I'm following this whole thread with great interest and feel that I
could add a few synthesizing comments from a strategic designer's
perspective. These designers are usually hired to be less concerned with
the creation of the perfect, shiny object but more with shaping the
structures culture enfolds upon, such as policies, laws, organizational
structures, and sooner or later maybe even world views. To be able to do
this they evolved a toolbox of practices that could also be very useful
for the progressive causes.
THE STRATEGIC DESIGNER'S METHOD
Look at the problem from as many perspectives possible by using
different lenses (e.g. control/power, environment, material impact,
capital or symbolic value), identify the desired outcome and the
(contextual) leverage points that can be modulated to force the system
to adapt to reach the outcome. Derive of your findings the guiding
principles, strategies, and tactics. After the initial assessment apply
an iterative process of build (implementation of tangible or
non-tangible artifacts that should change the system), measure (observe
the system's reaction to your artifacts), learn (reassess you strategies
and tactics) until your system has reached your desired state. The
active involvement in the implementation of the tangible artifacts (a
sustainable chair, a co-op housing project, an advocacy group, an animal
wellfare NGO, ...) and the conscious use of them as potential trigger
for systemic change make out of a designer and a strategist a strategic
designer.
WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
We're facing a wicked problem, a complex system of systems that is at
the brink of collapse, while none of this is directly experiential for
individuals (also the system's response to individual actions is often
not directly felt). We are bound to the path-dependency of the current
socio-economic system, the capitalocene. No alternative cultural,
sociological, political, or technological infrastructure on which a
global system could run after a hard reboot (such as a revolution) is
readily available (but partially working prototypes and a history of
successful and failed "tests" are). Involvement of multiple stakeholders
with different interests, involvement, power, or influence, which are
deeply influenced by cultural, psychological, and physiological biases
and therefore not necessarily act rational. A general feeling that
general we are loosing control, that something needs to be done, that
maybe event the end is nigh.
THE SOLUTION
??? ... There is probably not "one". But to find one, and as also voiced
here on the list, we need to see our post-human, Anthropocene, climate
changed, ... mess in a new light and that would require a paradigm
shift. This new perspective would define the new normal, sets the
cultural default values, and would be the base on which we derive all
our laws, policies, and many of our unreflected daily actions. Paradigms
don't shift suddenly, only the heavily biased post-hoc interpretation of
the general awareness makes us often believe that, but are created with
the hard work of many thoughts and hands. A paradigm shifts on mental
and physical stepping stones, the critical infrastructure already built,
the structures, patterns, and habits that are needed so an existing
paradigm can tumble into to become a new one.
Following this list in the last month, and this conversation is a good
example, I see that there are many good hearted specialists at work.
Probably we are all most comfortable wearing our familiar spectacles
(looking at things through the lens of control, affect, or the
precariat) and ready to part with our analysis and offers of solutions.
But in a world that more and more becoming a world of BOTH/AND not
EITHER/OR single perspective and single perspective applications might
not effect enough. It's a child's play for the powerful to let all those
small scale fragmented actions run dry. It's too easy to loose the
feeling of efficacy if you pull at one of the many loose threads of the
knot and "nothing" happens.
What we need is a narrative that allows to get passionately involved
into the "problem" of your choice but still let you feel to be part of a
bigger project. A framework that allows to slot my own work in, or
ideally even to provide enabling constraints. Something, one can let her
imagination and his passions enfold upon. Something, that might even
allow to let a potential failure/evaporation of the energy spent in our
actions seem acceptable or provides a rough guideline what to do.
Looking from the designer's perspective here, I believe that there are
two things that would be worthwhile to think about and work on.
1. The project to collectively design, tickle, foster, and implement the
new paradigm.
Many, like the transition town movement are surely on that, but it might
need to be a bit brushed up to become a "glamorous" mass compatible
thing to do. Some of the progressives might have to bite their tongue or
slow down their expectations to make not the stepping stones too
slippery for others to dare to step on them. We are talking so much of
the alt-right, the caustic environment the ctrl-left can create is often
forgotten. I wonder if it would be not also important to look at the
ones in the center? Who targets them? If the progressives don't provide
agreeable, only mildly daring proposals, the conservatives/new labours
will rake in their votes.
2. More pragmatically to make sure to very consciously aim to make your
very local action to become a potential trigger of systemic change.
This means to familiarize yourself with the work of strategic designers.
I'm serious they are handsomely paid by all the powerful to produce
systemic change to their liking. It might be really worth to learn their
tools and use them consciously to progressive's favors. I don't know
about you but, I've done too many "installs" of well intended
things/organizations that effected near to nothing. I've missed my
chances to link them with others (working in the same area) to gain more
weight. I've missed my chance to challenge the
system/institutions/organisations. I've flapped enough with my wings
without either knowing aim not being able to actually lift off.
I've go my aim. I will try to consciously engage in the process of
scratching on the surface of the new paradigm. And a diamond headed
scratchy pain, eh, pin I want to be!
On 13/11/2017 13:02, David Garcia wrote:
On 13 Nov 2017, at 09:21, Alex Foti <alex.f...@gmail.com
<mailto:alex.f...@gmail.com>> wrote
The problem of the revolutions of 2011 is that they failed to produce
durable organization and to use their term institutions of the
common, save for limited success on the municipalist front. Now that
nazi-populism is successfully using movement tactics to growing
popular consensus, the need for a new dual labor and political
strategy and organization is more needed than ever.
While in the old anglo-saxon center of neoliberalism, socialism works
as a political strategy and social unionism as a labor strategy
(labor markets are tightening and wage increases and union wins are
becoming more frequent), e.g. corbyn's new old labor and sanders'
dsa, in continental europe the official left is disappearing and
there is no ready alternative at hand against national populism ….
In Brighton (September 2017) The World Transformed-
https://theworldtransformed.org/ is a kind of political fringe
festival of art, media and activism that runs in parralel to the
annual Labour party conference. It tookplace in multiple venues across
the city. The point here is that it was organised by Momentum the
pro-Corbyn pressure group. And the event was absolutely packed with
radical ideas were being tested and protyped. It even included a
session on how to deal with “capital flight” from the UK in the event
of a Corbyn victory that was being trialed by none other than the
shadow chancelor himself on the panel! This would have been
inconceivable under the centrism of the past and it certainly made
headlines. TWT was where the real action was happening not in the conf
itself. Even though Momentum had a bespoke app to mobilise its Labour
party members in an instant to shuttle to the main conf ensure the
votes went Corbyn’s way. So here we see tactical media "folk politics”
working hand in hand with institutional power.
Obviously it connects to Alex’s comments because if one dared to be
optimistc the Momentum model suggests that something might have been
learned since “the failure of the revolutions of 2011 to produce
durable organisation..” (Alex). as Momentum is connected to the Labor
Party but not PART OF the Labour party. Its a classic grass roots
social movement (what Srnicek and Williams) call disparagingly “folk
politics” whilst also being willing to engage with institutional power
and so able to scale up and consolidate its acquired advantages. Of
course this only works because Corbyn himself is someone who mirrors
these developments as he is someone who has for decades been commited
to protest based social movements as well as being a conscientious
(and rebellious) MP. Its this genuine and rare hybridity that connects
the movement to the individual and is one of the things we might mean
by “authenticity”..
---------------------------------
- foot-note- The Labour/Momentum election campaign of 2017 learned a
lot from the tactics of the Alt.righ/Bannon's tactics for Trump. In
terms of connecting an on-line grass roots social movement to the aim
of capturing of institutional power and creating ideological change in
a political party. They both deploy hyper-partizan social media
tactics to bypass what was seen as a mainstream media that would never
give either Trump or Corbyn a hearing..(Let Corbyn be Corbyn worked as
it did for "let Trump be Trump") Also both campaigns re-imagined the
old fashioned political rally as a “media event” and far more…
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
# archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org
# @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject:
--
DE: +49 (0)160 9549 5269
UK: +44 (0)75 0655 0520
http://vincentvanuffelen.com
http://transmit-interfere.com
http://deepmediaresearch.org
# distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
# <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
# collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
# more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
# archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nett...@kein.org
# @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: