A long talk with Josh Cubista this morning, a permaculture-oriented social change lab innovator: What if we put aside the “content” of ecological restoration and social justice for a moment, and focus on the social- ecological processes of making such activities a success in changing the world for the better?
What kinds of organizational structures and funding support strategies could we select that would not inadvertently result in perpetrating more economic and power disparities in the world, but more participatory democracy, equity and community building?
What if directors appointed by boards or presidents or CEOs abandoned their privilege and abdicated their place in the power structure to foster more equity and participation?
That’s one reason why I’ve resigned as founding Director of the Center for Regional Food Studies, to give up my privileges as a petty bureaucrat in the university hierarchy to more deeply invest in food justice discussions as just one more citizen equal to all others in our needs to see change happen in our community and in our world. You can’t “engineer” a reduction in food disparity for any position of privilege or power…a community can reshape that discussion, but a sole individual of privilege crying out in the wilderness cannot.
Brother Coyote, OEF
