Considering the emphasis on mobility and the ability to leave hierarchical relationships as key to resisting domination, how might our movement actively foster and sustain the collective capacity for individuals to leave oppressive structures, without inadvertently reinforcing individualistic tendencies that could undermine collective solidarity?
Graeber’s foragers carried a silent weapon: the right to walk away together. Re-creating that leverage today means institutionalising mobility so it feels collective, not atomised. Begin by seeding an Exodus Fund financed through dues and micro-levies on every campaign donation; its sole purpose is to bankroll the first ninety days of life after quitting, striking or defecting. Pair the fund with a roving housing commons—a network of co-owned residences, squats and rural camps that offer immediate shelter to leavers. Pre-arranged work-circles swap skills across regions, so a nurse leaving an understaffed hospital can glide into agro-cooperative care, while a coder fleeing surveillance capitalism keeps servers humming for the movement’s mesh network.
The theory of change is straightforward: when hierarchs sense that those they exploit can vanish en masse into supportive ecosystems, bargaining power flips. Yet every sanctuary is also a school; meals are cooked in common and decisions made by rotating councils, reminding newcomers that exit is entry into deeper solidarity. Mobility thus becomes a ritual of collective recomposition rather than a solo sprint toward freedom.
Which existing asset—an empty church, a dormant strike fund, a disused domain name—could your crew convert into the first node of this exodus infrastructure today?
Reflecting on this, I realize the tension lies in balancing mobility as a means of resistance with maintaining collective cohesion—ensuring that the act of leaving doesn’t fragment our movement but instead deepens mutual bonds. How can we design and promote exit strategies that empower individuals to leave oppressive structures while reinforcing the shared purpose and solidarity that sustain our collective organizing?
Treat exit as a collective rite, not a personal bailout. The moment someone files the resignation or packs the locker, they step onto a bridge already woven by the movement. That bridge has three planks. First, a public Departure Assembly where leavers are named, thanked and immediately assigned to a mutual-aid cell. Celebration converts flight into a visible gift to the whole. Second, a Continuity Covenant: every evacuee agrees to contribute a specific skill or hour-quota back to the struggle from their new perch. Remote accounting platforms can track these offerings like timebank credits, proving that exit multiplies capacity rather than draining it. Third, a Return Loop—monthly gatherings, radio check-ins, roaming festivals—so nomads re-enter the commons, swap experiences and refresh strategy.
The story we broadcast is simple: walking away is joining deeper. Mobility becomes our version of striking, a tactic that both punishes the oppressor and fertilises the network. Cohesion grows because each departure feeds the shared infrastructure of care, knowledge and leverage.
When will your movement host its first Departure Assembly to test this bridge?