As the world collapses around us: Can we build the next system? If we take our social, political, economic, and ecological crises seriously enough, can we build a world that is democratic, sustainable, and just? Maybe we can, if we ask:
- How well we understand the crises of our time?
- What we need to know about alternative designs to our current system?
- What we can learn from movements for system change?
And what do we gain from studying the relationships between systemic crises, system design, systemic movements, and the process of system change?
Imagine hundreds of thousands of people gathering in college campuses, community centers, union halls, and public spaces around the world, all taking up the challenge of building a next system that can sustain the kind of world we all deserve.
That is what is planned this November 1st-16th through the Next System Teach-Ins.
Together we will challenge a system that seems locked into a downward spiral, driving down living conditions, burning up the natural systems of the Earth, devastating communities and economies, igniting resource wars, uprooting millions, and inciting hatred and authoritarianism. Why is this system on a path to collapse? Why does the system seem unable to correct itself?
Together we will learn from the many social movements working for a next system that is more democratic, sustainable, and just. What do these systemic movements know about the crisis? What can they teach us about alternative designs to the old system? What can they teach about how we might achieve a better next system?
Together we will study and foster the emerging alternatives, asking critically about their possibilities and limitations. How much of a workable next system is already here? How might we weave together the economic and ecological, political and legal, social and cultural, and technological practices already available to us to create a new system that reproduces the kind of world most of us want to live in?
Together we will take responsibility for system change, asking which paths are more likely to lead us to the kind of next system we most want. Moving beyond the old debate of reform and revolution, is an alternative path of reconstruction open to us? What path, or mix of paths, can get us to a better next system?
In communities in every part of our world, sincere people are struggling with these questions and coming up with exciting alternatives. With the Next System Teach-Ins, we learn from and link these struggles and alternatives together.
Another world is possible. A next system is necessary. This work is in your hands.
To join the Teach-In process: Register Now
May 12, 2025