NonCorporate.org – a new initiative
Our long-time friend Dave Darby, of lowimpact.org (which used to be LILI), has recently launched a new website called NonCorporate.org which brings together all the ways we can switch to non-corporate organisations like co-ops, community energy, community-supported agriculture, mutual societies, and sole traders for the essentials of life. He’s attempting to provide alternatives so that no-one needs to depend on multinational corporations.
He believes non-corporate businesses are democratic, and they don’t have to continually grow to satisfy investors, so they’re sustainable too. And he thinks a democratic, sustainable society is only possible if the institutions that comprise it are themselves democratic and sustainable.
The site is promoting a non-corporate model in which there is a completely free market (i.e. you’re free to set up in business, to choose what you sell and at what price, and to choose what you buy depending on price), but where the rewards are down to your own work, not someone else’s. And believes that if a business (and in aggregate, society) is to be truly democratic, then people who do the work should own the business, either individually or collectively.
He’s interested in replacing corporate institutions and thinks that when a non-corporate option exists, it’s preferable to a corporate option in all cases; so suggests that if you have a community-supported agriculture scheme near you, for example, it’s better to get your vegetables from there, whatever corporate supermarkets do. And it’s better to be with Co-op Energy, the Phone Co-op, Nationwide and Linux than with E-on, EE, Barclays or Microsoft even though the infrastructure and the hardware may still be corporate.
There is a Noncorporate.org blog which will feature articles about non-corporate developments in the categories on the home page – food, energy, housing, banking etc.
Key people in community-supported agriculture, community energy, housing co-ops, workers’ co-ops, free and open source software, platform co-ops, mutual credit and other parts of the non-corporate economy will be interviewed to find out what they’re up to, what they’ve achieved, what barriers they face and how NonCorporate.org might help them succeed.
The blog will also host opinion pieces, and hopes to stimulate debate on how to grow the non-corporate economy, and to prevent it from being consumed by the corporate sector.
He would welcome your comments, and would love to hear from our members with any ideas you might have for articles.
The WWOOF UK team is convinced many of our members could contribute greatly to this initiative and benefit from sharing ideas. Have we got that right? Take a look at the NonCorporate.org home page, their thoughts on food and drink and on housing and land – we have so much in common. Let us know what you think by leaving comments below or contacting editor@wwoof.org.uk.
