#DuckDuckFedi: what would be a good, concise term for "grassroots initiatives to build alternative social structures founded on radical principles, focusing on the 'building up' and mutual social support part rather than the 'tearing down' part?"
I'm looking for something less specific than 'mutual aid', also encompassing the somewhat more abstract and semi-centralized movements, but not including institutional efforts.
@dorian So that's *almost* what I'm looking for, but the problem is that anything called 'radical' is a scary term to folks who would be on board with the *concept*, but have built up a kneejerk reaction against the term due to *waves in general direction of politics*.
I'm looking for a more 'gentle' term, something that drives people to go "huh, what's that?" rather than "aaa that sounds bad", to have a foot between the door and introduce them to the concepts.
@dorian (Aside, I'm aware that "finding a non-controversial term" is a bit of a cat and mouse game due to any radical term being *made* scary over time by established institutions, but making this sort of thing more politically approachable can still be a helpful device in the short term, IMO)
@joepie91 maybe toss out radical for "hyper". That feels like it would mean something, it's got the feel of a "term" while being pretty malleable.
@joepie91 punks helping neighbors? uhhhh supportpunk, carepunk, helpwave lmfao
@hi_cial I think the first two have a similar problem to https://social.pixie.town/@joepie91/112848411877779555 unfortunately :(
"Helpwave" doesn't, but seems a bit too... generic/branded? I'm not sure how to put it into words.
@joepie91 i was just throwing random combos at that point, i absolutely see the struggle here. like how do we encompass this action plan in a phrase that isnt just "anarchists for a better future" cuz that scares the hos
@joepie91 This seems related to dual power, but I’m not sure if “building up dual power” is the phrase you are looking for.
@timorl That's more or less what I'm going for, but "building up dual power" refers more to the overarching principles and organization, rather than any one particular effort that a given person might be involved in.
So essentially I'm looking for a slightly more specific term, to refer to the activity rather than the philosophy, if that makes sense.
@joepie91 Hm, I never heard an instance of building up dual power referred to in any way that was shorter than “an instance of building up dual power” (although this specific phrase is very clunky :P). I suspect you can just coin something then.
@joepie91 I came up with a term "Cohesivism", I think this fits with what I envision with that term.
@joepie91 In Brazil I think we'd call this generically "social movements", which is quite vague (and could include institutional efforts) but here has this sort of connotation - a grassroots activist group trying to do some direct action.
For a new term, I'd try to include terms like "community" or "collective" - I think they signal to people the radical intent (horizontal, non-institutional, grassroots, local, etc) better than the scary words. Something like "Community Support Initiative" or "Collective Infrastructure Group", for example.
@joepie91 perhaps "radical local groups"