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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

beyond capitalism

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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 12, 2024

Global Tapestry of Alternatives: Weaving Transformative Connections

Summary

Macro-transformation does not happen from individual initiatives acting alone: large shifts become possible when a critical mass of movements for radical resistance and constructive alternatives is able to coalesce through horizontal networks.

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January 16, 2024

Worker Control in a Capitalist Environment: Voices from Indorca (Part II)

Summary

Industrias del Orinoco, C.A. (Indorca) is a factory without bosses in the industrial city of Puerto Ordaz in Bolívar state, the home of Venezuela’s basic industries. Indorca workers carried out a heroic three-year struggle to gain control of the factory after the former owner brought it to a halt. Since 2015, when Venezuela’s Ministry of Labor extended a mandate giving the workers control over Indorca, the enterprise has been democratically managed by the women and men who produce here day in and day out.

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December 28, 2023

The Right to Repair and Other Forms of Peer Creativity

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Summary

Can creativity flourish and remain within the control of commoners? Or will businesses inevitably capture creativity and convert it into private property to make money?

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November 27, 2023

The DisCO Conspiracy

Summary

Stacco Troncoso gives an overview of the DisCO (Distributed Cooperative) model, which he alternately describes as a brand, an econoimc LARP, and an open source conspiracy to take over the world.

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October 26, 2023

The Ghana Susu: Reimagining Financial Development

Summary

In Ghana, a centuries-old financial system called Susu provides an example of effective bottom-up development that contributes meaningfully to reducing poverty and economic inequality.

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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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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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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.