thank you so much Paul and Sam, this article below gets a lot of attention ...

my feeling is that some combination of distribution and political efficiency, must be attempted, though I'm not sure what the 'vehicle' for this might be, I'm guessing it will be (re-)invented ..

Tiberius has an idea, but not really developed, which I think is important and promising, i.e. 'pre-programmed mass movements'

this involves thinking ahead of contingencies such as : what do we do when the internet is shut down, what do we do when we are physically attacked ..

this is why I think that next to the quick time of spontaneous mobilizations, the long time of small groups of thinkers-doers is a necessity ..

this does not mean a centralized hierarchical organisation but rather a credible (as the french would say):  "force de proposition"

when the greek crisis was on the agenda a few months back, my idea was that we need a force of rapid intervention, that could have made the right proposals at the right time (in this case, Ellen Woods of Web of Debt had the most cogent, immediately applicable proposals)

My dream/intention is to be able to describe such a few teams ... (ellen did not reply to my emails on this however <g>)


Michel

On Sat, Feb 5, 2011 at 12:42 AM, Paul B. Hartzog <paulbhartzog@gmail.com> wrote:
David,
I was just reading

http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/2011/02/04/gladwell-proves-too-much/

And saw this

Activism requires not just strong ties, but also strong, centralized,
hierarchical organization. Not networks. You need a hierarchy “if
you’re taking on a powerful and organized establishment…”

which ties in with this post Sam Rose and I just published this morning:

Towards a Peer-to-Peer Strategy for Social Change
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/towards-a-peer-to-peer-strategy-for-social-change/2011/02/04

(see also Michel Bauwens')
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/social-media-and-social-revolutions-what-is-their-relationship/2011/02/02

Glad to see all the good conversation around this topic of late.

-p

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The Universe is made up of stories, not atoms.
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