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Revolutionary ideas are often unpopular even if they are fundamentally good. They are unpopular because they challenge people to experience discomfort, to question what they have taken for granted as true, to investigate their preconceived notions and assumptions.
Educating people is an important part in the revolutionary process, but it is not the only part. What makes a revolution powerful and have long-lasting effects is the doing. And this is what I would like to talk to you about--the doing.
There are several reasons why doing is important. For one, It helps people to stretch their minds in a positive way. It pushes growth through practical implementation. People need to not only conceive of an alternative but be able to see it work in practice. Without a functioning alternative it is only an abstract concept removed from the world. It is a dream an ideal. But with actual doing, it is something more, and it inspires people within the movement as well as outside of it. Because they see it as something real, tangible, achievable.
Another reason doing is important is because it is a form of protest. If there is something in the world you don't like. If there are ideals you feel the world should live up to, create a real space for those ideals to be explored. It is a valuable form of protest against something because it builds something new. Should we just fight against the way things are or should we really call ourselves to create things as we'd like them to be. That is not something we should wait for our representatives to do. With awareness comes responsibility. And we are responsible for the fruition of our dreams.
The last reason that we should do is because we need to challenge our ideas of how a world should be. To leave our ideas unchallenged is a fundamental mistake because we will be oblivious to the real things that are needed to make a world like this possible. A world where everything is free is a noble cause, but it must be set down in something real and tangible. What is missing from our policies today is a lack of experimentation as the basis for making decisions. Its not only necessary that an idea sounds good, it has to be able to work in the real world to be valuable. By testing an idea, it creates a whole new array of knowledge, about some of the conditions necessary for the idea to be possible.
Testing ideas producing real world knowledge that is valuable to building society. In my humble opinion I believe that all things should be tested on a small scale before being tried on a larger one. Starting small is a good thing because it allows you to see the limits of an idea and adjustments needed to overpower those limits.
With that said here is my suggestion: I believe that the free world charter should be tested on a small scale. I agree with the charter wholeheartedly but I believe that it will be incredibly valuable if you tested it, in the real world. For the reasons above it would be a great idea. Here is the thing: the planning and implementing of this test should be open to everyone. Every individual that has the same dream as you could work together to make it happen in the real world. We're talking about thousands of people with ingenuity, creativity and passion, working together to create something real in the world that represents the ideal.
This is what you could do on your own multiplied by a million. It can be done. You could start by creating an open forum to discuss ideas for it (making decisions democratically), an open google doc to write up the plan for it, and a way to pull together resources. You could build from the ground up, with thousands of people, a real working thing in the world. This is people motivated by passion, working for free, gathering as much resources as they can for free in order to make this a reality. This is people--through the process of doing it, planning it, implementing it--representing all the goals of your charter. They are using the idea of your charter--a free world where people can truly work together--to build something that is free.
You could start off small. Three months. 100 people. And see what happens. And you could gradually build on the concept, hosting more people for longer periods of time. You can acquire the resources of the many people that are a part of this movement, that believe in what you believe, to voluntarily find a place to do it, and people to organize it that are for your cause and then people that are willing to live there, to embody the dream that you have for the future.
I admire your goals. I came to the same epiphany on my own in my own way and I know there are many people out there that feel the same. I believe that this is an idea for the world. It doesn't belong to one group or one organization. And I think that it should be given to them, to build, to mold, to nurture. If it splinters that is good because then you have working models.
This is where it starts. With the people. And that is where it will end. With the people. Why shouldn't that be the humble beginnings of a cause such as this?
All you have to do is pose a simple question, a simple important question to the people who have decided that your charter is a valuable solution to a world of problems. This is the question:
If we were to try and build a small working model of this future we would want to see, embodying all the ideals of the charter, what would we have to do and how would you be willing to help?
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