Although Mutual Credit has a strong pedigree, both theoretical and practical, it cannot be said to have ‘moved the needle’ in terms of the world economy. If we believe that mutual credit is important, that it holds a promise of deep systemic change to the incentives that dictate what sort of economy we can have, then we need to understand the reasons for this lack of wider … [Read more...]

Watch the Introduction to day 2 and discussion with Esther Foreman from the The Social Change Agency. Esther and team helped set up and support over 110 mutual aid groups via Open Collective during the Covid pandemic and their work, supporting people-powered networks, is paving the way for a world in which people and planet come before profit.  … [Read more...]

At the end of Day 1 of OPEN 2020 - after 6 hours of focused discussion about co-creating the collaborative economy - it was time for something different... which came in the form of a surprise performance from Poet & Radio Presenter Mr Gee. We were very proud to welcome Mr Gee - and grateful for him sharing his rhymes and wisdom. Check out his Soundcloud page for … [Read more...]

During this session we hear from Iris Schönherr about the amazing Every One Every Day project they have been running in Barking and Dagenham, building universal basic infrastructures for peer-to-peer participation. Read more about their work and the vision for Universal Basic Everything, and the Tomorrow Today Streets project which invites residents to work together on a … [Read more...]

There are hundreds of thousands of groups and communities working on building a new economy, but no centralised control or coordination system – after all, that’s the whole point of a decentralised network, there shouldn’t be any central ‘nodes’! But because our projects are decentralised it’s often hard to find other people and organisations working on similar ideas… which … [Read more...]

Every group, project or community needs digital tools to enable collaboration. But which tools should we choose? This is the first of two sessions looking at common infrastructure for the communities and organisations that are building the new economy. See also the slides and speaker notes for Sectors of work on the new economy and  Toolsframe - A framework for assembling … [Read more...]

What is mutual credit? How does it work? How can we enable local mutual credit networks and transition away from the present ‘debt based’ economy and start trading within networks of trust? This introductory session on mutual credit features Giuseppe Littera, co-founder of Sardex, one of the most successful mutual credit networks in Europe and Dil Green of … [Read more...]

“Throughout history, problems have arisen when the language used to represent reality fails to meet the needs and aspirations of people.” David Bollier & Silke Helfrich - Free, Fair and Alive Words, terms and categories of thought isolate and emphasise certain points of view. They determine what we notice and think about things - they shape our reality. So, if we want to … [Read more...]

OPEN 2020 is a collaborative online event for anyone that is interested in creating a world which places people and planet before profit. In this introductory session we set the context of the event and use polls to gather feedback from attendees about their views, objectives and motivations. We cover: What is The Open Co-op – and what are the aims of OPEN 2020? An … [Read more...]