The
Next Step
is a global circle, composed of many smaller circles and groups, in which leadership
is shared by all.
The Next Step connects groups. Groups agree to take a step, and a series of steps, towards solving major global problems. Once we have gathered critical mass, we step. Then step again.
Along the path, we ask ourselves: What causes injustice? What is the cure?
What critical mass of power and influence will be needed? What is the
next positive step for humanity? When shall we be ready take it?
An internal combustion engine combines fuel and air and adds fire to generate
mechanical power. The Next Step combines critical mass and consensus and adds
action to generate political power.
HOPE
It is the responsibility of those
with a vision and passion for justice to work together to re-ignite the people's
hope. The extreme injustices on this planet are growing. History demonstrates
that large, coordinated movements for social change work. Hope will fourish
when inspired by exciting, practical movements for justice.
BARN
BUILDING
Consider barn building in Amish communities.
Everyone helps one family construct their barn. And, in turn, the members of
that family help other families in the community. Big projects get done quickly
and every family gets their barn built. To combine the power of many people
with diverse commitments, we will take a series of steps, devoting weeks or
months to one project, then moving on to the next.
IT IS POSSIBLE
TO PLAN
The Next Step applies hopeful, practical
common sense to the whole world. Picasso said, "I don't search, I find."
The Next Step is not about TRYING to fix problems. We will fix them.
We are not about symbolic actions or arguing or making statements. We don't
want to spend much time writing or raising money. We may not focus a lot
on converting people to our political point of view.
Protest actions, local projects and issue-specific long-term projects are all
valuable and we don't want to drain resources from those efforts or disparage
them. But The Next Step is different.
We will identify a step we all want to take. We will act only when we have gathered
enough people to ensure that a major change will occur. We will move on to the
next step.
CONSENSUS
Our vision does not rely on topdown leadership. Too often in groups with such
structures leaders are either victimized or corrupted. We share power and responsibility
equally, around the rim of the circle rather than from the top of a pyramid.
We welcome organizations with other types of leadership models into the circle.
Consensus takes time, but it engages everyone and makes room for newcomers.
Someone said, "You can either have a relationship, or you can be right."
We naturally want both, but we put a higher value on relationship than is often
the case in political organizations. For us, the right thing to do is the thing
that we can agree to do together.
We will solve problems by deciding together what to work on. Small circles,
groups and organizations will make up the large circle. We will need many,
many groups to acheive our goals. It may sound impossible, but we believe most
people do want a world that is fair and safe and, presented with the opportunity,
they will get involved in efforts to make it happen.
FEAR
It's frightening to join an organization whose goal is to actually succeed at
changing things. At some level everyone knows that effectively challenging the
status quo often brings oppression, harassment, death threats, assassination.
This is probably one of the main reasons justice minded people aren't more active.
It's a double bind: venture, succeed and risk death, or don't venture, risk
nothing and don't succeed. But out of double binds can emerge great creativity.
We will remain scared, it's human. But we aspire to be something new: a huge,
consensus led organization in order to receive the courage of each other's company,
spread the risk and eliminate through loving power the need for such risking
in the future. We will also search for as many other creative ways to both care
for the world and thrive as individuals.
CIRCLES
One way to build consensus is through circle councils. Listening in circles
and building consensus are valuable activities that remain largely unexplored
and are often perceived as inefficient.
The idea of sitting in a circle, viewing the space in the center as equally
shared, has ancient origins and continues into the present. But few today have
been introduced to this form of taking responsibility in the body politic.
In the circle, wisdom comes from experts and non-experts alike. Our collective
wisdom is sufficient, surprising and superior to those ideas held before we
met as one body. We discover our personal and universal concerns to be surprisingly
interwoven. We appreciate diversity as a path to a more complex, sustainable
unity. We open our minds to varied descriptions of, and new ways of relating
to, our global predicament. Leadership rotates and resides in each person present.
Everyone who participates has equal voice and power.
This process embodies the values of relationship we affirm: that, when we listen,
the wisdom of the whole becomes known; that each individual has a vital contribution
to the articulation of the whole; that people at their core desire the well-being
of others; that means and ends must concur if the desired ends -- a vital, egalitarian
social justice movement and a safe, sustainable world -- are to be attained.
RIPPLE EFFECT
The strategic order of projects create cumulative momentum. Early steps
on one problem will have a ripple effect upon other problems.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
then we invite you to join us in the following activities: