Funding Cooperative City: Community Finance and the Economy of Civic Spaces

2018-06-15T15:12:34+01:00Tags: , , , |

Situated in the post-welfare transition of European societies within the context defined by austerity measures, unemployment, the financialisation of real estate stocks and the gradual withdrawal of public administrations from social services, this book aims at highlighting the importance of self-organised, locally rooted, inclusive and resilient community networks and civic spaces.

Think like a commoner

2018-06-15T14:41:39+01:00Tags: |

The book explains how the commons: is an exploding field of DIY innovation ranging from Wikipedia and seed-sharing to community forests and collaborative consumption, and beyond; challenges the standard narrative of market economics by explaining how cooperation generates significant value and human fulfillment; and provides a framework of law and social action that can help us move beyond the pathologies of neoliberal capitalism.

O komuni

2020-11-12T01:03:14+01:00Tags: , , |

Neodvojivi deo Kardeljevog stvaralaštva je i njegovo neposredno i stalno teorijsko i praktično angažovanje na pitanjima komune i komunalnog sistema na svim etapama izgradnje i razvoja našeg socijalističkog samoupravnog društva. Polazeći od toga da je komuna socijalistička samoupravna humana zajednica ljudi, složen sistem društvenih odnosa i osnovna društvena zajednica u kojoj radni čovek i građanin može i treba da ostvaruje najveći deo svojih osnovnih interesa, prava, dužnosti i odgovornosti, Kardelj je na svim etapama razvoja jugoslovenskog samoupravnog društva ne samo isticao značaj komune i teorijski objašnjavao pojedine njene aspekte nego upravo aktivno i neposredno radio na razrešavanju svih pitanja i problema u ovoj oblasti. I u prilikama kada su razmatrana druga pitanja i odnosi u društvu i tražena rešenja za druge probleme u razvoju samoupravljanja, on je posebno isticao važnost i značaj rešavanja određenih pitanja u komuni, odnosno polazio od toga da je za ukupan razvoj socijalističkih samoupravnih odnosa u društvu bitno stanje samoupravnih odnosa u komuni. U ovoj knjizi sakupljeni su Kardeljevi radovi o komuni. Termin „radovi” treba uzeti sasvim uslovno. U knjizi su i studije ili njihovi delovi koji se odnose na komunu i sistematizovana i pripremljena izlaganja ili članai i intervjui, ali i mnogi govori i razgovori u različitim prilikama susreta sa ljudima iz opština — na skupovima Stalne konferencije gradova, na sastancima političkih aktiva, sa predstavnicima mesnih zajednica;, u radničkim sredinama, na savetovanjima i seminarima. Opširan predgovor napisao je Živorad Kovačević.

Spaces of Commoning. Artistic Research and the Utopia of Everyday

2018-06-15T14:43:11+01:00Tags: |

The texts assembled in this book are a sincere attempt to document the trials and errors in a study of commoning, a series of disruptions, failures, of falling apart, and the search for means to come together again. With this in mind, many of the contributions here do confront questions of methodology: they reflect on methods that support the study as well as the practice of commoning, methods that cherish critical reexamination and allow for unresolved dilemmas.

Inventing a technological commons: Confronting the engine of Macron

2018-06-15T14:16:34+01:00Tags: , , |

Here we discuss what we see as one new political strategy in the wars of position in contemporary capitalism. We suggest that Coopcycle, an online app invented for cooperative organizations of delivery workers, may be initiating an innovative left strategy of class struggle by activating a new form of mobilization that confronts changing work organization and technology in line with the changing subjectivities and class alliances of the current era.

Towards Experimental Urbanism

2018-06-15T14:56:37+01:00Tags: , |

Architecture and urban design are usually seen as tools of dominant spatial practices. They are either believed to mask the interests of power and money, or to represent aesthetic concerns that have little to offer for critical theory of space. I counter this view by showing that through rethinking the conception of space in architecture and urban design, as well as the notion of design itself, it is possible to outline a critical and emancipatory design practice, experiential urbanism.

Taken literarly

2018-06-15T14:37:35+01:00Tags: , |

The authors revisit the evolution of regulation of ownership in the field of intellectual production and housing as two examples of the historical dead-end in which we find ourselves.

State of insecurity: Government of the precarious

2020-11-12T00:59:02+01:00Tags: , , |

From the review by Ana Vujanović: The political theorist Isabell Lorey has appeared as one of the most striking European voices in the recent debate on precarity and precarization in neoliberalism. Her theoretical discourse draws from the referential frameworks of political and biopolitical theory, feminism, gender and postcolonial studies, as well as of recent social and political movements, such as Euromayday, Occupy and 15-M. This invigorating and politically sharp intersection has created a potent critical platform for analyzing representative democracy, biopolitical governmentality, immunization, and precarization, which belong to Lorey's main concerns. Isabell Lorey is particularly concerned with the neoliberal “state of insecurity” and how it relates to the process of precarization. In fact, although the book is entitled State of Insecurity, it could also be considered a sequel of Lorey’s long-term research on precarity, a sequel that focuses on how precarization is immersed in neoliberal government of and by insecurity. The line that opens the book reads: “If we fail to understand precarization, then we understand neither the politics nor the economy of the present."

Labour as a commons: The example of workers-recuperated companies

2020-11-12T22:02:30+01:00Tags: , , , |

This article argues that labour can be understood as a commons, located in the discussion of how commons can advance the transformation of social relations and society. To manage labour as a commons entails a shift away from the perception of labour power as the object of capital’s value practices, towards a notion of labour power as a collectively and sustainably managed resource for the benefit of society. Given that social change is largely a result of social struggle, it is crucial to examine germinal forms of labour as a commons present in society. I focus my analysis on worker-recuperated companies in Latin America and Europe. Worker-recuperated companies are enterprises self-managed by their workers after the owners close them down. Despite operating within the hegemonic capitalist market, they do not adopt capitalist rationality and are proven viable. Worker-recuperated companies offer a new perspective on labour as a commons.

The future of the commons

2018-06-15T15:04:10+01:00Tags: , , , , |

In this essay, David Harvey argues that the real problem demanding our attention is private property, not the commons itself. The capitalist commons is being continuously enclosed, but it is also being continuously produced. To fulfill our common interests, we need to look to the powers of collective labor to address capitalism's destruction of land and labor resources.

Alternativno radno zakonodavstvo

2020-11-12T23:26:08+01:00Tags: , , |

Ova studija ima za cilj da pokaže koje alternative postojećem dogmatskom prihvatanju divljeg neoliberalizma i predatorskog kapitalizma u Srbiji postoje, kao i kako se one mogu implementirati kroz izmene radnog zakonodavstva. Prvi deo studije odnosi se na kritičku analizu osnovnih postulata na kojima počivaju nedavne i najavljene buduće izmene propisa. Potom će se u naredna dva dela predstaviti individualna i kolektivna prava zaposlenih, uz predloge konkretnih izmena propisa koje bi mogle dovesti do implementacije alternativnih rešenja za normiranje radnih odnosa. Konačno, u zaključnim razmatranjima će se posvetiti pažnja sintezi svega iznetog u ocenu sistema koji bi potencijalno mogao da funkcioniše kao samostalan i uspešan, u datim okolnostima u Srbiji. Osnovna hipoteza kojom se analiza rukovodi jeste da su alternative trenutnom stanju ne samo moguće (u normativnom i ekonomskom smislu) već i nužne i racionalne, jer aktuelne politike ne mogu održati čak ni trenutno stanje na duži rok. Budući da u trci do dna dno zapravo ne postoji, jer se uvek može otići korak niže od konkurenata u privlačenju investicija, jedini dugoročni plan može biti napuštanje trenutnih odnosa i jačanje kontrolne i socijalne uloge države. U analizi se odlazi i korak dalje pa se osim nužnosti postojanja alternativa, one razvijaju a ponekad i konkretno normativno uobličavaju. Kroz istraživanje se dakle postavljaju pitanja ali se daju i odgovori, koji mogu biti tumačeni i primenjeni u daljoj praksi i politikama u skladu sa individualnim pogledima i stavovima, ali suštinski nude rešenja zasnovana na nekim univerzalnim vrednostima koja predstavljaju civilizacijsko dostignuće, koja se zasnivaju na osnovama ljudskih prava i sloboda i nadogradnji kroz praksu univerzalnih i regionalnih instrumenata i tela, i čija primena niti u jednom trenutku ne sme postati upitna.

Commonism. A new aesthetics of the real

2020-11-12T01:05:50+01:00Tags: , , , |

The book explores the ideological thoughts under the notion of the commons and asks how this shapes the reality of our living together. Pays attention to the aesthetic dimension of communism as an ideology: what artistic strategies and what aesthetics do commoners adopt? After half a century of neoliberalism, a new radical, practice-based ideology is making its way from the margins: commonism, with an o in the middle. It is based on the values of sharing, common (intellectual) ownership and new social co-operations. Commoners assert that social relationships can replace money (contract) relationships. They advocate solidarity and they trust in peer-to-peer relationships to develop new ways of production. Commonism maps those new ideological thoughts. How do they work and, especially, what is their aesthetics? How do they shape the reality of our living together? Is there another, more just future imaginable through the commons? What strategies and what aesthetics do commoners adopt? This book explores this new political belief system, alternating between theoretical analysis, wild artistic speculation, inspiring art examples, almost empirical observations and critical reflection.

The dynamism of the new economy: Non-standard employment and access to social security in EU-28

2020-11-12T23:00:56+01:00Tags: , |

This paper examines the prevalence of non-standard workers in EU-28, rules for accessing social security, and these workers’ risk of not being able to access it. It focuses on temporary and part-time workers, and the self-employed, and offers a particularly detailed analysis of their access to unemployment benefits. It focuses on eligibility, adequacy (net income replacement rates) and identifies those workers which are at the greatest risk of either not receiving benefits or receiving low benefits. It offers a special overview of foreign non-standard workers, who may be particularly vulnerable due to the absence of citizenship in the host country. The paper also analyses access to maternity and sickness benefits for these three groups of workers, as well as their access to pensions. Its key contribution is in bringing together the different dimensions of disadvantage that non-standard workers face vis-à-vis access to social protection. This allows us to comprehensively assess the adaptation of national social security systems across EU-28 to the changing world of work over the past 10 years. The paper shows that there is a lot of variation between the Member States, both in the structure of their social security systems, as well as the prevalence of non-standard work. Most notably, the paper concludes that: i) access to unemployment benefits is the most challenging component of welfare state provision for people in non-standard employment; ii) policy reforms vis-à-vis access to social benefits have improved the status of non-standard workers in several countries, while they have worsened it in others, particularly in Bulgaria, Ireland and Latvia; iii) some Eastern European countries can offer lessons to other Member States due to their experiences with labour market challenges during transition and the subsequent adaptations of their social security systems to greater labour market flexibility. The paper also implies that a country’s policy towards nonstandard work cannot be examined in isolation from its labour market conditions, as well as its growth model, and that uniform policy solutions for non-standard work cannot be applied across EU-28.

The Bolshevik Revolution: One hundred years after

2020-11-12T01:00:56+01:00Tags: , |

This issue of Crisis and Critique brings together some of the most important contemporary thinkers, who engage with the historical, political and philosophical resonances of the Bolshevik Revolution into our context.They engage with different dimensions which compose the Bolshevik Event and its aftermath.The point is not to reassert the relevance of the Revolution, nor explore the possibilities of faithfulness to it, but rather, the aim of this issue is to claim that politics of emancipation, philosophy and history cannot be the same after this Revolution. It is a unavoidable point of reference, one that cannot be simply ignored.

Ekonomska demokratija kao deo političkog programa nove levice

2022-03-24T10:09:56+01:00Tags: , |

Cilj ovog eseja je da predloži novi fokus leve ekonomske politike koja je decenijama unazad zaglavljena i sterilna u pogledu adresiranja potreba radničke i srednje klase. Umesto da bude mobilizovano kroz zdrav levi i demokratski populizam, levo političko telo uspešno je adresirao autokratski i društveno reakcionarni desni populizam. Ovaj esej predstavlja pokušaj redefinisanja leve ekonomske politike, bazirane na idejama i međunarodnom iskustvu ekonomske demokratije.

Vazduh kao zajedničko dobro

2022-07-08T15:08:34+01:00Tags: , |

Zagađenje vazduha dolazi iz različitih izvora i oni su se kroz istoriju menjali, kao i njegova koncentracija, ali uzrok je uvek ostajao isti, a to je društvo u kojem živimo. U ovoj knjizi obrađeni su istorijski nivo zagađenja vazduha, trenutni kvalitet vazduha, kao i društveno-ekonomski razlozi i dominantni narativi koji doprinose lošijem kvalitetu vazduha. Čist vazduh i zdrava životna sredina morali bi da budu zajednička dobra koja su svima dostupna, a do toga je moguće doći pre svega politizacijom ove borbe i društvenim promenama.

Zajednička dobra i granice kapitalizma

2018-06-15T14:12:42+01:00Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Publikacija predstavlja niz uvodnih studija koje povezuje jedno jednostavno pitanje: kakva je uloga zajedničkih dobara u prošlim društvima i na koji način ona mogu pomoći u izgradnji budućih. S tim na umu, ova publikacija proučava pojam zajedničkih dobara kroz kritiku kapitalizma kao sistema robne proizvodnje i rasprave o njegovim mogućim alternativa.

The Limits of Eco-Localism: Scale, Strategy, Socialism

2018-06-15T14:49:52+01:00Tags: , , , |

If 'place' and 'local space' are where the 'tangible solidarities' necessary to build an alternate way of life, and an anti-neoliberal politics, must form, then we cannot avoid confronting the systematic obstacles that have to be overcome in realizing such a project. Claims that sustainable local ecologies can serve as the foundation for political action and social alternatives at least require careful scrutiny.

Postajanje majkom u vreme neoliberalnog kapitalizma

2020-11-12T01:09:07+01:00Tags: , |

Knjiga Postajanje majkom sadrži umetniãke radove, interdisciplinarne studije iz oblasti humanistiãkih i društvenih nauka, kao i tekstove koji se bave promišljanjem liãnog i aktivistiãkog iskustva i rada. Nastajala je u procesu istraživanja koje je sprovedeno kako bi se preispitale institucionalizovane prakse materinstva u savremenom društvu, njihovi efekti u svakodnevnom životu, kao i vidovi otpora i (radikalne) politiãke subjektivizacije u odnosu na njih. Knjiga je usmerena na demistifikaciju, denaturalizaciju i reevaluaciju normi materinstva koje uvek ukazuju na odnose u specifiãnim materijalnim uslovima i okolnostima centriranja ili decentriranja javne ili privatne moçi ili društvenosti. Bavi se materinstvom kao globalnim problemom, kroz analize i iskustva angažmana u pojedinim zemljama, ali ukazuje i na specifiãnosti lokalnog konteksta, kroz iskustva u pojedinim bivšim jugoslovenskim republikama, što predstavlja pokušaj povezivanja odre∂enih globalnih trendova sa posebnostima u lokalnoj sredini.

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