Search Results for: parecon - New Search...
On May 20th major label recording artists and radical Leftists The International Noise Conspiracy began their very first headlining tour across Canada. The band is from Sweden and their first Canadian stop was in Vancouver at the Plaza Club. They formed in 1998 and their music has been described as “punk rock played like 70’s Read more…
For those interested in developing vision and strategy, exploring where we want to go as social movements, and how to get there, I thought you may be interested in an interview the Vancouver Parecon Collective did with Z commentator Stephen Shalom.We spoke to Stephen about his political vision “ParPolity: Political Vision for the Good Society”, Read more…
Ehrenreich: In the book Parecon, you make no mention, that I can find anyway, of remuneration for the work of “caring” in the home – child raising, caring for the elderly, etc. This is a big issue with feminists: how do you address it? Albert: I talk about this in various places, but perhaps at Read more…
Ehrenreich: Why don’t you call yourself a socialist? It seems to me Parecon is well within the socialist tradition. Are you uncomfortable with being associated with that tradition? Is the socialist tradition about fighting against domination and hierarchy in pursuit of classlessness and self management? Or is the socialist tradition about crushing grassroots direct involvement Read more…
Ehrenreich: You say your notion of parecon was influenced by your experiences with real “alternative” organizations like South End Press. Can you tell us something about these experiences and how they shaped your thinking? Parecon emerged conceptually from examining the experiences of many post capitalist economies and efforts, of course. And very central to that Read more…
Ehrenreich: Singer also asked, what do you do when changed conditions, say a natural disaster, require instant decision-making? How do you answer this question? Albert: The question about responding to changes in people’s preferences or in material conditions, whether modest or major, is very important, of course. Any economy needs to be flexible or it Read more…
Ehrenreich: OK, let’s forget about the slackers v. the nerds and approach the time issue in a more socially serious way. On a panel you organized at the 2003 World Social Forum, a former mayor of Porto Alegre described a real-life experiment in something like parecon — the city’s “participatory budget,” introduced by the Workers’ Read more…
Ehrenreich: That response raises all kinds of questions and sets off some alarm bells in my mind. To start with one of them, which may seem trivial, but is actually very central to our differing visions of a utopian arrangement: When you say “let’s say someone, really values time a whole lot,” I cringe. Is Read more…
Ehrenreich: Have you ever tried to calculate the human labor costs of all the planning involved in parecon? Or maybe I should say “time” not dollar “costs.” Yes, in the various books the issue of time allotment is certainly addressed. And the discussions not only look at the time it takes to plan, which is Read more…
Ehrenreich: Before proceeding to other matters, my big reason for wanting some things to remain marketized is that it would reduce the burden of planning. As you know, some have complained that parecon condemns us to endless meetings, so why not leave “non-essentials” to the market? Albert: Opting for some markets in order to reduce Read more…