Hi, I’m new here. I’m alarmed by the US fascist coup and trying to find or create a long-term strategic plan for the resistance movement. Wondering if 2R’s work would be relevant to that. Thoughts?
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A couple weeks ago I set up a some very small social media channels for action planning. The model that inspires this approach is attached here. Some people are put off by the “what can get paid for?” question. Others find that question absolutely essential! As a pensioner, I need not get paid personally. For those in comparable situations (due to voluntary poverty or circumstances that provide work-independent support) the question can be refactored as “which actions will best payoff in desirable results?”
If there is interest here, I’d happy to facilitate action-centric discussions around these themes.
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Robert, I’d be happy to participate in such a discussion if you facilitated that.
First, a big welcome and thank-you for sharing.
Re the fascist point: see Trump, Neo-fascism and the Crisis of Modernity (btw there are some prior pieces to this which i haven’t got round to publishing – if of interest i can share)
trying to find or create a long-term strategic plan for the resistance movement. Wondering if 2R’s work would be relevant to that. Thoughts?
Yes, 2R is most certainly relevant – though it might be less on the “resistance” and more on the evolution.
If it were me, I’d start by doing soem proper “sensemaking” to get clear hypotheses on what is going on … and then from there to generate hypotheses on what to do about it.
Happy to share more …
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One thing I’ve got going is a praxis “stack” from very local, to regional, to global. Right now 2R is on the global end of that stack. So one thing you might consider is where in your “stack” do you want to engage? Where do you think the leverage is? I play a different game locally, regionally, globally. Globally (like here) I lean into theory because that’s what travels across distances and situations. The more local it gets, the more embodied and more particular. Also, I’ve got a multichannel “spectrum” for specific interests including education, psychology, finance, information technology, etc. Professional affiliations or focused skill sets also enhance leverage.
In a generic conversation around the “chaos compass” I’d encourage people to explore the different questions with an eye figuring out personal passion around goals, and leverage (or “affordances”) around skills and affiliations. If you want to have that conversation here, fine. Or any number of side channels, depending on what works best.
Thinking about “resistance” recently, it struck me that was a little off target, because I think the most actionable time frame is beyond current immediate cycles. I’m more interested in seeding future cycles. Then it struck me - what about a “resilience” movement? Resilience is a more Taoist sort of resistance (very Sun Tzu, for sure), a bend, don’t break sort of attitude. That sort of resilience might also feed well into evolution.
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Rufus, I listened to that audio, and I’m interested to see more of your work on the subject. I’m curious about “help to create dialog between the conflicting factions and create paths forward”. Normally I love that approach. However, I get the sense that those on the fascist side are generally not really the kind of people one can engage in good faith, intelligent dialogue with. I’ve certainly tried, as I’m sure many others have. What do you think? Are you including the fascists as one of the factions to try mediating with?
Robert, I’m focused at the American national level mostly. I think the American resistance movement lacks a strategic plan — one that helps guide localities and individuals in specific actions to take, coordinated and optimized for effectiveness. My focus is on that top level, not at the individual level right now. With the plan, people can then fit into it wherever they desire, etc.
Indivisible has a plan, but it relies a lot on elections and the Democratic Party, and I’m thinking that America has already lost its democracy and constitutional republic, so I don’t see the point in focusing on that stuff. Tesla Takedown is probably the closest thing I’ve seen to what I’m wanting, but it lacks a full vision. It’s just targeting Musk, and it isn’t entirely clear what impact Musk’s downfall would actually have on the oligarchy, etc.
For me, resistance is a shorter-term means of embodying the evolution in something practical – like a teenager rebels against the parents to firm up an identity perhaps. And, the situation is dire, imo. If our tools can’t address it well within a year, that’s disturbing to me. This crisis is exactly the sort of thing that I want to be able to “rise to the occasion for.”
My thinking at the national level is 1) it needs a regional base, 2) it needs a class base, 3) it needs an ideology expansive enough to form a working majority.
In my view, the Democrats lost the thread when they decided a coalition of coastal/urban, professional/managerial, and everyone non-white had the makings of stable governing majority. What that fails to capture is the evident class conflict between low income, culturally conservative minorities and the coastal professional elites. That’s why PoC for MAGA was even a thing, not to mention labor for MAGA. Wide open borders is not positive from a working class POV, nor is all the DEI and LBGTQ, etc.
My state, WA, is too educated, isolated, and urban-dominated to be in the middle of any US governing majority. At most, we can be frosting on a cake baked somewhere in the heartland. When farmers, veterans, and blue collar workers get a belly full of DOGE, then wheels may start turning. None of these groups will shed tears for PhD bureaucrats getting layoff notices, however.
Agreed. Unfortunately, I believe dire is baked into the cake. IMO, we’re roughly where Britain was about 5 minutes after Hitler rolled into Poland. There is no quick and easy way out of this. Either surrender - or figure out which beaches to fight them on.
Could you explain the “regional base” part? You mean, mainly focused on certain areas of the country for support?
It has to do with how the Electoral College works and also the Senate. Smaller rural states are over-represented. To obtain a governing majority requires a large voting block from places like the Southeast, the Midwest, or the Great Plains. Preferably at least two of those regions. Culturally, these places are all whiter, more Christian, and more culturally conservative than the Democratic Party has recently preferred to be.
My region (Cascadia) embraces diversity, environment, education, globalism, etc. far more that any of the vote-getting regions. But me trying to talk the rural states into being more Cascadian would be a complete waste of time. (We here in Cascadia are not going to become what they are, either). So the national challenge is find themes that work across regions and allow for a majority coalition in a system that gives rural states extra weight.
Ok. Personally, I’m not giving much weight to the election process at this point. I’m viewing it more as: America has lost democracy and the constitutional republic, and I can’t be sure we will even have free and fair elections anymore. So my strategizing is more about civil resistance techniques outside of the standard political process. E.g., how can we get rid of the Trump administration within 2 years, through nonviolent activism?
I’m not super connected within 2R yet, but from my prior experience in “sensemaking web” groups, it stood out to me that sensemaking people tend to have great strength in thinking things through well, but are very slow to action. On the other hand, I see in the activism space, we have a lot of people and a lot of energy, ready to act, but not much well-thought-out strategic planning. So I’m imagining that maybe a great collaboration could be formed here, with some sensemaking people being able to help form the brains of the resistance movement. It could provide a very practical, real-world application space for 2R. This moment is so incredibly ripe with potential – so much anger and energy, without a clear sense of direction. I wonder if the resistance movement could be a practical stepping stone to longer-term manifestation of 2R, as some activists end up becoming aware of 2R through the collaboration, etc: help mobilize the resistance movement, but over time, shift the energy from mere resistance to ongoing evolution.
Great question and this is obviously a point with a lot of nuance – not everyone may be worth engaging in (though i’d like to always take the buddhist stance that everyone has buddha nature no matter how “dusty the mirror is” and hence worthy of our love and respect at the soul level).
To get a bit more specific. Let’s take case of Trump b/c that is who people are sometimes talking about re the fascism etc. One may not seek to engage with Trump or his core supporters, but there are clearly many, many supporters of Trump generally … and it would be useful and interesting to try and listen to them and truly “hear” their concerns, fears, desires etc.
I note this is may be less about “dialogue” and more about listening, recreation etc.
Here’s an example from back in 2016 by George Packer that goes quite a way in explaining some of the disaffection with the “system” and hence support for Trump: Brilliant Piece by Packer on Hillary Clinton and the Populist Revolt · Rufus Pollock Online
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I want to echo @RobertBunge here as i think this is important. I’ve personally been involved in a fair amount of political activism including running a (succesful) floor fight in the European parliament.
Personally, i think the current system has become so sclerotic and dysfunctional (corrupt in the deep sense - not in the direct money sense) that one should focus:
a) on building new rather than correcting existing institutions.
b) focusing medium-long term i.e. years to decades to even centuries (which is neglected in the mainstream) – vs current cycle which is often days to months.
This is particularly true for the very small “vanguard” engaging with 2R type stuff. I’d focus our energy on (self)training leaders, creating pioneering pockets, developing a program etc etc.
Reconvergence
Now i have to add some nuance to that. First, at some point you want to reconverge with mainstream politics and social activism. However, that is a way off (though it could come quicker than we think.
Holding actions
Second, there may be holding actions to borrow Joana Macy’s terminology[1] which are near-term where it seems there is something that is so urgent and important to protect that it demands action now (but be careful - it is easy to think things are urgent and important when in fact they’ll just waste your time …)
Being positive (creation vs resistance)
I also thinking being positive is important: constantly emphasizing what one is for and what one wants to build - rather than being negative and focusing on what one is against. cf even in my discussion of neo-fascism i’m trying to look at what it tells us, what the opportunity is.
As often, Joanna Macy has got their first
with her three dimensions of the Great Turning Dimensions of the Great Turning - Work That Reconnects Network- Holding Actions in Defense of Life
- Transforming the Foundations of our Common Life (Gaian Structures)
- Shift in Perception and Values
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Wow, this is spot on! I think there are a lot of proximate connections for 2R / sensemaking communities to make … and a big one is with activism space(s)[1]
Now, the big challenge for activism (and i say this about myself as a “recovering” activist") is that often many activists are reactivists – ie. a bunch of our energy and motivation comes from reactivity about stuff in personal / ancestral past. Now, that’s not bad/wrong – we can welcome it – but if it runs the show it tends to perpetuate more of the victim/perpetrator dynamics that we want to try and transcend.
So i think the connection here is both on the strategic “ideas” dimension and also on the inner dimension. Creating spaces where we can “stay with the trouble” - cf The Bergerac Praxis Hub etc.
A big yes to all of this.
Yes, this could be a moment for directing energies constructively.
Yes, engaging in activism can be a stepping stone to longer-term manifestation of 2R vision in practice and in action.
others are with e.g. Effective Altruism cf the post on Integral Altruism Others are with the contemplative folks – creat ↩︎
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Short answer - probably won’t happen. If Trump collapses within two years, the most likely scenarios are 1) age, 2) dementia, 3) military coup. Meanwhile, like @rufuspollock spelled out very nicely in a recent post, build for the future quietly and wait for an advantageous moment to reenter the mainstream.