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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).

  • Share this

Alternatives Blog

A contribution to the Climate Space 2013: How to overcome the Climate Crisis

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 16:02

Cross-posted from Focus on the Global South

By Pablo Solon

 

There is no single answer, no single campaign nor single approach.

 

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that avoids catastrophe, we need to:

  • Leave more than two-thirds of the fossil fuel reserves under the soil;
  • Stop the exploitation of tar sands, shale gas and coal;
  • Support small, local, peasant and indigenous community farming while we dismantle big agribusiness that deforests and heats the planet;

FROM GROWING PROFIT TO GROWING FOOD: CHALLENGING CORPORATE RULE

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/01/2013 - 08:04

Just outside of the small town of Maumelle, Arkansas sits your run-of-the-mill American strip mall. And as in so many other box store hubs, a Walmart dominates the landscape.

But something is a shade different about this one; its big, looming letters are not the standard blue. These letters, in a new, green hue, spell out “Walmart Neighborhood Market.” These “neighborhood markets” are a tactic in Walmart’s conquest of the grocery industry. The nation’s world’s biggest retail store now captures more than a fourth of the domestic grocery market.

Chávez’ Legacy: A New Model of Popular Power

Submitted by Beverly Bell on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 11:18

 


An Interview with Camille Chalmers
By Beverly Bell
March 29, 2013

 

 

Economist Camille Chalmers is a leader in Latin American social movements and executive secretary of the Platform for Alternative Development in Haiti (PAPDA).

 

Hugo Chávez’ battle, with all the strength of determination the man had, is a huge legacy for every person everywhere who wants liberation for all.

Global Left Converges in Tunisia to Promote New Vision for Earth's Future

Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/28/2013 - 09:30

Cross-posted from Common Dreams

By Jordan Flaherty

 

Chávez, Internationalism, and Socialism: An Interview with Camille Chalmers

Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/28/2013 - 07:05


By Beverly Bell
March 28, 2013

Since the death of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez on March 5, thousands of memorials have transpired across the Americas, from national ceremonies to village wakes. They have been organized by those inspired by the new models of economic, political, and internationalist power propelled by the Venezuelan president. Camille Chalmers, Latin American social movement leader, gave the keynote speech at a memorial at the State University of Haiti on March 14. Beverly Bell caught up with him later in Port-au-Prince, tape recorder in hand, and recorded his thoughts.

Tunisia World Social Forum to blast austerity

Submitted by admin on Wed, 03/27/2013 - 10:49

Cross-posted from Al Jazeera


By Yasmine Ryan

Activists say global finance undermines democracy as participants meet to discuss economic and social problems.

 

As tens of thousands of activists from around the globe converge on Tunisia for the World Social Forum (WSF), the annual counter-hegemonic meet where opponents of neo-liberalism, free trade and austerity rally together, there will doubtless be some hard questions asked about what more ordinary citizens can do to push for greater social justice.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/26/2013 - 12:08

Port-au-Prince, HAITI, March 24 2013 – A foreign company that hopes to set up a “trash-to-electricity” incinerator in Haiti has misled the Haitian public, and perhaps Haitian authorities, with what appear to be false claims and deliberate attempts to avoid answering key questions raised in a January 22 article by the investigative journalism partnership Haiti Grassroots Watch.

Read more

http://bit.ly/HaitiTrashTruth

Urgent Action: Displaced Families Face Forced Eviction in Haiti

Submitted by admin on Mon, 03/25/2013 - 14:08

Re-posted from Amnesty International

DISPLACED FAMILIES FACE FORCED EVICTION IN HAITI
Hundreds of families who were left homeless after the January 2010 earthquake face
imminent forced eviction from their makeshift camp in the Port-au-Prince municipality of
Carrefour. Amnesty International is concerned that if evicted they will once again be left
homeless.

Labor Unions in the New Economy

Submitted by admin on Mon, 03/25/2013 - 13:16

Cross-posted from Common Dreams

by Atlee McFellin

The future of the labor union is increasingly coming into question with the relentless assault on the rights of workers to organize, resulting in the lowest levels of union membership since the 1930s. Part of this comes from the “Right to Work” or “Corporate Servitude” legislation passed in states across the country, Michigan being the latest victim. The now infamous Citizens United ruling further unleashed the power of corporate coffers to influence politics, furthering a vitriolic hatred for unions by Tea Party dogmatics following the Koch Party line. Labor unions are in dire need of innovation to move past their 19th and 20th century models into a 21st century form that’s capable of weathering economic, political, and environmental turbulence. The future of unions rests with their ability, just like the green economy and new economy movements, to create immediate solutions for marginalized communities along with overarching, systemic alternatives to our broken economic and political systems.

THE TRUE COSTS OF INDUSTRIALIZED FOOD

Submitted by admin on Sun, 03/24/2013 - 11:53

The objective of much of our industrial food system is to provide a profit to shareholders and CEOs. Coca-Cola’s advertising budget was over $2.9 billion dollars in 2010, money well spent from a stockholder’s point of view: profits that year were $11.8 billion.

The current system, however, was not built only to amass wealth. Many policymakers and supporters, historically as today, have been driven by the conviction that industrial agriculture is the best way to produce massive amounts of affordable food. And in some ways it has accomplished this. People in the U.S. spend relatively little on food – about 7 percent of their total spending, as compared to 13 percent in France, 23 percent in Mexico, and 38 percent in Vietnam. Most individuals in the U.S. devote less time, energy, and money to feeding ourselves than they ever have historically.
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