How to re-distribute power is the biggest challenge of our times. The world is suffering from unsustainable concentrations of power. As Rhiana Gunn-Wright, one of the drafters of the Green New Deal in the US, has written, "the ability to burn fossil fuels with no limit and no legal repercussions requires two things. First, fossil fuel industries and those who control them (or profit deeply from them) can concentrate enough wealth and political power to override the will of the people—who, by and large, want to stop climate change. Second, there are people and places that can be hurt, even killed, with little consequence. In short, fossil fuel impunity requires intense concentrations of economic and political power among corporations and the wealthy who profit from them." Most attempts to re-distribute power fail for a number of reasons. First, power is able to dictate the terms of the conversation, and in most places, it is taboo to talk about who holds power. And even when the powerless find ways to talk about it, there are powerful institutions (courts, military, police, censorship, culture etc) that introduce an asymmetry into the relationship, so that the side with less power also has less information and resources at its disposal. Second, any attempt to wrest power by force or contest will not be durable, because the losing side will dedicate its existence to taking it back. We can see this in the aftermath of the Obama presidency, when the pendulum swung back in the opposite direction and resulted in Trump's election. But third, and most insidiously, if attempts to re-distribute power are made from within the same consciousness, it will only replicate the power imbalances. A good example would be all the NGOs that set-up shop in the Global South, with well-meaning intentions, but which only serve to perpetuate the relationship of dependency that exists between the powerful and the powerless. This is why Imaginal Seeds chooses to focus on more fundamental shifts in the way human beings relate to each other. There are many ways to go about this, and two of the more promising approaches are Nonviolent Communication (developed by Marshall Rosenberg), and Sociocracy (developed by Gerard Endenburg). More than being a system, these are practices and habits of mind that de-centralise power at its root. If the relational aspect of human beings is not addressed, any system will allow power to pool implicitly. Communism, despite its noble aspirations, fell prey to this phenomenon. In NVC, for example, it is common for the speaker to ask for a reflection, to make sure that what they are saying has been understood. In itself, this practice already works to distribute power, because it is a way of ensuring that others get an equal opportunity to speak up, even if it is only to reflect back to you what you have just said. In Sociocracy, a similar function is played by the practice of speaking in rounds, where people take turns speaking in a circle, so that everyone's voice gets heard. Another reason NVC and Sociocracy are important, is that they cultivate good manners, in David Fleming's version of the term: [[Surviving the Future#Manners]]. --- Rosenberg quote: "To give is domination if I cannot receive."