Can we replace the current economic system of exploitation, exclusion and the destruction of the environment with an alternative that’s built on equity, cooperation, worker democracy, and environmental sustainability? That’s what Cooperation Jackson are trying to do in Jackson, Mississippi.
Sacajawea “Saki” Hall and Kali Akuno – two of the founders of this radical cooperative network – are coming to Brighton on Friday 24 May as part of a tour of the UK. They will talk about the Cooperation Jackson story and what they’ve learned along the way about transforming their community and building a local economy based on solidarity, not profit.
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Cooperatives are owned and run by their members. Cooperation Jackson includes of a federation of emerging local worker cooperatives, a cooperative education and training centre, a cooperative bank, and a Community Land Trust (CLT). They run people’s assemblies as a way to revitalise local democracy.
Cooperation Jackson draws on the long history of black-led cooperatives and community collectives in Mississippi, as well as the organising of the Black Power movement era. They see self-organisation as key to improving the quality of life for working class people in one of the poorest cities in the US, and want to politicise cooperatives and infuse them with class consciousness.
“When marginalized and excluded workers and communities are organized in democratic organizations and social movements they become a force capable of making transformative social advances….” Co-operation Jackson.
This event will take place on Friday 24 May 2019 from 5.45pm until 7.45pm in the Lecture Room at the Friends Meeting House, Ship Street, Brighton, BN1 1AF. The talk will begin at 6.00pm. Book your place here.
Kali Akuno was in the political administration of the late Chokwe Lumumba, the first Black mayor of Jackson, elected in 2013. Find out more about him and Cooperation Jackson in this interview in STIR To Action.
The venue is wheelchair accesible and located in central Brighton.
Mutual Aid In Sussex (MAIS) 