What is the image, the feeling you have of Politics?
To me, Politics is "the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations between individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status." (from Wikipedia). So, basically, much of the functioning of our lives is based on and influences the Politics around us. Wait... do we really influence our Politics?
How do you influence the processes of decision-making around you?
For a lot of us the only way of influencing the political system that directly affects our lives is through elections. Electing representatives that will then decide for us. Except for exceptional, usually very small-scale cases, representative governments (mostly mis-named Democracies—and here's a good explanation of why) are a way of not only outsourcing our responsibility, but effectively dispossesing ourselves of agency. We end up with decisions being made not by those who are affected by them.
Does it have to be like this?
I don't think so...
The ways we come and walk together are changing. Some of us are accepting that the systems we've built are not only unfit for purpose, but outright harming. Some are dreaming and creating new ways of engaging and dealing with the needs of life. Some are finding ways of decolonising the enormous diversity of simple and sophisticated, usually resilient and respectful ways that have been used by many cultures around this gorgeous planet.
Now What?! has partenered with Reworlding, where we've been exploring ways of coming together, dreaming together while accepting our diversity—and eager to have more diversity!—and concocting a week of inquiry (23th - 29th of May!). Inquiry at different levels, from the very individual (we start with the questions Who am I? and What happened to us?) to the immediate coming together (How do we trust one another?), to the wider circles of collectives (How do we act together in trust?)...
And at different depths...
Much like Now What?!. Reworlding is not thought as the "usual" conference, but more as an experiment in learning from each other, in bringing together wisdom and experience... We've envisioned the week as a valley, with a multitude of Streams contributing to a River flowing through its middle... You can take little dips in the Streams (independent yet interconnected sessions exploring different aspects of our social systems), and / or come for a full journey down the River (a week-long process in small groups, experiencing and exploring how we come together to make decisions happen).
In short, Reworlding is an online gathering where we aim at exploring ways of coming together as (fully) human beings to decide our futures and that of our planet. It has come to life through a beautiful, challenging and inspiring process, guided itself by that what we dream as a way into a healthier, more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.
You can participate in different ways: coming to as many of the Stream sessions as you want (most if not all such sessions will have some experiential component), and you can commit to the week-long River process.
Please have a look at the programme for the Streams and see if there are any sessions that call you. There you will also find links to the recordings! And check out the whole playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqXOUrB5If4kKTtARIfY0dkC2GQXV003l
You can find out more about the whole gathering in our Website.
This is not a call to get involved in politics. This is a call to help create a new politics.