[p2p-research] alternative economy approach

[Kevin Carson]

On 7/14/10, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
> hi kevin,
>
> sepp will be discussing this, but I wonder if you can add an extra
> perspective ...
>
> it seems to me these people are getting a number of things right, at least
> based on the literature: see
> http://www.thealternativeeconomy.org/faq.htm

They do seem to be getting some things right, but the problem IMO is
that they're reinventing the wheel.  We've got an endless supply of
attempts at creating a single, overarching umbrella/network
organization for the alternative economy, and it would be far better
to pick a single one -- whatever it is -- and stick with it.   And the
one to pick should be chosen based on network effects -- the number of
prominent alt economy organizations affiliated with it.

Global Villages and Transition Towns are two of the most promising
organizations, and IMO the Solidarity Economy Network is the single
most promising clearinghouse for coordinating such movements.  If you
look for a single nucleus where the most prominent alt economy
organizations are already affiliated, SEN is it.  It's comparable to
the creation of the I.W.W. as an umbrella organization in 1905, with
all the "big dawgs" in it:  Haywood from the Western Federation of
Miners, Debs from the ARA and Socialist Party, DeLeon from the SLP,
Mary "Mother" Jones, etc.

-- 
Kevin Carson
Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org
Mutualist Blog:  Free Market Anti-Capitalism
http://mutualist.blogspot.com
The Homebrew Industrial Revolution:  A Low-Overhead Manifesto
http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com
Organization Theory:  A Libertarian Perspective
http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2005/12/studies-in-anarchist-theory-of.html