File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_1999/anarchy-list.9906, message 419


Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 21:08:06 +0200
From: Thomas Johansson <solek-AT-telia.com>
Subject: New mailing list on ECONOMY



                      New mailing list on ECONOMY

There is now a new mailing list for discussing long-term creative and 
practical work with economy.

The mailing list is intended primarily for people with a socialist or 
anti-capitalist outlook who aspire for a society based on decentralized 
grassroots structures, worker’s control, cooperation, solidarity, ecological 
sustainability, local autonomy, direct democracy, and federative, 
non-authoritative forms of social organization.

There are a number of reasons why we need to discuss and work directly with 
economy. Below is a list of some reasons I come to think of right now:
- Today communities continually loose hold of their economy, as their 
industries, companies, businesses, shops etc. gradually become the preys of 
capitalist investments, practices, tendencies and ways of thinking. We need 
to develop and implement strategies through which communities and people may 
resist this process and hold on to their economy.
- We claim that economic structures and institutions based on cooperation 
and solidarity can be a viable model for an entire society. To make this 
claim persuasive to others we need to show in practice that such structures 
and institutions are viable at least at a small scale.
- Whenever a society undergoes social change, and there is a possibility 
that new economic structures be established at a large scale, the idea of 
cooperative economic structures and institutions must be available to the 
people and seem attractive to them, if they are going to rely on or 
implement them in their society. If, then, such structures and institutions
already exist and function well at a lesser scale in the society, people are 
more likely to consider them as a viable possibility.
- If a society undergoes social change and the capitalist economic 
structures fall apart, there must already exist some alternative economic 
structures and institutions that function well to take care of the material 
needs of the society. To the extent that such structures and institutions do 
not exist, people will be inclined to revert to the old ways, i.e. to those 
of capitalism, in order to provide for their needs.

The present mailing list shall focus on the practical work 
(projects/strategies etc.) that can be done locally, nationally or at an 
international level to develop and strengthen alternative economic 
institutions and structures in society.
In the present context, this means whatever economic institutions and 
structures conform to a society based on decentralized grassroots’ and 
worker’s control, cooperation, solidarity, ecological sustainability, local 
autonomy, direct democracy, and federative, non-authoritative forms of 
social organization. (Examples: cooperatives, non-capitalist businesses, 
patterns of consumption and savings supporting such institutions, credit 
unions, community associations etc.)

Hopefully, the list will not only be a forum for mere discussion. It should 
also facilitate networking at the international, national, and local level, 
and give rise to new and fruitful projects that can contribute to the 
gradual emergence and development of alternative economic institutions and 
structures that enable communities and people to take hold of their lives 
and live in solidarity and cooperation with each other.

Examples (but only examples) of the sorts of questions that conceivably may 
be addressed on the list are:
- What can be done in present-day society to start developing and supporting 
alternative economic structures on which a better social and political life 
can be built?
- What sorts of grassroots’ programs can be employed in a community in order 
to recover its economic life from capitalist interests and control, and to 
make the community’s grip of it stronger?
- What sorts of companies that exist in present-day society are compatible 
with the sort of society to which we aspire, and how can they be supported?
- What can we do to support and encourage the development of worker’s (and 
other forms of) cooperatives in a given community?
- What can we do to develop worker’s cooperatives that function well 
internally and can stand strong in today’s capitalist market economy? 
- What sorts of social and economic structures in a community can support 
such cooperatives, and how can we develop such structures in a community?
- What can we do to encourage the people of a community to develop 
consumer’s patterns that support desirable forms of companies, such as 
workers’ cooperatives?
- What sorts of institutions and programs can be set up in a community to 
stimulate the emergence and growth of better economic and social structures 
in it? 
- What are the prospects for international, national or regional cooperation 
between worker’s cooperatives, between local economic projects and between 
communities? 

At least initially, English will be the primary language of the list, and 
its scope will be international.
It is my hope that similar lists eventually can be set up for particular 
regions and for languages other than English.

To join the list, go to:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe/econ_dev
(Please also stop by the list survey to specify your geographic whereabouts, 
which will take you less than a minute:
http://www.onelist.com/surveycenter/econ_dev)

The list is not moderated. Traffic will depend entirely on those who are 
subscribed to it.


Thomas Johansson 

   

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