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This week we’re talking about legislation to make the ultra-wealthy pay for COVID-19 relief, growing people’s budget movements, plans for a feminist economic recovery, a new anti-facist platform co-op in Brazil, and more. Plus, Beautiful Solutions: a Toolbox for Liberation is available for pre-order!
Stories From the Field
#MakeBillionairesPay: Last week, new legislation was introduced in Congress that would tax 60% of the obscene wealth gains made by 467 billionaires during the pandemic. The one-time wealth tax could raise $420 billion — enough to guarantee healthcare as a right for an entire year. Although “philanthropy is not a substitute for a fair tax system,” groups are also looking to the $1.2 trillion sitting in private foundations as another source of pandemic relief funding. NEC member organization the Institute for Policy Studies, for example, is calling for an Emergency Charity Stimulus, which would move an estimated $200 billion from the ultra-wealthy into nonprofits working on the frontlines of the pandemic.
People’s Budgets on the Rise: From Portland to St. Louis to Nashville, People’s Budget campaigns are on the rise — showing us how we can defund police and democratically redistribute the funds to our communities through participatory budgeting. Learn more about participatory budgeting in this recent Ted Talk from NEC member organization the Participatory Budgeting Project, and check out this one-pager on participatory budgeting from the Movement for Black Lives.
Feminist Economic Recovery: From February to May, 11.5 million women lost their jobs compared with 9 million men – underlining the disproportionate economic impact the pandemic is having on women, especially queer and trans women of color. In Hawai’i, a group has put together the country’s first feminist economic recovery plan, which puts women first while shifting the economy away from extractive military and tourism industries. For more policy tools on how we build a feminist, regenerative economy, check out the People’s Orientation to a Regenerative Economy from the Climate Justice Alliance.
Solidarity Economies Abroad
Striking Gig Workers Build Platform Co-op: Across Latin America, thousands of gig workers are going on strike to protest dangerous working conditions and low pay in the midst of the pandemic. In response, a group of anti-fascist couriers in Rio de Jainero have formed a new delivery co-op that is owned and run by the workers. As one worker-owner put it, “the construction of platform coops cannot be based on technological solutionism, but on the organization of workers. The secret is the cooperatives, creating a deliveryman’s app. We can guarantee more rights…We can set the agenda.”
Assembly of the Unemployed in South Africa: In the early stages of the pandemic, an estimated 3 million people lost their jobs in South Africa, where unemployment already hovers around 40%. The Assembly of the Unemployed is a growing movement to “fight unemployment by fighting capitalism.” Read about the Assembly’s work to build working-class power in South Africa through popular education and organizing for solutions like food sovereignty, a basic income, communal kitchens, and energy cooperatives.
Worker-Owned Healthcare Co-op in Ireland: Outside Dublin, immigrant women have started the country’s first carers’ co-op. The Great Care Co-op is a registered limited company with 12 women carers – from Uganda, Zimbabwe, the Philippines and South Africa. The worker-owned health care business is challenging the for-profit model of professional care, and workers are hoping to expand the model across Ireland.
Beautiful Solutions: A Toolbox for Liberation
Movement News
- Calls to Defund the Police Are Joining the Demand to Cancel Rent
- Centering Blackness: The Path to Economic Liberation for All
- Democratizing Energy to Counter the Climate Catastrophe
- Fighting the Pandemic in the Global South
- How the Movement for Black Lives Helped Save the Season for Maine’s First Immigrant-Owned Farming Cooperative
- It’s a Tough Time for the Left. But I’m More Optimistic Than Ever.
- Navajo Women Are Bringing Sustainable Solar Power to the Navajo Nation
- Race, Equity and the Transformative Power of Employee Ownership
- Reclaiming Public Health: the Communalist Healthcare Model
- Replanting Roots in a Southern Food Desert
- The End of Housing as We Know It
- We Should All Be Commemorating Black August
- Why Those Community Fridges Won't Solve Hunger
Podcasts of the New Economy
On this episode of Building Local Power from NEC member organization the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, host Jess Del Fiacco is joined by Chris Mitchell and David Dayen to discuss the impact of monopoly power on Americans’ daily lives. Tune in to learn how the pandemic has influenced the growth of monopolies and the movement that it will take to bring them down to size.
Throwback listens:
The Next System Project: Reparations and the Democratic Economy
Thank You, Lex! <3
After two years on staff as our membership engagement manager, last Friday was Lex Barlowe's last day at NEC! We’ll miss her dearly, but are so excited for her next chapter deepening her work in history keeping, seed saving, and Black land movements. Thank you Lex for all the brilliance, heart & power you have brought to this network!!
Jobs
New Job Listings!
Bookkeeping and Financial Guru, Earth Designs Cooperative – Hudson Valley/Remote
Comms and Development Organizer, Grassroots Global Justice – Washington D.C. – Aug 24
Communications Organizer, Right the the City Alliance- Various Locations
Certification Consultant, Green America – Washington, D.C./Remote
Development Director, Louisiana Bucket Brigade – New Orleans – Aug 17
Deputy Director, Muslim Justice League – Boston, MA – Priority Aug 14
Director of Resource Mobilization, Grassroots Global Justice – Washington D.C. – Aug 24
Events Coordinator, Foundation for Intentional Communities – Remote U.S./Canada
Investment & Fundraising Director, East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative – Bay Area
Labor Justice Intern, Green America – Aug 15
Legal Clinic Coordinator, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos – Chicago, IL
Marketing & Communications Coordinator, East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative – Bay Area
New Economy WA Frontline Community Fellowship, People’s Economy Lab – WA – Aug 31
Participatory Budgeting Mentorship Program, People Powered – Remote – August 16
Researcher, Institute for Local Self-Reliance – Remote/Minneapolis – Priority Aug 15
All Jobs
Associate Director: Media Strategy, Demos – New York, NY
Communications & Development Coordinator, Powershift Network – Remote
Communications Manager, Nellie Mae Education Foundation – Quincy, MA
Community Organizer, Muslim Justice League – Boston, MA – Priority Aug 14
Director of Investment, Boston Ujima Project – Boston, MA
Economic Justice Organizer, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos – Chicago, IL
Editorial and Communications Manager, Shareable – Mountain View, CA
Education Team Coordinator, Highlander Center – New Market, TN
Executive Assistant, Green America – Washington, D.C.
Executive Director, Class Action – Boston/Remote – Deadline August 15
Food Security/Access Contributor, Food and Environment Reporting Network – Remote
General Coordinator, Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC – New York, NY
Grants and Contracts Manager, Democracy at Work Institute – Oakland, CA/Remote
Grants Manager, Highlander Center – New Market, TN
Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellow, Nathan Cummings Foundation – Remote
Partnership Engagement Director, Green America – Washington D.C./Remote
Political Director, Action Center on Race and the Economy – Washington, D.C.
Program Manager, New England Grassroots Environment Fund – New England
Program Manager, Capital Strategies Program, Transform Finance – New York City
Project Officer, Cooperation Richmond – Richmond, CA
Senior Manager: Individual Giving, Demos – New York, NY
Solidarity Philanthropy Director, Grassroots International – Boston, MA
Various Digital Disruption/Organizer Positions, Better Future Project – Cambridge, MA/Remote
Various (Movement Support/Admin/Instructors) – Social Movement Technologies – Remote
Various (Organizing, Community Development), PUSH Buffalo – Buffalo, NY
Various (Political/Organizer), National Young Farmers Coalition – Colorado/California
Vice President for Communications, PolicyLink – Oakland
Web Developer, Foundation for Intentional Communities
Worker Cooperative Program Manager, Urban Upbound – Queens, NY
Upcoming Events
NASCO's Cooperative Leadership Certification
NASCO’s Cooperative Leadership Certificate is a professional development opportunity for those who are looking to advance their role or to start their career in cooperative housing.(Application Opened August 1)
RiseBoro Worker Cooperative Academy Information Session
Do you work (or want to work) in the food-industry? If you are interested in collectively owning a Brooklyn-based business and have a passion for food justice, join an info-session to learn more about RiseBoro’s Worker Cooperative Academy. consider applying! Folks that identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, queer, trans, low-income, and from Brooklyn to the front! No cost to join. (August 17/25 – Online)
Transforming Ourselves, Transforming Our World
Join PeoplesHub for a four part series around exploring a variety of strategies and tools for greater transformation. Together we explore how slowing down, and trusting our body wisdom helps inform liberation at the personal, interpersonal and systemic level. (Aug 19/26, Sep 2/9 – Online)
M4BL Black National Convention
The multi-hour broadcast will be filled with energy, celebration, education, electoral justice, and a vision for Black Lives before the biggest election of our time, and long after. Together, we will ratify a Black political agenda days after the Democratic and Republican National Conventions and ahead of November, when Black voters will play a pivotal role in determining whether we have four more years of domination or a new set of challenges to overcome. (August 28 – Online)
Cooperative Land Tenure with Leah Penniman
Join Leah Penniman of the Soul Fire Farm Land Stewardship Coop in a discussion of the cooperative model of land tenure. Following the journey of Soul Fire Farm's relationship with the land, we will explore the legal, financial, ecological, and interpersonal aspects of coop formation. (August 31 – Online)
Stir to Action Festival
Experience the Playground for the New Economy Festival online from wherever you are! The 2020 online festival will be another unique three days of inspiring conversations, virtual experiences, live podcasts, interactive workshops, idea surgeries, and more! (September 1-3 – Online)
The USFWC Worker Co-op Conference
This virtual conference will make space for connection and sharing, for worker-owners and allied leaders who work to improve the lives of workers and their families. (September 10-11 – Online)
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