About The Project
The Stories Behind The Way Ahead
The Times We Live In
Standing closely behind our great advance is a shadow. A shadow which increasingly cannot be ignored. With the outbreak of a global pandemic merely pouring fuel onto the flames of many of the issues that we have long ignored, in 2022 it seems like societies, politics and economies are coming apart at the seams. Unchecked market forces continue to drive unprecedented levels of material inequality, ripping at the social fabric of our communities and eating away at senses of solidarity. At the same time, the profound social and cultural shifts that have accompanied globalisation have left many disoriented, feeling a loss of identity as the certainties of the past rapidly dissolve.
For those struggling to come to terms with the anxiety of what feels like a runaway world, there is no shortage of populist saviours waiting in the wings to satisfy our longing to maintain the illusions of a less ambiguous past. And all the while, our insatiable quest for material growth is pushing the earth beyond its limits. For even the most amateur observer of history, there’s a distinct sense of déjà vu – with the added twist of impending ecological collapse thrown in for good measure.
When Worlds Collide
“A seat at the table is desired. But I’ll scream from the street if I need to.”
Darnell Lamont Walker
The responses to these many-sided challenges are falling short – and it shows. Recent years have seen the anger and frustration of citizens tired of austerity, inequality, corruption and elite politics spill out onto the streets from London to La Paz, from Beirut to Buenos Aires. At one end of the spectrum, the status quo power centres are increasingly struggling to cope with the complex and interconnected shifts occurring in a globalised world. At the other end, citizens are now more educated, connected, and confident in the idea that they can and should have greater influence over their lives than ever before. The game has changed but the rules haven’t. It seems as if a collision was inevitable.
The Limits of Protest
It could be tempting to mistake recent popular uprisings around the world for a victory for freedom. And yet impassioned crowds, with little capacity to collectively organise beyond mobilising to demonstrate what they are against, do not make a democracy. To remove the hierarchical institutions of government without replacing them with something else always runs the risk of clearing the way for darker forces to enter the fray – excessive chaos is just as effective a destroyer of freedom as excessive order. Protest, despite the often fatal risks for those who have the courage to participate and the vital role it plays, is always easier than collectively working out what should come next – and then making it a reality.
And as many across the Middle East and North Africa found out to their dismay in the years following 2011, changing the politicians in the system, even changing the politics of the system, means little without changing the system of politics.
Evolution Not Revolution
The era of the wicked problem is not ceasing. The old tools of force, ‘hard power’ and top-down approaches now seem increasingly impotent in the face of challenges like climate change, pandemics, mass migration and food insecurity. Antagonistic competition, petty rivalry, zero-sum games and personality politics simply aren’t going to cut it. Nor is seeking solace in victimhood, blame games and waiting for governments or others to solve all the problems. The powerful energy contained in anger must instead be redirected to the most potent of all rebellions, that of creation. Ours must be an age of collaboration, collective intelligence and distributed problem-solving if we are to ensure our grandchildren have a viable future.
In many ways we find ourselves once again at that all too familiar crossroads of history. Do we succumb to fear, and seek safety in heroes and ‘strongmen’ to lead us to salvation, all the while knowing that whatever relief they might offer will be temporary at best? Or do we lean into the uncertainty and meet the challenge with open arms?
Revolutions have failed. Something else is needed.
Creation As Rebellion
“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.” James Bovard
Our current models of democracy, designed for use with a technology that is now over 500 years old, are no longer appropriate for the 21st century. Is a system of infrequent reality tv-style popularity contests between pre-determined elites really the best we can do?
So how might we combine the fruits of modernity, science, education and the latest advances in communications technology, with the deeper wisdom of our older instincts for connection and interdependence to reforge democracy for our age? To build something more adaptive, responsive, innovative, flexible and inclusive while still structured, bounded and concrete. Something that can comfortably straddle the nebulous line between order and chaos and draw effectively on both.
And where might we find inspiration for this new kind of politics, for something that is genuinely democratic and inclusive in design, not just in name?
Democracy from the Margins
“No problem can be solved with the same consciousness that created it.”
Albert Einstein
To see the world purely through the lens of crisis is to paint a skewed picture of reality, and to do a disservice to those around the world who, far from the repetitive headlines of chaos and disaster are quietly building the next evolution of collective decision-making. Perhaps liberal democracy is in crisis. But around the world, grassroots initiatives for greater citizen participation in politics are booming. And often in precisely the places that those closer to the centres of power rarely think to look.
This project seeks to highlight the potential pathways out of our current political quagmire coming not from the halls of Westminster or Capitol Hill, the offices of think tanks or the lecture theatres of academia, but rather by drawing inspiration from the so-called ‘margins’ of the global political economy. From the groups and communities living on the frontlines of some of the world’s most pressing challenges who, often out of necessity, are going beyond protest to dream up and implement innovative, collaborative ways of doing politics and take back control of their collective futures.
A New Narrative for our Times
“The Universe is made of stories, not atoms”
Muriel Rukeyser
Our reality may inform the stories we tell, but it’s also those same stories that inform reality. The story of civilisation, modernity, progress, representative government and material growth has lifted millions out of poverty. Yet like all narratives, it has its shadow. As the cracks begin to appear in the old tale, we need to imagine a new one – a collective myth for our times. One that can help us think beyond the dichotomy of government and the governed and embrace the fundamental notion that we are both autonomous individuals and part of a greater whole.
Journeys Through Democracy
“Democracy is always a work in progress, it’s never an absolute idea or it would otherwise be a totalitarian ideology just like all the rest of them”.
José Mujica, President of Uruguay (2010–2015)
With this in mind, this series of blog posts, photo essays and short videos – culminating in a book – is an effort to chronicle the unique human stories of communities around the world who are re-imagining the boundaries of what democracy is and can be in today’s world. Travelling across continents from cooperatives in Madrid to migrant squats in Rome, from radical communes in Syria to hunter gatherers in the Kalahari and from indigenous social movements in Brazil to blockchain hacktivists in Buenos Aires, this is a story about the art of the possible, a humble attempt to provoke and inspire us to a creative rebellion that works for everyone.
Perhaps there is a cruel irony in the idea that those who have had to shoulder many of the negative externalities of modernity, from climate change, to poverty and armed conflict may yet turn out to be those who will lead the powerful and the privileged of this world out from their own self-destruction.
Or perhaps that’s just always been the way of the world.