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Movements around systemic alternatives, for systemic change

[RUBY VAN DER WEKKEN/COMMONS.FI/ 25 DE JUNIO DEL 2018] This writing was originally published in Peruste Lehti,  (in Finnish) The European Commons Assembly represents new movement building around the commons. However, rather then to look at this and other movements as standing alone, another perspective points to the actual complementarity of different envisionings for systemic change as the commons, degrowth, and feminism and to the … Continue reading Movements around systemic alternatives, for systemic change

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Analysis, English, Global

Nicaragua: Where Is The Rebellion Going?

[NEW POLITICS/ DAN LA BOTZ/ 6 DE JUNIO DE 2018] The popular rebellion against the dictatorial government of Daniel Ortega, four-time president of Nicaragua, has been going on now for more than a month. And the Ortega government has continued its violent repression. In the last 47 days, it is reported that 104 people have been killed, while some have been arrested or tortured and … Continue reading Nicaragua: Where Is The Rebellion Going?

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Analysis, Economic, English, Mary Louise Malig

The whole of Mercosur in exchange for a plate of beef

By: Mary Louise Malig, Global Forest Coalition After 20 years of negotiations, the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is entering a crucial moment where it can come to a tragic end. To paraphrase a well-known saying, Mercosur is offering its kingdom for a plate of lentils, or in this case, its sovereignty for a plate of beef. Free trade agreements are not only about commodity … Continue reading The whole of Mercosur in exchange for a plate of beef

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Analysis, Ecosocialism, English, Pablo Solón, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien

During January 2018 the Great Transition Initiative organized a discussion around an  essay prepared by Pablo Solón, “Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms.” Solón introduced Vivir Bien (also known as Buen Vivir), the disputes around this concept, the contradictions in its implementation by the government of Bolivia and how Vivir Bien can contribute and needs the complementarity with other visions. Below you will find the … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien

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Alternatives, English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms

[NNIMMO BASSEY / CREAT TRANSITION INITIATIVE/FEBRERO DE 2018] Nnimmo Bassey is the director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), an environmental think tank based in Nigeria. He chaired Friends of the Earth International from 2008 to 2012. His books include To Cook a Continent – Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa and Oil Politics – Echoes of Ecological War. The pathway of … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms

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Analysis, English, Vivir Bien

Author’s Response: Roundtable on Vivir Bien / Pablo Solón

[GREAT TRANSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms Pablo Solón, a Bolivian social and environmental activist, is the director of Fundación Solón and former executive director of Focus on the Global South. He served as the Bolivian Extraordinary Ambassador for Integration and Trade (2006–2008) and Ambassador to the United Nations (2009–2011) before parting ways with President Evo … Continue reading Author’s Response: Roundtable on Vivir Bien / Pablo Solón

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Analysis, English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Helena Norberg-Hodge

[GREAT TRANSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms Helena Norberg-Hodge is an author and filmmaker as well as a pioneer of the new economy movement. She is the producer of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness and the Director of Local Futures at the International Society for Ecology and Culture. She has received a Right Livelihood … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Helena Norberg-Hodge

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Analysis, English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Aaron Karp

[GREAT TRASNSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018 ] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms   Aaron Karp is an activist focused on generating a discussion within the climate justice movement about the need for degrowth and deep, authentic democracy. He is writing a book about how solving our ecological problems necessitates a fundamentally different society. In 2012, he co-founded the fossil fuel … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Aaron Karp

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Analysis, English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Neera Singh

[GREAT TRASNSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms Neera Singh is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geography and Program in Planning, University of Toronto, Canada. Her research interests include democratization of forest governance, conservation and development, and the affective dimensions of people’s relations with forests. She founded Vasundhara, a non-profit organization based in Bhubaneswar, India, and … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Neera Singh

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Analysis, English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Holly Hanson

[GREAT TRASNSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms Holly Hanson is a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College. Her research, focused primarily on Uganda, explores how dynamic patterns of exchange have been created, and then undermined, and what history suggests about how they might be rebuilt. She is the author of such books as A Path of … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Holly Hanson

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Analysis, English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ David Barkin

[GREAT TRASNSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms  David Barkin is a professor at the Metropolitan University in Mexico City and an Emeritus member of the National Research Council and the Academy of Sciences in Mexico. His research focuses on ecological economics, alternative paradigms for society, and the problems of indigenous societies, with whom he collaborates in creating … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ David Barkin

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Analysis, English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Adrian Beling

[GREAT TRASNSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018 ] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms Adrian Beling is an Associate Researcher in the Global Studies Programme at the Latin American Social Sciences Institute (FLACSO) in Argentina and a founding member of the Editorial Board of the academic blog and peer-reviewed journal Alternautas. His research interests include global environmental change and societal transformations, epistemologies … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien/ Adrian Beling

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English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien: Ana Estefanía Carballo

[GREAT TRASNSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018 ] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms Ana Estefanía Carballo is a Teaching Fellow at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne and a founder of the academic blog and peer-reviewed journal Alternautas. Her research focuses on Latin American development theory, indigenous epistemologies, environmental ethics, and social movements and environmental conflicts … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien: Ana Estefanía Carballo

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English, Vivir Bien

Roundtable on Vivir Bien: Eduardo Gudynas

[GREAT TRASNSITION INITIATIVE/ FEBRERO DEL 2018 ] An exchange on Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms Eduardo Gudynas is a senior researcher at the Latin American Center on Social Ecology (CLAES). His work focuses on the environment and alternatives to development, and he is involved with various social movements seeking to advance such alternatives I would like to start by acknowledging that Vivir Bien, … Continue reading Roundtable on Vivir Bien: Eduardo Gudynas

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Alternatives, English, Vivir Bien

Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms

[Pablo Solón, February 2018, published originally in Great Transition Initiative] The concept of Vivir Bien (or Buen Vivir) gained international attention in the late twentieth century as people searched for alternatives to the rampage of neoliberalism. Imperfect translations of the Andean concepts of suma qamaña and sumaq kawsay, Vivir Bien and Buen Vivir reflect an indigenous cosmovision that emphasizes living in harmony with nature and one … Continue reading Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms

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Alternatives, Analysis, Economic, Economy..., English, Geopolitical, Global

China is investing seriously in Latin America. Should you worry?

[ STEPHEN KAPLANTHE /WASHINGTON POST /24 DE ENERO] This past week, China held its second ministerial meeting with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Santiago, Chile. There China announced plans to have the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), its flagship economic and development program, invest in Latin America. During the past decade, Chinese policy banks, charged by the government to finance infrastructure … Continue reading China is investing seriously in Latin America. Should you worry?

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Analysis, Economic, English, Global, Nature

Open Letter to the AIIB Board of Governors

[NGO FORUM ON ADB/HOLDING ADB ACCOUNTABLE SINCE 1992] We – grassroots movements, non-government organizations and civil society networks from Asian countries and the rest of the world welcome the fact that we were invited to submit our proposals and concerns during the process of drafting the Energy Sector Strategy of the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB).  We note that a number of these proposals … Continue reading Open Letter to the AIIB Board of Governors

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Alternatives, Analysis, English, Español, Geopolitical, Power

Los derechos de la naturaleza en la jurisprudencia constitucional ecuatoriana

[LLM FRANCISCO JOSE BUSTAMANTE ROMO LEROUX/ OBSERVATORIO JUSTICIA CONSTITUCIONAL] Resumen: Los derechos de la naturaleza, ha sido un tema sobre el cual se han generado una serie de críticas especialmente dirigidas a la eficacia de los mismos. Al no existir normas infra constitucionales que desarrollen estos derechos, la jurisprudencia juega un papel trascendental en la definición del núcleo de los derechos. En este sentido, se … Continue reading Los derechos de la naturaleza en la jurisprudencia constitucional ecuatoriana

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Alternatives, Economic, Economy..., English, Global, Nature

Commons in the Time of Monsters

[ THE COMMONS TRANSITION PRIMER.] The Commons is maturing politically, its methods and principles becoming more visible and its participants winning municipal elections in a variety of European cities. How did this happen, and what happens next? First, a look at our present political context, and then some observations on the birth and trajectory of this new wave of commons politics. An article by Stacco Troncoso … Continue reading Commons in the Time of Monsters

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Commons, Deglobalization, Degrowth, Ecosocialism, English, Feminism, Mother Earth Rights, Videos, Vivir Bien

Animation: To change the system we need systemic alternatives

This two-minute animation is based on the premise that we are facing a systemic crises and that we need systemic alternatives to capitalism, productivism, extractivism, patriarchy, plutocracy and anthropocentrism. Continue reading Animation: To change the system we need systemic alternatives

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