Continuing to read: [[Platform Socialism]]. Liked the chapter on guild socialism and democratic planning, heavily featuring G. D. H. Cole and Otto Neurath. And the subsequent chapter on civic platforms, featuring platform cooperativism, new municipalism, public-commons partnerships, all that good stuff.
Kind: Notes
Pluto Press currently has 90% off all ebooks.
Learning a bit about guild socialism through reading Platform Socialism. It sounds good. Good healthy dollops of municipalism and subsidiarity.
The local fish’n’chip shop is closing down, due to the cost of rent, energy bills, and general inflation of cost of products. TIL: 75 per cent of the world’s sunflower oil used to come from Russia and Ukraine, and 50% of white fish came from Russia.
#BritainIsGoingGreat
We out-of-the-blue saw a little treecreeper today, very cutely shimmying up a trunk.
And a little family of bullfinches.
#birds
Emailed my MP (via Foxglove) asking where they stand on #Palantir getting the contract to run the [[NHS Federated Data Platform]]. It is absolutely abhorrent that Palantir might profit from the administration of #NHS patient data. https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2022/11/16/nhs-patient-data-palantir-email-your-mp/
Enjoying the ramping up of #governance discussion that’s been happening in #socialcoop lately.
Reminded of some ideas I really liked from Alison Powell’s book [[Undoing Optimization: Civic Action in Smart Cities]]:
"In contrast to the smooth optimization that constrains citizenship, friction slows down the process and requires negotiation, balance, and acceptance of similarity within difference."
#Friction is not always bad. #Optimization is not always good.
Uploading the repair data from our local groups’ most recent repair cafe, it’s pleasing to see that we helped stop about 25 kg of things entering the waste stream, and perhaps ~200 kg of emissions of CO2e in the manufacture of new things.
But even more pleasing is that ~10 people shared their time and knowledge to help fix things. ~20 people cared enough to bring something along to make it last longer. Conversations were had, skills were shared, the community centre was buzzing. #BuenVivir.
Amazon workers on strike today, asking for:
– fair wages
– Amazon to pay its taxes
– Amazon to not destroy the planet
Solidarity to those workers. Next step: dissolution of Amazon altogether…
#MakeAmazonPay
I’ve been reading this article: [[Digital Ecosocialism: Breaking the power of Big Tech]]
Presents ‘#DigitalTechDeal’ with values of anti-imperialism, sustainability, social justice, worker empowerment, democratic control, class abolition. 10 principles: ditch IP, socialise and decentralise all the things (infrastructure, platforms, data), etc
Stronger on the socialist than the eco? More depth on the nod to staying within planetary boundaries would be nice.
Thoughts?