We see the problems of both the Earth and our own everyday lives stacking up: be it housing, economic inequality, education, the destruction of the Planet, social isolation or very present, a by austerity measures destroyed healthcare system. We think that the origin of all these problems come forth from the values and the logic of the social, political and economical system which we live in.
Even when there are changes made within this system, they will always build (forth) on this system of values. This will, in our opinion, not solve the problems while its exactly when they find their origin.
This is also a time of great changes. Already for years the (far)right is posing itself as an alternative. Although they dominate the agenda and are excluding a large portion of society with their proposals they fail to really address the issues. At the same time we see new forms solidarity and an upsurge of libertarian ideas. This gives us hope. We see in these times great importance for us as anarchists to organize ourselves, and to develop and put into practice concrete perspectives, both for where we live and internationally.
Why self-management?
„The emancipation of the working class must be the work of the working class itself […]„
– Founding manifesto of the 1st International
We agree with the aforementioned quote. We see however that we need to develop a language that is more fitting for the current zeitgeist. This doesn’t mean that we say we are not living in a class society any more, nor that the class struggle is something of past times. Language and labour might have changed, the power relations and their influence on our daily lives however only little.
We currently live in a society that brings forth great dependency and an inability to act. The parliament is an instrument of domination and is mostly representing the interests of big business. They make decisions over our heads – and mostly in the interest of profit and hardly for the benefit of society.
We foresee a whole different future. One in which all people are able to partake in decisions that have an effect on them and where the economy is in harmony with natures and is serving society. This means that our system needs to be fundamentally rethought. We can only do this together and build it up from the bottom up.
What is our perspective?
We understand ourselves explicitly as part of society. Society made us who we are, we are rooted in it and depend on it for our daily needs.
The domination of people over people, or from people over nature, is not being propelled by society itself but by politicians, large enterprises and our bosses, who all are trying to gain or maintain economic and political power. This domination is supported by mechanisms like patriarchy, racism and classism that get internalized and reproduced by society. To free ourselves from this means also freeing society from it – not separating from it. This is often exactly the strategy of the authoritarian powers when they see their power threatened: they are mobilizing one part of society against another. This is because when we get together, we can really do something about them.
Our basic principles are: freedom, mutual aid, feminism, anti-racism, social ecology, class struggle, direct action, federalism and internationalism. In our political praxis we see a strong connection between these values and deem it essential to deal with them ethically.
We have the opinion that we must not wait for our ideals to manifesting themself in some glorious future. We want the start here and now. We should put our ideals into practice in the here and now and experiment with them, so that we gain the experience we need to the definitive break.
What our values exactly mean, and how we envision a libertarian future, is sketched both in our values and our program. This program however is also still a work in progress. In our online library you can find a reading list with texts that have inspired us.
Organisation
Perpektive Selbstveraltung currently exists out of three sections: health(care) (Gesundheid), housing (Wohnen) and internationalism (Internationalismus). These three sections, next to a row on smaller work groups, work actively and continuely on their topics.