It’s not always about telling people what to do, it’s not micromanagement.
Of course, the first thing I say is that XR and JSO were far from perfect. However, this is not about abstract utopianism. It’s about normal everyday things that ordinary people really like. Please don’t Experience in most workplaces and political organizations.
And this is where the “nasty” parties lose. Because their culture relies on a strict hierarchy of control, they tend to need a single essential all-powerful leader, Farage or Trump. Without them it will fall apart.
Secondly, believing that it is “power” that it exists, the far-right party is full of Machiavelli backstabs and all the nasty things that ordinary people hate.
Vulnerability
It is not surprising that such a space attracts dangerous people – corruption and the madness of power – and they are defeated by scandal and crime.
The underlying problem is: These people don’t know how to work together.
Teams have been shown to surpass the hard tier again and again. Please refer to the book Culture Code Literature review.
In a far-right top-down culture, the default motivation is fear, not cooperation. These parties are dominated by men of my own generation. Men over 50 have few social skills and are less capable of dealing with conflict constructively because of dullness. We all know the type!
This is a recipe for internal vulnerabilities and external failures. You can’t run a council, don’t care about the country, you’re not in Strongman’s culture. And you’re the only one who’s always lying. Just as Trump is discovering.
Common
Of course, all this applies to traditional politics as a whole. Just watching the documentary Labor files, To see how power is corrupted. But the far right is the extreme case.
Many of us feel a great opportunity to create alternatives to the left populist not only in the UK but also throughout the Western world. We can already see early debates taking place in the Green Party and among those associated with Jeremy Corbyn, a socialist MP and former leader of the Labour Party.
But the key to success here is a respectful team-based organizational culture, not only policy and messaging, but also so essential.
In a way, I think that as former XR and JSO people bring this culture to the wider local community and green/left network, they are far greater than their numbers suggest, and could have a dramatic positive impact.
The same thing happened when Methodist organizational skills and ethical standards were brought to working class political and mutual aid projects in the 19th century.
force
We must recognize that people need attention – and to be treated well. Most people are more interested in community than power. They want to play their part in their social and political lives, but are endlessly put off by antisocial and unethical behavior.
This cannot be left to coincidence. Ethical and community values ​​must be explicit and communicated systematically as follows: Training; Reviews.
If a new movement party project can do this, it will attract millions as well as thousands. Beyond the “political homeless” on the left, there are even more people who are “socially homeless.”
Here is the deep paradox: By being obsessed with power and focusing on culture, we can attract these people to the mass movement.
It’s not just about being good – it’s a smart strategy.
conversion
That being said, you need to move on. Leadership and initiative are needed. The time is short.
Unless we provide a real alternative, when Farage and Trump in this world fail, they are replaced by real fascists who use political violence. And that’s going to be game over.
The fundamental principle in the design of this project is the creation of ecology, or connectivity. And I’m not just because this article is written Ecologist magazine.
We must understand how radical and transformative this way of looking at the world is. My next post shows how active ecological thinking can help us design, grow and succeed in the big social movements we need.
Next time we will explore key issues of structure and decision making.
This author
Roger Haram Stop activists who are founding members of the extinction rebellion and just oil and umbrellas. He is currently facing five years in prison for taking part in an online call discussing climate action on the M25.
