Emma Goldman Finishing School

Community Values & Politics

Purpose

Our purpose is to create a free society, a world with freedom from want and freedom of expression, a world without oppression or hierarchy, where power is shared equally. We work to create this future in the here and now by building alternative economic, political, and cultural infrastructure designed to oppose and replace the dominant system. We aim to create a home that embodies our shared values, provides a fun and supportive environment in which to live, and helps forge a dense network of relations with people and institutions outside of our community. We make it possible to communally provide for all our material needs. Our home is a place of self-education, experimentation, and radical democracy—a community where the means and ends are one.

Values

Societal Change

We believe that our society encourages profound injustices, rampant violence, ruinous ecological destruction and greed, and that these problems are embedded in the dominant systems of governance and economy. We therefore favor radical, systemic change and to opposing today’s dominant systems, including capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy.

Egalitarianism

Because we believe all people have equal potential, we believe all deserve equal access to power and resources, as well as equal rights and responsibilities. We believe that hierarchy (defined as unequal access to power) inherently includes oppression. We therefore seek to build organizational and governance structures without hierarchy. We seek a community based in the principles of direct, participatory democracy, which embodies equality, freedom and diversity. We regard freedom of expression to be impossible without freedom from want.

Non-violence

Because we envision a non-violent world, we are therefore committed to using non-violent means to achieve it. We recognize our shared humanity and the equal right of all people to exist. We define non-violence as active non-cooperation with oppression; non-violence is not synonymous with pacifism, or a mere absence of violence. We recognize the complexity of social change, and the dangers inherent in pursuing change. We affirm that non-violence may be practiced as an absolute moral value, or as a strategic one. We affirm the right of other communities to self-determination in their morals and strategies. We also recognize that our choice of non-violence benefits from the considerable privilege Emma Goldman Finishing School enjoys from its place within the dominant culture.

Ecology

We believe that human systems and natural systems can and should be harmonized. We believe human impacts should be reduced, particularly among those who consume the most. At Emma Goldman Finishing School we aim to reduce consumption of resources, and weigh all community decisions on the basis of ecological impact.

Simplicity

We believe that living simply brings a richer quality of life. We do not buy the lies of corporate culture telling us our worth is in our stuff. Consumption is an expression of the psychological and spiritual poverty of our culture. Simplicity reduces our ecological impacts, promotes fairness, and withdraws support from the culture of commodification. We live simply by meeting needs not wants, and by providing a culture of non-material abundance.

Community Living

Living in community is a rejection of the culture of alienation and isolation. We value the benefits of community, including mutual support and interdependence, fun, social engagement, and the learning and growth that comes from challenges and conflicts within the community. We also recognize and are enriched by the wide range of personal interests and paths of each of our members. We support one another as individuals, as activists, and as members of our shared community.

Practices

Anti-Capitalist Culture

We share a critique of capitalism and are committed not only to withdrawing our support from it as much as possible, but also actively seeking to dismantle it.

Consensus-Based Decision Making

All community decisions are made by consensus, usually in our weekly house meetings. This means that no decision can be made without the agreement of all members.

An Hour Is An Hour

We share our income and labor as a form of economic egalitarianism, where every hour is treated the same, regardless of the economic value assigned to it by the capitalist system. As a result, all members are expected to do an equitable share of labor-hours to support the community, which may include generating income at outside jobs and performing tasks within the community.

Communalized Health Care

The basic care of all members is covered by the community, including catastrophic care. Members are covered for as long as they remain in the community, regardless of disability or age.

Social Justice Project

We have committed to devoting a significant fund and pool of community labor to developing new intentional communities in the Seattle area, and building dense networks of economic and social relations among these and other likeminded communities.

Shared Vegetarian, Organic Meals

We share all our household food, and someone cooks dinner for the whole house at least four nights a week. We eat a strictly vegetarian diet within the house, and buy organic and locally grown food whenever possible. We also grow as much food as we can in our own organic urban garden.

Environmentally Sustainable Practices

As we renovate our house, purchase appliances and vehicles, and make other day-to-day decisions we place high importance on the ecological impacts of our actions and seek to minimize those impacts whenever possible.

Community Celebrations

Birthdays, special occasions and holidays provide ready excuses for us to share great, wholesome food and much revelry and laughter. The place is often bustling with family members, close friends, and a broader community of folks who join us for meals and parties or just because. We host a monthly open house for prospective members, the curious, and our friends to hang out with us, get a tour of the house and make conversation.

Membership Document #3

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Beacon Hill House

Preferred Customer

2003-12-02T22:21:00