This sounds great! What is the application and selection process?

Interested folx should submit our preliminary eligibility form. After qualifying, 400+1 will mail you an L1 application box! The package is filled with materials for you to read and respond to. Because the reading is heavy, this step might take you up to three months to complete. Take it at your own pace. There are no deadlines. Finally, and after submitting your response to the application box, you will have the opportunity to collaborate on and lead an action or teach-in in your local community! The application process for the L1 collective is completion-based. There are no wrong answers or approaches. The process allows us to get to know you and gauge your commitment. 

This feels tone-deaf. Why focus on charismatic leadership instead of nurturing organic leadership in local communities?

We can not win our freedom, can not spark a revolution without the masses, without organic leadership from local communities. That being said, there is no way to do that without empowering those who are most marginalized. That empowerment requires the augmentation of Black capacity and that augmentation requires the leveraging of the Black privileged class. Our utilization of charismatic leadership is an attempt at leveraging Black privilege to empower the Black proletariat.

 

What is the decision-making process for L1? How is power concentrated or diffused?

The L1 Collective is guided by the Ministers of Organizational and Ideological Cohesion. With that guidance, the collective builds consensus around its efforts to disrupt the status quo as well as collaboratively develops a federation-wide constitution that informs consensus building at the L2, L3, and L3 levels.

Why are they called L1s? 
400+1 sees every member of the Diaspora as an asset to the movement for Black liberation. Instead of assuming that there is one leadership class and that only one personality type is fit for leadership, 400+1 acknowledges different types and styles of leadership and categorizes them as Leadership Style 1, Leadership Style 2, Leadership Style 3, and Leadership Style 4. L1 is shorthand for Leadership Style 1.

Where will L1s live?
Because of its utility as a rapid response collective, L1 is nomadic. It travels and lives collectively; sometimes in 400+1’s L3 Cooperatives, sometimes in short term rentals, sometimes at the site of an occupation.

Can I be an L1 without living at the coop?
No.

Can I keep my job? Is there compensation for L1s?
L1s accumulate revenue for the broader 400+1 conglomerate. Some of that revenue is used to sustain the collective and the individuals that comprise it. Resources are distributed equitably throughout 400+1. In exchange, L1s commit to the 400+1 workload and lifestyle; which doesn’t leave much space for additional employment, unless it is highly flexible self-employment.

What about my family?
 We are about building villages. Your family is welcome to travel and live with the collective, but must be both Black and ready for the L1 nomadic lifestyle.

What can I do today?

You can submit the L1 eligibility application!