Alternative Editorial: Reaching Deeper
From The Daily Stoic
Week 15 since the lock down began, and who could deny that we are in accelerating troubled and turbulent times? While the headlines report on the resurgence of drinking in pubs – with social distancing being maintained up to the second pint, but not beyond – there are bigger issues moving into the foreground.
In the mainstream media we are hearing predictions of economic collapse, higher Covid death tolls than previously imagined and a familiar flurry of political ineptitude on all sides. Despite the momentary pause caused by our lower consumption of goods and travel, our global environmental crisis has only accelerated..
Add to that the shocking reports on domestic abuse in the UK, which have led to a sharp increase of murders of vulnerable people in lock down over this period. In the wider world there are shocking images of brutal suppression, from the draconian new laws in Hong Kong, to the annexation of the West Bank.
What can we do with this news? There are many different degrees of responding (or turning away). On the continuum from barely registering the news to fully digesting it, where is the optimum place to act from?
At the former, distanced end of the continuum, you may enjoy better mental health, maintain your ability to focus and enjoy life—but there is the risk of being sabotaged by the impact of these crisis, in ways you are not prepared for. At the latter, more engaged end, there is the obvious risk of overwhelm, depression and loss of focus. But there are also the possible unexpected benefits of gaining meaning and purpose and the possibility of change.
Of course we rarely have the choice to clearly place ourselves on this continuum. Our immediate circumstances, blended with our predispositions (the extent to which we naturally move towards or away from danger) does most of that work.
For example, those of us living in the UK today cannot escape the impact of the global growth economy (environmental destruction), colonialism (racism, inequality), patriarchy (cultural and structural violence) and royalty (enduring hierarchies).
Even so, we do a remarkably good job of putting a brave face on it. The Brits are famous, to this day, for a muted stoicism - stiff upper lip/mustn’t grumble/keep calm and carry on--that extends across all classes.
At the same time, as the consequences of not engaging properly with our multiple destructive legacies come to light, we also show plenty of ingenuity in the ways we rise up against our own past.
Take Extinction Rebellion, who captured our attention and shifted the dial on climate emergency over the past two years. Or the spontaneous rising of Covid Mutual-aid networks across the country, looking after those made vulnerable by the pandemic far more effectively than the state. Or the more recent Black Lives Matter actions - particularly the toppling of iconic statues - that are forcing us to reach into our history, questioning the very basis of our national pride.
Skying it: Can we afford to keep missing open goals for change?
Even as we see the mainstream news fixate on the herd-like behaviour of people breaking the law during lockdown – flocking to beaches, drinking on the street together, numerous MPs breaking their own rules – we know there’s a core of people willing to be more than that.
We noticed them clapping in support of the NHS on the pavement outside our home. Or, in past years, feeding refugees as they struggle ashore off the boats. Or setting up food banks that have persisted throughout these waves of crisis over the past years. Knowing this produces a sense of cognitive dissonance. Are ‘most people’ selfish and stupid, as so many newspapers suggest? Or are they naturally helpful and kind, as many of those trying to forge “new narratives and framings” might say?.
“Under The Mask Of Us” He Kun’s response to the coronavirus
Or are we all, surely, a bit of both? How many of us reading know that how we think is often not borne out by how we behave? Not simply that we tell white lies, but in ways that are mysterious to ourselves? There is a palpable difference between intention and action that might lead to questions about integrity. But might also cause us to ponder more about where our agency lies: how much are we in charge of our own thinking?
So many pledges to overcome racism in our society, leading to continued institutional inertia. So many climate activists still hopping on planes for weak reasons, and only result in them putting up major defences against anyone inquiring. Does that make us bad people or just weak? Or maybe unable to undo the way we’ve been wired to live unthinkingly by the massive forces of our global economy? As we described in last week’s Editorial, dreaming within a dream within a dream?
Right at the beginning of our journey with The Alternative UK, we knew it would take more than a political party or a set of good policies to enable the kind of change in direction our societies need, in order to address our multiple crises.
We have reached this impasse despite decades – even centuries – of political parties battling it out in Parliament, claiming the right to improve the lot of the masses. It’s a banality to say they can only be a part of the answer.
Instead, at A/UK, we have been looking for those tools and methods that can help unlock the power and agency of human beings across society. But not simply in ways that release energy and then waste it – like an escape of gas, or a flood from a burst pipe. Instead, we’ve sought to harness this energy and link it to means of regeneration (and also champion those who are already doing so).
Just as our green energy sources can now be recycled for sustainable housing, how can the human energies from ‘waking up’ lead directly to our becoming happier and healthier?
There’s every possibility that we will miss this goal: for the football fans amongst us, think of what it means to sky-it. The over-excited mid-fielder, finding himself right in front of an open goal, hits the ball too hard at the wrong angle and sees it soaring over the cross bar.
Doesn’t that describe many moments we’ve experienced recently? Where lots of political ‘capital’ is built up through protesting and raising awareness, only to squander it with a badly thought-through action that suddenly alienates the audience?.
This would be true of XR’s Deptford moment. But it’s also Dominic Cummings being caught breaking the rules of lock-down. That might still be the action that cost this ruinous government the next general election.
Don’t dream how “it” could be better—but how “we” could be better
Without wanting to underplay XR’s immense ongoing potential for mass action, what else should we be building to give people everywhere the help they need to manage their own developing agency? In the past two Editorials, we’ve talked about the essential learning that helps us understand and better process our emotional drives. And in addition, the mechanisms of ‘soft power’ that can help us tell a new story of Us, but could keep us entranced in other people’s dreams.
What additional mechanisms do we need to be able to hear diverse voices speak their truths, wants and needs in ways that not only open up discourse, but re-shape it usefully? Some of these have been available for years but are under-used. See a suite of tools on the XR Future Democracy Hub site here which include Empathy Circles, Talk Shops, Thinking Box. Add to that Art of Hosting – all of which might be used during an A/UK collaboratory.
What kinds of tech can work alongside these intense human encounters, to help us process the cacophony of voices in ways that are positive for building wider trust? Pol.is, for example, is using Artificial Intelligence to sort originally disconnected thoughts and opinions on a question, in ways that show us broad areas of agreement – often across traditional divides. Watch this space for pol.is experiments in our citizen action networks later this year.
What new bits of social and organisational infrastructure can capture the new energies being released due to Covid? In ways that end up powering whole new self-organising systems to deliver solutions—where the government can’t? Have a look at the work of Liberating Structures (which we’ve blogged this week), plus Network Convenors and System Convenors. All of these are implied, and could easily be deployed, by our slowly building culture of citizen action networks.
In other words, even as we are confounded by the overly simplistic, antagonistic headlines of our news media intent on instrumentalising us – either for profit or party politics – we are surrounded by alternatives for action. These are not the same, hopeful actions of the past alone – although every innovation is built on the shoulders of its predecessors. But they are ever more intelligent means of seeing and self-organising that will lead to choosing better solutions for all of us flourishing.
This is not a dream of how ‘it’ could be better, but how ‘we’ could be better. But it will require our focus, our commitment, our sticking with it, to make a difference. In the time we have left.