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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.

 

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. At the same time, they are creating better quality of life in their communities.  In other instances, people are preserving ancient cultures where individuals live in relative equity and harmony with other life and their communities, and without expectation of profit. 

Join us to learn more and become a part of this inspiring movement:

  • Check out Other Worlds' newest book and food sovereignty tool, Harvesting Justice: Transforming Food, Land, and Agriculture in the Americas, which explores the growing movement to reclaim the food system from multinational agribusiness and put it back into the hands of people. Accompanying the book is a popular education curriculum called Sowing Seeds, and a weekly blog series! And, find more resources and action steps on the Harvesting Justice website.

  • More than three years after the devastating 2010 earthquake, read about how Haitian grassroots movements are continuing the struggle for a just reconstruction on our Another Haiti is Possible blog. And, find out how you can support the Under Tents campaign for the right to housing for nearly 400,000 who are still living under tarps and tents.

  • Visit our blog, below, of articles by and about our allies building grassroots alternatives around the world (click here for full blog history).

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Alternatives Blog

FARMERS AND CONSUMERS V. MONSANTO: DAVID MEETS GOLIATH

Submitted by admin on Sun, 04/07/2013 - 19:50

By Tory Field and Beverly Bell

Bordering an interstate highway in Arkansas, a giant billboard with a photo of a stoic-looking farmer watches over the speeding traffic. He’s staring into the distance against the backdrop of a glowing wheat field, with the caption “America’s Farmers Grow America.” It’s an image to melt all our pastoral hearts.

Until we read the small print in the corner: “Monsanto.”

Can Worker-Owners Make a Big Factory Run?

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/05/2013 - 12:01

Cross-posted from LaborNotes

By Jane Slaughter

Part 2 of a two-part series on the TRADOC workers' cooperative in Mexico. Part 1 is here.

A tire is not just a piece of rubber with a hole in it. I learned this when I visited the workers’ cooperative that makes Cooper tires in El Salto, Mexico. A tire is a sophisticated product that comes about through a chain of chemical processes, lots of machine pounding, and still the intervention of human hands.

A fervent inspection worker pointed out that every single tire is tested under road-like conditions: “If not, it could kill people,” he noted. And, he added practically, “keeping the tires safe saves our jobs.”

Two workers of the 1,000-member TRADOC cooperative, which builds tires in Mexico for the U.S. market. The hiring of women in the plant was one of the many gains of worker ownership. Photo: Bob Briggs.

Mexican Workers Win Ownership of Tire Plant with Three-Year Strike

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/05/2013 - 11:28

Cross-posted from LaborNotes

By Jane Slaughter

Part 1 of a two-part series on the TRADOC worker cooperative in Mexico. Part 2, about how the co-op is functioning today, is here.

“If the owners don’t want it, let’s run it ourselves.” When a factory closes, the idea of turning it into a worker-owned co-operative sometimes comes up—and usually dies.

On the 879th day of their strike, Mexican tire workers sought help in Germany, where the multinational that wanted to close their plant was based. After a determined 1,141-day campaign, the company sold them the plant, which they now run as a cooperative.

New Report on U.S. Aid to Haiti Finds “Troubling” Lack of Transparency, Effectiveness

Submitted by admin on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 18:08

“Haitians, U.S. taxpayers unable to verify how U.S. aid funds are being used on the ground”

For Immediate Release: April 3, 2013
Contact: Dan Beeton, 202-239-1460

ANOTHER POOR BLACK BOY DEAD IN HAITI

Submitted by admin on Thu, 04/04/2013 - 08:29

By Beverly Bell
April 4, 2013

Inside the USAID-headquarters-turned-courthouse in Port-au-Prince, the case against former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier was being heard, in a trial unlikely to bring justice to the hundreds of thousands killed and tortured by him and his father François.

Vexed by the circus show of judges and defense lawyers, I fled the building and hailed a collective taxicab. The driver asked my nationality. When I told him, he said, “If you don’t mind, I want to ask you something. Are there all these children sleeping in the streets and under bridges in your country?”

IACHR tells Haitian government to stop violent evictions from earthquake displacement camp, provide clean water

Submitted by admin on Wed, 04/03/2013 - 18:18

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights tells Haitian government
to prevent excessive force and violence in evictions from earthquake displacement camp


Re-posted from IDJH

(Port-au-Prince, March 27, 2013)— Yesterday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures to residents of Grace Village, one of approximately 450 earthquake displacement camps in Haiti.  The Commission advised the Government of Haiti to immediately take steps to prevent any violent evictions and provide clean water and security to camp residents, especially women and children.

Reflections on the Reconstruction

Submitted by admin on Tue, 04/02/2013 - 13:45

Haitian and international media have published many articles on the progress of Haiti’s reconstruction.

The watchdog partnership Haiti Grassroots Watch (HGW) has been investigating this subject, in depth, for almost three years now. For a change, HGW decided to approach some of the major players to inquire about the following three aspects of the reconstruction process.

1)    Aid, dependence and sovereignty

2)    The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC)

3)    The question of vision, leadership and coordination

HGW made numerous requests for interviews, several of which were refused, namely those with government ministers and several members of parliament  [1]. Nonetheless, HGW was able to access numerous national and international actors important to the reconstruction, such as: four former members of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), three current and former employees of the Haitian government, and the Haitian representatives of the World Bank (WB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

One Mexican town finds more security by throwing out the police

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 16:31

Cross-posted from Christian Science Monitor

By Annie Murphy

Lidia Romero (c.), a member of the Community Police, stands guard on a road at the entrance to the town of Cherán one week ago. Residents of remote regions have taken up arms to patrol and defend their communities from organized crimes and gangs. Alan Ortega/Reuters

CHERÁN, MEXICO

About two years ago, citizens in Cherán, Mexico decided to battle illegal logging and drug violence by kicking out the police and running the town according to indigenous tradition.

Interim Assembly of COPINH: "We are all Chavez" and Celebration of the 20th anniversary of COPINH.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 16:13

Translated from the Spanish by Stephen Bartlett

COPINH was 20 years old on March 27

This is a moment to consider the path, and to face new challenges.  To recovery the strength of the compas who have been walking this path and making history.

Declaration of the Social Movements Assembly – World Social Forum 2013

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 16:09

29 March 2013, Tunisia

As the Social Movements Assembly of the World Social Forum of Tunisia, 2013, we are gathered here to affirm the fundamental contribution of peoples of Maghreb-Mashrek (from North Africa to the Middle East), in the construction of human civilization. We affirm that decolonization for oppressed peoples remains for us, the social movements of the world, a challenge of the greatest importance.
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