Creating a new Economy in desperate times

By Greg Bryant

People are exhausted by the excesses of monopoly capitalism. Many ask "where's our vision of something better?" This is a little strange, since RAIN and many other publications have desrcibed not only visions, but endless successes in building alternative societies that tick all the boxes: equitable, fair, inspiring, ecologically sensitive, peaceful, empowering, democratic, self-managing, meaningful, self-sufficient, self-improving, and generous.

I'm going to try something a little different. Since people are retreating far into fictional worlds these days, watching what we all agree is too much online television, I'm going to describe a future in a fictional town that's very like many real towns in the world today, and how we could approach creating a better world in the place where things are worst.

This is a basic principle of organizing and improving places, by the way. Work on the worst place first. They have the least to lose. The work is highly leveraged.

But, and this is very important, remember that we're pre-figuring a better society. So, we're not imposing this on anyone. We're simply trying to find ways to empower people to build a better future.

And to do that, we'll need good communication, sharing of ideas, a spirit of mutual aid and shared purpose. The following is just a set of ideas to motivate people.

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Where do we start? We have no money. No jobs. No infrastructure. Things looks quite desperate.

You must remember that people have been in this situation before. Over and over again.

So, what DO we have? And what can we do with it?