Building strategic literacy & consensus in the Metacrisis
The points below were first published as the conclusion to an essay I wrote on strategic literacy and consensus building which can be found here.
The video version of this strategy bulletin can be found here.
Activists, please note the following:
First, the climate crisis is a symptom or feature of the Metacrisis, and should not be addressed in isolation.
Second, the Metacrisis is composed of many intersecting crises, which deserve serious study to allow effective strategic action.
Third, the Metacrisis is a social ecological crisis, or a social ecological lack.
Fourth, the living praxis of social ecology, (as opposed to a dogmatic reading of Murray Bookchin) applied through communalism, could be the most appropriate reference point to which to orientate strategic responses to the Metacrisis.
Fifth, social ecology can be usefully viewed as a kind of eco anarchism. Social ecologists, anarchists of various kinds and other anti-authoritarian leftists need not dwell on their ideological or even practical differences in times of Metacrisis and need not dwell on historical schisms and splits, but can instead get together to help to build the ecological, ethical, localised, post-capitalist society that we all wish to see, if necessary under the banner of a New Anarchism or ecological crisis response anarchism.
Sixth, there is grounds for a broad consensus across the political spectrum from the far left to the moderate right, that the municipality-level relocalisation of political economies and the technological infrastructures embedded within them, is not only desirable but necessary for the sustainable continuance of human civilization. However, the highest standards of ethics, including as related to anti-racism and intersectional feminism, should not be sacrificed to the broad consensus.
Seventh, a relocalised world is one where anarchists, as well as grassroots socialists, social ecologists, other so-called left libertarians and communitarian indigenous organisers can advance radically democratic visions, including a post-capitalist moral economy. This does not negate the need to work with people from across the political spectrum when building local democracy and local resilience to Metacrisis –including climate crisis— shocks.
Eighth, global society is arguably already collapsing due to the Metacrisis (at least in some pockets) and in some ways things are bound to get worse (e.g. on metrics of climate), which is why the seventh point above should be tempered by the prioritization of the most marginalised and vulnerable and helping them prepare for and deal with collapse.
Ninth, in times of Metacrisis, transition and collapse, the utmost strategic and tactical diversity and strategic literacy are being pursued and must be encouraged alongside an alertness to the possibility of an emergent metastrategy which could tie together multiple threads and nodes of resistance and transformation on an ongoing basis. Such a metastrategy could be facilitated by highly skilled, undogmatic, anti-colonial and anti-authoritarian organisers, towards the goal of a just, relocalised, directly democratic, post-capitalist society. Workers` perspectives and struggles, including those of rural workers, should not be excluded from these processes, as well as the historical tactics and strategies of multiple peoples and movements, newly and variously adapted.
Tenth, specifically social ecological perspectives and solutions should be given serious and ongoing consideration when responding to the Metacrisis in the context of the ninth point above, including dialectical naturalism (unequivocally), deliberative direct democracy via confederated communes, ecological moral economy, and ecological technology within the social matrix of technology –integrating qualitative re-industrialisation, degrowth and appropriately scaled albeit democratically controlled infrastructures, from the local to the bioregional and beyond.
Eleventh, affinity groups (AGs) of study and action could help to explore the points above in theory and facilitate practical action based on these points. It is possible to start an AG with just two people. Start with study. Graduate to action. Follow this link for more information.
!The Epic Tomorrows of Earth 