and where are we heading to…
“TePeWu” stands for “Mutual Aid Society” and is a generic term for the whole idea and the people gathered around it – now mainly online.
As of November 2023, there are three organelles of this living cell, at different stages of development, dedicated to specific roles.
The TePeWu Association (under development), is intended to provide an external ‘cell membrane’, interacting with the legal and economic environment. The cell membrane protects the inside of the cell while selectively absorbing nutrients from the surrounding space.
The Village (Osada) is an online community, open to people who want to discuss ‘Iron Age anarchism‘ and possible community responses to the All-Crisis. It has the potential to become a meeting place for future association members and a seedbed for new projects.
The Artel Co-operative is a structure that aims to develop and implement technology within an economic paradigm free of capitalism. Artel represents the tangible and goal-oriented aspect of TePeWu. As TePeWu develops, Artel will become its ‘business’ and R&D arm.
The itnerary
Please note that each paragraph below describes a priority, not an exclusive scope of activities. To some extent, all these activities will run in parallel. How shall we manage this? Well, solvitur ambulando1 😉
(dates are of course tentative)
- In the short term, hopefully about three years from now, it is time to create a stable community of people who, willy-nilly, are not fit to live and develop in the capitalist paradigm. We are usually severely traumatised, suffering from (c)PTSD, depression and anxiety. We often have a whole arsenal of coping mechanisms that hurt us and the people around us. So we need to create social dynamics that help us defuse these traps, heal our traumas and build safe and nurturing relationships. By no means can we do this in three years, but we can lay the foundation – and learn how we can help others.
- The medium-term period of three to six years (say until 2030) is the time to improve and expand our infrastructure: technical, economic and social. In the first period, we will need to create a certain level of resilience and sustainability, while building a capitalism-free ‘bubble’ in which to work and live. The medium-term priority is to expand cautiously (to avoid unwanted attention) and increase our capacity to survive the effects of a crumbling civilisation. This is also the time when we should be able to showcase our know-how in different areas so that similar communities can develop and network elsewhere.
- Longer term, from 2030 onwards, is a time when we may experience more dramatic symptoms of the All-Crisis, both in the environment and in the rapid degradation of industrial civilisation. It is a time when our practical and theoretical knowledge will be most needed by those who currently live in a relative comfort zone. We must be prepared to provide them with education, organisation and support to reduce death and suffering among the sentient beings around us. Also, to maintain a network of similar communities, to preserve the knowledge, methodology and our ethos for future generations.
We cannot predict – let alone plan – the future. But in order for our actions to be consistent, we need to start our journey with a certain itinerary. As we travel, we will need to keep our eyes on the road and make the necessary adjustments to the map. However, we need to know where we want to get to so that we don’t end up someplace else entirely.
See you in a better world!
- A Latin phrase that means ‘one solves by walking’ and is used to refer to a problem that is solved by a practical experiment. ↩︎