GOVERNANCE & ECONOMY

The closest CELDF has ever gotten to a bumper sticker tagline has been, “Who decides?” There are two major parts to the operation of government: 1. Who is making the decisions? and 2. What do we need to be making decisions about? CELDF has compiled overviews and resources for community-level decision making as well as the process of planning and implementing new governing structures. Much of this focuses on building “dual power,” a process whereby people who are disenfranchised in our corrupt political system build parallel institutions from the grassroots. Then, in times of political crisis, these parallel institutions can be legitimized and replace the old corrupt system entirely.

Local law making – Whether through a sympathetic local elected body or via a citizen-driven initiative effort, local laws can be a powerful means of adopting new ways of being in one’s community and challenging the injustice of the current system. CELDF has 20+ years of local lawmaking experience to help guide and support this type of effort.
Citizen assemblies – Democracy is supposedly a key concept in our society, but very few of us practice it in our everyday lives and communities. Citizen assemblies provide a means of working through the difficult work of democracy, and help participants build the skills, awareness, and confidence necessary for a functional democratic community.
Parallel voting – Because of state-level laws and corporate lawsuits, access to the ballot for citizen-driven initiatives is becoming more difficult and sometimes completely impossible. Political processes are subverted, including democracy and the right to free speech. Silence is not an option, so when “official” voting processes fail, a community needs mechanisms to allow for their ideas to be considered and the voices of the people to be heard. Parallel or alternative voting systems can be an outlet for new thinking and to call out illegitimate actions of the system.
Alternative justice systems – We have been indoctrinated to believe in a justice system —including police, courts, and jails — that basically functions the same no matter where one lives. Though there have been programs here and there focused on restorative justice, community self-defense, de-escalation programs, and alternatives to policing, there is much to learn about how these ideas and practices can be considered, planned,and ultimately adopted in our communities.
Alternative economies – Bartering, cooperatives, community banking, participatory budgeting, alternative currency, community land trusts, etc. are just some of the means for how communities can operate within a global capitalist economy while building the seeds of something different — an alternative way of providing for ourselves that serves the individual and community, and that isn’t destructive, predatory, or self-serving like the current system of consumer capitalism.
Regionalization – What if we built an alternative to nationalism that, instead of being built around chauvinistic ideology, was instead constructed around our allegiance to the land? This is the promise of bioregionalism, a movement which has grown slowly for many decades. Most of these efforts have focused on the biological arrangements of a region to encourage localized, low energy ways of life, encourage governance and thinking based around ecological principles, and in so doing to challenge the currently accepted political arrangements based on the ecologically-arbitrary boundaries of nation-states.
Secession/separation – Over the years, many communities and regions have advocated for removing themselves from affiliation with the United States. As the nation-state becomes increasingly authoritarian and is unable to generate politically viable responses to the ecological crisis, secession efforts may be increasingly important and relevant.