OWS ARTS & LABOR TEACH-IN: Alternative Economies: Occupy, Resist, Produce

OWS ARTS & LABOR TEACH-IN
Alternative Economies: Occupy, Resist, Produce
300 Nevins St., Brooklyn
February 19, 2012, 3-6pm
Contact: owsartsandlabor@gmail.com

So far remotely done power and glory–as via government, big business, formal education, church–has succeeded to the point where gross defects obscure actual gains. In response to this dilemma and to these gains, a real intimate, personal power is developing–the power of individuals to conduct their own education, find their own inspiration, shape their own environment, and share the adventure with whoever is interested. Preface to the Whole Earth Catalog (excerpt)

Like Stewart Brand’s infamous Whole Earth Catalog, this first installment of the Arts and Labor Alternative Economies Teach-Ins is chock-a-block with practical tools and impossible ideas. Today, people talk about alternative economies using all kinds of terms: The Commons, Solidarity Economies, Communization, Inclusive Democracy, Participatory Economy, Anarchist Consensual Democracy, Libertarian Municipalism, and even bolo’bolo. Whatever their partisan affiliation, these diverse thinkers and doers agree that the current economy is a mess, something must be done about it, right now, by any means necessary.

Despite a resurgent interest in collective and social practice, little emphasis has been placed on the internal relationships that allow creativity to prosper; the labor of nurturing and maintaining often goes under-recognized. As a start, reassessing invisible forms of labor and instituting models that emphasize care underscores the fact that even a solo art practice requires collaboration.

Bring your wired minds, your open hearts, talky mouths and listening ears. We can discuss what we like in the current art economy and what we don’t. We can familiarize ourselves with ideas like Participatory Budgeting, Living Wage, Cohousing, Economically Targeted Investment Programs (ETIs), Worker Cooperatives, Loft Law, Collective Bargaining, Community Land Trusts (CLT), and Worker Justice Centers. We can share our desires and visions for the future. We can just hang out and get to know each other.

Related Event:
OWS MAKING WORLDS: THE COMMONS FORUM
FEBRUARY 16 – 18, 2012, Location TBD

http://makingworlds.wikispaces.com/

Suggested Readings:
Ethan Miller, Solidarity Economy: Key Concepts and Issues: http://www.communityeconomies.org/site/assets/media/Ethan_Miller/Miller_Solidarity_Economy_Key_Issues_2010.pdf

Christian Siefke, The Commons of the Future: Building Blocks for a Commons-based Society: http://www.commoner.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/siefkes_future-commons.pdf

Endnotes, Communisation and Value Form-Theory: http://endnotes.org.uk/articles/4