1. Building a knowledge/resource base
The HoPE Association needs to curate and maintain
- How To materials that can be used in the emerging political economy; these could range from setting up a and running a co-op (where it could plug into the advice that is also available from The Co-op) to running a meeting, facilitation, or conducting an open decision making process
- Educational resources for association members; covering all aspects of political activism from running meetings to non-violent direct action
In order to do anything a knowledge/resource base is needed; that is all the material that it will need to do training or undertake campaigns. A lot of material can be created, as you go, but it is important to plan from the start to capture and curate it. This will allow the build-up, over time of collateral and experience so that the HoPE Association can be a learning organisation. As well as having its own web-site the Association could run U-Tube channel as a vehicle for news, success stories, explanation and learning.
Rationale; best practice and collective memory
Best practice; Businesses use knowledge bases for specific activities e.g. technical support for computer systems are there not just to help end users find solutions to common problems but also to provide technical staff with details of previous faults. Where there is a work-a-round but the full fix has not yet been implemented it is important not to reinvent the workaround every-time the fault occurs. Consultancy businesses have details of their assignments so that those preparing for a new one can read up on similar ones that have been completed already. An organisation with the political objective of spreading the best practice in an alternative approach to political economy would benefit immensely from just such an approach.
Collective memory; The politics we have now is the result of a long historical process that had to be fought for. Now our knowledge has improved, and we can use it to mobilise people in a very different way – a better society can only come into being when that story is widespread, well known, and has more than just rhetorical power to back it up. With a host of working examples it can hope to build and eventually command majority support.