omniharmonicParallel Construction
Parallel construction is a strategy for civilizational transformation that prioritizes building functioning alternatives alongside existing systems rather than attempting to reform sclerotic institutions or overthrow entrenched powers. It is the practical enactment of the old Industrial Workers of the World vision of “building the new society in the shell of the old” and Buckminster Fuller’s principle of “creating the conditions that make the old system obsolete.” Rather than seeking permission from or consensus within existing power structures, parallel construction proceeds by demonstration — showing through practice that other ways of organizing collective life are not only possible but superior.
The power of this approach lies in its combination of pragmatism and radicalism. It does not require winning elections, seizing state power, or achieving ideological consensus before meaningful change can begin. Small groups can experiment immediately, learning through practice rather than theory. Successful experiments can be replicated and adapted; failed ones can be abandoned without catastrophic consequences. This is democratic evolution rather than revolution, transformation through iteration rather than overthrow. Mutual aid networks, community currencies, open-source software, community land trusts, and worker cooperatives are all examples of parallel construction already underway.
Parallel construction is closely related to dual-power as a strategic framework, but emphasizes the constructive dimension more explicitly — it is not merely about creating counter-power but about building institutions that can eventually influence, transform, and even replace legacy systems. The Sunflower Movement in Taiwan, Barcelona’s municipalist movement, and Rojava’s democratic-confederalism all demonstrate how constructed parallel power can become primary power through demonstration of superior outcomes. This strategy connects to bioregionalism as the place-based scale at which parallel institutions most readily take root, and to commons-governance as the organizational logic that guides their design.