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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

cooperative commonwealth

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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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February 29, 2024

‘New Economies’ and the Rebuilding of Democratic Power

Summary

We need to look more directly at how we can stimulate a new structural transformation of civil society. It will be a broad process that explores how we can rebuild democratic power to facilitate mass involvement in civil society and, by extension, our political system. Though there seems to be an instinctual knowledge of this problem, many are unaware of this prehistory of civil society, and understandably find it difficult to see an alternative to the memberless NGO, whose unelected governance, unreliable funding streams, and informal support base is inadequate to the challenges of the present, let alone the disruptions of the future.

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February 19, 2024

May First Movement Technology: Digital Radicalism

Summary

Resistance in the digital environment demands that we center our values, intentions, and dreams, focusing on other ways to live, be, and know. May First Movement Technology is a cooperative (primarily based in the United States and Mexico) that aims to put these values into practice: digital media that supports social struggles and grassroots movements working to create the world we know is possible.

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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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April 13, 2023

Production for Use and the Cooperative Commonwealth

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Summary

An economy of production for use would grow only as fast as the population and the people's needs, making sustainability more attainable.

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October 13, 2022

Sri Lanka’s Untold Story of Resilience

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Summary

Since its inception, Sarvodaya has grown to include more than 15,000 villages and has energized these communities to build more than 5,000 preschools, community health centers, libraries, and cottage industries. It has also established thousands of village banks and more than 100,000 small businesses — all without any government support.

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September 12, 2022

The Genius of Ella Jo Baker

Summary

Ella Baker is well-regarded as a giant in the Civil Rights Movement, known for her unique participatory grassroots organizing style and also for her ability to galvanize young people to bring a militancy in the struggle to end segregation. But Baker is less known for her innovative organizing prowess before the 1960s – forming a network of self-help cooperatives to bring economic relief to black people during the Depression.Ella Baker is well-regarded as a giant in the Civil Rights Movement, known for her unique participatory grassroots organizing style and also for her ability to galvanize young people to bring a militancy in the struggle to end segregation. But Baker is less known for her innovative organizing prowess before the 1960s – forming a network of self-help cooperatives to bring economic relief to black people during the Depression.

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August 4, 2022

More Than Ownership

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Summary

Much of the discussion on open source's relevance to cooperatives has focused on open, permissive licenses that represent a 'digital commons' (possibly at risk of appropriation). But debate over licensing misses an essential and unique quality of open source: its democratic toolset which is much more sophisticated than resolutions and Annual General Meetings.

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August 1, 2022

The History of African American Cooperative Eco-Systems

Summary

In this session, Jessica Gordon-Nembhard will discuss the history of African American mutual aid and cooperative economics, Black cooperative economic thought, the most prolific periods in the US African American Cooperative movement, and contemporary and previous examples of worker-owned cooperatives, lessons learned, and the way forward.

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September 6, 2021

The Landscape of Co-op Development

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Applying the concept of rugged fitness landscapes to cooperative growth and development.