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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

solidarity economy

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May 27, 2014

Black Co-ops Were A Method of Economic Survival

Summary

Jessica Gordon-Nembhard talks about her research into the history of African-American co-ops.

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March 18, 2024

The Solidarity Economy in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia

Summary

On October 18, 2023, the Center for Global Justice lost at dear friend--the reknowned Russian marxist scholar/activist Aleksandr Buzgalin. In commemoration of his life and legacy, the Center is rebroadcasting his last program with the Center-- "The Solidarity Economy in Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia"--originally broadcast on May 30, 2022. Buzgalin, himself a left opponent of bureaucracy and authoritarianism, refutes in this talk a widespread myth about the former Soviet Union that depicts it as a monolithic totalitarian system devoid of social movements of any significance. Instead he presents a more nuanced picture by reviewing the little-known forms of workers’ democracy that existed in the USSR along with the general characteristic of post-soviet capitalism in Russia.

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December 26, 2023

Solidarity Economy & The Economics of Abundance

Summary

Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard summarizes her work on solidarity economics and worker cooperatives.

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October 2, 2023

The Imaginal Cells of the Solidarity Economy

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Summary

This week we are joined by David Cobb, Lydia Lopez, Jyoung Carolyn Park, Kali Akuno, and Petula Hanley to hear about how to use/influence public policy advance individual policies as part of a coherent strategy to democratize the entire economy.

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July 17, 2023

Economics for Emancipation: Tame, Smash, Escape

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Summary

Francisco  Pérez and Sarah Wang of the Center for Economic Democracy discuss the Economics for Emancipation online course.

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July 6, 2023

Solidarity Economics

Summary

Professor Jessica Gordon-Nembhard explores the potential of cooperatives and solidarity economics as pathways towards economic democracy and justice.

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June 8, 2023

Transitioning between the Business as Usual Economy and the Next Economy

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Summary

The Business As Usual (BAU) economy has deep-seated and systemic problems. Before addressing how to make a transition to the Next Economy, it is important to understand these problems so that it is clear why this transition is needed in the first place.

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May 11, 2023

Encyclopedia of the Social and Solidarity Economy

Summary

Encyclopedia of the Social and Solidarity Economy: A Collective Work of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task
Force on SSE (UNTFSSE).

 

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April 17, 2023

The Advance of the Commune in Venezuela

Summary

10 years after the death of Comandante Hugo Chávez Frías, “commune or nothing” remains the battle cry of the Venezuelan people advancing in the Bolivarian revolution

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March 16, 2023

Putting Fairness into the Gig Economy

Summary

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, platform capitalism has expanded greatly in the
delivery sector. The consolidation of an oligopoly controlled by a few corporate platforms has led to
precarious working conditions for “gig economy” workers. Increasing protests and strikes have led to
the reform of labour directives and to the emergence of alternative ways of organising work through
platform cooperatives. This article examines how these emergent platform cooperatives are mobilised
and their challenges and implications. Barcelona, the cradle of many platform economy and delivery
sector start-ups, is a critical case for examining the recent birth of alternative delivery cooperatives.
This article is informed by the cases of three cooperatives, organised by those working as riders,
providing delivery services in the city of Barcelona: Mensakas, Les Mercedes, and 2GoDelivery. The
paper shows how the embeddedness of these nascent platform cooperatives in favourable governance
arrangements, a supportive social and solidarity movement, the knowledge and experience of
workers, and the territory where the cooperatives are embedded are essential for their creation. This
multi-layered embeddedness is necessary, but not sufficient, to explain how platform cooperatives
thrive. The study concludes that the agency of platform workers, who triggered this transformation,
was essential for the emergence of alternative ways of organising work in the platform economy.