"Grab the rules, play it hard. Basic rules for free cooperation"
by Christoph Spehr

from:
"On Rules and Monsters. An introduction into free cooperation."
Video by Christoph Spehr and Jörg Windszus (to be shown at the conference)

WOMAN (off)
So on one hand, cooperation doesn’t seem to make us free. On the other hand,
living without cooperation doesn’t make us free, either. How can we stay
free in cooperation? What is free cooperation?
To learn about free cooperation, we first must understand the three basic
principles of forced cooperation.
The first principle of forced cooperation is: KEEP OFF THE BASIC RULES!
(The Time Machine) The big gate is slammed shut. George trys desperately to
open it again.
MAN (off)
Forced cooperation is not tyranny – or, more precisely: it is not something
that looks like tyranny at first sight. But the basic rules will not give
way to anybody. They are not negotiated between the members of the
cooperation – be it the workers of a factory, the employees at an office,
the women and children in the patriarchal family, the people affected by the
decisions of a given institution. The basic rules are kept behind iron
gates. People and positions may be changed; some distribution of value may
be negotiated; smaller rules may be changed and altered or even accepted to
be refused. But the core of the cooperation, its basic rules, are not to be
tackled by the real members of the cooperation.
WOMAN (off)
The second principle of forced cooperation is: NEVER STOP THE ENGINE!
(The Trollenberg Terror) The group is sitting in the gondola of the cable
lift and is taken up the mountain. They see the >cloud< floating into the
valley, closing in the houses. The >cloud< enters the downward station and
freezes the cables. The gondola stops, goes on, stops again.
MAN (off)
Forced cooperation doesn’t turn people into robots – or, more precisely: it
doesn’t turn people into something that looks like robots at first sight.
You may talk. You may quarrel while working. You may make proposals or even
hand small protest notes. Some forced cooperations even allow you to vote or
take part in participatory systems or in so-called >speech situations< where
you may argue that some rules are irrational and that you could work better
without them. But never, never must you use material power to push your
interests. Do not freeze the cables. Do not stop the gondola. Do not go on
strike, do not withdraw your workforce while talking. This is doomed and
criminalized as monstrous behavior. If you try, you will get bombed for.
WOMAN (off)
The third principle of forced cooperation is: SERVE OR PAY!
(The Day the Earth Stood Still)
KLAATU
I came here to give you these facts. It is no concern of ours how you run
your own planet. But if you threaten to extend your violence, this earth of
yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder.
Your choice is simple: join us, or pursue your present course and face
obliteration. We’ll be waiting for your answer. The decision rests with you.
MAN (off)
Not every forced cooperation uses the whip – or, more precisely: not every
forced cooperation uses a whip that looks like a whip on first sight. In
many forced cooperations, we are not forced openly to do what we are told.
Only that it doesn’t really make sense to deny. Because if we don’t
cooperate, if the cooperation splits, or gets spoiled, we are the ones to
pay. If we disagree with our boss and split, he still keeps the enterprise,
while we leave with empty hands. It’s serve or pay: that makes choices so
simple in forced cooperation.
WOMAN (off)
Having understood how forced cooperation works, we can now articulate the
three basic principles of free cooperation.
The first principle of free cooperation is: GRAB THE RULES!
(Attack of the crab monsters) A man is walking down the dunes to the beach.
Out of nowhere, a huge crab appears and grabs him. He cries.
MAN (off)
In a free cooperation, all rules can be changed. Every member is free to
challenge any rule, and the members of the cooperation decide about their
rules. There are no >holy rules< that are barred behind iron gates and
cannot be changed by the members of the cooperation.
WOMAN (off)
The second principle of free cooperation is: PLAY IT HARD!
(The Time Machine) While George is fighting a Morlok and gets attacked by
more Morloks, one of the Eloi is considering his hand, deep in thought.
Suddenly he makes a fist and knocks down the Morlok.
MAN (off)
In a free cooperation, all members have the same power to influence the
rules. This power is not given by any formal structures of decision-making:
talking or voting is not enough. Real power comes from the freedom and
ability to withdraw one’s cooperative activity, to hold back, to quit, to
give limits and conditions to one’s cooperative activity. To say or to
signal: >No, if not.<
(World Without End) The commander comes in from the negotiations. He is
angry.
OFFICER
How was it?
COMMANDER
They won’t cooperate!
WOMAN (off)
The third principle of free cooperation is: STAY ONLY WHERE YOU CAN LEAVE,
AND WHERE YOUR LEAVING IS MEANINGFUL.
(The Time Machine) George notices the Eloi for the first time. Suddenly
there are cries: Weena is drowning in the river.
GEORGE
What are you sitting by?
As nobody moves, George leaps into the water and pulls her out.
GEORGE
You’re alright?
Without a word, Geena gets up and leaves him.MAN (off)
In a free cooperation, the >price< of the cooperation being split up, coming
to an end, somebody going away, the cooperation becoming looser or being not
fully working, is similar (and bearable) for all members of the cooperation.
Only under this condition, withdrawing one’s cooperative activity is not
blackmailing the others. Only under this condition, all members of the
cooperation have the same bargaining power. That means: each member can
actually leave the cooperation, without paying too high a price; and the
leaving of each member will have an actual effect on the others, will be
experienced by them as some price they are paying, so that this negative
prospect may trigger new negotiations. Because you do not only wish to be
allowed to do this or that; you also want to make others do this or that, or
do this or that not. For this, you need equal bargaining power. Without
bargaining power, they will just let you drown.
(The Time Machine) Weena and George are sitting on the stairs.GEORGE
I did it to save your life. That doesn’t seem to mean much to you or anybody
else around here.
WEENA
It doesn’t.
GEORGE
Do you realize there were about 20 of your friends watching you drown, not
one of them so much as lifting a finger to save you? Ain’t that a curious
attitude?
Very curious world. Aren’t you the least bit interested in who I am? Where
I’m from?WEENA
Should I?
Getting bargaining power usually means getting organized, too. Without the
solidarity of others, you cannot level bargaining powers in many cases. In a
free cooperation, there has to be a constant re-arrangement of rules,
individual appropriation and solidarities to keep bargaining power equal
between the members of the cooperation. Making bargaining power equal –
through changing rules, individual appropriation, solidarity – is the core
business of any emancipatory politics, and the basic definition of what is
left politics. It is also the core definition of being someone, of being
amongst others who really recognize you.
(The Time Machine) George comes from the rotten books and addresses the
sitting Eloi. GEORGE
You! All of you! I’m going back to my own time.
I won’t bother to tell anybody about the useless struggle, the hopeless
future.
But at least I can die among men! You ... ah!
He runs out. WOMAN (off)
Doing free cooperation means no less than taking off the mask, and demanding
the others to bear that. Because most cooperations look okay as long as you
are wearing the mask that was designed for you; as long as you fit into what
others think is appropriate for you; as long as you do what others want you
to do. But you only see what a cooperation is worth when there is conflict,
when you demand change, when you take off the mask.
(Queen of Outer Space) A spacewoman with a mask on her face and an earth
woman are sitting on a couch.SPACEWOMAN
You’ll have to suffer the consequences for your planned attack.

EARTHMAN
There is no plan of attack!
She goes to a monitor and turns it on.SPACEWOMAN
Let me show you what happens to those who oppose.
Look, Captain! The disintegrator.EARTHMAN
This is what destroyed the space station!SPACEWOMAN
And it will destroy the Earth, too.EARTHMAN
The people! The lives of those countless billions! I admit that men on earth
have been ... quarrelsome and foolish in the past. But we’re no harm to your
work! I swear!
He takes her at her shoulders.
I understand you better than you do yourself. You’re denying man’s love,
for that hatred and for that monstrous power you have.
SPACEWOMAN
Monstrous?

EARTHMAN
You’re not only a queen, you’re a woman, too. And a woman needs a man’s
love.
Let me see your face!
He takes off her mask.

EARTHMAN
I’m sorry. I didn’t understand!

SPACEWOMAN
Radiation burns. Men did that to me. Men with their wars. - You told me that
women need love. Now that you know, would you give me that love?
She offers him a kiss. He turns away.

EARTHMAN
I – I didn’t realize.

SPACEWOMAN
You didn’t realize!
- Guards!The (female) guards enter and take the earthman with them.

_______________________________________________
http://freecooperation.org
conference, Buffalo, April 24-25, 2004
list archive: http://molodiez.org/ocs/mailinglist/archive.html