Am I already part of The Movement for Interdependence?
There are many people working in many different ways to tackle hyper-individualism, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. Together they are helping to re-connect people with people, and people with nature. In the process of doing this, they are helping those they are engaging with to appreciate how interdependent we are as human beings - both with each other, and with the wider living world.
As people begin to appreciate this, they begin to feel more like an interdependent, rather than independent self. This results in them beginning to think differently about themselves and their role in the world, opening up opportunities for them to live and act differently too - a little less individualistically, a little more collectively.
The need for this vital work of re-connection is growing, as is the practice of doing it, it is a ‘cultural’ approach to changemaking. As this article highlights it takes many different forms. Together, those involved, are forming an emergent ‘Movement for Interdependence’.
We hope you recognise yourself in the roles described below.
The Miracle Inn will be an active part of this movement (in west Wales), while also being a convenor and enabler of it online.
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The work being done by The Movement for Interdependence takes multiple forms. Its work is sometimes explicit and observable, other times quiet and subtle. Here are just a few examples of what The Movement for Interdependence is doing:
Firstly, in the role of scene-setters, we have artists, journalists, academics, and campaigners. They directly critique and call out the ideology of individualism and make clear the multiple social, ecological, and personal harms of hyper-individualism. They force us to ask the deep questions: What if a life of ‘rugged individualism’ wasn’t our fate, what if it were something else? What if we thought differently about who humans are? What would life for all (all humans and more-than-humans) be like then?
The scene-setters work makes clear the need to organise the economy and society differently. This re-organising is underway, people are not waiting for the ideology to collapse, they are resisting it and organising themselves in line with a different understanding of what human nature is. This is what this part of The Movement for Interdependence is doing:
Community groups are adopting, inventing and reviving deeper forms of democracy to support people to live interdependently with each other, rather than independently and in competition. Together, in cooperatives and collectives, these groups are busy ‘building a future that works’.
Young people are being supported by parents, teachers, and educators to critique the ways they are conditioned to relate to each other and to the natural world. They are taught about different ways of relating, and given opportunities to practice and adopt them.
Farmers and ecologists are rewilding land, creating more entangled and interdependent environments that allow humans and nature to thrive together.
Health professionals, who recognise the personal and societal benefits connection to people, place and nature, are prescribing, facilitating, and advocating for these connections.
NGOs and activists are quietly and persistently reinforcing bigger-than-self, rather than self-interest, values through their programmes, communications and campaigns. In doing so, they are helping people to see that most people, deep down, are not selfish individuals.
Employers, employees and trade unionists are rejecting and replacing incentive-based management cultures that individualise success and failure.
Designers in multiple fields, from software to architecture, are designing for connection and interdependence rather than separateness and individualism.
All of these people, and the organisations they are part of, are front line social actors, but they exist in a relationship of interdependence with numerous others:
The owners, stewards, and staff of our ‘third places’ are fighting for existence; they hold the spaces where the movement can gather, relate, plan, cooperate, and get things done. More fundamentally, their persistence helps sustain what is left of our social capital; they are vital.
Expert communicators are integral to the movement too. They are amplifying and normalising the stories of action and change that inspire more people into the movement.
Finally, there are the providers of the software, hardware, and energy that all of the above actors rely on. Interdependence exists in these relationships, but so too does tension and some unease; some providers are not comfortable bedfellowes. Tensions will remain until more aligned providers emerge.
All of this (and more) is happening right across society and the economy. Momentum is growing and activity is more widespread than we probably perceive. But, it is still in pockets, still on the fringes. It remains true that:
Individualism is the dominant ideology in much of the Global North,
Hyper-individualism continues to keep society fragmented, and
Nature is still something that is ‘over there’ for many people.
The Movement for Interdependence is growing, but it needs to grow many times bigger.
Who is The Miracle Inn for?
It is for all those already deploying ‘cultural’ approaches, all those working to expose the dangers of hyper-individualism, all those working to bring diverse groups of people together, and all those working to entangle us, again, with nature.
Crucially, however, it is also for all those who want to engage in this work, but have not yet been able to, and all those who want to support this work in other ways.
When The Miracle Inn officially opens, membership will be open to all, it will help you be the movement and join the movement for interdependence.
For now, please sign up to the newsletter. The more subscribers we get, the more viable it will be to launch. The target is 500+ subscribers by Spring 2026.
