Grand Strategy & Backbone's Theory of Change
Love Wins: Grand Strategy, the Art of War in Defense of the Sacred
Though we work on many causes, Backbone frames it all as part of one battle between paradigms. One paradigm idolizes capital, gives corporations rights, and considers everything For Sale. It commodifies people, democracy, communities, and the planet itself. The paradigm we fight for is one in which people communities and nature and our obligation to future generations are considered sacred, and clearly NOT for sale.
What's the battle in which "Love Wins"?
At Backbone we have gradually shifted from an ideologically progressive platform to a human rights framework. But arguing for and about rights pushed us to dig more deeply to the source of rights. Rights are derivative… "Unalienable," "endowed by creator," "self-evident" all point to a sacred source from which rights are derived. So, what is sacred in a system where property, corporations, investors, and capital have rights? Capital itself? Perhaps we should consider whether Capitalism is not merely an indifferent economic system, but more a religion or form of idolatry. Currently, we characterize our movement and overarching work as a battle between a paradigms; one paradigm in which everything is For Sale versus a paradigm where fundamentally nothing of true importance is actually for sale because Life, at its essence Life, Community, Nature, and our Obligation to Future Generations is Sacred. Thus, "Protection of the Sacred" is the foundation for protecting self-evident, endowed by creator, unalienable rights. Love is the principle of connectivity that binds us together.
(Below adapted from the work of Chuck Spinney, Col. John R. Boyd, Sun Tzu and others.)
Grand Strategy principles summarized:
- Expand alliances, increase cohesion, deepen resolve.
- Undermine alliances of opponent, lesson their cohesion, weaken their resolve.
- Win without sowing the seeds of future conflict.
Domains of Conflict:
- Attrition (only appropriate with symmetrical power),
- Maneuver (probe and test for moments of advantage),
- Moral (hearts and minds - our power proportionate to the degree that our actions’ and messages’ resonate with and reflect deepest values and aspirations of the population)
It is fundamentally important for us in asymmetrical conflict against a system with functional monopoly on violence and money, we must fight in the realm of moral conflict. Our power is proportionate to the extent that our actions and words reflect the aspirations and values of the people.
Central to Moral Conflict "Motherhood and Mismatch" (via from Spinney/Boyd) i.e.,
MOTHERHOOD: Our cause must be an unassailable good - anyone attacking loses purchase on peoples hearts and minds, while we increasingly draw people to our cause/their cause, reflecting their values and aspirations.
MISMATCH: We attack the mismatches between:
- what our opponent asserts as reality and people's experience of reality,
- what our opponent claims it is doing and what it is actually doing,
- who they say they are and who they actually are.
It is essential that we avoid and minimize our own mismatches because they become our vulnerabilities.
4 attributes to strive for from "patterns of conflict" by Col John R Boyd:
- Variety - Spectrum of tactics at fingertips (Art of War - in same situation, do it differently)
- Rapidity - Capacity for speedy mobilization, unencumbered action, fast deployment. [Napoleon concept that is quoted in the movie Paton is "audacity audacity audacity always audacity"]
- Initiative - Related to above and sense of authority to act to shape the frame of perceptions/arguments, see and take advantage of opportunities
- Harmony - Through shared theory of change, lexicon, vision, goals for autonomous actors to use/exercise their initiative, with rapidity, deploying broad, changing, unpredictable tactics, that are inline with the Motherhood/Mismatch goals in order pull people to our cause/champion their cause.
- [To Add from Art of War, Momentum]
OODA Loop (Observe-Orient-Decide-Act) is a way of looking at the process of individual or collective action, and seeing how with accurate perceptions/intelligence, unbiased by filters/biases/obsessions one can act in a way where consequences match intentions, and when inserting initiative/variety/rapidity (in harmony with vision/goals/strategy/mission) then one can put opponent out of balance and create advantage (across a web of autonomous but harmonized movement agents)
Sectors of Agency: How different kinds of people engage in different aspects of agency to be co-authors of our shared future and the intersections/overlap/importance of those types of engagement/agency and they all should be celebrated and aware of interrelation to manifesting change:
- Activism - creative campaigning to make invisible visible, bringing light to cause and creating friction in broken system and championing alternative
- Organizing - building leadership and community power
- Media Making/Story telling - communicating through media etc. our alternate story to internal and external audience
- Cultural work - healing historical sources of trauma that fragment and alienate for selves, each other, natural world, relationship to ancestors and future generations
- Emergent Society/Economy practices/practitioners - the Transition stuff... Food, Finance/Exchange, Transport, etc. etc.
Implications for Our Work?
- Apply to the analysis of a Campaign we are familiar with, such as sHell No to test ideas, understand successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses.
- What does this imply priorities for building our Movement of Movement’s capacity?
- What would you prioritize?
- What is Backbone Campaign prioritizing?