Kind: Notes

Finished [[The Care Manifesto]]. Looks at care at the level of kin, community, state, economies, and world as a whole. Recommended – short punchy read, enjoyed it a lot. Lots of good stuff in there: commons, ecosocialism, participatory democracy, public spaces, libraries (of books and of things), coops, municipalism etc. Felt a bit of a shopping list of good things rather than processes to enact them, but nice packaging of it all together.

h/t to @adamgreenfield@social.coop who shared it a while back

“A Course on Capitalism, Solidarity and How We Get free”.

Looks very handy. Course-based overview of the issues with capitalism, different types of socialist economics, the solidarity economy. Maybe not that much in it if you already got some familiarity with these topics but looks great as a refresher or something to share with others.

https://economics4emancipation.net

#Amazon workers at the Coventry depot are going on strike again for a full week this week.

"By joining together in a union, and taking collective action, these workers are realising they have the power to win" — #MakeAmazonPay

Support their strike fund:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/gmb-are-standing-with-amazon-workers

#Palantir were supposed to take part in a public debate with Foxglove about their £480 million part in the new #NHS data platform. But they’ve pulled out last minute.

Such a big role in the running of the NHS needs to be discussed publicly. Foxglove have a campaign to email Secretary of State for Health Steve Barclay to ask why this isn’t happening:

https://www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/palantir-dodged-the-debate/

Writing to my MP again. (He never writes back.)

Don’t let #Palantir anywhere near NHS data.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/dont-hand-nhs-patient-data-to-palantir-email-your-mp

Anyone has some info on Overture Maps?

The #OpenStreetMap Foundation try to strike a cautiously optimistic here:

Views from the OpenStreetMap Foundation on the launch of Overture

but given the players behind it (Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Tomtom) it feels like it’ll be some long-term play for muscling out and enclosure of a commons…

Getting a bit addicted to editing my local area on #OpenStreetMap. It is a great way to get to know where you live. I’ve been updating the local park, adding missing footpaths, tracing buildings, etc.

The web interface for editing is a fantastic tool.

And, reassuringly, a friendly soul got in touch to let me me know that the aerial imagery is slightly out in my area and that I might need to realign. Someone’s keeping an eye on things!

Did my 50th ever #ParkRun today!

I used to do it pretty consistently back in London for a while, now getting back in to my stride again after a move back up North and a global pandemic.

As is tradition I took some chocolates along for people to eat after spending their morning being healthy.

This is a nice article about [[mutual aid]] in #Barrow.

How a Cumbrian Community is Building Working Class Confidence

Ormsgill Stronger Together are doing good stuff, they have a fundraiser going to try and raise 5k for the warm space and community fridge at the moment: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/ormsgill-warm-hub-and-community-fridge

Taxation only gets you so far, but still, seems like a good move.

"This week the city of Barcelona showed that it is possible to Make Amazon Pay. The city council approved a new “Amazon tax” — a fee on large e-commerce companies’ to reflect their — formerly free — use of public space for home deliveries."

https://www.barcelona.cat/en/noticia/pioneering-tax-to-regulate-the-use-of-public-space-by-large-postal-operators-2_1258643