‘Dark municipalism’ – the dangers of local politics
Even as anti-authoritarian, anti-racist movements all over the world are working to take power where they live, self-described localist movements have also won elections with racist, and frankly fascist, platforms. New right movements like the Lega Nord have even adopted the more typically leftist, anti-authoritarian…
How radical municipalism can go beyond the local
While today’s crises require action on a big scale, fighting for local democracy is the best chance to address them. Given that capitalism works at scale, radical municipalism requires collaboration at higher level to be successful. Gatherings as the Fearless Cities Summit in New York…
The “Preston Model” and the modern politics municipal socialism
The local elections in 2018 showed some advances in the modification of the once-called ‘the oldest and toughest plutocracy in the world’, but the mixed results underscored the difficulty of mobilisation around a stale and sterile managerialist model of local government, as embodied in all…
How radical municipalism can go beyond the local
The rise of loneliness worldwide, the centrality of real estate speculation for global economic growth, and the breakdown of many large-scale factories that helped to bring workers together mean that we have to rethink the ways we demand change. We can build community and force…
Organizing beyond organizations: Good news stories from Spain and Taiwan
Social movements in Spain and Taiwan are experiencing new developments in organizing strategy and digital technology that are helping them overcome the fundamental limitations of traditional organizations. Photo: Dainis Graveris
‘Fearless’ Amsterdam government: digital city goes social
Cyber security, data sovereignty, digital participation and digital services, complex topics that cannot be solved overnight. But the new government of Amsterdam is committed to dealing with these challenges. In contrast to the idea of the smart city, the aim is to develop new policies…
How to build a new world in the shell of the old
If we want real change, should we draw up a sketch of a just society and then simply march towards it? We think it’s better to look around and find the seeds of a better future—perhaps dormant—in the present, and nurture them into a viable…
How to navigate the disorientation of a seismic world
Even as revolutionary new technologies appear—with the potential to free our lives from drudgery and connect us to one another in ways we had never imagined possible—our undemocratic economy has deployed them as tools of disruption. Dreams of a post-scarcity technological future darken into one…
Ciudad futura: reimagining the left in Argentina
Founded in 2005, Ciudad Futura formed in response to increased land speculation by developers on the impoverished outskirts of the city of Rosario. In recent years, it has grown into a province-wide movement in Santa Fe characterized by its local community initiatives in the areas…