https://znetwork.org/category/topic/vision-strategy/parsoc/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Wed, 07 Jan 2026 22:44:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/topic/vision-strategy/parsoc/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-ndps-last-chance-cooperatives-or-extinction/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-ndps-last-chance-cooperatives-or-extinction/#respond Wed, 07 Jan 2026 22:10:00 +0000 As Canada enters 2026, the New Democratic Party stands on the edge of irrelevance. In the April 2025 federal election, the NDP suffered its worst defeat in history: reduced to just seven seats and a mere 6-7% of the popular vote, losing official party status and watching its support collapse across the country. Union households [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-ndps-last-chance-cooperatives-or-extinction/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-cbc-needs-a-co-op-revolution/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-cbc-needs-a-co-op-revolution/#respond Wed, 03 Dec 2025 19:09:00 +0000 Let’s be honest: CBC’s current model is a relic. Seventy percent government-funded, it’s a political football—kicked between Liberal lifelines and Conservative defunding threats. The 2025 budget debates, projected from the national anxiety over global trade and tariff threats, show the perennial problem: funding discussions are about Ottawa’s political priorities, not the needs of the network [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/why-cbc-needs-a-co-op-revolution/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-canadian-dream-is-dead-but-co-ops-can-revive-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-canadian-dream-is-dead-but-co-ops-can-revive-it/#respond Wed, 12 Nov 2025 17:57:00 +0000 Picture 1952 Toronto: An Italian baker, still called “enemy alien,” scrapes $500 and opens a shop on College Street. Milk: 24¢ a quart. Eggs: 55¢ a dozen. Average pay: $1,672 a year. He hires his cousin, buys flour on co-op credit, and by Christmas he’s feeding half the block. Prejudice? Real. But the economy had [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-canadian-dream-is-dead-but-co-ops-can-revive-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cooperative-media-building-democratic-voices-in-a-contracting-economy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cooperative-media-building-democratic-voices-in-a-contracting-economy/#respond Fri, 17 Oct 2025 18:18:00 +0000 In an era of economic contraction—marked by rising inequality, precarious gig work, and the hollowing out of local communities—traditional media often amplifies despair rather than igniting strategy. Headlines scream crisis, but where are the blueprints for what comes next? As we grapple with a world where billion-dollar conglomerates control narratives and algorithms bury dissent, cooperative [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cooperative-media-building-democratic-voices-in-a-contracting-economy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-farm-to-factory-what-actually-constitutes-good-work/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-farm-to-factory-what-actually-constitutes-good-work/#respond Wed, 07 May 2025 17:58:00 +0000 Trade unions and progressive movements rightly demand better wages and working conditions for employees to improve society. But the question of what good work actually means is rarely asked. And how everyone can benefit from it. “Good work” cannot be defined in abstract terms. But there are criteria that provide a framework. Work should provide [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-farm-to-factory-what-actually-constitutes-good-work/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-transitioning-to-a-participatory-economy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-transitioning-to-a-participatory-economy/#respond Wed, 05 Mar 2025 18:30:00 +0000 I wrote a recent essay on how the model of a participatory economy (MPE) can help preserve the environment. I reposted that essay on Daily Kos, a website aligned with the Democratic Party in the United States. My goal was to widen awareness of MPE with an audience that I thought might be receptive, but I was [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-transitioning-to-a-participatory-economy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-the-us-can-learn-from-south-koreans-who-stopped-an-authoritarian-power-grab/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-the-us-can-learn-from-south-koreans-who-stopped-an-authoritarian-power-grab/#respond Wed, 19 Feb 2025 18:49:00 +0000 As Elon Musk and his DOGE team set about dismantling government agencies, many Americans expected a strong response from Congressional Democrats. Instead, party leaders offered weak statements and little resistance to being refused entry to the very agencies they are tasked with overseeing. This lack of urgency amid what’s being called an administrative coup stoked a wave of angry calls to “do [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-the-us-can-learn-from-south-koreans-who-stopped-an-authoritarian-power-grab/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-we-distribute-power-will-influence-our-future/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-we-distribute-power-will-influence-our-future/#respond Fri, 14 Feb 2025 19:00:11 +0000 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-we-distribute-power-will-influence-our-future/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reimagining-socialism-an-interview-with-david-kotz/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reimagining-socialism-an-interview-with-david-kotz/#respond Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:37:00 +0000 In the 1990s, all the talk was about the end of socialism and the unchallenged military and economic superiority of the United States. Nonetheless, two decades later, socialism was revived as a possible political alternative as the Great Recession of 2008 and the intensification of neoliberalism’s cruelties tore a huge hole in people’s faith in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/reimagining-socialism-an-interview-with-david-kotz/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/voters-chose-economic-populism-at-the-state-level/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/voters-chose-economic-populism-at-the-state-level/#respond Wed, 18 Dec 2024 18:41:13 +0000 We’re all still sorting through the wreckage of the 2024 presidential election, but one thing has become impossible to deny: the Democratic Party has a serious problem with working-class voters and has increasingly become a party dominated by affluent middle-class professionals. This problem is connected to the fact that Democrats are seemingly unwilling and unable [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/voters-chose-economic-populism-at-the-state-level/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/equality-as-a-process-reimagining-power-justice-and-social-structure/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/equality-as-a-process-reimagining-power-justice-and-social-structure/#respond Sat, 30 Nov 2024 15:00:00 +0000 We are living under a system that carries with it sometimes crushing forms of coercion and oppression; very painful inequalities; hosts of useless sufferings. ~Simone Weil[1] The question of equality has been of primary concern for thinkers and societies since ancient times. It remains as topical in our age as well, since inequalities continue rising.[2] [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/equality-as-a-process-reimagining-power-justice-and-social-structure/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-potential-benefits-of-direct-democracy-and-voting-for-policies-not-personalities/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-potential-benefits-of-direct-democracy-and-voting-for-policies-not-personalities/#respond Thu, 31 Oct 2024 18:13:54 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1274567 On Jan. 20, 2009, the United States of America inaugurated its first Black president, Barack Obama. In November, the U.S. may elect its second. Does this mean anything? One reason to think so, as New York City mayor Eric Adams reminds us: “Representation matters.” This election year we are confronted with the question of whether or [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-potential-benefits-of-direct-democracy-and-voting-for-policies-not-personalities/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/community-budgeting-for-all-campaign-briefing-part-2-of-2/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/community-budgeting-for-all-campaign-briefing-part-2-of-2/#respond Wed, 31 Jan 2024 17:50:32 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1261534 PB Oregon & Next Up Action Fund Community Budgeting for All Campaign Briefing January 4, 2023 More information on Community Budgeting For All Campaign https://www.pboregon.org/advocate    ]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/community-budgeting-for-all-campaign-briefing-part-2-of-2/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/community-budgeting-for-all-campaign-pb-101-training-part-1-of-2/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/community-budgeting-for-all-campaign-pb-101-training-part-1-of-2/#respond Wed, 31 Jan 2024 17:47:04 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1261531 PB Oregon & Next Up Action Fund January 4, 2023 PB 101 Training Part 1 of 2 More information on Community Budgeting For All Campaign https://www.pboregon.org/advocate]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/community-budgeting-for-all-campaign-pb-101-training-part-1-of-2/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/is-latin-americas-progressive-tide-growing-guatemalas-watershed-election/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/is-latin-americas-progressive-tide-growing-guatemalas-watershed-election/#respond Tue, 29 Aug 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1252768 In a landslide victory, Bernardo Arévalo de León of the center left Movimiento Semilla won a runoff election for Guatemala’s presidency on Sunday against the right-wing establishment party. Marco Castillo, Co-Director of Global Exchange, explains why Arévalo’s win is a watershed moment in Guatemala and what his presidency will mean for further Latin American integration.]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/is-latin-americas-progressive-tide-growing-guatemalas-watershed-election/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/a-socialist-economy-without-numbers/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/a-socialist-economy-without-numbers/#respond Wed, 05 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1242877 Can a post-Capitalist socialist Economy exist without numbers? There are those who think it can. In this episode Mitchell, Robin and Antti are joined by accountant Anders Sandström (Author of Anarchist accounting) to discuss the topic of numbers in a socialist economy.  Do we need numbers to measure the true social costs and opportunity costs [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/a-socialist-economy-without-numbers/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/imagine-a-stadium/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/imagine-a-stadium/#comments Wed, 29 Mar 2023 15:53:41 +0000 Imagine we were to assemble in one massive stadium everyone who favors changing societies to attain political, economic, and social justice for all. Everyone who wants to end war and poverty and begin civilization. What views would this endlessly diverse worldwide assembly overwhelmingly share? •  Capitalism must be replaced. We need to produce and consume [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/imagine-a-stadium/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-radical-president-pandemonium/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-radical-president-pandemonium/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2023 18:02:30 +0000 Consider the potential of certain progressives winning high office in the U.S. Beyond their being much better than who they defeat, would they turn out to be allies of corporate continuity? Would they turn out to be agents of change? We know the government is structured to serve power and wealth. We know the deck [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-radical-president-pandemonium/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/grassroots-democracy-and-peoples-alternative-practices-in-southeast-asia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/grassroots-democracy-and-peoples-alternative-practices-in-southeast-asia/#respond Wed, 04 Jan 2023 20:35:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1236221 Introduction 1) Discourses on practices of grassroots democracy often focus on modes of popular participation centered on institutional avenues such as elections and local governance issues dealing with decentralization, devolution, and local autonomy (Mohanty 2007, 15–32). At the local level, consequent interests are on “restraining arbitrary and corrupt official behavior and enhancing the accountability of [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/grassroots-democracy-and-peoples-alternative-practices-in-southeast-asia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/letter-from-a-translator-activist/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/letter-from-a-translator-activist/#respond Mon, 14 Nov 2022 12:59:28 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1231758 I participated in publishing a Russian translation of Practical Utopia by Michael Albert to GitHub at this link: https://parecon.github.io/practical-utopia/ru. Anyone who gets authorised to the source will be able to add any other language, so any willing translators can send an email to [email protected] or open an issue at https://github.com/parecon/practical-utopia/issues. The translated volume has the following translator’s preface:   We’ve found [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/letter-from-a-translator-activist/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/clarifying-the-edges-of-participatory-economics/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/clarifying-the-edges-of-participatory-economics/#respond Mon, 18 Jul 2022 15:42:46 +0000 https://zcomm-staging.work/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1067819 Participatory economy promises classless post capitalist production, consumption, and allocation. Participatory economy promises solidarity, diversity, equity, self-management, sustainability, participation, and internationalism. Participatory economy’s defining institutions deliver on those intents. Participatory economy’s defining institutions dictate nothing beyond those intents. Participatory economy’s defining institutions are a commons of productive assets, collectively self-managed workers and consumers councils, a [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/clarifying-the-edges-of-participatory-economics/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/participatory-economics-what-why-how/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/participatory-economics-what-why-how/#respond Mon, 06 Jun 2022 16:10:00 +0000 https://zcomm-staging.work/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1160164 There may be one thing in the world that most of humanity agrees on. When considering the state of present-day institutions of economy, polity, community, and kinship relations, people broadly agree that most everything: is in crisis, does not serve the majority of humanity, and is destructive to the conditions for sustaining life on Earth [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/participatory-economics-what-why-how/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-only-want-the-earth/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-only-want-the-earth/#comments Fri, 04 Mar 2022 12:25:26 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1055656 How do we protect our natural world and transition to net-zero carbon, and at the same time, transition to a more just post-capitalist society?]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-only-want-the-earth/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/next-american-revolution/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/next-american-revolution/#respond Tue, 13 Nov 2018 09:36:09 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1014672 Screenplay for Next American Revolution]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/next-american-revolution/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/political-and-kinship-vision/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/political-and-kinship-vision/#respond Tue, 29 May 2018 09:07:22 +0000 Chapter 24 of RPS/2044]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/political-and-kinship-vision/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/participatory-economy-an-alternative-to-the-always-crisis/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/participatory-economy-an-alternative-to-the-always-crisis/#comments Sat, 08 Mar 2014 11:02:20 +0000 http://zcomm.org/?post_type=video&p=299306 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/participatory-economy-an-alternative-to-the-always-crisis/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-four-still-more-strategic-issues-by-michael-albert/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-four-still-more-strategic-issues-by-michael-albert/#respond Mon, 22 Jul 2013 15:25:42 +0000 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-four-still-more-strategic-issues-by-michael-albert/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-3-of-occupy-vision-parpolity-by-michael-albert/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-3-of-occupy-vision-parpolity-by-michael-albert/#respond Mon, 01 Apr 2013 01:34:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-3-of-occupy-vision-parpolity-by-michael-albert/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-one-of-occupy-vision-by-michael-albert/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-one-of-occupy-vision-by-michael-albert/#respond Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:45:23 +0000 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/chapter-one-of-occupy-vision-by-michael-albert/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/introduction-to-occupy-vision-by-michael-albert/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/introduction-to-occupy-vision-by-michael-albert/#respond Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:09:23 +0000 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/introduction-to-occupy-vision-by-michael-albert/feed/ 0