From ancient times to today, cities are spaces of co-creation
Many modern cities are focal points for escalating oppression. Since European colonisation, an idea that humans march one-way from simple egalitarian bands towards contemporary complexity has dominated. Cities are a rite of passage on this supposed metamorphosis. The story goes: civilisation is a package, with…
Rethinking land and relation in Berlin’s struggle for housing justice
At the end of May 2021, I found myself behind a table in Tempelhof Field, Berlin’s largest public park, helping children print dandelions alongside the slogan Wir Bleiben Alle (We’re all staying) in multiple languages onto bright yellow paper. In the windswept park, papers blew…
A Green Wave in Quebec Municipal Elections
Municipal politics in Quebec is not generally considered a hub of left-wing and municipal politics on the international stage. Nevertheless, the municipal elections of November 7, 2021 brought a wind of change in several major cities in Canada’s important French-speaking province. Quebec: between mobilization…
Fearless communes: An interview with two Chilean mayors
President-elect Gabriel Boric is a testament to Chile’s changing tides. No longer afraid, a new generation—with help from the old—took to the streets on October 19th, 2019 to win back the rights that the Pinochet dictatorship had stripped away. We interviewed Érika Martínez of San…
How a Spanish network against illegitimate debt brought the struggle for municipal democracy to the state’s doorsteps
Spain is one of the countries most affected by the 2010 Eurozone debt crisis. To reduce its public debt, the state government implemented budget restraint policies and, in 2012, voted to restrict the budget of public administrations, including local authorities. This “Budgetary Stability and Financial…
Where are the municipalists in the US and Canada?
In recent years, the US and Canada have seen a surge of mobilization and interest in left-wing politics and municipalists observing from abroad—especially Europe—have hoped to see the emergence of radical civic platforms like those in the cities of Barcelona, Zagreb, or Bologna. Yet such…
The lay of the land: Radical municipalism in the US and Canada
During the last five years, we have seen major social and political upheavals across the United States and Canada. Yet beneath the surface of tumultuous events, such as the George Floyd uprisings, Donald Trump’s presidency, or the COVID19 pandemic, a new tendency of grassroots organizing…
The making of a movement: Greater Manchester against the housing crisis
In the thirteen years since the financial crisis, one of the more dynamic political forces in Britain has been its right-to-housing movement. While initially mobilising specific campaigns against austerity and welfare cuts, the movement has more recently begun to develop longer-term organisational forms and advance…
How Cooperation Birmingham went beyond crisis relief to build democracy
Cooperation Birmingham was envisioned in 2019, when a group of local residents were inspired by visiting members of Cooperation Jackson. Our project aimed to form a basis for a solidarity economy in the city and provide material infrastructure that would allow autonomous community groups to…