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Process is knowledge. Knowledge arises from process.

There is no "knowledge" before "the process". In contrast to other forms of organising, where knowledge is created and shared amongst members beforehand and "process" is mainly concerned with decisionmaking, in movements operating in prefigurative fashion there can't be any 'knowledge' before 'the process', as only the interactions between the diversity of positions generates valid 'knowledge'.

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Why is something indeterminate during a mobilisation process?

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Why is something indeterminate during a mobilisation process?

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- Intense consensus finding processes
- Anonymity / Security Culture

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Maeckelbergh, Marianne. 2011. “Doing Is Believing: Prefiguration as Strategic Practice in the Alterglobalization Movement.” Social Movement Studies 10 (1). Routledge: 1–20.

Krøijer, Stine. 2010. "Figurations of the Future: On the Form and Temporality of Protests among Left radical Activists in Europe." in Social Analysis, Volume 54, Issue 3, Winter 2010, 139–152.

Krøijer, Stine. 2015. “‘A Common Choreography of Action’: Choreography, Preparations and Intentions.” In Stine Krøijer Figurations of the Future: Forms and Temporalities of Left Radical Politics in Northern Europe. Ethnography, Theory, Experiment. New York, Oxford:

Berghahn Books: 101-37.

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In a nutshell: prefiguration & social movements

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In a nutshell: prefiguration & social movements

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Albert Einstein is said to have said the following: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

Social movements seek to create a desired future.
Prefiguration equates the means and the goals.
It is inspired by ideals like "walking the talk" or the Gandi inspired idea of "embody the desired future you wish to see".
It is assumed that "how" we do something creates "what" we get.
Therefore, in temporal terms, the future is brought to the present.
Hence, in a prefigurative view, "process" matters and can't be separated from its ends, inextricably linking future and present.

Further, prefiguration is inspired by and draws upon theory of complex systems where 'patterns' on a small scale ultimately create the patterns of the large scale worlds and other postmodernist influences. The vagueness and ephemerality of these approaches is simultaneously also what is being challenged both from within and from outside the social movements as 'ineffective' or 'not sufficiently goal oriented'. The fear is to 'get stuck' in endless discussions of consensus-making where every voice and concern can be voiced and shall be integrated - ultimately rendering the process 'actionless'.

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= Opposite of Active time
"In sum, the life of an activist oscillates between various temporal modes of being, namely, between active time and ‘dead time’, both of which hinge on the body." (Krøijer 2011: Krøijer and Sjørslev forthcoming, in Krøijer 2010: 147).

(on a sidenote, how spacey is it that she quotes herself into the future?)

--> variety of perspectives

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Maeckelbergh argues that alterglobalization movements see prefiguration as the most strategic means to create the desired future (2011: 2, 4). By defining prefiguration as strategy she challenges accounts where prefiguration and strategy are seen as separate or different things that are either complementary or contradictory to each other. This is best exemplified by two statements she quotes in an internal email discussion ahead of London Social Forum (2011: 8):

"I’ve been reading the debate about the London Social Forum with some bemusement. Most of the discussions by focusing on process rather than substance, miss the point. The important question is: What is the politics of the London Social Forum?"(email, Callinicos, 2003)

Here Callinicos view to see the process as distinct from politics comes to light. Hence the answer by Sellwood challenges that directly:

"What Alex doesn’t seem to understand is that for many people, this movement is PRECISELY and primarily about process. The movement towards another world must be democratic, transparent and accessible, lest we become what we are fighting against." (email, Sellwood, 2003, capitals original)

Therefore highlighting Maeckelberghs main point that  "[...] the means are valued not in and of themselves, but
because they have consequences (and because they are consequences)." (2011: 8)

Finally, in contrast to many other social movements, a prefigurative approach is always open ended (as compared to predetermined in a e.g. communist vision) as it values horizontality and diversity there will always be "friction" (conflict) that then again shapes the direction to follow in the given moment.

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„in which some of the ideals that activists struggle for temporarily become real and concrete...„ (Krøijer 2010: 147)
"...performances as acts in themselves that organize time and space, that is, they are activists’ temporal incarnations of another future. " (Krøijer 2010: 140)

Example of the demonstration in Strassbourg:
- rhythms, waves and vibes
- synchronically movements, collective awareness, vitalized strength and power

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Protests At NATO Summit, 2009 in Strasbourg

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Protests At NATO Summit, 2009 in Strasbourg

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Just recently, within the climate strike movement, there was a big discussion (that almost escalated into an open conflict) regarding the national position as climate strike about the CO2 law (should the climate-strike support the CO2 law or should it oppose it).

One position was that a decision was needed and that, generally speaking, more people are in favour of supporting the CO2 law despite major concerns that the law itself is insufficient to achieve "netto 0 carbon emissions by 2030".

On the other hand there were strong voices that the process felt rushed, that concerns could not be integrated properly, that voices were overheard or ignored, that one part of Switzerland (the romandie) was pushing their agenda onto others.. and that the process is rendering the decision invalid (not the political or strategic logic, but the internal procedural logic).

Drawing on the concept of prefiguration and its critique, what arguments can we make in favour of or against the different positions?

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On the Form and Temporality of Protests among Left Radical Activists in Europe, (Stine Krøijer 2010)

Figuration is defined by indeterminacy and is a form given to intentions. It emerges out of the inherent and tension involved in giving a determinate form to something indeterminate.

Example for figuration:
The active time becomes a moment of figuration when the indeterminated turns into determinated by a collective and embodied sense of the social movement itself.

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- Meeting processes are not a prefiguration but a figuration, because they give the indeterminate a determinate form. They also don’t always comply with the ideal form of horizontal decision making and respect for diversity. (Krøijer 2015: 117, 119, 122)

- The intentions for decisions/targets are decoupled from individuals during a collective decision making. Meaning, activists discuss/plan in great detail about the actions and targets for the protest but they don't talk about their own intentions. (Krøijer 2015: 122)

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Prefiguration is a way of doing mobilization by living a desired alternative model of an often anti-hierarchical, deeply democratic and radically inclusive mini-society which is conducted during all the processes of mobilizations (preparation, strategies findings meetings, educational workshops, ...) There is a vision of a future world which would come to the present, embodied by the activists, but also by the movement itself. (Maeckelbergh 2011: 2)

In prefiguration, means and ends are merged, and thus the present and the future too. The idea of prefigurative practice is that the means used should reflect the ends desired. (Krøijer 2015: 118, 119)