Hello family!
There is a wave happening right now - more and more of us are thinking deeply about what it means to live our values in the ways we organise ourselves.
- Workers cooperatives are shaping more-equitable approaches to pay, to recognise the different needs that their members bring to their work;
- Community groups are finding systems for keeping one another safe, without turning to cops or other violent state agencies;
- Activist networks are deepening their decision making processes, trying to bring everyone into their ways of working more fairly…
This is never easy work, but countless kindred spirits are doing it, all around the world. It is not new, but it is spreading and the links are being made to share the learning from group to group.
In the spirit of this wave, we’ve linked up with folks from several different geographies to bring together a collective event on living our values in our group/organisational processes. As a starting point, a few of us - from the UK, around Europe, Argentina and so-called Canada - have set a date (Weds 25 October, 1-3pm UK time) and an aim (to share the learnings of those trying to organise ourselves according to our values in these varied geographic contexts). National borders will define some of the legal, cultural and linguistic aspects of how we organise, but we have more to learn from those operating in different spaces, than separates us!
The current configuration is clearly only a starting point, but we know that the cultures and learnings around care, accountability, anti-oppressive practices and just being more human with one another, vary from place to place. We don’t know what will emerge when we come together, but we trust that in creating some space to explore organising ideas that feel less familiar to us, we will find inspiration and figure out what we might adapt for our own policies and contexts.
Interested? Sign up today and let us know if there’s a particular conversation you’d like to host in one of the breakout rooms! And feel free to spread the word and invite others to take part, particularly if you have networks in places we’re not yet as connected with!
Til then!
Liam (for RadHR)
Mari and Bethany (for Gastivists)
Yamikani (for OCTEVAW)
Paz (for PINE)