Further reflections after the 1st day of workshop by Catarina

This note is part of the Commoning Beyond Growth Workshop, which took place in Nottingham from June 5 to 7, 2024.

By Catarina Lopes Mateus

Reflecting on the presentations of yesterday, I see in this cooperative, the idea of independence related to the process of maintaining the ‘conditions’ and the ‘results’ (Massimo De Angelis) in the same system of the cooperative.

This is, to impede that these conditions are stolen to feed the external ‘production system’ of capitalism.On the politicisation of this project, as a reflection on Nicholas Beuret & David Harvie’s work,I see that there is no politicisation as a collective (even though there is a political activist pastof many members). However, individually there seems to be a lot of activist actions among different members of the cooperative. From alternative schools for children, manifestos for amore social, participative and sustainable architecture, or the engagement with some local political forces, etc.

Finally, reflecting on the work of Janne Säynäjäkangas, it seems that the base of this cooperative is a change of the commonly accepted qualitative dimension of ‘progress’ or ‘abetter life’, from a commodities-based and system reliant model of living to a more autonomous,collective and solidarity-based model of living and assuring a better life for all.