From the Bookchin article:
> In majority decision-making, the defeated minority can resolve to
> overturn a decision on which they have been defeated -- they are free
> to openly and persistently articulate reasoned and potentially
> persuasive disagreements. Consensus, for its part, honors no
> minorities, but mutes them in favor of the metaphysical "one" of the
> "consensus" group.
Graeber gives his defense of consensus:
> Consensus is often misunderstood. One often hears critics claim it
> would cause stifling conformity but almost never by anyone who has
> actually observed consensus in action, at least, as guided by trained,
> experienced facilitators (some recent experiments in Europe, where
> there is little tradition of such things, [yeah, cause there's no
> Quakers there! -- S.A.] have been somewhat crude). In fact, the
> operating assumption is that no one could really convert another
> completely to their point of view, or probably should. Instead, the
> point of consensus process is to allow a group to decide on a common
> course of action. Instead of voting proposals up and down, proposals
> are worked and reworked, scotched or reinvented, there is a process of
> compromise and synthesis, until one ends up with something everyone
> can live with. When it comes to the final stage, actually "finding
> consensus", there are two levels of possible objection: one can "stand
> aside", which is to say "I don't like this and won't participate but I
> wouldn't stop anyone else from doing it", or "block", which has the
> effect of a veto. One can only block if one feels a proposal is in
> violation of the fundamental principles or reasons for being of a
> group. One might say that the function which in the US constitution is
> relegated to the courts, of striking down legislative decisions that
> violate constitutional principles, is here relegated with anyone with
> the courage to actually stand up against the combined will of the
> group (though of course there are also ways of challenging
> unprincipled blocks).