Archive for February, 2010

Cooperative ‘Payment Solidarity’ Means a Prevailing Wage or Better

by Editors @ Sunday, February 28th, 2010. Filed under Economic Democracy, Socialism

Payment Solidarity:

Looking Deeper at the

Mondragon Principles

 

By John McNamara

The Mondragon Co-operatives maintain the concept of wage solidarity. From the beginning, the ratio of the highest paid position (manager) and the lowest paid (new worker) was locked at 3:1. In the 80’s this changed and today there are some positions that earn a 6:1 ratio and one (the CEO of the International MCC) who receives 9:1. Even with the tripling of the upper end of the ratio, it is still a far cry from the 150 or even 300:1 ratios that modern stock corporations tend to employ.

What interests me about this principle (and I think that it should be in the Identity Statement as well), is that Mondragon expresses the co-operative value of solidarity. It puts solidarity into the operations of the co-operative.

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Shadow Elite: How Global Power Brokers Undermine Democracy

by Editors @ Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010. Filed under Economy, Globalization

Review: Shadow Elite

by Janine Wedel

The New 'Flexian'

Transnational Elites

 

By Ariana Huffington

Huffington Post

My first HuffPost Book Club selection of 2010 is Janine Wedel's Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market. It's a gripping, disquieting book that exposes and explains why it's been so hard to bring about any real change in our country -- why Washington no longer seems capable of addressing the problems our nation faces. Fingers have been pointed at everything from gerrymandering to partisan polarization to the misuse of the filibuster. But, according to Wedel, the real problem is much deeper -- and more disturbing -- than any of these.

As she writes in Shadow Elite, a new "transnational" class of elites has taken over our country: "The mover and shaker who serves at one and the same time as business consultant, think-tanker, TV pundit, and government adviser glides in and around the organizations that enlist his services. It is not just his time that is divided. His loyalties, too, are often flexible."

Wedel dubs this new class of influencers "flexians," and the closed system they've created for themselves the "flex net." She attributes their power, among other factors, to the "embrace of 'truthiness,' which allows people to play with how they present themselves to the world, regardless of fact or track record."

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Why the Mondragon Coops Started with a School for Youth

by Editors @ Tuesday, February 16th, 2010. Filed under Economic Democracy, Education

Photo: MCC's worker-owned university

Education, Training

and Information: Looking

Deeper at Mondragon

By John McNamara

Feb. 8, 2010

“It is said that co-operation is an economic movement that utilizes educational activities, but it can also be said that co-operation is an educational movement that utilizes economic activities.“–Don José María Arizmendiarreta, founder of the Mondragon Cooperatives.

Here's a fun exercise, well maybe interesting more than “fun”, at co-operative gathering centers around the principles. Ask the co-operators present, “Which is the most important principle.” If there are more than seven people in the room, you will likely get about eight different answers.

People often focus on the user principles and democracy as being the principles that separate co-operatives from other businesses. Of course, in my opinion, the best answer is that they are all equally important and feed into each other. Case in point: how strong can democracy be if the electorate isn’t educated or informed?

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NJ University and Green Tech Firms Go Solar in a Big Way

by Editors @ Friday, February 12th, 2010. Filed under Economy

 

Nautilus Solar Energy and

SunDurance Energy to Build

Solar Power Facility at

William Paterson University

 

WAYNE, N.J., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- William Paterson University ("WPU"), Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC ("Nautilus Solar") and SunDurance Energy, LLC ("SunDurance") announced today an agreement to build the largest solar energy facility at a university in the United States. The 3.5 MW solar energy project ("Project") will comprise of rooftop and parking lot solar installations on the WPU campus in Wayne, New Jersey. The first 3 MW phase is expected to go on-line during the summer of 2010; the remaining 500 kW is expected to go on-line in early 2011.

"Nautilus Solar is proud to support WPU's leadership in sustainability by supplying low cost clean solar power," said Nautilus Solar CEO James M. Rice.

Nautilus Solar will finance, own and operate the solar facility under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement ("PPA"), through which WPU will purchase a renewable energy source at a reduced rate without any upfront costs. The solar power system is expected to reduce WPU's energy costs by $4.3 million over the 15-year term. The Project will be designed and constructed by SunDurance Energy, a leading NJ based solar system installer. Nautilus Solar will fund the installation in part through a loan provided by New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Stephen Bolyai, WPUNJ's Vice President for Administration and Finance, states, "This project will be a landmark project for the University. In addition to reducing our energy costs and carbon footprint, the solar facility will provide excellent learning opportunities to our students."

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Venezuela: Epicenter of Counter-Hegemonic Bloc

by Editors @ Monday, February 8th, 2010. Filed under Global Justice, Latin-American, Socialism

Interview with William I. Robinson:

The challenges facing 21st century socialism in Venezuela

``In Venezuela the biggest threat to the revolution does not come from the right-wing political opposition but from the so-called `endogenous' or `Chavista' right wing, in that chunks of the revolutionary bloc, including state elites and party officials, will develop a deeper stake in defending global capitalism over socialist transformation''' -- William I. Robinson

Interview with William I. Robinson, professor of sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara, by Chronis Polychroniou, editor of the Greek daily newspaper Eleftherotypia

February 1, 2010 -- ZNet

Chronis Polychroniou: There are scare stories coming from Venezuela. The border is heating up, infiltration is taking place, a new Colombian military base near the border, US access to several new bases on Colombia and constant subversion. Is the regime concerned about a possible invasion? If yes, who is going to intervene?

William I. Robinson: The Venezuelan government is concerned about a possible US invasion and certainly an outright invasion cannot be ruled out. However I think the US is pursuing a more sophisticated strategy of intervention that we could call a war of attrition.

We have seen this strategy in other countries, such as in Nicaragua in the 1980s, or even Chile under Allende. It is what in CIA lexicon is known as destabilisation, and in the Pentagon's language is called political warfare -- which does not mean there is not a military component. This is a counterrevolutionary strategy that combines military threats and hostilities with psychological operations, disinformation campaigns, black propaganda, economic sabotage, diplomatic pressures, the mobilisation of political opposition forces inside the country, carrying out provocations and sparking violent confrontations in the cities, manipulation of disaffected sectors and the exploitation of legitimate grievances among the population.

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Reject the Old Patterns – China’s 21st Century Path

by Editors @ Sunday, February 7th, 2010. Filed under China, Global Justice, Socialism

Poster: Oppose hegemonism, uphold world peace - maintain a foreign policy of independence and own initiative, 1983

'Three Strategies'

to Tackle the

'Three Challenges'

 

By Zheng Bijian

It is far from easy for a country of 1.3 billion population to achieve peaceful rise. During the first half of the 21st century, in particular, China faces a period of both "golden opportunity for development" and "standing out contradictions". The latter, in the field of economic and social progress, can be boiled down to "three major challenges".

The first challenge comes from resources, particularly energies. China lags behind the world in terms of per capita hold of resources; meanwhile, due to a fast developing speed yet low technical level, China's manufacturing industry is among the most energy-consuming ones in the world. The huge consumption is intensified by a large-scale shift of manufacturing bases to China. As a result resources, including energies, have been in tight supply.

The second challenge is from ecological environment. A spoiled environment caused by serious pollution, worsened ecological conditions, huge consumption of resources, and low reclamation has become a bottleneck in the sustainable development of the Chinese economy.

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