Principles...

The piece below has been published in the latest printed edition of the At the Grassroots paper, the distribution of which is due to start this coming weekend. A few decades of experience of activism at a community level lies behind the development of these principles. Ones which as we gain more experience and learn more lessons, will continue to develop and evolve. Nothing should ever be written in stone. I’ve taken the decision to post this up here on The Avon Stirrer in the interests of transparency about how we operate.

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Answering questions as to what the At the Grassroots project is about is not always an easy task. It’s an ongoing development if we’re being honest. As is developing the strategy and tactics to support what we’re trying to do with our very limited resources. The best we can do is come up with a broad set of principles while retaining the flexibility we need to respond to rapidly changing circumstances.

PRINCIPLES TO BELIEVE IN

Before establishing a set of principles to guide how we operate, we need to broadly state what we believe in. That, as far as is possible, should be a statement of what kind of society we want. To garner any kind of support, a positive vision of what we want is essential:

• We’re for bringing power right down to the grassroots so it’s people, at the level of the neighbourhood, who collectively decide how their communities develop.

• The same principles apply to the workplace - workers should be in full control of their production and whatever services they offer, for the common good.

• Communities and workplaces federating with each other to make the bigger decisions about things such as infrastructure is obviously important.

• It’s about trusting people to collectively decide how to run their own lives.

• Bringing power down to the grassroots is localism.

• A key part of localism is trying to meet as many of our needs as possible with local production.

• Obviously that can’t be done for everything but when it comes to things like food production, it can be.

• Localising food production inevitably means paying more attention to the seasons.

• It would mean eating seasonally.

• This would be a part of re-establishing a connection with nature.

• A key part of that is working with the planet we live on as opposed to short sightedly ripping it apart for resources.

• That means as far as possible, establishing a closed loop economy to minimise waste.

• Being more in touch with nature means recognising that we have no right to play God.

• Do no harm really does have to be a guiding principle.

• We support the freedom for people to decide how they live providing it has no adverse impacts on others or the ecosystem that supports all of us.

• If people feel that the traditional nuclear family is the arrangement that suits them best, that’s fine.

• If people want to live in a commune, that’s also fine.

• We support the freedom of religious/spiritual belief providing it has no adverse impact on other people.

• It’s reasonable to assume that a society more in tune with nature and the rhythms of the seasons will be a more spiritual one.

• To dictate how people live with and alongside each other and also how they express their spiritually smacks of authoritarianism.

• We’re not authoritarians because we trust people to make the right decisions for themselves and their communities.

OPERATING PRINCIPLES

Right, that’s a very tentative, broad brush outline of what we aspire to. The next step is to work out a set of operating principles that reflect this. Again, what follows is a broad brush attempt at doing this:

• We’ll support action which takes power away from the elites and brings it down to the grassroots.

• We support action which gives workers full control over their production.

• We support action which localises production, particularly when it comes to food.

• We cannot support action which merely makes demands on the government to ‘do the right thing’.

• This is because we recognise that government and the corporate and financial interests they serve are the problem!

The above points are tentative offerings. That means they’re up for discussion, amendment and expansion. As ever, constructive criticism, comradely debate and helpful suggestions are welcome:)