Organising Principles

Until the birth of the internet, the possibility of a new system arising was much harder. Suddenly people could access information on their own terms, connect with each other both locally and globally, and begin to develop more autonomous, creative projects that expressed their own vision. Below are the first three core shifts in agency that we recognise as core to Planet A's flourishing.

Cosmo-localism

This makes the difference between a localism that cannot sustain itself because it is simply too small with limited resources of skills and expertise. And one that is able to build its own regenerative economy, entirely through access to the global commons.

This is subtly different from the old Green slogan, “think global act local”.  As much as we need an element of the biggest perspective in our local thinking, we now need more focus on the needs of people in their communities.

In that sense, cosmolocalism is more a global tool box of the best resourced solutions for your sized town, city or region, available to you as a blue-print, ready to be manufactured in a town near you.

At the same time, cosmo implies the spiritual connections between people irrespective of national boundaries - a new way for people to come together in this moment of multiple crises and opportunity.

I - We - World

The interconnectedness of the three realms of the planetary psyche. Everyone is an individual with sovereign needs. These are more than material and include the need for status and autonomy as well as connection and belonging. At the same time, everyone is a social entity: we experience life as inter-dependent and choose to be amongst friends, family and the wider public. Finally, everyone is a citizen of the wider world: we take part in the global commons through our connection to the internet. Our actions make an impact far beyond our immediate community. 

Although our mainstream narrative tends to separate out the individualist from the socialist, as if they are two tribes, the right questions would reveal that this is a myth. Everyone enjoys relationships through the I-We and World spectrum, albeit with different emphases on the three realms, depending on their circumstances.

Parallel Polis

This is a term that was coined by Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Benda in the period that they were working as dramatists in the very strict communist regime of Czechoslovakia. Together with other artists they actively imagined another world of possibility, getting down to details about government and policy. 

Planet A is a Parallel Polis. In other words, it uses the imagination to nurture and develop a new socio-economic-political system that makes the old one obsolete. However, rather than remain in the dream space, Planet A is describing a future that is already unfolding in real time. To hold its integrity, this will have its own news and communications system and light governance. Through prefiguring and re-storying the present a Parallel Polis can reshape our shared reality without force.