A rebel victory would involve much more closely-knit communities, getting together to organise, play, work and exchange. He can’t use small shops when they’ve been closed by a giant Tesco that dominates the view from his garden. This is an Empire mentality – everyone for themselves, there is no such thing as society. He lives with a big dog to protect himself from some people in his community, as do many others. If we get something moving they won’t try to stop it, and they’ll even join in, as long as their family is safe and they’re still reasonably comfortable. But most people are rebel sympathisers – they’re nice people who want to do the right thing if possible.
I often mistake people for rebels, when really they just ‘get it’. There are small things that he can do, and if millions of people do them, they’ll turn into big things – but not enough to really challenge the Empire. He has no rebel contacts and nothing to join. He doesn’t have too much time to think about it – he needs to make enough money to pay the mortgage, pay bills and put food on the table. He asks what he can possibly do, and it’s difficult to give a good answer. He’s a rebel sympathiser, but not a rebel. Mainstream: my brother’s guess is that about 80% of the population is mainstream, the rest being pro-Empire or rebels.
There’s a lot of overlap (many people are in more than one group), but precious little coordination (see below). Rebels: There are many people who might consider themselves rebels in this system – permaculturists, transitioners, craftspeople, smallholders, communards, co-operators, renewable energy enthusasts, nature-lovers, hackers, natural builders, downshifters, cyclists, hippies, various flavours of anarchists, distributists, independent business-owners, open-sourcers, occupiers, jam-makers, WWOOFers, campaigners, greens, socialists, libertarians, communists, real-ale-lovers, community organisers, dropouts, survivalists, punks, rastafarians, distributists, occupiers, trades unionists, vegans, bakers, organic farmers and so on you get the idea – lots of us. But he’s a huge Star Wars fan, and when we talk about politics, he says ‘yes, it’s like Star Wars – the Jedi versus the Dark Side, the rebels versus the Empire, and the Empire is winning’.Įmpire: If the above means nothing to you, see here. I don’t think it is – he’s my brother, after all.
Let’s call them ‘the mainstream’, if that’s not disrespectful. My brother is not politically or philosophically motivated, not particularly well read, and doesn’t keep up with current affairs.
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