McNeil Point, atop the westward shoulder of Wy'East. Evening is falling: as the conversation grows, the light settles into glorious golden luster. A hawk gyres the airy vastness.

j(A)de: Look, I just don't think I can trust you. I know it sounds harsh, but there have been so many endless terrifying examples of centralized leadership that destroyed movements.

Nelt: Absolutely, I agree. But there have also been terrifying examples where the failure to step into leadership has enable large, powerful movements to dwindle or be co-opted. I'm not saying there aren't risks, just that there are risks either way.

Night Crow: So how do you propose mitigating those risks?

Nelt: I think the first step is to recognize that there is leadership, there has to be, and the key is for it to be principled and accountable.

Nonkululeko: Eish! These are buzzwords, man. Flashing them like badges has allowed a lot of "big men" to set up shop as the ultimate authority, implicitly silencing the very voices calling for the truly radical changes we need.

Crow: Those words can sound pretty hollow, Nelt. What do you mean by them?

Nelt: Sure, every good practice or idea can be abused. But principled leadership is really rooted in clear strategy, and practices and values that consistently refer to that analysis, rather than willy-nilly for personal gain. And it's accountable when the leadership is always willing and able to be questioned about what they've done, and removed if the membership decides they're not able to accomplish what they're tasked to do.

Nonkie: Yak, but who died and made the "rational thinkers" kings of all? All this abstraction and intellectualizing has got us into lots of trouble already. We don't need more self-ordained priests of revolution telling what to think - or do!

Nelt: That's just it. If the people disagree with accountable leadership, they can just recall it!

j(A)de: But unfortunately, they probably won't. I don't disagree with you, Nelt, that peopl;e often want leaders to tell them what to do. But that's a major part of the problem. People in this civilization have been trained since birth to be fucking sheep! (No insult to sheep.) We need to develop strategies that support people to think and act for themselves!

Crow: Like what?

j(A)de: Like recognizing that everyone has a legitimate voice, not privileging those that already feel comfortable dominate. Like training people to be good at things, rather than relying on "experts". Like recognizing there's many legitimate ways of knowing what's right for you, not just a few male-dominated versions.

Crow: Hmmmmm, this is interesting. I'm reminded of some relatives of mine. For generations, when they need to go to war, they select a war chief. Whatever he says regarding the strategy and tactics of prosecuting the war, well, people do it. Or they decide not to fight, and are considered cowards. But you know what's interesting? He's selected by the grandmothers. Not everyone -- heavens knows most folk can all too easily be persuaded by pretty words or faces -- but by those who have given birth to generations and are most in touch with both ancestors and descendants. I think that's an interesting balance to strike.

Nonkie: But why have a chief at all, even for war? Especially for war! I mean hey, your life is on the line, don't you want some say in whether to attack or retreat?

Crow: I suppose the idea is that there are some situations where everyone attacking or retreating -- either one, if everyone dies it in a coordinated way -- is better than people going hiother and thither in pockets. And that some people are particularly well-suited to making those kinds of decisions, so they should, especially because so many lives are on the line.

j(A)de: Look, war always comes up when people want to scare us into submission. And sure, there can always be situations where a group of people choose to put one person in a decision-making role for a particular time or purpose -- the traditional anarchist model of military units electing their officers. But war's an extreme situation. In most of our lives, we have lots more space and time to come to consensus or to coordinate our actions horizontally without centralized command and control.

Nonkie: "Consensus" and "coordination": blech. That still sounds too much like those that love a lot of meetings telling everyone else what's been decided. No, the real solution has to be more dynamic, more spontaneous, more fun! Serious, people can learn to dance our lives, watching each other and linking together when that feels right, and pulling apart into our own totally wacky thing no one else gets, when that's what spirit calls.

Nelt: That sounds wonderful, and I might even agree that's the goal we're all working for. But right now, people can't live that way, they've been trained otherwise, as j(A)de said, and anyway they're too much under pressure by capital. It's unrealistic to ask people to dance when they're starving.

Crow: I'm not so sure about that. Sometimes when you're really starving all you can do is dance. But you do need to know the steps, or have practice making your own, or an ear for spirit's guide -- or else you'll just sit and mope. Or rage, rage against the dying of the light. That does beg the question, j(A)de, Nonkululeko, how do we learn to all be our own leaders when we have so little practice?

Nonkie: Yes: practice. Not repetitive scale up and down for donkey's years, not something fake in preparation for the real deal: no, more like a daily practice of being the people we know we need to become, now.

j(A)de: Yeah! And that means learning all the many different ways we can be leaders, and sharing the skills, encouraging people to grow into what doesn't always come "naturally". And valuing the different ways so that we can see how much leadership there is already unrecognized and ignored.

Nelt: It means that those of you that have some skill in this will be leading those that don't! You can't get away from it,

Crow: No, but it is different to be leading in a way that is designed to become less and less prominent. Thanks to all of you!