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Mutual aid clubs are still going strong in L.A. Chinatown. But their future is uncertain

Despite their infamous history, the clubs nowadays are mostly hangouts for retirees who gather to read Chinese newspapers, chat, play mah-jongg or enjoy a meal together. Many of the clubs continue to provide the mutual aid that was a necessity back when Chinese immigrants were excluded from mainstream society, helping members in need of a loan or funeral expenses.

A  graduate of Cornell University, Peter started five small business's and retired in 2011. Peter became involved in the anti-war movement in college and has remained steadfastly anti-capitalist. In Chicago, San Francisco, Benicia and now Richmond, California, Peter participated in many grass roots social justice organizations. Living in San Miguel for a considerable portion of the year, Peter feels like he has found a political home in the CGJ.

April 6, 2023

Cliff DuRand Presente!

The San Miguel de Allende community joins social justice activists around the world to mourn the passing
of Dr Cliff Durand, who died peacefully at home with his beloved wife Julie and their two dogs, after a
short illness.

Italy’s Tradition of Self-Organized Services

Italy has numerous traditions of cooperatives (Ammirato, 1994, 2018). In particular, the Italian coop sector evolved from both secular liberal thought, socialist and communist traditions, as well as from Catholic social thought. They have managed to become a class of principles-based enterprises strongly embedded in all sectors of the Italian economy.

April 10, 2023

Exploring Italian Social Cooperatives with Vera Negri Zamagni

Last week’s seminar with guest speaker Professor Vera Zamagni explored the various forms of value generated by Italian social cooperatives.

Mobile home park residents form co-ops to save their homes

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — When Gadiel Galvez learned that the owner of his mobile home park south of Seattle was looking to sell, he and other residents worried their largely Latino community would be bulldozed to make way for another Amazon warehouse.

So, they decided to form a cooperative and buy their park in Lakewood, Washington. With help from a nonprofit that advises communities like theirs and helps them secure loans, they bought it for $5.25 million. Since becoming owners in September, everyone’s worked to make improvements.

Here’s What It Truly Means to Be a Farmer-Owned Cooperative

DFA was formed by dairy farmers, we are owned by dairy farmers, we are governed by dairy farmers, and we work for the benefit of dairy farmers.   

Any of our nearly 11,000 dairy farmer-owners can participate in our governance process. Before I worked for DFA, I too was a DFA farmer-owner, and I appreciated the value of having a voice in the organization marketing my milk.  

A New Orleanian by birth, Jim is a TarHeel by choice, living in the Durham NC area since 1987. He received a bachelor’s degree in human ecology from College of the Atlantic of Bar Harbor, Maine and writes on historical ecology and economic history for various publications.

Jim lives in a rural residential co-op with his cat, Othello, where he is point person for the woodlot/community forestry committee.

April 13, 2023

Production for Use and the Cooperative Commonwealth

An economy of production for use would grow only as fast as the population and the people's needs, making sustainability more attainable.

Black-led Food Co-ops Restore Justice, Hope, and Power

Sellassie describes Gem City Market as a “survival mechanism” for people. “We had 40,000 residents and no full-service grocery store,” he tells Food Tank.

A year and a half after its opening, Gem City Market now provides access to fresh produce for Dayton’s West side. The co-op also creates meaningful jobs. “It’s seen as a strategy for community development in a community capacity,” Sellassie says.

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April 17, 2023

The Advance of the Commune in Venezuela

10 years after the death of Comandante Hugo Chávez Frías, “commune or nothing” remains the battle cry of the Venezuelan people advancing in the Bolivarian revolution

The French Food Co-Op That Fought Nazis With Energy Bars

“In Europe in the 1940s, there were only two ways out: Marseille or Auschwitz,” writes David Rousset, a French author and Holocaust survivor, in the preface to La Filière Marseillaise: Un Chemin Vers la Liberté Sous l’Occupation. Unoccupied Marseille offered safe harbor from Nazi persecution and a potential escape to the United States. So, as Paris fell under German bombs in 1940, the Mediterranean port was bombarded with exiles from across Europe.

Could Employee Ownership Help Narrow the Racial Wealth Gap?

Nijil Jones is practically giddy taking a large cardboard box out of an industrial fridge. Inside the chilled box are what Jones calls the best pecans in Georgia.

And Jones, 29, should know. In 2014, Jones, who uses they/them pronouns, started the Pecan Milk Cooperative, a Black, queer worker-owned co-op. They have been using different nuts to make plant-based milk since 2013, first just a batch of almond milk using their roommate’s blender, but then quickly turning to pecans.