In her charateristically incisive, brutally honest and impeccable way, Chilean activist Marta Harnecker points out:
“The historical time is in our favour… The kind of society we propose and are beginning to build responds objectively to the interests of the immense majority of the population, in contrast to what the conservative forces propose – that only benefits the elites.
“The great question is then: why, if we have a project that favors the immense majority, does this not translate into an equivalent social and electoral support?
“The explanation we often give is that conservative forces use the media to disseminate a deformed vision of our project.
“But we also at fault for this misunderstanding. We have not been able to explain to the people the real dimensions of our project in terms they can understand. And worst of all, our lives have not been coherent with our project. We preach democracy but we act in an authoritarian way; we want to build a solidarian society but we are selfish; we advocate for the defense of nature but we are consumerists.”
Marta Harnecker, February 1, 2017, “A New Revolutionary Subject has Been Created in Venezuela”
In this Vital Conversation, we are addressing the core issue of how to best ensure the authenticity, integrity and fruitfulness of society’s democratizing process.
Join this Conversation at the Online Forum of the Global Holocratic Assembly — here.
Our starting point in this Vital Conversations is the Earth Holocracy Proposal’s advocated organizational model, the “Holocratic Circle”.
Presented in Volume Four, The Holocratic Circle is a customized fusion of best practices for achieving the egalitarian, transparent, accountable, efficient, horizontal, ethics-based, harmonious and fruitful collaboration popularly called for and now required.
Its key design processes are modeled upon the well-proven “Sociocratic Circle” or “Integrated Learning Circle” of Sociocracy. The advocated holocratic organizational model is core to the purported viability of the Earth Holocracy Proposal.
Thus, with the purpose of agreeing upon a “best-practice” organizational model for the genuine democratization of society, and for successfully (and swiftly) negotiating the transition to sustainability, here follows guidelines for advancing our objective:
GUIDELINES for THIS CONVERSATION
One
Our initial objective is to determine the value of the sociocratic or holocratic organizational model for the fulfillment of the purposes – as set forth in the Introduction to the Holocratic Circle – that is, to:
- Democratise social relationships – applying humanity’s ‘best practice’ model, Sociocracy, for genuinely democratic self-organization
- Facilitate an economic transition founded upon principles of sustainability, decentralisation (local stewardship) and the right of all human beings to the minimum requirements for life, liberty, security, dignity and fulfilment in life
- Safeguard the integrity, authenticity and longevity of the democratising process – by the use of effective, explicit structures, processes and mechanisms for the ethics-based, transparent, accountable and egalitarian operation of the Circle
- Provide the organisational framework and procedures for a new, decentralised socio-politico-economic system
- Strengthen the resolve of communities of people (whether these be people linked by virtue of common residency or by their mutual involvement in some large organisation) to work together so as to do their vital part in helping all humanity to make the shift to an ethical, life-sustaining, egalitarian civilisation in time – that is, before the irretrievable collapse of everything
Participants may find useful to this first step in our Vital Conversation Volume Four’s ninth, tenth and eleventh articles (as below) – and, of course, are freely encouraged to provide links referring participants to other relevant articles. Onsite we have:
Sociocracy: Origins, Features and Applications
How Holocracy Differs with Sociocracy
Benefits of Circular Organizing
Two
Once we have established a clear mutual understanding of the value of organizing sociocratically or holocratically, our task in this Vital Conversation leaps up to a much more practical and exciting level: that of creating a set of useful papers providing the essential guidelines for society to re-organize itself – holocratically.
Already, global humanity has grasped sociocracy, and is running with it.
Here we are examining the Earth Holocracy Proposal’s adaptation and customization of the sociocratic circle (and circular organizing), as well as the proposal’s integration of this model with other leading solutions for community-building.
Here our task is to collectively assess, hone, and improve upon the proposal’s following papers (being the second to eighth articles in the proposal’s Volume Four).
Here we are considering core issues for ensuring an authentic democratization of society – like how we make our decisions; how we structure our meetings; how we hold elections; how we can work together in a positive, focused, harmonious and fruitful way; how we can ensure transparency, accountability efficiency and the maximum utilization of all our potential. Big questions. Luckily, as the developer of the proposal has discovered with regards to all big questions, somebody’s usually worked it out.
Establishing the Holocratic Circle
The Blueprint of WE Collaboration Document
Consent-based Decisions-Making
On a final note, we remind ourselves as to why we are undertaking the great tasks of this Vital Conversation. We are seeking here to agree upon a best-practice organizational model which we could then collectively advocate as an effective and genuinely democratic way for the self-organization of the people – at all levels of global society. Our advocated organizational model is core to the viability of the proposed “movement of movements” that these Conversations serve. Our purpose is to facilitate the realization of an egalitarian society, a self-fulfilling society – an ethics-based and cooperative society such as inspirationally portrayed by Vilma Espin (President of the Federation of Cuban Women from its foundation in 1960 until her death in 2007):
“In Cuba, a country that is building socialism, the highest aim is human happiness, based on respect for the fundamental rights of each person. That includes full social equality to education, health care, work and professional training, with the chance to employ all of one’s faculties to take an active role in society and to help develop that society, to create the material and spiritual basis for a full, harmonious life, where the highest qualities of both men and women flourish. To reach those aspirations requires work, talent, dedication and willingness from everybody; it requires constant scientific and technological innovation, to assure economic and social development.
“Thus each member of our society, along with the right to work and all the benefits brought by the revolution, has acquired the duty to help create the economic basis necessary for such advantages. The building of a new society and the fulfillment of new aspirations could not possibly be achieved except on the basis of work and the willingness of the whole population.
“And people work with enthusiasm because work is the means for creating wealth and goods for all to enjoy. Work that is free from exploitation does acquire a new dimension, a quality that stimulates and produces satisfaction: to feel that you are useful and are creating your destiny, to project yourself towards the future through your work, to cultivate the future. In a speech in January 1964 Che Guevara said that when each Cuban viewed work as a vital expression of their human creativity, technology, technique and inventions would proceed apace and all would participate with an uncontainable force in building the new society.
“Gradually, this idea has become a reality as thousands of Cubans view work as a spiritual need, and we are convinced that the day will come when it will be so for everybody. At present, everyone still does not shoulder their social responsibility to the same extent. It is without doubt that our society of workers, with its successes and difficulties, its virtues and mistakes, is fully convinced that through creative work, free of exploitation, well-being and happiness for all will be achieved, and a contribution will be made towards the happiness of other peoples of the world who need our solidarity.”
Building a New Society: The Inspiring Example of Socialist Cuba
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