As we wait to see the full results and impacts of this week’s election, in this week’s New Economy Roundup, we’re sharing resources on how to defend the elections now and build democracy beyond elections moving forward. We’re also talking about the new Public Banking Act introduced to congress, a report about how corporate influence muzzles political dissent, the history of land as commons, and more.
Stories from the Field
Art by NEC member organization The COFED
Everyday Democracy: We don’t know what the coming days will look like — but whatever the elections results, there will be a LOT of work to do. Building real democratic control of our communities is the long work, and we know that kind of change happens from the ground up. As you fight disinformation, urge officials to count every vote, or take to the streets, it’s important to look for an organization you can join to start practicing democracy beyond elections in your community. Read “On Every Day Democracy,” by NEC member organization Boston Ujima for inspiration and ideas on where to start.
More resources for elections and democracy defense:
- The Update – Weekly mass movement call from The Frontline
- Defending Democracy resource compilation from Training for Change
- Coup-o-Meter from Choose Democracy
- Count Every Vote & Democracy Beyond Elections resources from NEC member the US Department of Arts and Culture
- Meeting Chaos With Calm: How To Prepare For A Potential Coup from NEC member Movement Generation
- Safety Checklist for November
Public Banking Act: Last Friday, Congress members Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez introduced the Public Banking Act, a new bill to advance public ownership of our financial system at the national level! NEC member Beneficial State Foundation played a key role in the legislation, and NEC has endorsed the bill along with members like the Public Banking Institute. Learn how public banking can address the racial wealth gap and why public banks should lead the COVID recovery effort.
Building Black Cooperative Food Systems: In response decades of discrimination by government agencies and lenders, Black farmers have reclaimed their power by creating cooperatively-owned credit unions, supply stores, processing facilities, markets, and farms. This discussion gets into that history — and to learn more, we recommend attending “Will Capitalism Feed Us? Nourishing an Appetite for a Cooperative World Beyond It” on Saturday, November 14th. Plus, meet the young queer cooperators of color who participated in NEC member the CoFED’s, “Build, Unlearn and Decolonize” program!
Solidarity Economies Abroad
Global Democracy Defense: As we await definitive results from this week’s elections, get advice from activists around the world who have taken part in people powered democracy defense, in a webinar recording from NEC member Beautiful Trouble and BlackOUT Collective. Also be sure to join NEC member the Institute for Policy Studies on November 10th for an important discussion about Power, Empire, and what the US Elections mean for global social movements.
Co-op Pandemic Responses in Latin America: We know U.S. cooperatives have weathered the pandemic with more resilience and care than traditional businesses. But what about globally? Hear how co-op leaders in Mexico, Paraguay and Peru have embodied Cooperative Principle number seven — concern for community — during the pandemic in this piece by NEC member Equal Exchange.
Muzzling Dissent
No matter the election results, we must maintain our right to peaceful protest. But, fueled by corporate power, laws criminalizing protest have been spreading. 13+ states now have them. This new report from NEC member the Institute for Policy Studies shows how to fight back.
Movement News
- ‘Amazon economy’ gives the left a mandate for bold economic reform
- Capitalism Made Women Of Color More Vulnerable To The COVID Recession
- Chileans Vote to Draft a New Constitution
- Cooperation Jackson’s Food Sovereignty Initiatives in the Deep South
- Cooperative Economics 101 and the Revolutionary Potential of Redistributing Resources
- How Gentrification Happens and What to Do About It
- Mutual Aid Is Essential to Our Survival Regardless of Who Is in the White House
- Sankofa and Self-Determination: Learning from Seattle’s Africatown CLT
- Shared Economies 101: How Co-Ops and Public Banks Impact Women
- The 50 Richest Americans Are Worth as Much as the Poorest 165 Million
- This Crisis Makes Clear: We Need a Four-Day Work Week, Now
- This election can’t contain the rage of young Americans
- Unions Nationwide Are Planning a General Strike If Trump Tries to Steal the Election
- What Is and What Could Be: The Policies of Abolition
Podcasts of the New Economy
“Why is it even possible to own land?” In this talk, as part of the 40th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures, British environmentalist and Guardian columnist George Monbiot sets out to answer this question by tracking the history of our modern conception of land ownership, starting with the British philosopher John Locke. By the end of his lecture, Monbiot is calling for a democratizing of land ownership and democratization of land use decisions through an incremental placing of land into a Commons. Tune-in to the recording from October’s lecture here.
More:
- Lessons From Cuba – Belly of the Beast
- Is It Finally Time To Break Up Big Tech? – ILSR’s Building Local Power
- Building A Solidarity Economy For a More Resilient Future – Best of the Left
NEC on the Gram
Follow NEC on Instagram — @neweconomycoalition — Where we’re sharing solidarity economy 101 resources, like this great series by New York City housing co-operative organizers, the Urban Homesteading Assistant Board (UHAB)!
Jobs Board
New Job Listings!
- Community Organizer, East Bay Permanent Real Estate Coop – Bay Area
- Development Director, Momentum – Nov 30
- Philanthropic Partnerships Coordinator, Thousand Currents – Remote – Nov 20
- Senior Campaign Representative, Sierra Club – New England
- Soil Carbon Initiative Program Director, Green America
- Social Media Manager, Free Press
All Jobs
- Buen Vivir Fund Manager, Thousand Currents – Remote – Nov 20
- Communications Coordinator, Beautiful Trouble – Remote
- Community Organizer, Northern Plains Resource Council
- Organizing Director, New Economy Project – NYC
- Development Director, New Economy Project – NYC
- Director of Communications & Strategic Initiatives, PUSH Buffalo – Nov 6
- Frontlines Communications Coordinator, Climate Justice Alliance
- Grants and Contracts Manager, Democracy at Work Institute – Oakland, CA/Remote
- Loan Outreach Officer, Cooperative Fund of New England
- Narrative Strategist, Real Food Real Stories – San Francisco area – Rolling
- Organizing Director, Debt Collective – NYC – Nov 9
- Senior Organizer, Action Center on Race and the Economy
- Senior Manager: Individual Giving, Demos – New York, NY
- Senior Policy Analyst: Economic Democracy, Demos – New York, NY
- Temporary Digital Organizer, BlackOUT Collective – Remote – ASAP
- Various Positions, Audre Lorde Project
- Various Positions, Center for Popular Democracy
- Various (Organizing, Community Development), PUSH Buffalo – Buffalo, NY
Upcoming Events
Cooperation Buffalo presents: A Conversation with Jessica Gordon-Nembhard
Join Cooperation Buffalo as we welcome Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Ph.D., Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development, in the Department of Africana Studies, John Jay College CUNY, to host a virtual conversation about Black cooperative history, worker cooperatives as crisis response, and co-ops as an anti-gentrification force. (Nov 5)
This Ain’t A Democracy
In this post-election teach-in, we invite you to imagine and plot a revolutionary response to the U.S. Presidential Elections. Join the Radical Communicators Network with speakers Kali Akuno, Klee Benally, Shanelle Matthews, Adrienne Pine, and Marzena Zukowska as we demand much better than a return to the status quo! (Nov 5)
NASCO Institute 2020: Choose Your Own Future
Since 1977, NASCO’s Cooperative Education & Training Institute has been widely recognized as one of the most important training and networking opportunities available to members, directors, staff, and managers of group-equity cooperatives. Join this year’s virtual NASCO Institute, focused on bringing together cooperators to bring to life the future we want to see. (Nov 5-8)
Power, Empire, and US Elections: An Internationalist Perspective
Join NEC member the Institute for Policy Studies and the Transnational Institute to discuss the election outcomes as they unfold and their implications for global social movements. Moderated by Laura Flanders. (Nov 10)
Remaking the Economy: Where to Now? And Beyond
Join NPQ for a post-election webinar where we will focus not on election minutiae, but rather the mid-term and longer-term possibilities for designing a more just economy centered on values of democracy, solidarity, equity, and building community wealth. (Nov 12)
Making Money Make Change 2020
This year Resource Generation will be offering Making Money Make Change as a two-day virtual conference. We’ll connect around what it means to have class privilege while fighting for racial and economic justice in 2020, and generatie visions of a future in which wealth, land and power are equitably shared. (Nov 13-14)
Will Capitalism Feed Us? Nourishing an Appetite For a Cooperative World Beyond It
Join Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Lex Barlow, members of the Central Brooklyn Food Co-op, and Intelligent Mischief to unpack the Black cooperative tradition and share direction for the way forward for cooperatives and towards a more just economic system. (Nov 14)
New Progressive Messaging for 2021, the COVID Economy, and Beyond
Join NEC with Groundwork Collaborative, the Democracy Collaborative, and the Economic Policy Institute to hear what a new progressive economy looks like, and messaging guidance regarding pushing an anti-austerity, pro-public investment, and new economy framework. (Nov 17)
Co-ops not Cops
Join Morning Star Gali, Ed Whitfield, Jessica Gordon Nembhard and Esteban Kelly to discuss the impact of co-ops in abolition work. This event will kick off geo.coop’s Co-ops Not Cops issue. (Nov 18)
Community Organizing Grants Program
Peace Development Fund’s Community Organizing Grant cycle opens for application on December 1st. We fund grassroots, power-building organizations that are: 1) Organizing to Shift Power; 2) Working to Build a Movement; 3) Dismantling Oppression; and 4) Creating New Structures. (Application opens Dec 1)