Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Excellent Profile of Enric Duran and Catalan Integral Cooperative

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, April 17, 2015

Excellent Profile of Enric Duran and Catalan Integral Cooperative

Click here to access article by David Bollier from his blog.

This article functions as an introduction to a much longer article about the development of a cooperative venture in the Catalan region of Spain. The venture seeks to build a network of cooperatives and one which has its own currency.

The Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC, pronounced “seek”) is surely one of the more audacious commons-based innovations to have emerged in the past five years. It is notable for providing a legal and financial superstructure that is helping to support a wide variety of smaller self-organized commons.