Noyonism

Noyonism, often referred to alternatively as Radical Federalism by many proponents, is the political and social philosophy employed primarily by the Workers' Party of Ordrey that integrates concepts based around communal ownership of the and  among locally-resilient communities, generally centered on the municipal level. While the Ordrish traditions of and other forms of leftist philosophies have roots in its 19th-century labor movement, Noyonism takes its name and core values from Acoul Noyon, a prominent  and  in the early 20th century, who described the core tenets of the philosophy in a series of essays written from 1917-1919 compiled as Dawn over the Penguinnes. Other thinkers have adapted the idea over time, including Noyon's contemporaries and other labor figures both in and outside of Ordrey over the years.

Post-Statism versus Internationalism
One of the core differences that Noyon established for his beliefs was his skepticism of the universality of the working class and of class in general as described by [Marx]. In correspondence with [Figure 1] in 1920, Noyon summarized his argument: ""Many of our contemporaries and those who cling to the old-fashioned ways of thinking of liberation imagine all the world as utterly the same, if only differing in gulfs of travel along some kind of pre-ordained track...I instead believe we are divided more by space than time...and that each movement ought achieve and express its own means of liberation with the tools equipped to it by their unique circumstance. Let us work together, but embrace our differences, rather than casting them aside in favor of someone else's prescription.""

Noyonists contend that concepts of a liberated society and the means of reaching it may differ wildly depending on where and when a movement takes place, as well as who engages in it. Belief in "revolutionary potential" of any one group or profession is seen as inherent in all people, regardless of a group's stage in the processes of, and as such, there is no need to progress along a singular track of events or to establish a "transitional state" (i.e. the ). Furthermore, Noyonists contend that because of this, attempting to undo the evolution of the is antithetical to liberated society, instead believing that the concept should be divorced from the notion of the  first and foremost. Cooperation between movements between cultural groups, they continue, should allow for understanding and deference for the cultural context in which each group engages in campaigns of self-liberation as opposed to imposing universal standards upon each movement.

The Slow Revolution
The "Slow Revolution" is the practice of engaging in the creation and entrenchment of networks and parallel systems of power acting to replace the functions of the state over time. This occurs from multiple dimensions: Noyon discusses this in his essay The Parable of the Dandelion, stating: ""The revolution does not spring up out of the ether in one swift crash in fire and violence, at least not necessarily. The revolution I seek, and one that by my reckoning will endure for decades and centuries, is one the is like dandelions and weeds breaking through cement - that is, to say, one that is the result of a myriad of forces being deliberately utilized to bring about real change until [the state] crumbles from disuse and irrelevance.""
 * Establishment and maintenance of parallel, anti-state organs of self-governance
 * Encouraging favorable community and public relations, and influencing mainstream politics through action
 * Sharing surplus with neighboring communities as to foster greater connection of independent groups and to influence politics of those outside the movement

The main example cited of the Slow Revolution in action was the development of nationwide, neighborhood- and municipally-based mutual aid systems in the Second Republic of Ordrey during the Long Recession, known as Community Welfare Councils. These often had their origins in informal systems of mutual aid developed among mining and farming communities around the country that had been extant often through local tradition, but intensified in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the rise of organized labor and from experience in. The influence of these networks waxed and waned over the years, but never truly reached mass appeal until the Long Recession of the 1970s, as and  measures espoused by the [last president] inflicted extreme economic anxiety on struggling areas. With many radical-leaning officeholders from the WPO already well-established throughout the country to stand in defiance of the national government's calls to crack down on strikers, these organizations were able to become an effective counter on state power throughout much of the rural portions of the country and impoverished urban neighborhoods, providing food, water, energy, and multiple other vital services where necessary. By the time the Ordrish Revolution broke out in 1975, little functionally changed for those living in areas with well-maintained CWCs, and they evolved into the administrative organs for the local and provincial governments post-revolution, while also preventing a total implosion of the local economy over the course of the conflict.

Horizontal Democracy
Opposition to hierarchy is a vital component of Noyonism. While recognizing the impracticality of true in every matter of governance and nationbuilding, Noyonism proposes a system with as little possible intermediaries and bureaucracy in social, economic, and political spheres of society. The justification for the rejection of "vertical" democracy is rooted in the belief that it is inherently in opposition to the "natural state" of the community from an anthropological perspective.

Noyon writes: ""As we expand our knowledge of our race's remote past, and of the origins of our civilizations as we recognize them, we learn that the emperor, the king, and the chieftain are recent inventions in the history of our world. The state and its autocrats rely on extensive campaigns of propaganda through the perversion of the organs of government, education, and religion to convince all who reside under their heel that it is the 'natural way of things' to live under hierarchy. But it is not so, we have discovered, and it is our duty as human beings to refute untold millennia of falsehoods, and to reject hierarchy in all its forms. Let us look to the ways of our most ancient ancestors, and how they lived for eons long past. Not beneath some paternalistic brute, but in unity as a community of equals.""

In a later passage, he describes deliniation between democracy in the republican "vertical" sense, versus the horizontal form. ""The republican wishes for you to think that you have sent them to their tower from which they rule you, and it is the 'most just' form of governance...Let defy this us return our governance to the town square, and to the union hall and the dinner table. And where we must be represented elsewhere, ensure those who do are sent with the full consent of those who select them, with the understanding that their status is not accompanied by privilege and deference.""

Noyonists believe that thusly, the principles of "horizontal democracy" require as much of the processes of governance to be at the municipal level, and with representatives to be recallable at any time, in a manner similar to the "nested councils" in the concept of.

Policy versus administration
Noyonists make a distinction between concepts of policy and administration, and this distinction is key to the identity of the movement and its principles.

is defined as codes of conduct and actions decided upon in a community basis, and as close to the general citizenry as possible, generally established through a municipal or neighborhood assembly by rather than by. Under a purely Noyonist system, policy-making processes have minimal amounts of representative divide between the citizen and governing body.

, on the other hand, is handled both on a community and federal basis, with coordination efforts of different economies and other larger-scale concerns such as defense, international trade, and other concerns being engaged by recallable delegations from the constituencies of a federation. If particular communities, or a minority grouping of them, diverge from the rest of the federation to a point where violations or capitalistic practices are permitted, the majority in a local or regional confederation would have the right to prevent such practices through the federal government. This is explained not as a denial of democracy, but the assertion of a shared social contract engaged in by all to recognize and protect the inherent rights of people within an entire federation.

Participation in existing political structures
One of the main distinctions between Noyonism and other forms of is openness to participation in the political mainstream until the point where it becomes unnecessary. Noyonists often see little issue with participation in elections, especially for local and regional offices and issues, provided an opportunity is present to advance in one form or another. It is believed by Noyonists that engaging in "familiar terms" to the mainstream public where necessary helps to introduce concepts of the philosophy to a wider audience. Noyonism encourages its adherents to seek local office if tenable, in order to "ease pressure" off of those operating on slow revolutionary actions and allowing for greater entrenchment by these groups, a policy often called "cracking the cement" by modern Noyonists.

Economics

 * See also: and 

Noyonists are highly critical of an unchecked market economy and of capitalism in general, believing that they inherently act in opposition to the interests of communities and of the ecosystems they exist in, primarily through forcing a "perpetual growth" mentality that encourages ever-increasing levels of exploitation and environmental degradation, resulting not only in environmental and social destruction on a macro scale, but also on an individual level by the individuals living within a capitalist system. Noyonists propose the development of a in its place which hold resources and property in the, which may be supplemented with worker-owned. The degree to which an economy is planned or dictated by market forces can vary between municipalities and federations, but it is expected that the fundamental elements of a Noyonist economy include collective ownership of the, the differentiation of and  (as well as the forbiddance of the former), and the principle of  being central to the baseline of the economy.

By developing this alternative economic model, Noyonists believe that by increasing civic engagement on the municipal level with healthy levels interdependence between communities, that class distinctions will naturally tend towards less hierarchical structures. Personal ambition and the interests of singular groups over the rest of the community, it is hoped, become secondary to concepts of which arise in this more community-oriented economic model.

Views on cities
While Noyon himself did not largely concern himself with urbanism in his writings, he did mention in correspondence his concern with how cities were organized. In one such statement from 1930, he says: ""In past centuries, a city was little more than a town that, by virtue of custom, geography, or capital, simply became a locus of interests and politics. With the mill came not just a swell of population for those seeking work and pay, but also sprawling expanses of industry which came to consume towns in the periphery of them. These towns became neighborhoods, often independent in all but officiality until the old bonds of the community were subsumed by the cancerous one which devoured it. Should we not consider them, in our liberated world, their own political organism again? And if so, should we not address the political forces that the architecture which consumed them represent?"" These statements, while not themselves anti-sprawl, were developed into latter developments in Noyonist theory about the importance of green spaces and stressing a concept of the city as a political entity which is composed of multiple units instead of a singular municipal structure, in many ways a federation unto itself.

Contemporary Noyonists have extrapolated his "architecture as politics" statement to influence ideas around city planning in the present, largely informed by beliefs which emerged in the 1970s onwards. As such, many proponents of Noyonist ideas contend that urban sprawl, suburbanization, urban car culture, traffic congestion, and sometimes noise and light pollution have severe negative impacts on not just the ecology of an area, but the society that lives within it. They are not necessarily critical of urbanization, but rather, stress the importance of urban planning which takes such concerns into account.