Source: Politics Art Roots Culture – Media

Michael Albert is an American economist, speaker, writer, and political critic. Since the late 1970s, he has published books, articles, and other contributions on a wide array of subjects. He is known for helping to develop the socioeconomic theory of participatory economics. In 1965, Albert was studying physics at MIT, where Albert met long-time friend and collaborator, Noam Chomsky. Albert publicly objected to the US military’s funding of the university. This, along with the civil rights movement, led Albert to become politically active. He became a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and opposed the Vietnam War. He was expelled from MIT, in January 1970, for disruptive behavior, although he claimed the charges were ‘cooked-up’. Albert founded South End Press in 1977 along with Lydia Sargent and Juliet Schor, among others. In 1987, Albert founded Zeta Magazine with Sargent. The magazine focused on libertarian and anarchist socialist thought. It was renamed Z Magazine in 1989. In 1990–91, Albert and Robin Hahnel worked on outlining their ideas around participatory economics. They published ‘Looking Forward’ and ‘The Political Economy of Participatory Economics,’ with the latter including an economic model of the system. By 1995, the organization Z Magazine had branched out providing online content and media training. Along with the magazine the ventures are collectively known as Z Communications. In 2003, ‘Parecon: Life After Capitalism’ was published further outlining participatory economics in a more accessible, less academic format. The book was translated into 20 languages. Albert was a founding member of the International Organization for a Participatory Society, in 2012. Sean Michael Wilson created a comic book based on Albert and his ideas in 2013. His latest book, ‘Practical Utopia: Strategies for a Desirable Society,’ was published in 2017. Albert is the co-founder of ‘C20,’ a group of activists, scholars, and writers from around the world who write under the pseudonym, ‘Collective 20.’

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