This week, we have a short video from Mari Nishitani introducing the Green Halcones worker cooperative, based in Los Angeles, California.
Then David Bollier interviews English photographer, writer, and filmmaker Leah Gordon about a new book she has co-authored on the history of the English commons.
Introducing Green Halcones
by Mari Nishitani
"Hi, we are Green Halcones, a social cooperative owned by formerly incarcerated individuals based in Los Angeles, California. We are working to make neighborhoods beautiful, grow healthy food, and protect the environment for future generations."
English Land Commoners and Their Folk Culture
by David Bollier
It quickly becomes clear that Common People is not just a history of commons. It is also about how memory of the commons persists through a shared culture, shaping contemporary life and politics. The book contains a photo of the Travelly Well, which has been used to water livestock for thousands of years; it is near an ancient route used by travelers. In Longmead, England, commoners host a spectacular event twice a year in which herding dogs escort large flocks of sheep back from common fields in the highlands.Â
Â
Learning From Recent Efforts to Create Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives
Center for Housing Studies — As the unflagging challenge of housing affordability spreads to all corners of the country, novel efforts to increase the prevalence of limited equity cooperatives (LECs) are getting underway. Long a model most associated with a handful of Northeastern markets, this new interest spans an array of cities in many different parts of the country, with projects taking shape in places as diverse as Missoula, Nashville, Seattle, and Portland, Maine...
Ownership, Participation, and Leadership in Worker Cooperatives
Academia.edu — This thesis attempts to broaden the understanding of workplace democracy and worker cooperatives particularly focusing on ownership, participation and leadership. Four cases are reviewed: the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation in the Basque region of Spain, the national worker self-management system of the former Yugoslavia, and political and labor histories of Argentina and the United States of America. Representatives of five cooperatives in Buenos Aires, Argentina and three in San Francisco, USA were interviewed...
Cooperate, or Perish
Manzanita Interactive (Steam) — Before Dandelion Void, the founding members of Manzanita Interactive were rank-and-file employees at different companies in the video game industry. After witnessing many of the biggest problems in the games industry – layoffs, crunch, loss of credits, and harassment to name a few – we realized that we deserved better.
Most of us met each other as members of the movement to unionize the game industry, through an organization called Game Workers of Southern California. Dara and Robin helped unionize the indie company they were working at, and eventually bargained our country’s first-ever union contract for game developers. Roland and Brian helped cofound the United Videogame Workers-CWA, an all-inclusive direct-join union spanning across all roles in the industry
Â
Â
Â
Like what you find on GEO?
Make a Donation Today!
Your tax-deductible contribution ensures that GEO can continue to provide independent grassroots content about the cooperative and solidarity economy movements.
Got something to say?
Let us know. Send your comments, suggestions, rants and article submissions to editors@geo.coop.
Follow us on Social Media
Mastodon: social.coop/@GEO_Collective
BlueSky: @geocollective.bsky.social
FB: facebook.com/GEOCollective
Instagram: instagram.com/grassrootsecon
Â
Our mailing address is:
Grassroots Economic Organizing
P.O. Box 115
Riverdale MD 20738-0115
