Author

Ana Inés Heras is a National Researcher at the Council for Research and Technology in Argentina (CONICET). She holds this appointment by bridging the work of two institutions, namely the Universidad Nacional de San Martín and the Instituto para la Inclusión Social y el Desarrollo Humano. She is also a full professor at the University, teaching both at the graduate and undergraduate levels. With her partner David, she has raised five daughters and sons and is also a grandmother of four children. She coordinates the Co-ellaborative Research Program Aprendizaje de y en Autogestión. She is also a Board Member at the Community Economies Institute and participates in the Global Tapestry of Alternatives as well.

Tricia Truitt is a member of Earth & Sky Cooperative Exchange and a proponent of local trading systems. 

Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project inspires and engages in transformative action towards the liberation and restoration of land, labor, and culture.

Katja Durrani is  a web developer living in Bristol, in the UK.

We’re on a mission to turn the state of Minnesota into a place where every working person can also be an employee owner.

Ella Fassler is an independent journalist based in New York City. Their work on community autonomy, labor, technology and the carceral system has been featured in Teen Vogue, The Boston Globe, The Nation, Vice, The Appeal, Slate, OneZero, Shadowproof, Mic, In These Times, The Counter and elsewhere. Twitter: @EllaFassler.

AMIBA was founded in 2001 as part of a nationwide movement to support locally-owned, independent businesses, encourage local purchasing, and address the competitive disadvantages that independent businesses often experience due to policies and economic structures.

AMIBA has been at the forefront of a national grassroots campaign to “Buy Local” and value their community’s uniqueness. Over the last two decades, nearly 100 Independent Business Organizations (IBAs) opened in cities and rural regions, large and small, nationwide.

Alex Lopez is a board member of Ekhilur Coop, a non-profit consumer co-operative working towards a legally regulated payment system that’s controlled by co-operative members and contributes to local and social development in the Basque Country.

Based in Kampala, Uganda, Soita is openDemocracy’s East Africa reporter, working on our Tracking the Backlash feminist investigative journalism project. Contact her at: khatondi.soita[at]opendemocracy.net