Building a just, sustainable future will require transcending traditional community organising models. Working through existing institutions within the current system is not good enough. The latest from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Rethinking community organising The Symbiosis Research Collective | 10th July 2018 Activism Alinsky Community Organizing Faith-based saul_alinskyap660220130.jpg Building a just, sustainable future …
Our lives are now so dependent on oil that it is impossible to conceive of a world without it. Before long, however, we will have no choice. The sooner we start planning for that reality, and changing the way we live, the better our chance of survival.
… derived from fossil fuels to one based on organic principles. A UK study comparing organic and conventional livestock, dairy, … arable systems found that producing our food organically used 42 per cent less energy, …
Loneliness, capitalist urbanisation, and ecological crisis. In this world, politics should be about bringing people together and taking control of the spaces where we live. The latest instalment from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
… body, it systematically undermines organic interactions—anything unplanned is … should be dynamic and exciting, a space of organic possibility, becomes a space where all …
Climate change, global finance, the neoliberal state: today’s crises require action on a big scale. And yet fighting for local democracy is - perhaps counter-intuitively - the best chance we've got. The next part in our series from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
How radical municipalism can go beyond the local The Symbiosis Research Collective | 8th June 2018 Comment Radical Municipalism Local Global Climate Change Municipalism Climate change, global …
Every city has its graveyard of nonprofits, cooperatives, social clubs, and community centers. Without a strategic vision, local projects cannot possibly amount to a systemic alternative to capitalism. The latest contribution from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
How to build a new world in the shell of the old The Symbiosis Research Collective | 23rd April 2018 Comment Gramsci Arendt Hegemony Power Cooperatives Bookchin Hannah Arendt Every city has its …
Just change your electricity supplier and help fight climate change. Sounds too good to be true. Is it?
… regularly get from my friends. 'Should I buy organic apples from the supermarket, or non-organic ones from my local greengrocer?'; 'If … eaten daily food from a supermarket whose (organic) produce had flown more miles than he …
Does the fight for social justice include animal liberation? Municipalist organizing can build a transformative future for all creatures.
Animal liberation from below: toward a radical interspecies municipalism The Symbiosis Research Collective | 6th August 2018 Comment Animal Rights Radical Municipalism Climate Change …
Ecotourism is not simply about minimising your negative impact. There are places you can go where your presence (and money) can make a positive difference too
… . While in a city you could choose to eat at organic restaurants like London's trailblazing … urda cheese and zacusca sauce, all organically produced as it always has been. … old stone fishermen's cottages (complete with organic food gardens), and join one of their …
As the toll of climate change rises, as the summers become hotter, we have the opportunity to link struggles for cooler cities with other progressive demands. From the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Cool people’s movements The Symbiosis Research Collective | 24th September 2018 Activism Symbiosis Research Collective Air Conditioners Heat Waves Climate Change Social Movements Technology Nuclear …
Ada Colau surprised many when she won the election to become mayor of Barcelona. The housing rights activist was part of a deep social movement aiming for participatory democracy. But this latest article from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE examines how winning the election was just the first step
What's it like for a social movement to take control of a city? The Symbiosis Research Collective Aaron Vansintjan | 11th May 2018 Activism Participatory Democracy Barcelona Ada Colau Ada Colau …
The public must play a significant role in any decisions made about the development of the new technology. By Tom Wakeford
… system to promote cheaper, locally produced organic food. GM foods were viewed as … place in clean production systems? And will organic standards prohibit atomic modification …
Growing crops to solve the planet’s energy needs doesn’t work. Recycling the energy in our waste just might have a significant part to play. By Jeremy Smith & Jon Hughes
… agricultural waste and other kinds of food/organic waste. Across the country, sales of … micro-generators where animal manure and organic matter (food waste, agriculture wastes … the region of 88 million tons of effluent and organic waste suitable for anaerobic digestion …
Branston Pickle. Baked Beans. Cough Mixture. Ketchup. Are there any products on our shelves that don’t contain sugar?
… The results are obvious. The UK’s leading organic body the Soil Association explains: … sugar. In the short term, the growth of the organic and fair-trade sectors can do … and poor farm workers. But while sugar cane – organic, fair-trade or otherwise – is still …
What is to be done about reactionary localism? How can we keep fascism out of local politics? We need to foreground democracy and interdependence over local autonomy. The latest on our series on radical municipalism from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
'Dark municipalism' - the dangers of local politics The Symbiosis Research Collective | 26th June 2018 Comment Radical Municipalism Local Global Climate Change Civil Rights New Orleans school …
Our situation may seem hopeless, but we have a rich inheritance of ideas and practices from which we can draw. Monarchies have been overthrown, dictators pulled down. We can take inspiration from past revolutions to build a new framework for the future.
How to navigate the disorientation of a seismic world The Symbiosis Research Collective | 23rd March 2018 Comment Activism Social Movements Municipalism Communalism 3551195631_bc66b90648_b_2.jpg Our …
We are obsessed with our odour. We slavishly scrub off all that makes us distinct as members of a species, and then spray ourselves liberally with a homogenous fug of the latest mass-marketed musk. Jeremy Smith wonders why
Scent and sensibility: our obsession with odour Jeremy Smith | 1st November 2002 News Perfume Scent Fragrance Identity Consumerism Society SWEETEXCESS_NOV03_MAIN_1.jpg We are obsessed with our odour. …
A harrowing insight into the hugely profitable and brutal world of captive dolphins
Dying to entertain us Torsten Engelbrecht Jeremy Smith | 1st October 2004 News Dolphins Confined Trainers Dolphin Captivity In Dolphins Natural World Investigates_17.jpg A harrowing insight into the …
Expensive, polluting, unnatural and booming.
Jeremy Smith investigates the ‘death-care industry’
… years for the embalming substances (volatile organic compounds known to contribute to smog, … are freeze-dried into about 30 kilograms of organic and nutritious powder. The powder is …
The world lives under oil’s spell. Jeremy Smith reveals the extent to which the industry’s by-products have permeated our lives.
… 7 Buy regionally and seasonally produced organic food whenever possible. 8 Switch your … petrol-intensive, and support conversion to organic methods instead. 21 Oil & gas … 28 Farmers should convert from industrial to organic farming methods. 29 The plastics & …
Are you a ‘premium loyal’, a ‘loyal low spender’, a ‘can’t stay away’… or don’t you care? Tesco does, and uses the data collected from your loyalty card to dictate what you buy, when you buy and how much you buy.
… For example, suppose you enjoy asparagus and organic wine, only shop late in the evening …
The future of our planet itself depends on revolutionising the fabric of our entire social order. Natural forces of evolution and revolution can provide a model. The latest essay from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
… not a static entity, but rather a history of organic phenomena that is ever-developing in a …
We can start building new tools for a democratic and ecological society once we understand hierarchy as the central problem, argues the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Hierarchy, climate change and the state of nature The Symbiosis Research Collective | 9th April 2018 Comment Activism Social Movements Municipalism Communalism History Anthropology The Standard of …