So our name, Chaordica, is a fusion between chaos & order, with ‘dica’ meaning many things – including action and speaking out. Consider the whole (our association) to be a big blurry blend of all these real and necessary ingredients. Or, if you’re into difficult poetry, consider this following quote:

“[Moving] between chaos and order – this is the generative dance, an oscillation often seen in the natural world. A balance between two seeming polarities, which are instead compliments of each other. As we move between chaos and order, individually and collectively, we move through confusion and conflict toward clarity. We are all called to walk this path without judgement – some will feel more comfortable with chaos, others with order. Both are needed as, together, we walk the edge that is between these two toward something wholly new.”

Our name was originally inspired by The Chaordic Path – a wonderful philosophy developed by the Art of Hosting collective. Please refer to their website for more information on a “chaordic perspective” towards the world around us.

Main Pillars

The complexity of global issues asks for inclusive and encompassing alternatives in which we join our diverse brains, bodies and perspectives to create social innovation. Therefore, we value non-hierarchical and participatory ways of working in which decision-making processes are inclusive and those involved feel supported to take initiative and contribute. Themes like social inclusion, sustainability and community building are then not only part of the content of our events, but are also interwoven in the container, design and practices of projects themselves. Practically, this extends itself to ensure accessibility for participation and a conscious selection of our resources, venues and utilities. Ideologically, Chaordica relies on four pillars represented by the acronym IDEA:

1. Inclusion & initiative-taking

We’re not alone, so let’s unite!

Everyone deserves and can flourish from experiencing belonging within diverse communities and becoming exposed to other realities. Despite (y)our personal history, we believe that active inclusion into a heterogeneous group can inspire individual initiative-taking and enrich the collective. Based on the belief that every person owns and can make a difference in their respective localities and lives, we believe that fostering inclusive initiative-taking has great potential for addressing structural injustices.

2. Degrowth & dialogue:

Re-shifting the focus from top-down to grass-roots initiatives; from verticality towards horizontality

We have extensive familiarity with the power of locality, community and down-sizing; sustainable alternatives to industrial food systems, transportation, education and the environment; we’re trained in facilitating interpersonal and transcultural dialogue and have experienced its transformative potentials. Building on this, Chaordica aims to further foster confidence in dialogue and de-growth by working together on issues dealing with sustainability. By generating instances of alternative relationality towards people and our planet we aim to create a counter-consciousness to limitless ‘productivism’ and the associated propagation of violence(s).

3. Empowerment & experience

Experience is the best teacher; empowerment its fruits

What effectively inspires change? After years of formal education, we have felt that most life-changing events came in the shape of experiences, which in turn lodged themselves deep inside our bodies, developing empathic skills and deeper understanding of other realities. Empowering people; facilitating spaces through which people can empower themselves and others; gain confidence in their own (yet unexplored) skills, voices and talents; giving people the idea that they are worthy, valuable and meaningful; all these are experiences which can alter lives and spark real change. We believe that planting seeds of hope and emancipation is one of the most sustainable ways to heal and harvest future fruits from.

4. Action and activism

Act, action, activation, activism!

Sometimes, while waiting for solutions of the same scale as we perceive global problems to be, we bypass the importance and power of microrevolutions. Eventually, the world is created too by our individual input, which means that we each and together have so much potential for political power. We believe that action and activism fuelled by the power of community, cultures of care, consideration of social justice and individual as well as collective empowerment underwrites sustainable citizenship. We are proud to be a little drop in a huge overspilling bucket, comprised of millions of other like-minded yet diverse initiatives. Together we pursue to disrupt the status quo and manifest – one microrevolution at a time – a better world.