Building on last week's edition, we go looking for proto-political groups that bring people together around shared passions. Plus, GOP community centers, crypto flops in El Salvador and much more.
Not quite a movement (yet), but we at DemocracyNext are trying to shift political and legislative power to everyday people by building new sortition-based deliberative institutions: https://demnext.org/, so that we can eventually replace our elections-based system of governance. Our team and advisers include Hélène Landemore, Ece Temelkuran, David Van Reybrouck, and others.
I think there’s a lot of that kind of foment in Eastern Kentucky. I take it, by proto, you’re not referring to explicitly political organizations like KFTC. In which case, one example that comes to mind is the arts, culture and media work done by, through, in conjunction with or parallel to Appalshop in Whitesburg. From people telling their own stories by making films about their communities, to a radio show for people incarcerated in nearby prisons that gives them a chance to talk to family members, to Sexy Sex Ed, to Girls Rock, to tons of other stuff I’m not up on…. I think lots of these draw folks into political action writ large.
And the list - coming soon! Off to a honeymoon for the next week and a half, then will return to this post (and follow up) to build this list of potential local pro-democracy sprouting grounds.
I'm sorry. Found Narayanan's critique of Harari to be extremely shallow and interesting. The "mistakes" she finds are generally either irrelevant to Harari's main points or she is disagreeing without making enough of a case for why or why her disagreements matter.
Fundamentally, I think she is misreading what Harari is trying to do and why people find him interesting. Ironically, she is 100% right that he is really telling a story. But she seems to think that because people find this story interesting and persuasive, people are unquestioningly accepting every element of it. That isn't the case. And her critique of Sapiens struck me as the equivalent of someone criticizing War and Peace because of spelling errors or because the description of Napoleon's hats were wrong. It's just operating at the wrong level.
Not quite a movement (yet), but we at DemocracyNext are trying to shift political and legislative power to everyday people by building new sortition-based deliberative institutions: https://demnext.org/, so that we can eventually replace our elections-based system of governance. Our team and advisers include Hélène Landemore, Ece Temelkuran, David Van Reybrouck, and others.
We are launching officially tomorrow: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/democracynext-virtual-launch-event-tickets-392352104707
And I've shared about my motivation for starting DemocracyNext here: https://twitter.com/ClaudiaChwalisz/status/1569953561940992002?s=20&t=DTunqwz8Xp5SJh7UqtR_GQ
Under-appreciated mass action group that has superior tactical skills when it comes to multi-state organizing, resisting authority, and high-end physical achievements IRL: Chicago street takeovers (https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/8/25/23311989/car-drifting-takeover-meet-carmeet-drag-racing-city-council-impound-stunt-driving)
I think there’s a lot of that kind of foment in Eastern Kentucky. I take it, by proto, you’re not referring to explicitly political organizations like KFTC. In which case, one example that comes to mind is the arts, culture and media work done by, through, in conjunction with or parallel to Appalshop in Whitesburg. From people telling their own stories by making films about their communities, to a radio show for people incarcerated in nearby prisons that gives them a chance to talk to family members, to Sexy Sex Ed, to Girls Rock, to tons of other stuff I’m not up on…. I think lots of these draw folks into political action writ large.
Here in Miami, large groups of people organize for coastal cleanup efforts. Maybe they can be parlayed into civic action groups.
Center for Common Ground has Democracy Centers that focus on opportunities to take action in support of issues important to the community: https://www.centerforcommonground.org/democracycenters
And the list - coming soon! Off to a honeymoon for the next week and a half, then will return to this post (and follow up) to build this list of potential local pro-democracy sprouting grounds.
I'm sorry. Found Narayanan's critique of Harari to be extremely shallow and interesting. The "mistakes" she finds are generally either irrelevant to Harari's main points or she is disagreeing without making enough of a case for why or why her disagreements matter.
Fundamentally, I think she is misreading what Harari is trying to do and why people find him interesting. Ironically, she is 100% right that he is really telling a story. But she seems to think that because people find this story interesting and persuasive, people are unquestioningly accepting every element of it. That isn't the case. And her critique of Sapiens struck me as the equivalent of someone criticizing War and Peace because of spelling errors or because the description of Napoleon's hats were wrong. It's just operating at the wrong level.