New Economy

Building Regional Cooperative Ecosystems

December 21, 2024 Cooperate Connecticut, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Connecticut, Cooperatives, New Economy, Solidarity Economy

Cooperative businesses, on principle and out of necessity, cannot exist in isolation! In order to survive and to create real, lasting economic impact in our communities, co-ops and our supporters must work together and be strategic. In this session, Building Regional Cooperative Ecosystems, from Beyond Business as Usual 2024: Co-Ops and the Next Economy, you will learn more about the concept of a "cooperative ecosystem" and hear lessons from organizers building regional cooperative ecosystems as part of the global solidarity economy movement.

Adapting Employee Ownership For Truly Democratic Businesses

November 12, 2024 Kosta Juri and Tej Gonza, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Democracy, ESOPs, Globalization, New Economy, Worker Ownership

The form of globalisation that has prevailed – one that primarily serves the interests of financial and corporate elites – is, to a large extent, a political and legal artefact, not an inevitable outcome of an increasingly interconnected global economy. More specifically, it is primarily attributable to the commodified nature of the business enterprise, which is essentially a human organisation but legally treated as a commodity in our economies. A prime example of the damaging effects of business commodification is the private equity industry. Private equity firms typically acquire businesses with growth potential (often through a leveraged buyout, a mechanism originally devised by Louis Kelso in the 1950s for worker buyouts), restructure them to maximise profitability, and then sell them for a profit.

Demanding More In The Struggle For Collective Liberation

October 31, 2024 Austin Cole, Black Agenda Report. Strategize! Black Liberation, International Solidarity, Local Economy, New Economy, Pan Africanism

This is the second and final part of of a two-part interview series coming from a conversation that I had with Nick in April as part of my recently completed masters thesis (see Part I here ). Because the conversation was so insightful and I couldn’t include most of it in the thesis itself, I’ve decided to publish a slightly-edited version of our conversation, in two parts. In this second part, Nick and I discuss local organizing strategy, international solidarity through Pan-Africanist principles, and the applicability of a People(s)-Centered Human Rights framework to municipal work — all with an eye toward what Black/African Liberation looks like materially, locally.

Co-operatives Are At A Pivotal Point

October 22, 2024 Kenzie Love, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Organize! Cooperatives, New Economy, Solidarity Economy, United Nations

When the United Nations General Assembly declared 2012 as the first International Year of Co-operatives, it seemed to herald a bright future for the movement. With the theme of “Co-operative Enterprises Build a Better World”, the International Year of Co-operatives had three main objectives: increasing awareness, promoting growth, and establishing appropriate policies. As CWCF Executive Director Hazel Corcoran notes, it was a heady time. There were large events including a summit in Quebec City held that year, the international Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade was unveiled, and numerous smaller- scale events took place.

African Nations Push For Urgent United Nations Reforms

September 28, 2024 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. Strategize! Africa, António Guterres, BRICS, China, Colonialism, Imperialism, New Economy, United Nations (UN), United Nations General Assembly, UNSC

In the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, heads of state from African countries reiterated their demand for an urgent reform in global decision making and greater representation of their continent in the Security Council. The African leaders claim that their current exclusion from the crucial decision making institutions is a legacy of colonialism and demanded urgent changes. They underlined that highlighting their exclusion is not merely an attempt to claim representation but to gain real say in crucial decision making on issues directly affecting the African countries and their future, such as peace and security challenges, conflict resolution, climate change, and sustainable development.

The Role Of The Credit Commons In The Commons Economy

September 22, 2024 Dave Darby, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Credit, Localism, New Economy, The Commons

I’m talking to you from Stroud, where a group of us are trying to build the commons economy, and I know you’re doing something very interesting, and related, in Liverpool, which we can touch on today, but maybe we can talk about that in more detail another time. In Stroud we have the beginnings of a housing commons and climbing commons, and there have been conversations about a water commons, land commons, food commons, energy commons. We’ve got some top specialists, ready to go. Now we can’t really have a thriving commons economy using bank-issued, debt-based money. We need a credit commons to be at the core of it, don’t we?

The Baristas Who Took Over Their Café

September 15, 2024 Osita Nwanevu, In These Times. Create! Baltimore, Cooperatives, New Economy, Worker Rights and Jobs

In July 2023, early morning visitors to Baltimore’s Common Ground coffee shop found a sign taped to the door⁠. With a thank you to the Hampden community that had sustained it for 25 years, owner Michael Krupp announced the shop would be ceasing operations “effective immediately.” Common Ground employees released a statement saying they had only been notified themselves the previous afternoon and, notably, had been a few months into forming a union. According to Common Ground barista Nic Koski, the effort was sparked by “general workplace concerns in terms of people wanting more fair, equitable wages, especially between in front of house and back of house, and better treatment — wanting to look into health care and benefits.”

Degrowth Aims To Achieve ‘Frugal Abundance’

August 26, 2024 Adrien Plomteux, Resilience. Strategize! Degrowth, New Economy, Prosperity, Sustainability

Degrowth is about building societies in which everyone is rich – without much material. It is a desirable project to strive for. For critics, degrowth is not very appealing. According to them, it means impoverishment, restraint, scarcity, austerity or recession. It is seen as a project to reduce the overall prosperity of individuals and societies. In contrast, in a recently published academic article, I argue that degrowth aims to achieve abundance, prosperity and richness. Other degrowth advocates have reached a similar conclusion, but here I claim that it first requires rethinking the dominant meaning of abundance. It is impossible to promise everyone to achieve high levels of consumption.

Introduction To DES: Solidarity Economy Districts

August 12, 2024 Tamat, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Finance and the Economy, New Economy, Solidarity Economy, Transformation

In today's video, we bring you an in-depth interview with representatives from the Verona Solidarity Economy District (DES). We will discover how the movement started, its roots in the Lilliput network in Varese, and how it has grown over the years to become an established reality in the field of solidarity economy. Topics covered in the video: - The origins of the DES: The history of the movement, from its early steps taken over 20 years ago thanks to the Lilliput network, to the founding of the DES in Varese and Verona. - The Lilliput network and the G8: How awareness of global dynamics, such as those of the G8, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, influenced the birth of the DES.

Insights Into GAS: Solidarity Purchasing Groups

August 7, 2024 Tamat, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! New Economy, Organic Farming, Solidarity Economy, Solidarity Purchase Group

Discover what it means to be part of a Solidarity Purchase Group (GAS) through the interview with Vincenzo Vizioli, president of AIAB Umbria. With a journey that began in the late 1980s, Vincenzo explains how his choice for organic and biodynamic farming has evolved into a model of sustainability, cooperation, and mutualism. In the video, Vizioli tells the story of the Italian Organic Movement and the birth of GAS and IAP, highlighting the importance of sustainable agriculture and the need to promote social participation and community resilience. He then delves into the concept of GAS, explaining how these groups not only facilitate access to quality organic products but also promote a fair and solidarity-based economy.

The Union Co-Ops Council: Seventeen Years Of Forging Worker Alliances

August 2, 2024 Dylan Hatch, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Strategize! Cooperatives, New Economy, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

As the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC) celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2024, July marks seventeen years since the founding of its oldest member council – the Union Co-ops Council. Established to bridge worker cooperatives and organized labor, the Council has become a crucial player in both movements, fueled by the resurgence of unions and worker co-ops throughout the beginning of the 21st century. Just as the USFWC concludes its first twenty years with renewed energy, ambition, and capacity, the Union Co-op Council also reflects on its successes and sets a clear path forward to advance worker ownership and power.

Repair Café And Darning The Planet

July 26, 2024 Anahi Martinez Encinas and Dora Napolitano, Resilience. Create! Clothing, New Economy, Repair Cafe, Sustainability

Getting dressed is a universal human trait, but the textile industry is collapsing environmental systems everywhere. Relearning basic skills and taking back the agency in what we wear and how we wear it is an act of resistance and an invitation to reimagine ways to inhabit the planet. Repair Café & Darning the Planet practice will help you learn specific skills for visibly mending your own clothes and textiles in community. It will also encourage you to reflect about what making an item of clothing means. Zurciendo el planeta (Darning the Planet) creates spaces to learn and practice various mending and recreation techniques, responding to the specific needs of the garments that participants want to mend.

How To Start Participatory Budgeting In Your City

July 23, 2024 Lerner Hadden, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Austerity, Democracy, New Economy, Participatory budgeting

Has your city been making cuts to schools, libraries, firefighters, and social services that you are not happy with? Think you could do a better job managing the budget? There is a way in which you can have that opportunity through a process called “participatory budgeting (PB).” Currently, residents of over 7,000 cities around the world are deciding how to spend their taxpayer dollars, and you could follow their lead by starting PB in your city. What Is Participatory Budgeting? In 1989, the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre developed a new model of democratic participation, which has become known internationally as participatory budgeting (PB). Through this process, community members directly decide how to spend a portion of a public budget.

An Eco-Socialist Education Agenda

June 21, 2024 The Last Farm, Resilience. Create! Conflict Resolution, Ecosocialism, Education, New Economy, Outdoors

Our education system is a mess. The reason is obvious: it’s being eroded by capitalism. This erosion takes many forms, from the privatization of schooling itself to altering curricula to meet the demands of employers to undermining the state’s capacity to deliver universal public education, and so on. It’s one of many ways that capitalism shreds our social fabric, keeping us in a constant state of crisis and anxiety. For the same reason, there is also a great dearth of education for adults and the elderly. Instead of a lifetime of learning and enrichment, adults are lucky to get job re-training after a layoff and the elderly might get to learn a new card game after being shipped off to the old people warehouse.

Social Currencies In Prosumer Communities And Networks

June 19, 2024 Roberto Spano, Resilience. Create! Anti-capitalism, Bartering, Communities, New Economy, Social Currencies

This practice consists of creating a community of prosumers who exchange products and services, creating a process of eco-social regeneration around the local economy, thanks to the exchange facilitator that is social currency. It serves to regenerate the local economy and local communities, to weave trust in the act of consumption, to weave the economy around local production and the real needs of communities and finally to support productive processes that are regenerative for the ecosystemic environment. In the communities and networks, different ways of exchange and social currencies are practised:

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