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Why we still love the Zapatistas
9th December 2015For Mexico, Latin America and the international left, what emerged from the Chiapan mist along with the Zapatistas was the specter of revolution with a capital R—something the Mexican autocracy of the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional, the PRI, believed it had killed a long time...
Cooperation vs authoritarianism in Spain
19th November 2019Social change and systems change go hand-in-hand. Movements for democracy and human rights are most effective when they aim to transform unjust, unequitable economic systems. In this episode, Laura Flanders travels to Spain to learn how people in two of the regions most brutally repressed...
Handbook for rebellion
2nd October 2019An Extinction Rebellion Handbook, recently released by Penguin, is a collection of 32 short essays that aims of pushing the message – and the confidence to take action – even further. An accessible text appropriate for introducing the average reader to both the scale of...
New Municipalism and the State: Remunicipalising energy in Barcelona, from prosaics to process
19th October 2020Given “new municipalist’s” aspirations towards the transformation of the municipal state, how might state theory inform research and practice on new municipalism going forward? This is the question with which Bertie Russell concludes his paper which focuses on municipalist initiative Barcelona En Comú’s endeavours towards...
Libertarian municipalism & Murray Bookchin’s legacy
6th November 2018An interview with Debbie Bookchin to discuss how municipalist movements are implementing her father’s ideas and what the potential challenges are for libertarian municipalism. Photo: Pixabay
Energy transition. A small German district shows the way
25th June 2020Although Germany has failed to meet its climate objectives, and energy companies are still clinging to coal, a small district North of Berlin is showing the way. Commitments made by both local authorities and citizens to renewable energy have paid off, with renewable energy sources...
Decentralising geographies of political action: Civic tech and placebased municipalism
1st January 2019“Place-based civic tech”, citizen engagement technology codesigned by local government, civil society and global volunteers, constitutes a priced tool for the decentralization of power and decision-making. Together with certain offline practices, it fosters the politicization of civil society and renews the infrastructure of democracy. In...
City council aims to support minorities with groundbreaking community program
26th October 2020Preston City Council commissioned the development co-operative Stir to Action to deliver a groundbreaking new community programme by focusing on providing targeted support for BAME organisations in the city, stimulating cultural awareness and interest in worker-owned business. With BAME communities suffering disproportionate impacts from the...
The mayors and the movements
19th October 2018In 2015, a wave of social movements lifted left-wing mayors to power in Spain. Their experience in office shows the importance of linking institutional power to bottom-up mobilization. Fearless Cities, a recent book produced by BenComú activists, has sought to draw wider lessons from these...
Cities on the frontline: managing the Coronavirus Crisis
29th June 2020This CIDOB Report examines how 12 cities around the world have managed the COVID-19 crisis and provides lessons to help guide future urban action. These include learning to govern complex, uncertain scenarios by placing decentralisation, cooperation and resilience at the heart of public policies; rethinking...
Corbyn’s “municipal socialism” offers a welcome new approach on housing—but will it be enough?
5th February 2018As part of what he calls new “municipal socialism”, Jeremy Corbyn recently advocated giving local authorities the power to immediately seize empty properties in order to redress the increasingly shocking levels of homelessness. The outlines of these can be seen in cities like Preston or...
Tech giants, privatisers and the arms industry. Fighting the “smart city” in France
25th June 2020All over the globe, corporations and politicians are hyping up the concept of “smart cities”, but what exactly lies behind the catchy slogan? And whose interests does it serve? There is growing resistance to the idea due to fears of privatisation, increasing surveillance as well...