Building Bloc
At the first Omni Delegates meeting we all decided to write up a "vision" to share for this new collective. This is a draft-in-progress representing Sudoroom's vision for the collective of collectives.
THE BUILDING BLOC
The Building Bloc is a new group committing to serve our wider communities by solving the legal, logistical and economic problems related to holding physical spaces for the greater good. We are a 'meta-collective' or a 'collective of collectives'. Each of us represents a larger collective group in need of physical space. We are welcoming and encouraging new groups to join us.
What kind of groups? Mainly:
- Non-profit
- Volunteer-led
- Donation-based
- Offer value to the public for free or sliding scale
- So far: a school, a hackerspace, activists, artists
- social, economic & environmental justice
- solidarity with all oppressed people
- a culture of consent, against rape, violence & exploitation
- the survival & thrival of our communities and neighborhoods
What do we use our physical space for?
- To collaborate on projects
- To host classes and performances
- To network, meet each other, welcome newcomers
- To store resources for common use (or equitably restricted)
Meeting structure:
- We try to be as democratic and transparent as possible
- At the same time, we want to efficiently get real work done
- Meetings are open, but please respect that we have a lot of work to do and limited time! Please don't contribute to burnout by concern-trolling, flame-baiting, or talking a whole lot about nothing! :)
Things we haven't figured out yet:
- How to distribute resources? When/how are groups allowed to restrict access to outsiders? Should we set a minimum baseline of public accessibility, or of offering free/sliding-scale value to the public?
- Process for onboarding new groups: Accepting new groups could be overwhelming, or even an attack vector for people wanting to steal, subvert or derail our mission.
- How to distribute power? One group, one vote? Participatory budgeting? IMHO we should incorporate in such a way as to make it impossible to subvert the mission - create a legal firewall that protects the core mission and even the money from everybody including ourselves. Think: land trusts
- How to have an open, transparent process while also handling private, vulnerable, sensitive and personal information?
- Some compromise with capitalism is probably necessary, but how much? Selling drinks? Selling fridge magnets? Selling access to a spa? How do we decide this?
- Make sure "non-profit" can include worker-coops where people get paid for their labor, and where surplus can be reinvested in the business, without nitpicky dogmatic definitions of the word "profit"