On not reproducing oppression in alternative projects

We cannot work for structural change through any organisation that within itself reproduces or replicates the relationships of power that are dominant in capitalism.

Excerpted from Lillian Geddes, of the Mutualism Queensland blog:

“We cannot work for structural change through any organisation that within itself reproduces or replicates the relationships of power that are dominant in capitalism.

We are confronted by, and participate in, invisible organising patterns that are forms of social abuse, and these patterns of working are installed into our daily lives. We have to understand the way in which we disburse power within our groups as well as the relationship between each of us to that power. We need to change the perceptions of our individual roles in the economy.

We need to dismantle the machinery that is delivering us towards new forms of economic ghettoism. We need to take our tools to this machinery because it is breaking up society, and we need to do this with the same spirit and precision that has inspired and focused social resistence for centuries.

At the same time as we dismantle these forms of abuse, so must we build the replacement forms that are restorative and mutually enriching. In action that is conscious of its purpose, we can remove the distorted and dysfunctional patterns of organising, and replace them with functional patterns that deliver equity.

We have to share the fruits of our work in right relationship to its production. In this way we start to correct the distortions imbedded into the current social forms that we participate in. We serve no gain if we only replace one abusive form of social organisation with another.”

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