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Panarchism is about promoting a situation where the needs of all living individuals are able to influence the direction of the common activity Community-Order Panarchism A community Panarchist is concerned with building up a social organisation which can meet as many as possible of the social and physical needs of its members. Identifying Human Needs 1. Need for an adapted physical environment. (Physical shelter, fuel, clothes, human-scale architecture + lack of harmful contaminants such as toxic chemical, radio-active or biological particles.) 2. Need for food, water and oxygen. 3. Need for social interaction and relationship. A person should have the opportunity to interact with others under conditions which will likely lead to a positive outcome and which enable bonds to form between them. Such bonded relationship enables a person to make more demands on the other without fearing abandonment. 4. Need for security. A person’s physical and social environment should remain sufficiently constant and sufficiently adapted to their needs that they are not stressed beyond their ability to cope. 5. Need for scope to control environment. A person should have the freedom to manipulate or influence (part of) their environment, either individually or as part of a collective. (This covers having own private space and possessions, i.e. exclusive use of particular places and materials). This is needed both so that they can adapt their environment to their needs and so that they are able to engage in activities which involve changing their environment. Setting up an Autarchist Chapter An Autarchist Chapter is an organised group of people who have made a commitment to form a community with each other. The size of a chapter should be large enough that it has sufficient people of different aptitudes to be able to tackle most tasks. However the aim is that members of the chapter should feel a natural connection to the other members. This connection is easiest maintained if all members of the chapter are able to get to know all the other members at least to some degree. Experience with other similar collectives has suggested that a maximum membership of 50 to 70 people is about right. They might be expected to agree on: 1. The collective understanding of the world. 2. The collective goals of the chapter 3. The membership criteria and process for joining the chapter. 4. A mechanism for agreeing joint actions, resolving disputes and maintaining order. An Autarchist Chapter might benefit from having a more closely defined identity than simply being Autarchist. For instance it might profitably adopt a particular ethnic, religious or spiritual stance. This would help get people who share the same culture and attitudes together. Nevertheless you should still try and attract a mix of different personalities, ages and genders. If everybody is the same type of person then social opportunities will be restricted and it may be difficult to get anybody to do particular kinds of jobs. The next step will be to try and set up either ‘Circles’ or ‘House Fellowships’. A ‘Circle’ is a collection of people with similar interests likely to want to engage in the same kinds of activity together. A House Fellowship is a group of up to a dozen people who meet regularly, usually for an evening once a week or fortnight in somebody’s house. A House Fellowship has a wider remit to provide for people’s social needs and to help develop them in useful ways. To set up a Circle or House Fellowship you need somebody to volunteer to organise such and to seek to gain recruits out of the general membership of the Chapter. What are the aims of the Chapter? 1. To provide the opportunity for members to engage in joint activities which help meet the social needs of themselves (and their families). 2. To provide encouragement and assistance in educating members about Autarchism and its practical application and other relevant issues. 3. To provide the opportunities for members to develop their character, (i.e. their personality and capability to deal well with particular situations) 4. To provide the opportunity for members to provide and receive help from other members in practical matters. 5. To protect the independence of the Chapter and its resilience to cope within a difficult environment. What particular things could members of a chapter get involved in? 1. Study the nature of world order and the interaction of different forces and processes. 2. Arranging social outings 3. Setting up an internal economy so that members can exchange goods and services with each other independent of the national economy. 4. Being a medical consultant to the other members. 5. Arranging social activities – communal meals, cultural events, debates, discussions etc. 6. Growing food, cooking food, storing food. 7. Plumbing, decorating, computer help etc. 8. Teacher to children and adults. 9. Providing communal meeting spaces. 10. Promoting Panarchism outside the chapter. 11. Providing and sharing activity spaces, workshops etc. 12. Editing a chapter newsletter/newspaper. October 2005, updated July 2006, revised Feb/March 2009 |