Fascinating article and conversation, thanks all.
"It is this continuous and dramatic risk that strengthens the social cohesion of the group. Neither can survive without the other. They themselves are considered a phratry, a group of “brothers”"
I really value how the Fraternitas aligns so much of Edgeryders' unique principles, qualities, practices and social mission rather than conforming to existing institutional conventions, even those that are more progressive. I do still feel that I need to better understand how a Fraternitas actually operates in our context however, so looking forward to talking about that more with you @nadia @alberto and others. It reminds me of what @gehan said in the opening panel of OpenVillage Festival around the importance of "power literacy" rather than trying to create new infrastructures. I'm also curious as to how decolonial, anti-capitalist and post-feminist thinking enters into our referencing of the Fraternitas, if that's even relevant?
In addition to techniques for building trust and respecting limits of care, I'd be very interested in talking more about the spectrum of decision making processes that are emerging in allied movements and where they fit with Edgeryders form and growth. For example, at Percolab, a cooperative where I also collaborate, they engage in generative decision making processes which are based on consent rather than consensus. I feel like this works for sure, but needs to be flexible and is not always appropriate. The research lab where I used to be based resisted any kind of decision making processes and chose "emergent responses" instead - as a consequence often decisions ended up being made almost autocratically, simply by those people that happened to be in the room with the Director - which clearly doesn't work either. And I recently was responsible for developing a decision-making matrix for The School of Making Thinking which was a super interesting process but in the end isn't actually overtly being applied. I'm curious as to what is the threshold between discerning and mobilsing around the organisation's principles here. Also very curious to here more about your explorations on this @patrick_andrews..?!
@asimong Really appreciate your thoughts and their direction, please also tag me in your upcoming post with further reflections.
"The unity of feelings corresponded with economic equality. It constituted their spiritual guarantee...
They were no longer content with their corporate competencies. They dared to assume public functions and, facing no opposition from the authorities, usurped their place. "
YES!