radiofree.asia

Category: Cooperative

  • When ‘Karens’ Flourished

    In 2001, my main task in Nicaragua was to be a “Karen”: the obnoxious, entitled white woman who uses her privilege to get her way. Although I was only 25, I was able to lend my white face, my American accent and my pushy “get-me-your-manager” skills to women’s cooperatives to gain them access to and help them navigate the Nicaraguan bureaucratic system.

    This was during the neoliberal years in Nicaragua, a time when the women we worked with – poor, working women – were simply dismissed by virtually any institution. Following on the popular Sandinista Revolution of the 1980s led by grassroots movements, the neoliberal governments from 1990 to 2006 were led by oligarchical elites who not only looked to the U.S. embassy for policy guidance, but culturally deferred to the U.S. as well.

    The post When ‘Karens’ Flourished appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Women In A Housing Cooperative Build Their Own Homes

    Like every other country, Nicaragua needs more affordable housing.

    To deal with the shortage, in many places it’s trying out community-based solutions, sharing responsibility between the government, the local authority and the families that need better conditions.

    It relies on mutual aid: hours of work put in voluntarily by those benefitting from a scheme, to build not only their own houses but those of their neighbours. It’s a cooperative that really works.

    I talked to two women members of one such group, Yadira Aguirre and Margine Martínez, about their work building houses in their small community in La Dalia in the mountainous north of Nicaragua.

    They are working women, part of a group whose main earnings come from coffee harvesting on large farms for three months each year.

    The post Women In A Housing Cooperative Build Their Own Homes appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • The Dilemma of the Cooperative Gene

    Given the relationship between “money” and real resources, it is impossible to equitably “share” real resources, and effectively create collective goods, when money is a scarce commodity controlled by competition.

    This post was originally published on Real Progressives.

  • Platform Co-op Plans Revolution For Online Tutoring And Teaching

    With schools across the world shutting due to Covid-19, e-learning has become an increasingly popular option around the world – but while this has increased platform revenues, teachers’ pay has stayed the same.

    “Last year, during lockdown, I decided to start something different,” says John Hayes, co-founder of MyCoolClass, an international teacher-owned platform co-op set for launch next month. He hails from California but has been living in Warsaw, Poland, for nearly six years while working as an ESL teacher, in language schools and online.

    After speaking with other freelance teachers and professionals affected by pay cuts, he decided the best solution would be to launch a co-operatively owned online learning platform.

    The post Platform Co-op Plans Revolution For Online Tutoring And Teaching appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Baltimore Is Democratizing The Economy, One Pint At A Time

    On your first day working at Taharka Brothers, a majority-Black-owned ice cream maker in Baltimore, you can join the flavor committee and help create flavors like the limited holiday edition Sweet Potato Crumble. Or you can join the social justice committee and vet local organizations to support through ice cream sales, like the Baltimore Action Legal Team. If none of those are to your liking, there are other committees you can join.

    If you work there for at least 15 months and earn top marks on your most recent performance review, you can become a part-owner of Taharka Brothers, and have not just a say but also a final vote on major business decisions and policies like those performance reviews.

    The post Baltimore Is Democratizing The Economy, One Pint At A Time appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.