On this episode, Nate is joined by Marty Kearns, a civic organizer and networking specialist. He and Marty discuss why both networks and communities will be critical to the coming challenges we face. How will the social ties we form now influence the outcome of power, peace and new social organization? How can we organize ourselves in order to best meet the future that is coming?
Awesome! Sort of an prelude of what we may expect in Zeitgeist 4?
Creating this super organism via to a prosocial communication network is something we in TZM really need to build. As the admin that started this forum it’s clear how I see this. What do you think we need to create a stronger activist network?
For sure we have not mobilized enough people according to Dunbar’s number for a stable community.
The podcast mentions 7 elements for networks, I think TZM checks none of those really…
Leaders (this is by design, we’re a leaderless movement, but of course we do have people taking the initiative, but they are rare)
Common language (for some reason a small but powerful group of people wants to change core terms and definitions and how to do activism without general consensus)
Communications grid (the forum kind of checks this one, but lacks diverse activity)
Feedback mechanism (the forum checks this one off)
Shared resources (the forum checks this one off since we have chapters and teams)
Clear vision (only short term goals and no central consensus on what to achieve in the coming 5 years or so, part of having a grassroots movement I suppose)
Social ties (this strongly depends on the chapters, if more chapters are like TZM NL, then I could check this one off)
Intersting take! Sounds like a good framework to work with in building a strong Network. Like you mention in your post I think we have the potential with some things being checked by the forum. Yet we still need to build that Dunbars number. (This starts with setting up small projects and dedicating time to those small projects, a hard one in current society - also for myself.)
This is much needed post indeed. Similar to non profit and activist organizations, we need to develop a framework that helps us gain traction and be more relevant in today’s society and world affairs.
I really think common language is important as we need to keep our key terms clear and concise. Something i struggle with but perhaps when discussing ‘sustainability’ for example, it is important to reference an updated example when it comes to energy or food system. I would add more with respect to localization.
The same for our community building, it really helps to have ongoing projects.
You guys are always welcome to my little huistuintje where I’m busy setting up an off grid solar system to grow microgreens.
Currently busy testing the load and recharging capabilities given that i havent finished the first system til now and it’s the less sunny Season.
