A major Brazilian protest movement organized as consensus-based and leaderless by design

Evidence

In its founding “charter of principles,” the MPL declared that it would be a fully independent, “autonomous,” and “horizontal” organization. There would be no leaders or specialized roles, and decisions would be made by consensus. Every single member should agree on any course of action. This was definitely not Leninism. In this model, the majority should not be able to force any individual to do something they didn’t agree with. This approach was partially inspired by some of their neighbors in South America. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 149

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies ‘horizontal’ organizing as consensus-based with no leaders or specialized roles.
• XREF: connects to: Brazilian punk evolved from violent resistance to organized left-wing politics across two decades — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 128; Vegan punk festivals physically modeled horizontal no-leader organizing in Brazil — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 128; Prefigurative organizers treated their horizontal democratic process as the movement’s very goal — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 130 (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• Spanish 2011 protesters organized horizontally with consensus-based assemblies #exemplifies (0.92) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 261
• Hierarchical organization correlates with protest movement success #complicates (0.85) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 847
• Horizontal protest movements that refuse representation get co-opted or crushed by existing powers #complicates (0.84) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 444
• Leaderless movements that cede representation get represented by opponents #complicates (0.83) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 443
• Local protest movements can aggregate into a national politics without top-down coordination #expands (0.82) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 620
• Protest movements need determinate goals and institutional embedding to last #complicates (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2158
• Digital grassroots platforms conceal inner-circle control within antipolitical movements #complicates (0.79) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 196
• Global protest movements of 2011 coordinated through shared tactics against the 1 percent #qualifies (0.78)
• Protest movements must become robust institutions to have lasting impact #contradicts (0.78)
• Pan-movements united members through mood rather than defined political goals #qualifies (0.73) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 574
• Modern protest movements are transient swarms held together by stimuli, not durable organizations #qualifies (0.72) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 229
• Leaderless decentralized protest allows cops to join freely #jokes-about (0.70) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 755