Welcome to Nowtopia -- a space to explore radical and alternative economic ideas, such as degrowth, postcapitalism, eco-socialism, cooperatives, community economies, post-work and much more. Looking to join a community interested in postcapitalism? Sign up for the free Nowtopia Patreon here, where we will explore postcapitalism and economic alternatives together: www.patreon.com/Nowtopia
Great film! So many talented people and wonderful local organizations in Brno. Czech Republic is a good example of sustentable projects based on community solidarity.
I am a CSA (Community Supporter Agriculture) Farmer . I also have participated in farmer coops though the years. Private Business escaping the Gov Over Regulations & heavy fees for we farmers is a must. Exepting different forms of revenue such a labor, barter....are also without limits in the private (alternative Economy). Each private business or farm has their personal standards of sustainability members can support or not. I would like to see a group of about 300 families get together and buy 1000 acers. At the center of that community would be three sustainable farms. Around them farms would be a couple Doctors, Chiropractors, linen/wool producers, seamstress, hide producers, a couple attorneys. (PRODUCERS of All Kinds along with service worker). And in this community there is room for private property but there would be a private form of revenue. A closed cycle without need for the bigger Globalist system. No not a Commune but community being at the center.
There are no sacred cows in economics. Capitalism is no exception. All economic systems known to man have had and will have critics. Economic systems come and go over time, its called human history.
I am planning on doing a thesis on cracking Capitalism and functioning outside of the market, and I'm curious as to how these co-operatives stay afloat? Did I miss a part here?
Yes, nice comment. We couldn't go in depth on the economics of each in the film, because it varies from case to case. Some are given cheap access to buildings, or the garden (final segment in the film) is given permission from the former owners. Check out Chris Carlsson's book for more context on how non-market projects work. For workers' cooperatives, Richard Wolff and the Democracy At Work project have loads of resources - www.democracyatwork.info/ And then there's more academic stuff, like this: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1350508414539784
@@chicknorton8839 I (Tom) would count them as an interesting decommodified space, which connects men by bringing them together to tinker and make, like a makerspace. I guess they normally wouldn't be included because they're not necessarily politically radical or fashionable, but I know they do great work in communities. www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1016/j.jomh.2008.09.006
@@nowtopia Just because they aren't politically motivated, doesnt mean politics is absent in this area. I would believe everything is political, whether by design or not. Some practices take certain ideas and thoughts for granted or deem them as natural. I might not focus so much on them, but I'm in my early stages of my thesis so who knows.
GDP is Grossly Distorted Propaganda Double entry accounting is 700 years old. How is it that capitalist economists cannot think of something as simple as mandatory accounting in the schools. Search Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations for "and account". You will find multiple instances of "read, write and account".
My feeling is that too many humans have been raised in a culture of toxic shame. This is not new, but likely started when we shifted from hunter-gatherers to agrarian civilization. The reason capitalism exists in its current form, is a collective unconscious way of attempting to discharge that shame. Perhaps this shame is the original sin, but I digress. Humans collectively aren't healthy enough for egalitarian and environmental economies. We are trapped with this cycle of shame avoidance that is perpetuated onto each subsequent generation. How we escape from this, I don't know, but perhaps this is why we are doomed for extinction.
Thanks for the interesting comment! I agree with the sense of something deep and historical going wrong, but not so much that we are doomed for extinction. We have created a toxic culture, as you say, but we can also create healthy ones. Humans always have done both. That's what this channel is about. As for the role of shame, it's an interesting one -- do you have any other reading or source where I could learn more about that?
@@nowtopia I first started thinking about shame as a result of Brene Brown's TED Talk on Vulnerability and Wholeheartedness. Full disclosure, I grew up in a family that are proud to say, "They put the Funk in Dysfunctional". Awakening to my own story of abuse and neglect, I realized something, both about myself and I think capitalistic society at large. We chase the consumerism dopamine rush through acquisition, but what equates the dopamine release with extreme acquisition (3 homes, a plane, a yacht, etc.)? I believe we were all socialized to derive our self esteem through comparison. Keeping up with the Joneses as it were. If they get a new 4k TV, then we 'need' one too. This is especially true for individuals who grew up with thinking they did not have 'enough' or were 'enough' to win them connections, acceptance, and love. So put another way, I think we are all drug addicts, and that drug is consumerism. We consume disproportionately to get rush that numbs the pain so many people grew up with. I can't believe that people like Musk, Bezos, Buffet, Putin, etc. had happy, healthy childhoods.
So far Capitalism has managed to survive under it's efficiency and anonymity without a commensurate ontology!! Unless it errects a consistent ideology like Communism it wouldn't survive the onslaught of human quest for consistency!! That the Communists have gotten there first makes it that much more difficult for Capitalism!!
Collective and mutual aid-based economic strategies have existed through all of human history. This isn't a simplistic binary question of socialism/capitalism.
@@nowtopia UA-cam loves to delete my posts, any time I challenge the Left. Trying again. *"Collective and mutual aid-based economic strategies have existed through all of human history."* So has starvation and impoverishment. Collective businesses exist right now. Nobody is stopping anybody from forming a partnership with any number of people and sharing in the profits.
Hi Anthony. Yes, starvation and impoverishment have existed in the past, and exist now too. Often, today, it is due to the deprivations of capitalism, unfortunately. The key, surely, is to fairly assess all possibilities which might be appropriate to a place and people, and move forward from there. I feel our definitions of 'collective businesses' might differ -- I would prefer to look at cooperatives, for example, where there is a real equality among stakeholders, rather than for-profit businesses where there is extraction of wealth and concentration of profits for a few. Be good to keep these conversations going -- I'll respond to other comments tomorrow
@@nowtopia There is no starvation in the Western world. While poor people still exist, there is no comparison to the poverty outside the capitalist West. We have social safety nets as well, paid for by profits that are taxed. Everybody is getting wealthier. the average person in the West lives better than a King did 200 years ago. *"The key, surely, is to fairly assess all possibilities which might be appropriate to a place and people, and move forward from there."* This is rather vague. Unless there is a real and tangible economic system that can generate wealth for the masses there is no alternative to capitalism. Anybody can start a business. 1, 2, 10, or 1,000. They can all share the means of production and divide the profits anyway they choose. Equally split, according to hours worked, according to responsibility, any metric they choose. It is entirely up to them. It appears that socialists simply wish to steal the means of production from a successful enterprise. *"rather than for-profit businesses where there is extraction of wealth and concentration of profits for a few."* This is where all socialists start to drift from their understanding. Firstly, profits are nothing but a positive. A profit can only be derived by successfully providing humanity with what it wants, needs and demands. Failure to achieve this and no profit will be realized. It will be the investor who suffers. Profits in fact, are in direct correlation to how successful the product or service is. Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos make a lot of money because they created products and services that countless millions happily want and enjoy. Their lives, and society as a whole, are made better as a result of these products. Secondly, profits are the incentive and the reward for risk taking. It is the "select few" who take these risks, create the companies that provide these products and services who receive the profits. Why would anybody start a business, endure the enormous work and risks involved if they were forced to hand over their profits to an employee who simply filled out a resume? If you were entitled to receive the profits from a resume, everybody would choose employment, but there would be nobody staring a business. Sorry for the length.
Welcome to Nowtopia -- a space to explore radical and alternative economic ideas, such as degrowth, postcapitalism, eco-socialism, cooperatives, community economies, post-work and much more. Looking to join a community interested in postcapitalism? Sign up for the free Nowtopia Patreon here, where we will explore postcapitalism and economic alternatives together: www.patreon.com/Nowtopia
Nice ideas, nice share. Thank you!
Why doesn't this channel have more subscribers ?
Thanks! It will if you subscribe and tell some friends :)
@@nowtopia i will , keep up the good work and keep making videos.
Great document, thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great film! So many talented people and wonderful local organizations in Brno. Czech Republic is a good example of sustentable projects based on community solidarity.
I am a CSA (Community Supporter Agriculture) Farmer . I also have participated in farmer coops though the years. Private Business escaping the Gov Over Regulations & heavy fees for we farmers is a must. Exepting different forms of revenue such a labor, barter....are also without limits in the private (alternative Economy). Each private business or farm has their personal standards of sustainability members can support or not. I would like to see a group of about 300 families get together and buy 1000 acers. At the center of that community would be three sustainable farms. Around them farms would be a couple Doctors, Chiropractors, linen/wool producers, seamstress, hide producers, a couple attorneys. (PRODUCERS of All Kinds along with service worker). And in this community there is room for private property but there would be a private form of revenue. A closed cycle without need for the bigger Globalist system. No not a Commune but community being at the center.
There are no sacred cows in economics. Capitalism is no exception. All economic systems known to man have had and will have critics. Economic systems come and go over time, its called human history.
In the discipline of economics there are tonnes of sacred cows unfortunately!
I am planning on doing a thesis on cracking Capitalism and functioning outside of the market, and I'm curious as to how these co-operatives stay afloat? Did I miss a part here?
Yes, nice comment. We couldn't go in depth on the economics of each in the film, because it varies from case to case. Some are given cheap access to buildings, or the garden (final segment in the film) is given permission from the former owners. Check out Chris Carlsson's book for more context on how non-market projects work. For workers' cooperatives, Richard Wolff and the Democracy At Work project have loads of resources - www.democracyatwork.info/ And then there's more academic stuff, like this: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1350508414539784
@@nowtopia Thanks a million. One final question, Men's sheds are a type of workerspace right?
@@chicknorton8839 I (Tom) would count them as an interesting decommodified space, which connects men by bringing them together to tinker and make, like a makerspace. I guess they normally wouldn't be included because they're not necessarily politically radical or fashionable, but I know they do great work in communities. www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1016/j.jomh.2008.09.006
@@nowtopia Just because they aren't politically motivated, doesnt mean politics is absent in this area. I would believe everything is political, whether by design or not. Some practices take certain ideas and thoughts for granted or deem them as natural. I might not focus so much on them, but I'm in my early stages of my thesis so who knows.
@@chicknorton8839 Yes, agreed on that! Best of luck with the thesis
Any idea what book the woman is talking about around 4'20? A book by a Richard ...
That would be Short Circuit by Richard Douthwaite, a pioneering ecological economist
It's a shame how many people in Czech republic had false hope at 1989 that their lives will get better !!
GDP is Grossly Distorted Propaganda
Double entry accounting is 700 years old.
How is it that capitalist economists cannot think of something as simple as mandatory accounting in the schools.
Search Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations for "and account". You will find multiple instances of "read, write and account".
My feeling is that too many humans have been raised in a culture of toxic shame. This is not new, but likely started when we shifted from hunter-gatherers to agrarian civilization. The reason capitalism exists in its current form, is a collective unconscious way of attempting to discharge that shame. Perhaps this shame is the original sin, but I digress. Humans collectively aren't healthy enough for egalitarian and environmental economies. We are trapped with this cycle of shame avoidance that is perpetuated onto each subsequent generation. How we escape from this, I don't know, but perhaps this is why we are doomed for extinction.
Thanks for the interesting comment! I agree with the sense of something deep and historical going wrong, but not so much that we are doomed for extinction. We have created a toxic culture, as you say, but we can also create healthy ones. Humans always have done both. That's what this channel is about. As for the role of shame, it's an interesting one -- do you have any other reading or source where I could learn more about that?
@@nowtopia I first started thinking about shame as a result of Brene Brown's TED Talk on Vulnerability and Wholeheartedness. Full disclosure, I grew up in a family that are proud to say, "They put the Funk in Dysfunctional". Awakening to my own story of abuse and neglect, I realized something, both about myself and I think capitalistic society at large. We chase the consumerism dopamine rush through acquisition, but what equates the dopamine release with extreme acquisition (3 homes, a plane, a yacht, etc.)? I believe we were all socialized to derive our self esteem through comparison. Keeping up with the Joneses as it were. If they get a new 4k TV, then we 'need' one too. This is especially true for individuals who grew up with thinking they did not have 'enough' or were 'enough' to win them connections, acceptance, and love. So put another way, I think we are all drug addicts, and that drug is consumerism. We consume disproportionately to get rush that numbs the pain so many people grew up with. I can't believe that people like Musk, Bezos, Buffet, Putin, etc. had happy, healthy childhoods.
@@AVADAMS1967 Yes, thanks for sharing. Definitely agree with this!
So far Capitalism has managed to survive under it's efficiency and anonymity without a commensurate ontology!! Unless it errects a consistent ideology like Communism it wouldn't survive the onslaught of human quest for consistency!! That the Communists have gotten there first makes it that much more difficult for Capitalism!!
Interesting comment. Is there a particular author/thinker/school that inspires you around the 'human quest for consistency'?
I heard "Lets invent new ways to invoke socialism and undermine capitalism."
Collective and mutual aid-based economic strategies have existed through all of human history. This isn't a simplistic binary question of socialism/capitalism.
@@nowtopia UA-cam loves to delete my posts, any time I challenge the Left. Trying again.
*"Collective and mutual aid-based economic strategies have existed through all of human history."* So has starvation and impoverishment. Collective businesses exist right now. Nobody is stopping anybody from forming a partnership with any number of people and sharing in the profits.
Hi Anthony. Yes, starvation and impoverishment have existed in the past, and exist now too. Often, today, it is due to the deprivations of capitalism, unfortunately. The key, surely, is to fairly assess all possibilities which might be appropriate to a place and people, and move forward from there.
I feel our definitions of 'collective businesses' might differ -- I would prefer to look at cooperatives, for example, where there is a real equality among stakeholders, rather than for-profit businesses where there is extraction of wealth and concentration of profits for a few.
Be good to keep these conversations going -- I'll respond to other comments tomorrow
@@nowtopia There is no starvation in the Western world. While poor people still exist, there is no comparison to the poverty outside the capitalist West. We have social safety nets as well, paid for by profits that are taxed. Everybody is getting wealthier. the average person in the West lives better than a King did 200 years ago.
*"The key, surely, is to fairly assess all possibilities which might be appropriate to a place and people, and move forward from there."* This is rather vague. Unless there is a real and tangible economic system that can generate wealth for the masses there is no alternative to capitalism.
Anybody can start a business. 1, 2, 10, or 1,000. They can all share the means of production and divide the profits anyway they choose. Equally split, according to hours worked, according to responsibility, any metric they choose. It is entirely up to them. It appears that socialists simply wish to steal the means of production from a successful enterprise.
*"rather than for-profit businesses where there is extraction of wealth and concentration of profits for a few."* This is where all socialists start to drift from their understanding. Firstly, profits are nothing but a positive. A profit can only be derived by successfully providing humanity with what it wants, needs and demands. Failure to achieve this and no profit will be realized. It will be the investor who suffers. Profits in fact, are in direct correlation to how successful the product or service is. Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos make a lot of money because they created products and services that countless millions happily want and enjoy. Their lives, and society as a whole, are made better as a result of these products.
Secondly, profits are the incentive and the reward for risk taking. It is the "select few" who take these risks, create the companies that provide these products and services who receive the profits. Why would anybody start a business, endure the enormous work and risks involved if they were forced to hand over their profits to an employee who simply filled out a resume? If you were entitled to receive the profits from a resume, everybody would choose employment, but there would be nobody staring a business. Sorry for the length.