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Throughout the world, solutions to some of the greatest challenges of the day are either nascent or fully thriving. Organized people's movements - sometimes with help from supportive government - are changing the structures which cause violence, poverty, inequality, and environmental destruction.

Gift Economies

Gifts economies, in which human beings are worth more than the market, are fundamental to most traditional and indigenous peoples.  Here is a case where a just alternative already exists, and has for thousands of years. In its purest form, a gift economy is about the collective, allocation based on need, and abundance. Behind gifting is human relationship, generation of goodwill, and attention to the nurturance of the whole society and not just one’s immediate self and family.

Gift Economies

Reclaiming Our Imaginations from 'There Is No Alternative'

Submitted by admin on Sun, 01/27/2013 - 11:41

Cross-posted from Common Dreams

By Andrea Browner

We live in a time of heavy fog. A time when, though many of us dissent and resist, humanity seems committed to a course of collective suicide in the name of preserving an economic system that generates scarcity no matter how much is actually produced.

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EXPANDING THE REALM OF THE POSSIBLE IN 2012

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/07/2013 - 23:22

By Beverly Bell
January 7, 2013

In the high desert outside Taos, New Mexico, I drove down a dirt road that parallels the Rio Grande and saw the thick haze of a forest fire. To see the spectacle, I quickly reversed my planned course and drove as close as I was able. Across a long line of mountains, red flames flicked up like snake’s tongues amongst dense black ropes of smoke. Where the blaze had worn down, thinner smoke wisps arose above charred, black land.

The Dark Side of the “Green Economy”

Submitted by admin on Mon, 09/03/2012 - 17:00
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Cross-posted from YES! Magazine.

Why some indigenous groups and environmentalists are saying no to the “green economy.”

by Jeff Conant
posted Aug 23, 2012
 

Everywhere you look these days, things are turning green. In Chiapas, Mexico, indigenous farmers are being paid to protect the last vast stretch of rainforest in Mesoamerica. In the Brazilian Amazon, peasant families are given a monthly “green basket” of basic food staples to allow them to get by without cutting down trees. In Kenya, small farmers who plant climate-hardy trees and protect green zones are promised payment for their part in the fight to reduce global warming. In Mozambique, one of the world’s poorest nations, fully 19 percent of the country’s surface is leased to a British capital firm that pays families to reforest.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TODAY TO BE ANTI-SYSTEM?

Submitted by admin on Fri, 08/10/2012 - 12:28

ALTER-NATOS 1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TODAY TO BE ANTI-SYSTEM?Check out this inspiring new report from Otros Mundos, our sister organization in Chiapas, Mexico.

by Gustavo Castro Soto

In general, we find that in social movements, two words keep recurring in the vernacular, in discussions and in the shouts, in the slogans and the declarations: “lucha” (meaning “struggle”) and “contra” (meaning “against”), the Capitalist System, a system of domination, patriarchy, exploitation, etc. We always seem first to be “anti” prior to being “alter”, that is proposing alternatives. Or rather, we could call this position one of “Alter-Nates.” But to know against what we are struggling and from what we seek emancipation, it is important to know what the capitalist system is. Even prior to that, we must understand what a “system” is, and then understand what is Capitalism. In this way, we can diagnose what stage of its existence this system of Capitalism is at, and what the real possibilities of maintaining its momentum are. We can pinpoint any roads that involve anti-capitalism strategies and/or anti-system initiatives, as well as the best strategies to employ in creating an experience or reality that is truly anti-system.

BIRTHING JUSTICE: The Link to Humanity -- Gift Economies

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/20/2012 - 14:35


BIRTHING JUSTICE: The Link to Humanity -- Gift Economies

By Beverly Bell
April 20, 2012

“African values” refers to a set of values that people share. How do you recognize a human being? How do you treat people? What do you do with what you have? We are talking about a universal, positive way of life. What Africa has to give the world is a reclaiming of humanity. It teaches that there are other ways of living and doing and being with each other. We share values with those everywhere who believe in the dignity of the human being.

BIRTHING JUSTICE: Rewriting the Rules of the Global Economy -- Creating Economics That Improve People’s Lives

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/13/2012 - 19:56

By Beverly Bell and Tory Field
April 13, 2012

“Rather than having these people inside the Beltway be the experts on the issue… we ask: How can we empower the people who are actually affected by the issues to be the spokespeople?” – Deborah James

Ask just about anyone about the “99%” these days and, regardless of how they feel about the Occupy movement, they’ll probably acknowledge the increasing concentration of wealth and power that the past few decades have brought. Occupy has successfully propelled issues of inequality and corporate control to mainstream consciousness, here in the belly of the beast, in the nation that has been pivotal to defining the world economic system.

The Economics of Happiness conference, March 23 – 25, 2012

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 13:31
The Economics of Happiness conference 
Organized by the International Society for Ecology and Culture, the makers of the film, The Economics of Happiness
 
March 23 – 25, 2012
David Brower Center
Berkeley, California
For more information, visit the conference website. 

Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives

In "Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives," 12 women from movements around the world invite us into their lives, sharing their vision of what the world can and must become, and showing us what they and their community are doing to build that world. From Idla Martines de Souza organizing with the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil, to Emem Okon building peace in middle of a resource war in Nigeria, to Juana Ferrer and Via Campesina turning towards food sovereignty to end gender violence, each of these women have important wisdom and vision to share with us all.

Gifts in Bloom:Forage Oakland Share's Community's Abundance

Submitted by Beverly Bell on Fri, 04/15/2011 - 16:20

by Shilpa Jain 

Biking to a Just Economy

Submitted by Other Worlds on Thu, 09/23/2010 - 08:05

This October 25th, Other Worlds’ friends and allies at Shikshantar are setting forth on a “Cycle Yatra” - a week long bicycle pilgrimage through rural Rajastan, India.  What makes their journey different than your average bike tour is what they are leaving behind: money.  Participants set off without any food, money, gadgets, or medicines.  They trade labor for food and housing in the communities that they pass through, learning new skills, and sharing songs, games, and stories with the people they meet.