Dancing with Change

Many people are now suggesting that the food system is broken, but what do they mean by broken? Is the problem the quantity of food? The quality? The inequality within the system, or its impact on the climate and environmental crisis? Despite these critiques coming on multiple fronts, the food system appears to be continuing down the same path it has been on.
In this interview with Christophe Bene, we discuss the food system, the four dominant narratives about why the food system isn't working and the different concerns and values they reflect. We also talk about the key actors that can keep the system on its current trajectory or push it to change.
Christophe is a senior researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and is senior policy adviser for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). You can find more of Christophe's work here
The papers that informed most of our discussion today are this one on the narratives and this one on the barriers to the transformation of the food system.
If you enjoyed the narrative approach to complex systems, check out Episode 8- The six globalisation with Anthea Roberts
Awesome graphic exploring Organic vs Regenerative vs Agroecological practices and their underlying values that I mentioned in the show
Also, check out the website and join the discord!

Most politics are currently dominated by political parties which are locked into conflict with each other. In this system, people don't turn up as individuals but as part of the party machine, in which they work together to wield power over other parties. Politicians aim to convince voters to give them the power to rule over them, but not to govern with them. Ideas are debated, but if there is no intention to listen and one side has all power to make decisions, then it is only for show. The goal isn't necessarily good governance, but to be seen to be "right", and to gain the control of majorities. This is a system in which power is centralised in as few hands as possible and is then used to exert their will over everybody else. It goes from the general population to a handful of politicians, to the majority party, and then the factions within that party.
But what could a different system look like, where dialogue dominates instead of debate, where citizens remain involved in the decision-making process, and where politicians work to have power with instead of power over people?
In this episode, I talk with the former mayor of Frome, Peter MacFadyen, about how we can take over our local politics and change the rules of the game. In the interview, we talk about the story of Frome and the group of independents that changed its politics, what it looks like in practice to listen to each other and the community, as well as the broader prospects of the movement.

Find out more about Peters's work
Flatpack democracy Website and Facebook page

Economic globalisation is a complex process that affects everybody. There are many stories told about globalisation, that it benefits everybody, that some people benefit at the expense of others, or that everybody stands to lose from it. So which is true?
Stories help us simplify and understand reality, however, each one is focused on describing only particular aspects of the complex whole. Each story highlights particular scales, actors and normative values.
In this interview, we unscramble the Rubik's cube of dialogues that surround globalisation with Anthea Roberts. We discuss the importance of stories and metaphors, the dominant narratives of globalisation, and how identifying the underlying values can help us find fertile ground for co-operation or identify points of tension. By unravelling these stories Anthea demonstrates a powerful approach to understanding complex systems.
Anthea's Website
A short article summarising the narratives

How we organise ourselves is central to the way our society functions. We often take for granted the power dynamics and values that are present in the modern-day nation-state, but who do these arrangements benefit and who does it disempower? Is governance from the top the best way of realising our values and creating the kind of society we desire? Often associated with chaos, Anarchism is a generally misunderstood political philosophy that suggests that nobody needs to be in charge.
In this episode, I chat with Ruth Kinna about Anarchism. We explore the history and context out which anarchism emerged, the core values and critiques, as well as some practical embodiments of it. I think this episode is quite complementary to Episode 6 where I spoke with Fleur and Marco, in which we explored power dynamics and the difficulties of trying to create spaces free of domination within social movements which is a central value of anarchist thought and reflects the process of anarchisation that we speak about in this interview.
Link to Ruth's books
The podcast about revolutions mentioned at the start is, Revolutions by Mike Duncan, and is part of the series on 1848.