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This week we’re talking about ‘survival socialism,’ housing democracy in Vienna, and how to make "the economy" more interesting. Scroll down to the Jobs Board and Upcoming Events!
Stories From the Field
In the Age of Disaster Capitalism, Is ‘Survival Socialism’ the Solution? Survival socialism: the alternatives that emerge as people under pressure build solutions that aim to deliver social value—better services, cheaper prices, more social cohesion, a greater ownership share in production, a more vibrant democracy, a healthier environment. Read more from The Nation.
From Moment to Movement: Activists Debate Next Steps: “Our elders and ancestors say by ‘any means necessary.’ They mean all of them. Unions, worker centers, worker co-ops…. We need to not be in silly fights about tactics. We need a multi-tactic strategy.” Read the Nonprofit Quaterly’s recap from NEC’s biennial conference, CommonBound.
Workers Gain Traction on Fair Scheduling Policies: The Economic Policy Institute recently reported on the impact of state and local policies requiring employers to provide predictable schedules to their employees, leave enough time to sleep and commute between scheduled shifts, or offer extra hours to current employees before making new hires. Next City reports on the movement for Fair Workweek laws.
Community Building from the Barbershop to the Polls: The Laura Flanders Show hit the road to report on community stories throughout the country: entrepreneurship in St. Louis MO; electoral organizing in Uniontown, AL; and community wealth building on urban farms in Detroit, MI. Watch the video.
Solidarity Economies Abroad
A Feminist Approach to Climate Change: Women around the world who are leading the grassroots fight against climate damage will be highlighted in a new podcast series called Mothers of Invention, by Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland and UN high commissioner. Listen to the first episode.
How Vienna Cracked the Case of Affordable Housing: This piece dives into Vienna’s 100-year history of fighting for affordable housing: “Burdensome land costs, and the rentiers who gain massive wealth by passive land speculation, are the real enemies — not developers, not our homeowners, not our public officials.” Learn more about housing democracy in Vienna.
Cooperative Development in India: Members of the National Co-operative Union of India met recently to advance co-op education and training across the country. They advocate for the need to provide co-operative education and training across all Indian states, improve the quality of services available through the Cooperative Education Fund, and increase government assistance with the program. Read about the recent conference here.
No Bosses, Not a Game
French studio Motion Twin, developer of the Castlevania-inspired roguelike Dead Cells, is trying a model where workers own and manage the company. There is no boss. Motion Twin describes itself as an “anarcho-syndical workers cooperative.” What this means in practical terms is that all of its 11 workers are, in theory, equal. Same pay, same say.
How Cooperatives Build Racial Justice
NEC member organization, the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives (USFWC), was formed to connect and strengthen the cooperative sector. USFWC represents around 200 cooperatives and around 6,000 cooperative members across the country, and aims to advance economic justice through community-based, shared ownership. In this Q&A, Shareable spoke with USFWC's director in advance of the 2018 Worker Cooperative National Conference coming to Los Angeles in September.
Read Shareable's conversation with Esteban Kelly here.
Movement News
- America the Bountiful: Love, Worth, Hope, and Possibilities
- The Highest Paid CEOs of 2017
- How Tech Workers are Organizing for Social Change
- Feminism and Revolution: A History
- Take the Pledge: NoBusinessWithICE.com
- Planet Community Pilot Episode
- We Can Do Better Than Capitalism, Democracy at Work Q&A
- In a Housing Crisis, No Love for Lazy Land
- Call for Submissions: RootSkills Conference Workshops
- Evolutionary Work at the Edge of Social Innovation
- What Climate Change Looks Like in 2018
- How to Make “The Economy” Interesting
- Decolonizing Wealth Through Indigenous Leadership
- Beneficial State Foundation Personal Divestment Survey
- Resist & Build With The US Solidarity Economy Network
- Join The Fight To #ShutDownGeo on August 7th
NEC on The Gram
Follow NEC on Instagram – @NewEconomyCoalition – where we’re talking about the Fearless Cities Summit in NYC last week, learning about municipalist movements from Spain, Canada and the US!
Web Developer/Front End Developer, Design Action Collective
Director of Development Services, NASCO
Multiple Positions, Credit Union United to Serve the Underserved Federation
Administrative Coordinator, Green Worker Cooperatives
Bilingual General Coordinator Position, Caracol Language Cooperative
Worker/Owner, Palante Technology Cooperative
Director of Communications, Grounded Solutions Network
Executive Director, Power Shift Network
Network Strategies Director, Center for Media Justice
Communications Director, Climate Justice Alliance
Sales/Marketing Manager, Artisan Beverage Cooperative
Upcoming Events
Global Repression of Dissent: Palastine, Puerto Rico & the Philippines
As colonialist regimes gain power across the globe, we have seen more people speaking out against white supremacist and fascist rhetoric and policies as well as an increased attack on dissent, particularly on human rights defenders from economically poor communities of color. What are lawyers doing to help align movements to be anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and anti-racist? Tune into this panel of the National Lawyers Guild International Committee as they discuss contemporary attacks on dissent. (Webinar, Aug 3)
The Chicago Cooperative Economy Summit will host panels of the co-op economy's leaders and pioneers, provide breakout discussion zones to delve deeper, offer tabling space for cooperative organizations to promote awareness and enroll people in their programs, and publish the first directory of Chicago's 250+ brick and mortar sites in the cooperative economy. (Chicago, IL Aug 25)
Creating Strategy Collaboratively
The Democracy at Work Institute, in partnership with the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives, is offering a series of webinars led by experienced managers from employee owned companies (New Belgium Brewery, Equal Exchange, Union Cab and others). In this webinar, John McNamara (formerly of Union Cab) will share ways to productively engage members in mapping your strategic direction, $25 USFWC members, $49 non-members. (Online, Aug 29)
It Takes Roots’ Solidarity to Solutionsl Week
As part of a larger strategy for 2018 and beyond, the It Takes Roots’ Sol2Sol Week in the Bay Area will take place as a counterpoint to the Global Climate Action Summit and will lift up grassroots frontline communities’ place-based solutions over top-down, false market-based solutions. (Bay Area, Sept 8-14)
The People’s Forum Opening Night
The People’s Forum is a movement incubator for working class and marginalized communities to build unity across historic lines of division at home and abroad. In addition to political education courses, conference rooms for meetings, a coffee shop, film-screening room and a lending library, the People’s Forum will offer a free co-working space for members from Tuesdays-Fridays from 8:00AM-5:00PM. (New York City, Sept 13)
Highlander Center’s 86th Annual Homecoming Celebration
For the Highlander Center’s 86th Homecoming Celebration, the organization is calling movement kin into envisioning the future we want and deserve, a future where we all live with dignity, safety, equity, love, joy, and freedom. Highlander is currently accepting proposals for facilitated workshops, discussions, performance and/or collaborative art space. To submit a proposal, complete Highlander’s RFP Form. (New Market, TN Sept 14-16)
How Can We Make More Money? A Values-Based Finance And Budgeting Seminar
A Bookkeeping Cooperative, TESA, AORTA, and Open Bookkeeping are excited to announce a 2.5 day finance and budgeting seminar in the San Francisco Bay Area. Pre-registration required; space is limited to 35 participants. Registration fee $850, $750 before August 5th. (San Francisco, Sept 22-24)
Social Cooperative International School
Hosting 35 cooperators from 9 different countries (Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Wales, United States, Japan, Sri Lanka) with a focus on communication, social farming and management, the Social Cooperative International School as a unique place of dialogue and mutual learning. (Naples, Italy Oct 25-28)
This four-day conference aims to generate visions of a future in which wealth, land, and powe are equitably shared. MMMC is a confidential space that uses workshops, storytelling and skill building to create a space for young people with class privilege and wealth to explore questions of identity and responsibility in a supportive environment. (Minneapolis, MN Oct 25-28)
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