, and articles on municipals projects around the world. https://minim-municipalism.org/ *Minim Municipalist Observatory
debbie: if i were to add .. i would say grassroots element if very important.. m is very diff in diff places.. ie: running for office toward green politics to .. radical form that seeks to empower people at grassroots by making even function of electoral politics dependent on ie: citizen assemblies.. et al .. accountable to assemblies and transparent et al.. that’s a kind of m that many people are striving towards but not always implementable.. once w/in a political superstructure .. constraints butt up against social orgs of people outside institutions.. tension that a lot of people w/in m are trying to work thru.. also .. the kind of fem of politics.. a horizontal politics.. seeks to infuse political landscape w politics of caring.. doesn’t mean more women.. but changing the way politics is done
debbie: when think about m.. foundational question: what is politics.. how do we do it in a way that it’s not.. *something done to us.. gets away from rep politics and grassroots of people self expression in communities.. on needing infra for that.. suggesting demo ness.. one of really foundational.. should be sense of empowerment.. and that includes **ed so people feel equipped.. so part of m entails.. what it means to be a political person.. so that they feel part of a process
*ed (any form of m\a\p) doesn’t empower us.. makes us think we’re not enough as is (which would be empower us.. believing everyone is enough as is.. we just need to listen deeper to that buried/intoxicated enough ness)
**informed populace/citizenry ness
tanya: in san fran.. having issues w housing and suicides and race.. i’d like help with that.. anything i can do to help start something here
azizecay: from sheffield.. quoting bookchin: on any org model .. so question is .. how do we see real life.. my position .. i’m utopic.. but what like to underline the challenges in order to reach our dream.. ie: what do we mean when we say horizontal politics.. age? gender? et al.. if structure is horizontal.. how do we make a decision.. if contradiction.. how do we deal w neighbors in system we are in.. before i go to my neighbor have to recognize challenge i am facing on my own.. so what are we thinking about being horizontal and how to make balance between real/dream life
? not sure.. kept cutting out
decision making is unmooring us law.. this is why we need to try curiosity over decision making
simona: on david’s text on communism.. he makes a distinction between mythic/existing communism.. existing: day by day reality; mythic: myth of unity of humanity.. as a matter of fact.. horizontality is what we have every day.. and it is not natural.. our groups tend to produce hierarchies.. you need methods.. about how to get a non hierarchical group.. something you can start doing only at local level.. that breathe same air as you.. so there is this practicality
?.. begs a means to undo our hierarchical listening
simona: david makes fun of what we take for granted.. what we think are natural.. and he shows how they aren’t.. that there is another possibility.. this is in anthro as well.. we should be careful of what we think of real life.. because often it’s (just) another possible interpretation.. there may be another reality that is more horizontal than we think. and we just need to work on it and create diff structures that enhance it.. t
huge
2 conversations.. as infra – aka cure ios city
ie: imagine if we
simona: to the idea of m.. i wanted to work on diem25 as a european level movement.. i missed what we get a local level.. but we also need a stronger vision.. not just municipal.. but one that gives framework.. sense of meaning.. to all experiences to go forward.. that’s why i’m so excited w xavi project.. because it creates a way to go forward.. and m of care is also something for me that provides this diff framework we need.. something else .. besides/alongside the local-horizontal
simona: i thought we could connect visual assemblies to this
xavi: the idea of a race is already racist.. so of course m w this universalist approach.. can’t make any diff between people who are born here/there..
xavi: m orgs deal w this in similar way.. fem.. to include as many people as possible.. this is one of the tracks.. an open space including everyone .. because we want to do something very diverse.. ie: we’re asking 50% women.. but can’t do w ie: blacks (locally)..
xavi: rise of far right in europe is an extremely big danger .. we’re discussing if it should be a track or not.. but giving them a track would give them traction (responding to bertrand cayzac’s question – as part of utopia group)
nika: to debbie.. diff between m in diff countries.. ie: rojava and europe.. and how related to good govt of zapitistas
debbie: could spend an hr just talking about z’s.. to back up.. the concept of engaging people.. murray: ‘dreams are more than party platforms which are normally violated/ignored’.. so the idea of remaking the body politic itself.. has to be fundamental goal of m.. and in rojava they’re doing that.. and.. though need to not put any locale on a pedestal.. ie: any body has to have % of women et al.. special effort to over rep traditionally under repped
we can go so much deeper.. ie: listen to 8b legit voices .. everyday
debbie: my father called libertarian m.. he was a utopian.. and he saw this as a way to dual power.. local/national.. to diminish and do away w nation state.. but it still was a decision.. *it was very important that ed played a really big role.. ie: in order to **get people to feel like they can participate.. have to get them to feel that they know enough.. so set up academies and institutes.. so an importan process that speaks to that this takes time.. that people can becomes
*huge red flag.. if we think we don’t know enough.. perhaps we’re doing/living wrong.. **we need to let go of thinking we’re not already enough.. any form of m\a\p
debbie: on rojava ie of showing how you can send delegates to all levels.. et al.. what’s being created antithetical to traditional ness
oi.. so close and yet so .. same song ness
matt: on needing to support fam.. finding ways to connect people in my situation.. young parents of young kids.. how to connect that into the political .. how do we do that..
in the city ness.. as the day
azizecay: if talking about militarizing.. horizontality is not key point all the time.. as a structure if hierarchy doesn’t lead to domination.. is there any problem.. ie: military.. how to balance these things.. rojava as inspiration
? did she really say miltarizing?
nika: how to involve normal people in times of ie: pandemic
matt: i think that’s a much better way to phrase my question nika
xavi: imho.. impossible to answer question.. just connecting a couple ideas.. we are now facing a shift in terms of how humans are living in world.. we reached the limits.. this effects cultural/approach.. young people are beyond things we are discussing know.. they don’t know what they want but ie: political parties not the answer.. i’m convinced.. the new world is coming.. in 50 yrs.. life of most people will be very diff.. one of keys for changing this in a way that things go like we want.. that politics is not something done by others.. but the management of everyday life.. changing politics is the main idea.. we can’t keep fighting.. a new concept that is coming.. what matt brought up.. how we can involve normal people.. it’s based on on our life.. as a collective.. in the center.. may seem too simple.. but this is what it is.. for me m is a tactic.. not an ideology.. it’s a non ideological ideology.. it’s something that defines a path which is .. let’s collab.. create communities around ourselves wherever we are: house, kindergarten, museum.. from those communities w collective intelligence.. this is what m offers in this context.. showing these victories.. m is an opp.. a narrative.. a way of getting org’d.. it’s sharing a vision..
xavi: the idea of the forum is something that wants to help these things happen.. what do you do.. you can bring many things.. close to what you feel as a person than any ideology.. this organic democracy
key.. listen deep to what’s already in each one of us.. and use that data to facil us.. and it has to be all of us or it won’t work.. all the things.. imagine if we
xavi: new politics.. w/o numbers..
sans any form of m\a\p
bertrand: where (small) org meets large org.. we don’t know how that will happen.. that’s the unknown.. a big question..t
ie: as infra
freeman structure law (?) et al
matt: i like idea of being open/practical.. like a clothes sharing space in my son’s kindergarten.. a need regardless of political perspective that fams would appreciate
mark fuller: in chat – a non partisan tool for collab.. t
ie: tech as it could be.. to undo our hierarchical listening
simona: on bologna ie of org ing in a kindergarten.. shift in neighborhood.. very important.. recognized as common goods .. et al.. so really can start from very start place (neighborhood) and change politics/mood and do something really new.. in a rather horizontal way
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democratic admin et al
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be you. 