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Institutions vs the Collaborative approach
I found this to be a confirmation of a non-institutional approach to organising, and perhaps helps explain why the Transition Town community has created so much without having to resort to an institutional framework.
Clay Shirky, a prescient voice on the Internet’s effects, argues that emerging technologies enabling loose collaboration will change the way our society works. It certainly feels like it to me. While we may stumble and trip along the path of embracing the technologies, when we persist and gain some competency with the tools available we seem to discover their potential. Some tools will be less impactful, others more significant.
I sense that as a Transition community, we are growing and finding what works for us, and it is enabling greater cooperation and sharing of ideas and the practical means for building local resilience.
Institutions want to perpetuate themselves
This video is an important lesson about the power of the internet and how to organise using the technical tools available to us.
Institutions and industries in decline or facing stress will do anything to perpetuate themselves. Eg. Banks and car makers are seeking huge bailouts from taxpayers to keep themselves going, even though they have been/are pushing toxic products.
The recording (music) industry is another failing industry, which is using increasingly desperate measures to try to preserve its old institutional model. See music industry seeks $1m for downloading 7 songs and my post about the internet cut off by accusation regime.
The danger is that as large institutions face increasing difficulties, they will lash out and harm others while trying to preserve themselves. One of my fears is that when peak oil really starts to bite, the USA will go down fighting using every last resource available to it. Obama does give a little comfort there compared to Bush.