A post-consensus group with a high-stakes mission
Extinction Rebellion on working within a horizontal structure to drive change
It’s Sunday night in London, and I’m eating dim sum with Clare and Charlie after a couple of beers at a pub in Soho that Charlie selected for being pleasantly grotty. (Grotty is Charlie’s word. This is Anna speaking, from Metalabel.) After spending hours on Zoom calls and in Discord together in two dimensional squares, the reality of dim sum in a basement with these two is both entirely normal and extremely weird. So we order a bottle of wine and talk shop.
Clare and Charlie are, respectively, Clare Farrell (cofounder leading design and messaging) and Charlie Waterhouse (designer in the Art Group) from the activist group Extinction Rebellion: a horizontal, non-partisan organization using “non-violent direct action to persuade governments to act justly on the climate and ecological emergency.”
For the unfamiliar, XR are the group of activists who closed down central London in a nonviolent action to compel the government to declare a climate emergency, among many other actions.
The day before dim sum, I took a little walk along the Thames to visit the TATE Modern. Outside of a church, a friendly older woman handed us some stickers. I felt the mind-click of familiarity, and asked if she was with XR. “I am!” she said. “There are a lot of Christians helping with the climate crisis!”
As we proceeded along the Thames for the next half-hour, maybe 20 to 30 retirees and youthful grandparents warmly offered us stickers and flyers from XR detailing the impact of the climate crisis. Soon, hand-made signs and XR flags started appearing. Right in front of the TATE Modern, we joined a large, peaceful circle of folks gathered around a makeshift stage in a cacophony of colorful XR flags who were listening as a speaker in a wheelchair shared shocking statistics about healthcare outcomes for people with disabilities during COVID.
The operation was impressive in its size, organization, and, yes, kindness. It was even more impressive knowing how very autonomous individual members of XR are within the organization, and having heard from Clare and Charlie about the plurality of motivations that members bring to this sort of work.
Earlier this year, Clare and Charlie were part of ASSEMBLY, an educational cohort we held for metalabels. As both speakers and participants, the two XR members were open about the possibilities, responsibilities, and pitfalls of their flat organizational structure.
This week’s Public Record features an in-depth conversation with Clare and Charlie about their experiences within a decentralized organization that are deeply relevant and insightful for anyone working on a collaborative project.
Here’s what Clare had to say when we asked her what she would do differently if they could do it all over again:
“I would try really hard to design a system of governance that can't get so out of control. Not because it's completely out of control, but because there's been such a struggle for legitimacy within the system. When we launched we knew that decentralization was an idea that was valuable. Some people had done much deeper thinking about it than others, and a lot of people, as it proliferated through the movement, were saying it but didn't really know what it meant. To be able to be much more critical about what it means to design decentralized systems, to understand the power of them and realize how hard they can be to change afterwards, would be valuable.”
To learn how one of the most impactful collectives in the world does everything from fund its projects to get media attention to manage the huge numbers of people who want to join their movement, read our conversation with Clare and Charlie about Extinction Rebellion here.
Release Therapy this Thursday
In this week’s Release Therapy, we’ll be joined by the founder of a new multiplayer writing tool called Crowdwrite to hear his plans for releasing and growing his project. The group will help by sharing their feedback, insights, and questions.
When: Thursday, 27 October, 1 pm EST
Location: Metalabel Discord
Release Therapy is for members of Metalabel. Learn more about becoming a member here.
Stay tuned for next week’s look at multiplayer creativity, or if you like, follow us here and here for updates and inspiration.
Peace and love,
Anna &
Austin &
Brandon &
Ilya &
Lauren &
Rob &
Yancey &
Metalabel