L e v e l - 7 Action

Tools For A New Political Economy

Action Guide



Action




Achieving Level 7 objectives (or any other flavor of significant transformation) will require several independent efforts, all occurring at once and likely for a sustained period of time - probably several years. I do not believe they will require central coordination, but the intensity and persistence of engagement likely needs to maintain a similar amplitude across the spectrum of efforts. As an important prerequisite in the modern age, a realistic transformation will require many of the existing and hard-won civic foundations to remain intact; chaotic or purely destructive revolution is not likely to bear the fruit it intends. There are plentiful reasons for this, many of which are discussed in the Revolutionary Integrity section.

With these things in mind, multi-pronged change mechanisms for each objective might include the following components. The encouragement in this L7 Action page is to find one or more arenas that appeals to you — to your talents, abilities, interests, social and physical communities, etc. — and then commit to positive change through personal action and relationship. But the key concept reflected here is that for effective and enduring transformation to occur, we must effect change both within the established institutions that perpetuate status quo hierarchies, and
independently and directly on various change agents outside of those institutions and their influence, thereby creating new power structures.



Top-Down Systemic Change


Revisions to processes and institutions at all levels of government — including national and international — that support Level 7 proposals.

Examples

  • Reconstitute some version of a statutory Fairness Doctrine across all media, including Web and social media, so that crackpot conspiracy theories and deliberately falsified information do not have the same technological footing — or the same perceived credibility — as truthful news reporting and “honest, equitable and balanced” analysis of critical issues.
  • State and federal constitutional amendments to repeal corporate personhood, institute direct democracy in parallel with representative democracy, initiate banking and monetary reform (also in parallel with current systems), establish equality of feminine power, restore journalistic integrity in the Fourth Estate, etc.
  • State and local initiatives that create nested citizens councils with oversight of government and enterprise, institute algorithmic redistricting, begin establishing a Universal Social Backbone, etc.
  • Legislate incentives for transitioning enterprises from shareholder ownership to worker ownership
  • Legislation that embodies other Level 7 principles and proposals (practicing the precautionary principle, distributed green energy production, public priorities database, sustainable design, etc.)
  • Legislation to reform the IMF and World Bank

Resources

Eliminating "Corporate Personhood" in Law: https://movetoamend.org/
Alliance for Democracy:
http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/
Promoting Direct Democracy:
http://www.realdemocracy.com/index.html
Wikipedia on Direct Democracy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy
Wikipedia on E-Democracy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-democracy
U.S. Congressional “Green New Deal” Proposal: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/109/text


Constructive Grass-Roots Populism

Engagement and education of the public to promote revolutionary change via mass movements.

Examples
  • Create independent Open Source, crowd-populated “Public Information Clearinghouse” as proposed
  • Promote activism, education and Level 7 ideas via social media — especially to counter AI bot campaigns, troll farms and fake news that engineer targeted manipulations of public opinion
  • Organize for popular support of top-down constitutional amendments and initiatives
  • Create or participate in commons-based alternative economies
  • Create multimedia representations of Level 7 proposals for mass distribution
  • Organize protests and other nonviolent group action to promote Level 7 transformations
  • Develop K-12 multimedia outreach to educate about Level 7 and personal integral practice

Resources

Scandanavian nonviolent revolution: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2012/01/26/how-swedes-and-norwegians-broke-power-1-percent
Gene Sharp’s Nonviolent Action Resources: http://www.aeinstein.org/ and in particular 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action
“Sharing Transformation" Resources: http://www.shareable.net/
Tom Atlee's "Co-Intelligence:"
http://www.tomatleeblog.com/
Michael Bauwen's P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net/P2P_Foundation:About
Permaculture Design Principles:
http://permacultureprinciples.com/principles/
Open Source Education Resources:
http://opensource.com/education/13/4/guide-open-source-education
Occupy Movement Resources:
http://occupy.org/
Social media AI: https://www.scout.ai/story/the-rise-of-the-weaponized-ai-propaganda-machine and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica


Disrupting the Status Quo

Deliberate sabotage of highly destructive but persistent social, economic, informational and political mechanisms that obstruct progress toward Level 7.

Examples
  • Hacktivism of most nefarious actors (i.e. those who promote a neoliberal, pro-corporate, deceptive, destructive or self-serving commercialist agenda)
  • Work with unions and workers to migrate businesses toward worker-ownership
  • Disrupt pro-capitalist misinformation and PR campaigns
  • Disrupt commerce (retail boycotts, production and distribution interruptions, etc.) involving products or services with “perverse utility” or antagonistic holistic value
  • Other nonviolent acts (198 Methods of Nonviolent Action)
  • Introduce major system-wide disruptions like David Holmgren’s “Crash On Demand.”

Resources

All About Boycotts: http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/boycotts/aboutboycotts.aspx
Wikipedia Article on Ethical Consumerism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_consumerism
David Holmgren's "Crash On Demand" Essay:
http://holmgren.com.au/crash-demand/
Wikipedia Article on "Eco-terrorism:"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-terrorism
Greenpeace on Civil Disobedience:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/civil-disobedience-why-direct-action-is-necessary/blog/48294/
198 Methods of Nonviolent Action: 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action (Aeinstein.org)
Wikipedia Article on “Hacktivism:” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacktivism
Anonymous Group: http://anoninsiders.net/


Exposing Misinformation & Pro-Corporatocracy PR Campaigns

Identify, call out and counter the constant stream of misinformation that perpetuates irrational faith in crony capitalism and corporatocracy:

Examples
  • Flag fake news memes on social media
  • Provide community with correct facts
  • Answer questions and concerns of folks who have been misinformed

Resources:

Big Oil Funds Climate Denial Propaganda: http://www.skepticalscience.com/bigoil.html
Tea Party Origins Linked to Tobacco Industry:
http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/02/13507/study-tea-party-organizations-have-ties-tobacco-industry-dating-back-1980s
The Fox News Propaganda Machine:
http://foxnewsboycott.com/ and http://mediamatters.org/research/2009/10/13/foxs-news-programs-echo-its-opinion-shows-smear/155660
Anti-Globalization/Corporations Documentaries on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls058435089/
An Extensive List of Whistleblowers from the 1700s to Current Day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_whistleblowers
Resources for Whistleblowers:
http://www.whistleblowers.org/
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/
List of “Fake News” Organizations: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xDDmbr54qzzG8wUrRdxQl_C1dixJSIYqQUaXVZBqsJs/
Snopes Fact Checking:
http://www.snopes.com/


Recruiting Elite Change Agents


Examples
  • Find members of the wealthy elite who are willing to endorse Level 7 proposals and can help actualize solutions
  • Promote narratives that frame worker ownership, direct democratization of institutions and enterprises, and diffusion of wealth and political power as the extraordinary philanthropic aims that they are
  • Persuade existing power brokers to relinquish counterproductive agendas and influence

Resources

Research on Network of Global Corporate Control: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0025995
Articles on Global Corporate Control: Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2011/10/22/the-147-companies-that-control-everything/ and New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html#.VAT6pICwKhA
Wikipedia List of People on Multiple Governing Boards:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_on_multiple_governing_boards
Wikipedia on Interlocking Directorates:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlocking_directorate
Examples of Media Interlocking Directorates:
http://fair.org/interlocking-directorates/
William Domhoff's Take on Corporate Interlocks:
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/corporate_community.html
Wikipedia List of Bilderburg Participants:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bilderberg_participants
Bilderberg Influence:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10102168/Bilderberg-Group-No-conspiracy-just-the-most-influential-group-in-the-world.html


Community-Centric Pilot Projects

Developing exemplary institutions, civic engagement and activism at the community level.

Examples
  • Develop NGOs that promote and actualize Level 7 proposals at the community level
  • Establish Community Land Trusts with common property shares
  • Develop community green energy production and distribution facilities
  • Initiate and maintain sustainable design projects individually and communally
  • Advocate credit union banking - especially those institutions that identify as smaller community banks
  • Create citizens councils that actively advise existing institutions (until initiatives can formally authorize their roles and responsibilities)
  • Advocate Level 7 guiding design principles in existing community institutions
  • Establish new goods and services enterprises that emulate the Level 7 enterprise schema

Resources

Community Organizing Resources:  http://organizingforpower.org/organizing-resources/
Credit Union Info & Locator: https://www.mycreditunion.gov
Rob Hopkins' "Transition Towns" and Suggested Ingredients for Change: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/
The Burkana Institute:
http://berkana.org/
Permaculture Principles: https://permacultureprinciples.com/
Wikipedia Article on CLTs (with links): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_land_trust


Larger-Scale Translocal and Municipal Alternatives

Creating or participating in virtual and municipal alternative systems that model (or compliment) elements of a Level 7 political economy.

Examples
  • Initiating and networking peer-to-peer virtual communities that embody commons-centric valuation and generative production
  • Engage in cosmo-local initiatives that transition municipalities to an urban commons models
  • Initiating, participating in, and coordinating municipalist experiments
  • Participate in alternative exchange mechanisms that provide seed-forms of positive change (mutual credit, bartering, alternative currencies, etc.)

Resources

Michel Bauwens P2P: SoundCloud interview and https://antipodeonline.org/2020/02/19/interview-with-michel-bauwens/ and https://p2pfoundation.net
Commons Transition Plan for Sydney, Australia:
https://www.incollaboration.com.au/catalysing-the-sydney-commons-lab
Municipalism movements: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/which-municipalism-lets-be-choosy/ and https://www.resilience.org/stories/2018-10-09/internationalism-and-the-new-municipalism/
Murray Bookchin’s
Ecology of Freedom: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/925a/70d85c813d5a49e3472882d105f466859698.pdf or http://libcom.org/library/ecology-freedom-murray-bookchin
Mutual credit systems and alternative currencies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_credit and https://socialcompare.com/en/comparison/alternative-currencies-monetary-systems



Individual Development & Supportive Networking

Personal and collective education, multi-dimensional nurturing & moral development to facilitate the unitive principle.

Examples
  • Establish Community Coregroups around the country to mutually educate and participate in Level 7
  • Create action lists of personal choices that energize Level 7 transitions to share with others
  • Contribute to the Public Information Clearinghouse database
  • Advocate Level 7 guiding principles in local community, in the workplace, etc.

Resources

Integral Lifework: https://www.integralifework.com
Resources for Paulo Friere's Work: http://www.comminit.com/democracy-governance/content/pedagogy-oppressed-paulo-freire-analysis and  http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-dialogue-praxis-and-education/ and Pedagogy of Love

A note regarding individual development and supportive networking: In the context of Integral Lifework, it is critical to appreciate that multidimensional nurturing and development is a prerequisite and parallel practice to
revolutionary integrity and activism. To understand this relationship, consider reading A Mystic’s Call to Action.


Socially Engaged Art, & Visionary Art That Inspires Transformation

Artists engaging the community in participatory art projects that increase social consciousness around Level 7 concerns, or creating works that envision or express Level 7 alternatives in inspirational ways.

Examples
  • Community sing-along concerts that protest inequality, owner-shareholder exploitation, destruction of the environment, etc. and express demand for greater democracy throughout all private and public institutions
  • Public interactive art installations that educate about direct democracy, worker-ownership, the precautionary principle, etc
  • Plays — preformed in openly accessible community spaces, and with audience participation — that model new forms of civic engagement (citizens councils, daily direct democracy, recall elections, the social credits system, etc.)
  • Novels, music, stories, poetry and cinema that demonstrates how some or all aspects of a realized Level 7 political economy would benefit human thriving.


Resources

Art Activism Links & Resources: http://culturalpolitics.net/social_movements/art
Creative/Artistic Activism Database:
http://actipedia.org/

(See also:
The Importance of Fine Arts for why I believe art is such a critical consideration)


Incremental Habits — Small Changes That Lead To Big Impacts

The idea here is simple: instead of aiming for major structural and systemic changes, just start very small — in the most personal ways — to create space and time in your life, and in the lives of those around you, for nurturing, growth and transformation.

Examples
  • Take a walk in your neighborhood, meet your neighbors, and get to know them — without any agenda in mind. Just begin to build relationships within your local community, one neighbor at a time. Practice listening without judgement or reaction, and really trying to understand other people's perspectives. Engage with empathy and kindness.
  • In the same way, engage with local businesses with less of a “transactional” attitude, and more of a “relational” attitude; get to know them, and let them get to know you.
  • Invite people you get to know this way into your home for a meal, or to hang out in the back yard or on your porch for a chat, or to join you for a relaxing stroll through the neighborhood.
  • Structure some routine space and time into your life to be quiet and alone in Nature — for peaceful appreciation of the natural world.
  • Spend more unstructured and relaxing time with friends and family.
  • Begin a daily, five- or ten-minute routine of trying out different forms of meditation (see resource below for some ideas).


Resources

To try out different styles and techniques of daily meditation, see the exercises at the end of each chapter in the Essential Mysticism book.
Read
The S.A.P. Hypothesis: Restoring Prosocial Society and review suggestions in the “Remedies for the S.A.P. Effect” section.
Take Steve McIntosh’s
Character Exercise questionnaire, and then follow some of the practices suggested there.


Consulting — And Promoting — Ethical And Truthful Media

Supporting all transformative efforts is the fundamental practice of being fully informed and helping others be more fully informed.

Trusted Media — First Tier (Least Bias/Most Factual):

Trusted Media — Second Tier (Still Factual, But Greater Bias):

For a more detailed exploration of how to separate propaganda media from truthful news, please visit the
Opposition page.


Although there are other examples of action items peppered throughout this website, individual and collective action is probably the most critical opportunity for participatory mechanisms. At some point, the web should be used to consolidate input and planning; for example, creating a portal to searchable databases for all ongoing Level 7 action efforts and avenues of involvement.


Philosophy of Countermeasures

(From the essay Escaping the failures of Capitalism)

  • Educating people about economics, technology, the functions of government, and what is actually healthy and helpful for individual and collective well-being and happiness, all-the-while exposing the deceptions and misinformation that are mercilessly disseminated in service of profit.
  • Encouraging moral maturity, compassion and empathy through revised interpersonal standards, better awareness of multidimensional nourishment (see Integral Lifework Overview), and inspirational modeling.
  • Holding accountable those government officials, businesspeople, and average citizens who have cultivated attitudes of indifference and callousness, and exercising this accountability through moral education, social expectations and the rule of law - while also eliminating the cultural and economic incentives for this behavior.
  • Promoting holistic approaches to well-being that undermine the addictions and self-destructive habits created by commercialism.
  • Creating new civic institutions and the “seed forms” of alternative arrangements that embody these more evolved, sophisticated and morally responsible values, and offering safe places to reinforce and propagate evidence-based, constructive ideals.
 

For Additional Activism Resources:

Please visit the Integral Lifework “
Constructive Organizations” page.



A Transitional Vision for Level 7

(From Political Economy and the Unitive Principle)


Diagram: Contrasting Production Dynamics

L7Production

Stacks Image 126