Tonight’s performance is cancelled
It’s been quite a week; with some illness and sadness and stress. So, whilst writing this is my responsibility and my work; work that I value, enjoy and believe in, I’ve felt uninspired this week to write, and, actually, I can imagine that many of us can relate.
I was feeling this way as I read this recent post from the incredible The Nap Ministry:
I know that the current reality will be experienced differently by people depending on our proximity to and privilege in a global system where life is made that much more difficult for anyone who isn’t wealthy, white, male, cis-gendered, able-bodied and straight.
But even so… surely we’re still all feeling it on some level? That continuing on as we are is wild? That something is deeply wrong with this expectation that we should act as though nothing is going on; that we should carry on as ‘normal’ whilst the whole world faces the realities of the pandemic; whilst the climate crisis continues to wreak havoc around the globe; and whilst Black people continue to suffer violence at the hands of white people and white systems?
These systems force us to move fast and push hard and it’s destroying us.
So, if you’re able to manage it, to make time in days filled with uncertainty and anxiety, take a moment to rest. Even if it’s five minutes to sit and allow yourself to be, or an afternoon without your phone glued to your hand, or a gentle walk, an afternoon nap.
And if you get the chance, take a look through the thoughtful, creative and beautiful responses to this brilliant tweet sent by Dana White last week, that asks: “If capitalism wasn’t a thing and you had all your needs met, what would you do with your life?”
I like to think that, if nothing else, we might all feel able to rest a little more.
Commoning around the world
The case for climate justice
I love this new, beautifully illustrated booklet ‘The Case for Climate Justice’ from Global Justice Now by Jacob V Joyce and Andy Council.
Climate breakdown isn’t just an ecological crisis, serious though that is. It’s a crisis which exacerbates much of the inequality and injustice of the economic system it’s rooted in. But like climate change, economic systems are man-made.
This booklet argues that by building a climate justice movement that challenges the powerful, we can make a world where the needs of people and the planet matter more than corporate profits.
Read the booklet online or order a free copy here.
The Urban Commons cookbook
Which ingredients of a cooperative community project most help it succeed? What are urban commons and how do they fit into current activist and civil society debates? And what tools and methods do commoners need to strengthen their work? These are the three questions at the heart of The Urban Commons Cookbook, a handbook for those interested in starting, growing and supporting community-led projects.
Find out more about the new Urban Commons cookbook here.
Don’t get kicked out
If you’re in the USA and in danger of being kicked out of your home in the midst of the pandemic, Hasan Minaj and the Patriot Act program have put together this website to help. On it you can find out if your building qualifies for the federal eviction moratorium; find out the current eviction protections where you live and also find legal aid available in your area to help you stay in your home.
Check it out here.
In the community
Slow Factory Open Edu Fall courses
Admission is now open for these incredible Fall courses. The series offers Equity-Centered Education for Black, Brown, Indigenous and minority ethnic communities taught by Black, Brown, Indigenous and minority ethnic scholars, thinkers and educators
For more details visit the website here.
New Economic Curriculum webseries
The Black Economists Network and Open Economics Forum have put together this webseries. The first has already passed, but session 2 focusses on: “Is Economics a Useful or Useless Academic Discipline?”
Find out more on the event page here.
Support Rethinking Economics for Africa Festival 2020
Rethinking Economics for Africa Festival needs help to host a festival of pluralist and decolonised ideas to help rethink our economic system in October this year.
Find out more and contribute to their fundraiser at their website here.
Women’s Budget Group Call for Papers
The Women’s Budget Group Early-Career Networks’ 2nd Annual Conference will focus on ‘Social Reproduction: Theory, Practice & Public Policy’ and will take place on 11 Nov, partnered with
@GenderWorkGroup. The call for papers is OPEN! Submit abstracts to: anna.johnston@wbg.org.uk by 21st September.
Find out more here.
Design for Cultural Commons courses
Design for Cultural Commons has put together a series of courses on cultural/urban commons practices which will enable you to rigorously develop new forms of commons that we have not yet created without having to do a full MA/MPhil/PhD.
For more details click here or email Torange at t.khonsari@londonmet.ac.uk.
Creative Commons Global Summit
19–24 October, online, free
The 2020 CC Global Summit, to be held 19–24 October 2020, will be entirely online and free of cost. The event will be held in a variety of timezones and include programming in five languages: Arabic, English, French, Mandarin, and Spanish. By doing so, CC hopes the virtual version of the CC Global Summit will provide the open community with an intimate and localized space to gather and connect.
Find out more here.
This week, we are also reading (and watching)
Reclaiming work
Reclaiming Work is a real David versus Goliath story that follows the journeys of a number of European cycle couriers as they subvert cutting edge technology to challenge corporate giants like Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
Watch the short film by Black & Brown films in full here.
What’s the Point If We Can’t Have Fun?
From the wonderful David Graber, who sadly died last week, a wonderful article of his from 2014. He will be missed.
“My friend June Thunderstorm and I once spent a half an hour sitting in a meadow by a mountain lake, watching an inchworm dangle from the top of a stalk of grass, twist about in every possible direction, and then leap to the next stalk and do the same thing. And so it proceeded, in a vast circle, with what must have been a vast expenditure of energy, for what seemed like absolutely no reason at all.”
Read the full article here.
Quantifying national responsibility for climate breakdown: an equality-based attribution approach for carbon dioxide emissions in excess of the planetary boundary
A lengthy title for an important paper from Jason Hickel. This analysis proposes a novel method for quantifying national responsibility for damages related to climate change by looking at national contributions to cumulative CO2 emissions in excess of the planetary boundary of 350 ppm atmospheric CO2 concentration. This approach is rooted in the principle of equal per capita access to atmospheric commons.
Read the full paper here.
And a few words from the King
Like so many others, we were devestated to hear the news of the passing of Chadwick Boseman earlier this month. Sharing his motivation and touching commencement speech at Howard University from 2018.
Watch it here.
