By Michael Johnson, Grassroots Economic Organising
Here I will be laying out what I consider to be the core elements and principle guidelines for civic/popular programs for democratic praxis. First, some definitions.
By Michael Johnson, Grassroots Economic Organizing
In Part I, last week, I made the case for the over-riding importance for a major shift in the strategic focus for all democratic change movements, and especially for co-operative/solidarity economics. Here in Part II I sketch out how I think we can begin moving decisively toward community and regional networks with a cultural/structural strategy.
By Michael Johnson, Grassroots Economic Organizing
Let’s begin by stopping our addiction to thinking in big structural terms. There is value in the scaling-up structural visions and strategies for growing our movements for co-operative/solidarity economics [2] and deep social change. However, structural strategies by themselves are like a one-armed swimmer moving upstream into a heady current.
By Ann Marie Utratel, Commons Transition
CommonsPolis— a civil society initiative to create dialogue between progressive municipalist movements and city governments, and European citizens — held an encounter described as “a common space for exchange; cities in transition and citizen struggles” in Paris on November 24, 2016...
By Rebecca Solnit, The Guardian
‘A politician is not a given. Each one is in part what we make them, by pushing, blocking, pressuring, encouraging, fighting, reframing, emphasizing, organizing.’
By Marcin Gerwin, Resilience.org
When Americans introduced democracy, George Washington was totally opposed to the idea of political parties, to this notion that you split into two and one side shouts abuse at the other.
By Rajesh Makwana, Share The World's Resources
At a time when governments are failing abysmally to mitigate climate change, reduce inequality or end poverty, the key to creating a more equal and sustainable world is establishing participative forms of political engagement at all levels of society – from the local to the global.
By Kate Shea Baird, Open Democracy
When the indignados occupied the public squares of Spain on May 15, 2011, demanding ‘real democracy’, they changed the terms of public debate.
By Arianne Sved, Occupy.com
Introducing Barcelona's movement for a new metropolitan democracy.
By Jules Peck, Citizen Renaissance
Perhaps its time for progressives to get their act in gear, dump the dead left-right, state-private dialectic and start a new party – a peoples party. A party of, by and for the people.
By Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper
It’s as if you have a terrible heart attack and surgery, you’ve just come out of intensive care and the doctor says there’s no need to change anything of your previous life, don’t exercise much and keep up your intake of fatty foods!
By Naomi Milner, Open Democracy
Authority is a capacity to inspire trust. This is what marks a participative inquiry apart from the liberal models which consult others, but never fully recognise, nor invite, their intelligence.