I know many shops and projects out there have a policy of trying to eliminate barriers based on race, gender, age, class, etc. Part of this approach is often using a collective and consensus based decision making process.
Some of this is stuff the Bike-dump is dealing with and some of it is purely hypothetical. Also, my opinions and concerns may not be the same as those shared by other people at the Bike Dump.
Some questions to start discussion:
- Who here tries to run a shop which eliminates power inequality by
employing ideas like consensus based decision making within a collective?
- How to you determine membership in the collective? How do you deal
with the inside/outside nature of decision making? What if a person with an un-treated mental illness or serious addiction regularly contributes to the shop and wants to be part of decision making or be trusted with money?
- No matter what structures exist, power heirarchies naturally seem to
evolve. Often they are based on experience or skills and many people do not consider this totally bad. How do you distinguish between a power heirarchy based on experience and qualification versus one based on prejudices about gender, age, or percieved trustworthiness?
Any thoughts or suggestions which fall outside my questions are welcome too.
Graham at the Bike Dump