Bottom Up + System Design + Consensus
Below is a brief description of how indigenous modes of bottom up organization & long term sustainability may speak to the SC community’s values. This also serves as a continued invitation to historical indigenous Two Row Wampum dialogue; key to true access to important protocols for bottom up organization. This being a beautiful opportunity to correct our collective relationship to the hemisphere and planet through authentic matrilineal indigenous dialogue.
Bottom Up Systems Design
Part One
Bottom up decision making and distribution of land, commons, in place of top down distribution of wealth extraction of the voiceless; is a major distinction between our modern systems of social economic organization and ancient modes of sustainable systems design. Here are some beautiful over simplified diagrams from generative justice research group. One of our initial inspirations and call to action foundational research and now partners in our efforts. Double lines = unalienated value flows. Single lines = Alienated value(s) flow. Regenerative commons – Top down male dominance.
Sa’te‘tion’kwat’te — We are all equal, is the original United People. Likely the very word that inspired folks like Jefferson, Franklin & others for the version we familiar with here in the “United States.” Major problem is that the indigenous linguistics are specifically matrilineal — meaning “everything is the same height, from a blade of grass to a mountain,” as our elder language teacher Wahiakeron has told us. This extends human voice of the united people to include all strains of life, our brothers & sisters from our immediate ecosystems out to our family throughout solar systems.
Checks and balances meant ancient protocols passed down millenia to protect & sustain this matrilineal and or regenerative heritage — via a three clan system. Turtle, Wolf & Bear. Wake’niah’ton, Wa’ka’tha’hi’ion’ni, Waks’ka’re’wa’ke. Theses are cosmological significations for the fundamental concepts & building blocks for physical matter… This is matrilineal systems design.
Matrilineal Consensus
And the intricacies of this cosmology extended to the social organization Franklin n company discovered on the eastern seaboard. The fact that a correction to this indigenous dialogue is accessible means bottom up consensus doesn’t have to be winged. It comes free with the correct relationship to the hemisphere and the people who grew out of it.
The protocols of matrilineal consensus are every bit a technology as the technical tools SC or other online communities may use for building a beautiful future — via actively reconciling the past & present through dialogue. This dialogue will amount to important learnings of what exactly Two Row Wampum protocols are — and how to execute them for long term sustainability of SC community and it’s beautiful flow of values.
Many of these values are usually kept invisible — intentionally, so that brutal systemic extraction is as frictionless as possible. The three clan system is a universal model — as opposed to a 13 clan system, which could include nation specific design — even a Potato clan for example. The three clan system is the seed shape for all the other clan systems in the Five Nations Longhouse Confederacy. They all fractal out of Turtle, Wolf and Bear. This allows for genuine nation to nation autonomy along with scaling peaceful confederation. This peaceful confederation is imperative for the unrivaled indigenous innovation resulting in continent scale modification we often jeopardize & take for granted.
SC’s Turtles?Wolves?Bears?
We were very excited to see spaces created for voices of men, women and full spectrum of human experiences in SC. Protected spaces for matrilineal voices to be heard without male interference is fundamental to these consensus protocols. Key to designing for sustainability — where all strains of life regenerating forces are protected by careful engineering. Male spaces without female interference is also important to these protocols, as is the coming together of these spaces-- with autonomy intact — protections for matrilineal heritage and final say in tact too.
Final say in an indigenous context is not an undisputable, swift top down motion we are used to in modern systems. It’s a reference to bottom up consensus and constitution in the older sense of what we are constituted of – Turtle, Wolf and Bear – in this way final say of us all – also extends to voices of ecosystems and solar systems – Sa’te‘tion’kwat’te — the original United People. And this enables navigation around gridlock in decisions, while also taking our time on the dangerously important stuff – the way a mother would move slowly with her children through dangerous circumstance if need be --rather than an abrupt “efficient” motion of action.
Turtle
In the council and consensus process Turtles — are the owners of the house. They know the house inside n out, every detail of law. Turtle shells are built from the inside out — inner structural shell — and then the outer patterned shell we all know is formed afterwards. Wake’niah’ton Also translates to “it puts its head in its shell.” This being a reference to Turtle’s complete knowledge of both the laws of prephysics & physics. Matrilineal knowledge of the Great Law of Peace. So the turtles observe the council process and make the final decision of whether a resolution to an issue is of the “good mind.” If protocol was followed it’s made official. If not it is sent back into deliberation between the Wolves and Bears.
Wolf
Wolf clan serves as the Well. Where any issue can be lodged, from any voice in a nation — to be heard by the consensus process of respective clans of a nation. It is speaker of the Wolf clan that brings issues to the official floor after preliminary delegation of respective issues to the relevant clans.
Wolf clan initiates the deliberation process with the Bears. Of course only bringing issues which are appropriate and sussed out properly in preliminary meetings. This is an important mechanism for streamlining true bottom up representation. 9/10 times the issue is passed to the Turtles to be made official. Wa’ka’tha’hi’ion’ni– gathers the minds, is always moving and so is the initiator and path maker of a nation.
Bear
Bears are the medicine clan. Waks’ka’re’wa’ke means “We eat Oskara.” The orange stuff in a tree that falls over in transition into its next cycle. Bears eat this and fall asleep in the log. The medicine of the tree transitions into the medicine of the Bear. The Bears have the knowledge of transition. The knowledge of the “in between” or transition of prephysics to physics. So the one time an issue is sent back by the Turtles — it is the Bears that know how to keep an issue “alive.”
Of course there are many nuances to this protocol beyond this brief oversimplification — but we can start here and learn together! And as we learn which clan we feel the most called to — we can feel comfortable trying what feels best and switching clans if need be — we can feel free to learn — make mistakes. All three clans are in everyone of us. Each clan has the three clans within themselves as well. We can even leverage the collective SC experience & dynamics to help one another find ourselves throughout.
This is also a precursor to an amazing interview from Hz coming up very soon!! He will be asking questions on this very subject matter. Hope to see y’all there.
A second installment of this forum post series will include how the Metagov project can bring these protocols into the digital age via wrapping around respective SC plug-ins! Please stay tuned, comment and dialogue as you feel fit.
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Here are some recent changes that come right outta yesterdays council 
