Work

The politics of Cranks: a follow-up

As I said in my last blog post, after I sent an email to the Cranks mailing list we discussed the politics of Cranks in one of our bi-weekly meetings. I haven't been able to post these thoughts up sooner because I have been offline for a month building a roundhouse with Tony Wrench in South West Wales. More on that later, but for now..

The politics of Cranks

(Source)

I have been helping out in Cranks, a community bike workshop in Brighton, since last September. A few days ago I sent the email below to our mailing list about the politics of Cranks. I thought I'd put it online because it reflects some of my current thinking as well as giving an insiders view of Cranks. Yesterday we discussed some of the points in the email in a group meeting. I'll be posting in a few days some of the outcomes from the meeting and my thoughts on them.

Editing Wikipedia page on workers' cooperatives

Have been editing the wikipedia page on workers' co-operatives. Over the next few years, I will try help make it into a great source of information on workers' co-ops. I've already made some very substantial changes, which will hopefully stay - and be improved upon - over time.

When you search for workers' co-operatives in Google it is the first thing that comes up.

Worker-managed co-operatives thriving in Argentina's boom

UPDATE: Also check out this excellent update by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis on the state of workers' co-operatives in Argentina.

Just read this following article on workers' co-operatives in Argentina and thought I'd post it up here.

The surge of workers' co-operatives after the economic crisis in 2001 is well documented in the film The Take (you can download it here).

Co-operators of the future?

(The Fairtrade shop at Pentrehafod School is run by a pupil workers' co-operative - Source: Times Educational Supplement)

At the recent co-operative congress, I went to a fringe meeting hosted by the UK Society for Co-operative Studies on 'Where are the co-operators of the future to be found?' Kevin McGrother (Young Co-operatives), Kirsty Palmer (Woodcraft Folk General Secretary), Mags Bradbury (Membership Diversity, Co-op Group) and Pam Walker (East of England Co-op Education Dept.) all spoke about their experiences in this field.

Real alternatives to capitalism? A talk by Derek Wall

Below are my notes from a talk I recently went to at Sussex University by Derek Wall, Principal Speaker of the Green Party, on 'Real Alternatives to Capitalism'. The talk was very thought provoking although I do wish he had expanded on the politics and power of introducing some of the alternatives he suggested (for example, how the hell do you get from an 'exchange value' system to a 'use value' system?)

Before you read it, please note that Derek expands on the points he made in the talk in his blog post on Real Alternatives to Capitalism as well as in his book BABYLON AND BEYOND: The Economics of Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Globalist and Radical Green Movements

Power in Utopia? Analysis of two UK workers’ co-operatives through Steven Lukes’ three-dimensional lens

My friend, Rebecca Napier-Moore, has written the following paper about power within workers' co-operatives in the UK. We interviewed workers together for our different papers (see mine here) and it was an absolute pleasure to work with her. In my opinion, not only is her paper extremely well-written and concise but it also intelligently draws on - and challenges - the academic literature surrounding Steven Lukes' 3 dimensions of power in relation to the workers' co-operatives that we visited. It received an A+ mark. I am putting the paper below for you to read but you can also find it online as a Word Document or as a pdf.

What do I want to do with my life? 4 potential directions

"Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." - Henry David Thoreau

"We think of self-control as something that limits freedom, but in fact it’s just the opposite: the true freedom of the sailor is taking the helm of his boat and sailing in the direction he wants to go, thus being the master of his destiny." - Matthieu Ricard

I have been unsure for quite a while about what I should do with my life when my course finishes in September. I am especially worried about where I will work and live. To try and bring clarity to my mind, I have written down four potential directions that my life could take and the reasons for each one. Some of the options are not mutually exclusive, and hopefully I will be able to find some form of synergy between them, for example by working part-time within an agricultural workers' co-operative. As always, suggestions, criticisms and life lessons are welcome from anyone who comes across this: