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Capitalism isn’t just an economic system we live inside. It is a culture that lives inside of us. It influences our psychology, how we design our communities, how we relate to each other, the kind of culture we create, and what’s possible for us to do together. 

Housing cooperatives provide affordability, community, democratic governance, and promote social equality. Effective governance, member involvement, and supportive frameworks are crucial. Many also play a vital role in promoting sustainability and aligning with renewable energy initiatives, boosting their impact locally and throughout Europe. Housing Europe hosted a session on and for housing cooperatives, our members and partners, both established and emerging.

This paper and video presents findings from the ARC Linkage project, Articulating Value in Housing Co-operatives.

What follows is the midnight speech on 31 December 2023, by Dario Salvetti, an ex GKN worker and shop steward, and one of the spokespersons of Florence’s GKN Factory Collective.

In early 2024, the Post Growth Institute ran an Offers and Needs Market (OANM) facilitator training program with predominantly rural Native American families from the Southern Oregon Education School District (SOESD) Indian Education program. This article is inspired by my experience as the lead program designer and facilitator.

Rachel Battles and Jason Belden, working owners of Happy Earth (a worker cooperative), discuss the reasons behind converting Happy Earth from a LLC to a worker cooperative.

In our study, we introduce the concept of fair trade and explore its partnerships with cooperatives. The unique qualities and high standards of cooperative businesses are frequently highlighted and discussed, emphasizing their potential to create positive social and economic impacts.

On October 18, 2023, the Center for Global Justice lost at dear friend--the renowned 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.

At a moment when the world is awakening to the clear and present need to transition our energy system, a hopeful light gleams from the rural landscapes of America. The Rural Power Coalition (RPC), a diverse alliance of US advocacy groups serving rural communities from Alabama to Alaska, has taken another step forward with the release of “Power to the People: The Story of Rural Electric Cooperatives.” This animated short film that premiered today during the annual PowerXchange Conference in San Antonio, Texas, is not just a tale of the past; it’s a clarion call for a greener, more equitable future.

Celia LoBuono Gonzalez joins us on the show this episode to share her story and that of Other Avenues Grocery Cooperative.