Submitted by Other Worlds on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 09:10
This Labor Day, many in the US labor movement are celebrating a historic victory for the Domestic Workers United (DWU), whose 10-year struggle for the rights of nannies, elder care aids, and house cleaners bore fruit this week, as New York Governor David Patterson signed the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights into law. This new bill expands the basic labor rights that many American worker
Submitted by Other Worlds on Fri, 08/20/2010 - 14:18
The amazing thing about gift economies is that once people begin to give freely, we discover incredible abundance - even in the most cash-poor communities. Two community projects tap into the abundance in their communities in order to ensure that everyone has access to fresh, healthy, and delicious fruits and vegetables.
Submitted by Other Worlds on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 10:52
The US rust belt has become ground zero for a movement to re-imagine our cities and economies. Exciting new initiatives around worker co-ops, public land, green jobs, urban agriculture, and alternative economic development are being started every day in cities that have long been written off as lost causes. But Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Rochester, and Flint are also the site of growing conflict between competing visions of what the future of these cities should look like.
Submitted by Other Worlds on Mon, 07/05/2010 - 12:09
Other Worlds allies JASecon have produced a fun new video about their annual Grassroots Economy festival in Oakland. The video combines interviews with solidarity economy activists about topics ranging from time banks to food justice, with animations, and footage from the festival.
Submitted by Other Worlds on Fri, 04/02/2010 - 13:51
As a wave of consolidation and corporate takeovers has raised prices and closed traditional pubs throughout the UK, with more than 39 pubs closing every week. In response, community members have banded together to save their neighborhood watering holes by forming co-ops.
Submitted by Other Worlds on Fri, 03/19/2010 - 08:32
Perhaps more than anything today, Haiti needs a new macro-economy, one based above all on meeting the needs of its citizens. Post-earthquake economic restructuring could include equitable distribution of resources, high levels of employment with fair compensation, local production, and provision of social services.
In the meantime, what saved many during the earthquake, and what is keeping them alive today, is a culture and economy of solidarity, or mutual aid. Solidarity is an essential strategy through which on-the-margins communities, and their individual members, can survive and thrive. Today the generosity is on overdrive.
Submitted by Other Worlds on Wed, 03/17/2010 - 12:24
With barter increasingly popular among the under and unemployed, and more than 2,500 communities around the world printing their own currencies, alternative currencies aren't all that alternative these days.
Submitted by Other Worlds on Thu, 02/18/2010 - 11:26
Last year, Detroit joined the ranks of Ithaca, NY, Santa Fe, NM, Bloomington , IN, and more than 2,500 communities worldwide when it issued its own currency, the Detroit Cheer.
Local currencies are a strategy for encouraging community members to spend their money locally, and to think about the benefits of small, locally owned businesses over large chains without deeper roots in the community.
Other Worlds partnered with the National Radio Project to produce the first piece in an ongoing radio series about alternatives. Our first program, Gifting in Mali and India: A Way of Life explores how giving traditions transcend geographic and cultural boundaries, while strengthening communities.
You can listen to the piece, together with segments on time banks, gifting at burning man, and community support vs. charity, on the website of Making Contact.