Cooperative Journal

Manyverse is an open-source, decentralized social network. Rather than a company controlling data and communication, the user has complete ownership and responsibility. Their goal is to make social networking independent of internet connectivity, allowing for “off the grid” communication when disconnected from the internet.

In this episode I speak with founder Andre Staltz about transforming social networks into a method of communication and community, not a business. He shares why the interweb is dying, what it means to decolonize and demonetize social networking, dissolving hierarchy in social media platforms, how they receive financial support, and a new vision for the world wide web.

Manyverse Website

Open Collective Foundation page

Learn About Local-first Software

Next Generation Internet - European Union Grant

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Tariq El Nahl translates from Arabic to Way of the Bees. They are an herbal collective based in Lebanon that formed after the explosion in the capital of Beirut in 2020. Lebanon has been compounded with crises in the past 50 years - from a civil war, to a financial crisis, and most recently the explosion left 300,000 people homeless and a government collapsed. When faced with trauma, broken infrastructure, and governmental systems that fail to meet our needs, how do we heal and progress? Tariq El Nahl is answering this question through fully embodying and bringing people back to their essence - Mother Earth.

In this episode, I speak with Paul Saad, one of the members of the collective.. He poetically shares how they are utilizing land–based practices for reclaiming, highlighting, and accessing ancestral knowledge including creating native botanical gardens, delivering handmade baskets filled with herbal medicine from the land, herbal medicine toolkits as well as how they are raising money to fulfill these needs, and suggestions for finding light and grounding amidst darkness.

Herbal Guidebook

Mini-doc on Tariq El Nahl

Tariq El Nahl Instagram

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In this special 1 year anniversary episode, Cooperative Journal's host - Ebony Joy finally opens up to share their personal story.

I explain what inspired me to start this form of storytelling, why I've shifted from the language of "alternative economics", expanding into a multimedia/multi-sensory platform, and why this is an opportune times for collectivized economic solutions.

My friend/collaborator Robin also joins me in the later half of the episode to share a bit about themself. They've been central in the recent reinvisioining process and is the visual strategist/artist at Cooperative Journal Media.

Cooperative Journal Media: Media platform that the podcast is now under the umbrella of

Anticapitalism for Artists: A platform for artists interested in anti-capitalism

Creative Wildfire: Group of artists Robin and I joined to make art about "not going back to normal"

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Understory is a worker-led restaurant, bar, and incubation kitchen in Oakland, CA. In collaboration with Oakland Bloom, they center immigrant, working class, and people of color chefs through pathways to worker-leadership, project support and training, and economic opportunities. It is more than just a restaurant, they offer a platter of ways to physically and socially nourish the community in a co-creative way. You can experience the roots of the workers through their rotating menu of Filipino, Moroccan, and Mexican cuisine, check out local art, attend a dance party, or support an immigrant or refugee chef at their weekly pop-up.

In this episode I speak with one of the chefs Florencio Esquivel about how Understory is shifting the narrative of who receives support and amplification in the restaurant industry. They share how the pandemic influenced the restaurant’s formation, process of assuming responsibilities and navigating decision making, impact and intention of their worker emergency fund, importance of preserving indegenous recipes, and their vision for a changed restaurant world that is horizontally structured while honoring the diversity of workers and their lineage.

Resources

Understory’s Instagram

Understory’s Website

Wahpepah’s Kitchen (Kickapoo Tribe Restaurant in Oakland)

Play Cousins Collective is a Black centered family care network based in Louisville, Kentucky. They are building multi-generational and inter-sectional Black spaces and community resources rooted in ancestral methods of healing and resistance. Through offering programs at every stage of development, from in utero to adult they are able to foster a supported and resilient community.

In this episode I speak with executive director Kristen Williams about the significance of building a village amongst the African-American community. She shares how they started with mapping out all of the Black businesses and practitioners in their community, voids children of color experience in educational institutions and communities, tools they are utilizing to affirm Black power and beauty from a young age, decolonization of mentality and practices, the multitude of programs they offer to all ages, membership structure, how they navigate generational trauma and healing, and more!

Website

Instagram

Facebook

Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy DeGruy

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East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative is based in the East Bay of California. They facilitate BIPOC and allied communities to cooperatively organize, finance, purchase, occupy, and steward properties, taking them permanently off the market. Residents, investors, community members, and EB PREC staff then co-own and co-steward the property. It creates a shift toward community controlled assets, and empowering their communities to be ecologically, emotionally, spiritually, culturally, and economically restorative and regenerative.

In this episode, I speak with executive director Noni Session about how EB PREC is garnering support to shift real estate ownership from extractive developers into the hands of the BIPOC community in Oakland and the East Bay. She shares the difference between a permanent real estate co-op and land trust, ancestral remembrance of cooperative ownership, how they got the first group of people to invest, their governance structure and multi-stakeholder model, prioritizing inclusivity and accessibility to individual investors, transparency of investment risks and how they mitigate it, and their exciting new venture - a historic Black arts svenue they’ve acquired for Black artists and small businesses at 50% of market rate.

Document detailing their direct public offering: https://ebprec.org/offering

Esthers Orbit Room - mixed-use Black cultural venue: https://ebprec.org/esthers

Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperatives

St. Louis Mutual Aid is based in St. Louis, MO. They are a network of organizers, healers, artists, community leaders, and every day people coming together to deliver food and supplies, provide financial solidarity, offer emotional support, and ultimately connect people to their neighbors.

In this episode I speak with members Marcus Hunt, Julia Ho, and Carmen Ward about how STL Mutual Aid has built a robust network of care in their community. In this episode we speak about how mutual aid can be used to introduce people to the solidarity economy, peer-2-peer learning between cooperatives and mutual aid initiatives, taking a holistic approach to fulfilling needs, resources of support offered including their no strings attached financial solidarity fund, how to make the distinction between mutual aid and charity, and more.

St. Louis Mutual Aid Website

St. Louis Mutual Aid Instagram

Solidarity Economy St. Louis

Looms of Ladakh is a women owned luxury wool clothing cooperative based in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, India. They are a farm-to-fashion initiative, focusing on small-scale and high quality production to illuminate and preserve the traditions of the Changpa nomads of that region. Their pashmina, yak, and sheep wool are of the highest quality in the world. It’s sourced directly from the region and handmade by the local women who’ve been using the backstrap loom for generations.

In this episode I speak with co-founder Abhilasha Bahuguna about the importance of creating a sustainable source of income to support the Changpa people of Ladakh living in a harsh altitude of 14,000 ft, why their self-sufficient lifestyles are being threatened, the history of textiles in that region, how the co-op is supporting members to reach their full potential, their governance structure, how they received funding, their experimentation with natural dyes, challenges of competing with fast fashion, and their exciting plans for expansion.

Fairmondo is an online-marketplace owned by its local users currently based in Germany. It is an ethical alternative aiming to compete against Amazon’s extractive model. With a membership of around 2,200, they are steadily expanding towards their goal to create a global cooperatively owned online marketplace. They prioritize fairness, respect, commitment to transparency, and fair trade products.

In this episode I speak with founder Felix Weth about the online marketplace they are creating to give buyers an option to engage with an economy they can trust. He shares the voids they are filling in the current marketplace, their multi-stakeholder membership structure, what kind of products they offer, how they raised capital, and how they plan on increasing scale to compete with Amazon.

O+ is a festival created in Kingston, NY to support the health of underinsured artists and musicians through the exchange of art making and performances for wellness services. Festival goers can experience the medicine of art through everything from murals, films, installations, and live music. At the clinic, artists, musicians, and volunteers can receive free care from allopathic and alternative practitioners including dental, bodywork, mental health, and much more. The greater community is supported with Narcan and CPR trainings, health and wellness expos, classes in the healing arts, healthcare forums, and cycling events.

In this episode I speak with executive director Holly Kelly and art director Lindsey Wolkowicz about the festival’s evolution and the ongoing needs it fulfills. They share what the process is for contributors to join, how they receive funding, creating equal value between health practitioners and artists, recommendations to support artists' health needs outside of the festival, and advice on starting an art for medicine exchange in your community.