the new economy PDX

My friend Brush and I are initiating a process to galvanize the movement towards a more economically just urban environment. Unfortunately I may not be in Portland long enough to attend the first mtg. But I'm grateful for the opportunity to develop these ideas. I want to share the summary of our conversations to date.


Goal of this process:


To support the accelerating emergence in Portland of new economies based
on sustainability and justice, so more and more people can meet basic
needs through local values-based exchange of work and resources rather
than the dominating economy.


Economies:

Systems that coordinate human needs and desires with time and resources, to sustain and grow life.


Goal for first gathering:


To identify and plan specific and measurable actions to bolster infrastructure for such new economies.

Note that the goal is not to create a new overarching organizational structure to replace or encompass existing systems and organizations. We seek rather to link those systems and organizations, coordinate their efforts, support their expansion, support the creation of new systems and organizations, and help more individuals get involved.


Gathering date


We are considering the second week of July.


Gathering agenda


We are currently meeting with potential participants to define the agenda and the process. It will be tightly facilitated to ensure productive outcomes.

Questions to frame agenda-development:

* What are the existing infrastructure pieces? How could they be improved?
* What new infrastructure pieces would be most valuable? In what order of implementation?
* How can we get these changes going most effectively?
* Who else should be involved?

Please note: this human-friendly gathering will include food, music, and socializing. This is our revolution, and we dance!


Example possible infrastructure pieces:


* Coordination tech
Methods to help different economic systems keep track of each others' activities, support exchange of resources among groups, make it easy for people entering one group to access others, and coordinate large projects involve multiple groups with follow-through

* Revolutionary welcome centers
Space/group that helps new arrivals (to Portland and/or new economies) connect with potentially compatible resources, organizations, trainings, etc. Could include regular public gatherings for economic projects to recruit and request help.

* Anarchist HR collectives
Support for workers and organizations in designing good job-matches,
finding/developing training, managing workflow, engaging conflict, balancing autonomy and collectivity, etc. May also focus on helping folk have access to basic needs (housing, health, food, etc.)

* Capitalism interface collectives
Radical legal, financial, and lobbying crews with skills to create robust interfaces between our emerging economies and courts, banks, and governments, in order to maximize our autonomy, influence, and resistance to co-optation.

* Open Standards for Open New Economies
Open data exchange standards that allow seamless interaction and aggregation of economic information so people can join multiple systems and manage information from one client: goods/services exchange, project management, decision-making, ratings, events, etc.

* Catalysts
Crews who provide start-up know-how and resources to get new collectives running, then leave to start another.

* Cross-pollinators
Groups or individuals that focus on helping deeply different communities and cultures discover how to respect each other, learn from each other, and design mutually beneficial collaboration.

* Your ideas here!