mat's notes and all that

Mayday in Grenada

Wed, 01 May 2013 21:24:02 +0100

Mayday in Grenada

Lovely spring day in Bethnal Green on Wednesday where I heard...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:11:29 +0100

Lovely spring day in Bethnal Green on Wednesday where I heard more about partipatory budgeting.

Global Organising

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:34:50 +0100

I’ve just had the privilige of spending two days in the company of the leading organisers from...

'Left Unity' another example of magical thinking?

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:26:00 +0100

Recently the UK left Facebook/Twitter/blogsphere has been alight with excited chatter… No,...

More brilliant...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:27:14 +0100

More brilliant http://blog.visual.ly/20-super-infographics-about-superheroes/

amprog: Check out the game where women always lose! Click HERE...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:14:54 +0100

amprog:

Check out the game where women always lose! Click HERE for the interactive version.

Collaborative Consumption?

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 20:18:00 +0100

I really do admire marketers (if you haven’t guessed by now!) not least their ability to adapt...

Wolff Olins Blog: Open Source Branding

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:16:08 +0100

Wolff Olins Blog: Open Source Branding: wolffolinsblog: By Mary Ellen Muckerman The night before...

Socialogy: Interview With Wil McInnes

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:16:00 +0000

Socialogy: Interview With Wil McInnes: The interivew I’ve reblogged below has a really...

Photo

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 20:13:32 +0000

smartercities: Vertical Farming Is Key to the Smart Cities of...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 23:51:30 +0000

smartercities:

Vertical Farming Is Key to the Smart Cities of the Future | STATETECH

Smart cities could look very different from today’s urban centers. Streetlights could be communicating with bus stops, and subway trains could be solar powered. Population growth will force local government leaders to rethink more than just transportation and housing. As the population increases, the real estate needed to grow the food we eat will become increasingly scarce. Some experts have suggested that a new agricultural approach called vertical farming, also known as urban farming, could solve this problem. In a model that is already being tested in Singapore, crops are grown indoors in tall buildings. The benefits are extensive, the technology is powerful and the results are delicious.

Can’t really add anything to this… From the...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:23:00 +0000

Can’t really add anything to this…

From the excellent Top Nonprofits

democracyatwork: How do you address the issue of competition in...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:33:00 +0000

democracyatwork:

How do you address the issue of competition in capitalist systems and how would it work in worker-owned business?

Listen to Professor Richard Wolff’s answer here.

Brilliant summing up in just a few minutes of why worker’s coops are a viable maket economic model

Meanwhile in this post Sustainable Prosperity looks at how the Steel Worker’s Union in the US is going into the cooperatives business.

This article in the Guardian from a week ago or so has a bit more depth on Mondragon from a slightly different but also broadly sympathetic perspective.

Cooperatives UK have cleverly produced this thoroughly researched paper that sets out the economic benefits of workers taking control of struggling businesses.

How does this translate into practice in the UK, and how do we use it to organise to build power?

I’ll have a think about that in an upcoming post.

Wolff Olins Blog: Doing well

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:40:09 +0000

Wolff Olins Blog: Doing well: wolffolinsblog: By Robert Jones Turn on the radio in the morning, and...

Photo

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:25:41 +0000

Photo

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:34:41 +0000

Source: adviceinteractivegroup.com via Clemens on Pinterest

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:42:00 +0000

Source: adviceinteractivegroup.com via Clemens on Pinterest

lessons from the mad men

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:00:00 +0000

This was originally a much longer post which Tumblr decided to eat before I could save it; thereby...

democracyatwork: Meet The Toolbox for Education and Social...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:13:48 +0000

democracyatwork:

Meet The Toolbox for Education and Social Action (TESA):

“We are: (left to right) Taliesin Nyala, Andrew Stachiw (with box), Dave Morgan (with board), and Brian Van Slyke. We are all worker owners at TESA.”

Do you love board games too? Check out Co-opoly: The Game of Cooperatives a game where players collaborate to found and run a democratic business.

I will come back to coops later - suffice it to say if done properly they can be vital tools for self organisation.

thepeoplesrecord: stephenclark: Israeli soldier posts...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:27:35 +0000

thepeoplesrecord:

stephenclark:

Israeli soldier posts instagram of Palestinian child in crosshairs of rifle

Shameful, sick, racist, not funny.

No - but powerful and illuminating.

I thing this says more about the conflict than a lot of more violent pictures.