IPPS Strategy & Vision Q&A

Members of The International Project for a Participatory Society (IPPS) were asked to respond to a short list of questions relating to a future participatory society and how to get there. Although broadly formulated, the questions are aimed at extrapolating IPPS member thoughts and experiences on matters of strategy and vision. Here is Patrick Bond's svar:

(1) Kan du venligst identificere, hvad du mener er de centrale definerende træk og institutioner i samfundet, som skal ændres, dvs. økonomiske, politiske, kulturelle, køn/seksuelle, økologiske osv.?

I tend to work on intermediate-level 'non-reformist reform' strategies against capitalism as a first priority, accompanied by Marxist political economic critique. I think the best I might offer to reflect on this is et papir I presented yesterday which draws out the way Africa's underdevelopment might be analysed from this standpoint, and some implications for the global justice movement.

(2) Hvad er dine mål for denne ændring, søger du at reformere dem, hvis det er tilfældet med hvilke ændringer, bredt? Søger du grundlæggende at erstatte disse institutioner med nogle andre? Hvis ja, hvordan ser udskiftningsstrukturerne ud, hvad er deres definerende egenskaber, selvfølgelig kort fortalt?

I don't have confidence in the contemporary world balance of forces changing, so while the core problems are generated at the global scale, we probably best direct our energies - at least in the next couple of decades - towards takeover and transformation of *national* governments.
Each case of revolution will be different and it is invidious to promote blueprints (though the parecon model is very attractive to be sure). The most important basis for designing post-capitalist/racist/patriarchal/anthropomorphic strategies and replacement institutions, is the existing campaigning of mass democratic movements. Shortcuts can do more harm than good.

(3) Hvem tror du, de strategiske aktører er i at nå disse mål, dvs. politiske partier, arbejdere, kvinder, queers, immigranter, bestemte lande eller regioner osv.?

I have listed the 'global justice movement' components in the attached.

(4) Hvilken taktik ser du blive brugt centralt for at opnå disse ændringer, dvs. afstemning, direkte aktion, medieaktion, strejker, demonstrationer osv.?

Tactics are so diverse that it is probably best to first outline strategies. The two core strategic arguments I tend to prioritise are 'decommodification' and 'deglobalisation of capital' (via globalisation of people). See attached for more.

(5) Hvordan passer andre perspektiver, som har forskellige ideer om samfundsmæssige forandringer, ind i din strategi og vision?

I list four other politico-ideological perspectives in the attached (pp.34-35), and give a sense of where occasional alliances can be made by global justice movements with the 'Third World nationalist' and 'Post-Washington Consensus' perspectives.