Great article from Sarah van Gelder and Doug Pibel as part of their ‘Liberate Your Space’ series, published in YES! Magazine.

This is pretty much right on the money, not just on what can be done, but why it should be done, with resonating relevance to some of the actions and initiatives taking place here in my own locality of Dayton, Ohio.

This issue asks what happens when we throw off the invisible chains that keep us from realizing the world we want—when we, as they say in the global south, decolonize our minds.

Suppose that, instead of waiting for the whole world to change so we can live as we would like, we remake spaces where we can live that way now.

Think of the game of Go. Unlike chess, where you confront and defeat an enemy, in Go you win by taking over spaces. You simply surround territory and make it yours.

Instead of asking someone in power for policy changes or the right job, why not take over streets for bikes and parks, build our own cooperatives, create cultural events that nurture our souls and community spirit, build our own homes? Why not live the lives we want, along with others, without waiting for permission from the authorities?

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If we believe there is nothing more urgent than building a just and sustainable world, maybe we simply need to start building it, beginning wherever we are.

This is the leadership we need today. Not the lone heroic leader, who is so easy to corrupt or shoot down, but the leadership of ordinary people who are both the creators and the beneficiaries of free spaces, and who use those spaces to claim more freedom for everyone.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world,” and less famously, “I believe it to be perfectly possible for an individual to adopt the way of life of the future …without having to wait for others to do so.”

Read The Full Article Here