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There are many more ways to affect change than what conventional politics offer. The goal of prefigurative politics, for instance, is to build and practice the worlds we want to live in now. As Saio Gradin puts it, prefiguration "sees the project of... changing society as a much bigger project than changing those centers of power... it's a bigger project in learning new ways of being, and practising new ways of being.” Whereas other strategies to achieve political change, such as protesting and policymaking, work towards future reforms, prefiguration actively implements changes in daily material life.
One current example of prefigurative politics in action is worker self-directed organizations. Gradin points out the contradiction of capitalist workplaces in a supposedly democratic society, where workers themselves have little to no say in the management of their employer. Nicole Wires describes an alternative model in which workers employ shared collective governance, non-hierarchical structures, and financial transparency. She describes some ways her organization, the Sustainable Economies Law Center, practices this philosophy of decentralized and accountable decision-making.
Join us in this special EcoGathering as we explore the implications of prefiguration, and how we can take its lessons to continue working towards the better world we know is possible.
For people newly interested in EcoGatherings, we host community-focused virtual gatherings almost every week covering a variety of topics. Those can all be explored here. They're completely free and you're always welcome to hop in and out of the calls as you please. For our regular EcoGathering attendees, this call will be in addition to our usual call cycle.
Recommended resources for this EcoGathering: