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Season 6
Season 6 began in March 2022 and ended September 2022
Shifting to a Cooperative International Order
September 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 12)
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In this special All Things Co-op season finale, Kevin traces a brief history of international relations, discusses the rise of international law and the failure of the UN to address our current global dilemmas, and speculates that a cooperative, rather than competitive, international order is necessary to create a sustainable, peaceful world.
August 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 11)
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In this episode of All Things Co-op, Cinar and Kevin discuss the issue of the environment, its destruction, the cause (spoiler alert: it’s capitalism) and the only true way we can address this looming crisis. They discuss the underlying reason why we have global climate change, its reverberating effects, the potential for revolutionary responses, the danger of eco-fascism, and how a cooperative response could save us.
August 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 10)
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In this episode of All Things Co-op, Cinar and Kevin talk with Erik Esse, the producer of the new documentary The Co-op Wars. The Co-op Wars traces the history of the food cooperative movement in the mid to late 1970s in Minnesota's Twin Cities. The rapid development of the food co-op network in the area prompted a split between anarchist "hippies" and Bolshevists who styled themselves as the “Cooperative Organization” and set about taking over the People's Warehouse by force. The film provides powerful lessons for cooperative organizations and activists today. As Erik and the ATC guys dissect the film and its implications, they touch on the role of traditional politics, the limits of "third-worldism" in the first world, the mainstreaming of co-ops, the potential influence of COINTELPRO, and much more.
August 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 09)
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Polls show that most Americans think economic inequality is a problem, but if you listen to right-wing capitalist apologists, you’ll hear that economic inequality is either not that big of a deal, a consequence of economic freedom, and/or actually a good thing. In this episode of All Things Co-op, Cinar and Kevin pick apart these arguments, look at how wages are distributed in co-ops today, and talk about how inequality could be handled in a cooperative society.
Democracy at Work - 10 Year Anniversary Special
July 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 08)
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In this episode of All Things Co-op, Larry, Cinar, and Kevin celebrate Democracy at Work’s 10 year anniversary by reflecting on their history and involvement with d@w. The ATC guys discuss the value of d@w, their own political histories and perspectives, their path to becoming co-hosts of this podcast, the nuts and bolts of planning, recording and producing episodes, and what they are looking towards in the future.
Federation of Southern Cooperatives with Terence Courtney
June 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 07)
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In this episode of All Things Co-op, Cinar, Larry, and Kevin talk with Terence Courtney, the Director of Cooperative Development & Strategic Initiatives at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, an organization focused on land retention, cooperative development, and advocacy for small black-owned farms in the Southern United States. Terence and the ATC guys discuss the unique history of black farming in the south, institutional and ideological barriers to growth, and what cooperative associations can mean for historically marginalized communities.
Friendships, Relationships, and Intimacy in a Cooperative Society
May 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 06)
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Does capitalism allow real friendship? How does commodification shape our dating lives? How do people share intimacy in a world in which data is translatable to wealth? These and many more questions are discussed by Cinar, Kevin, and Larry in this episode of All Things Co-op.
Online Education with John Hayes of MyCoolClass
May 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 05)
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In this episode of All Things Co-op, Cinar, Larry and Kevin talk with John Hayes of MyCoolClass about the rise of educational platforms and online learning. MyCoolClass aims to give power back to the teachers as they navigate the online teaching world and show how cooperative principles can shake up the space. John and the ATC guys chat about what cooperative cultural values bring to education and how an education system run by teachers could be truly revolutionary.
April 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 04)
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In this episode of All Things Co-op, Cinar, Larry, and Kevin talk about the issue of innovation under both capitalism and a possible cooperative economy. The innovation we’ve seen over the last 250 years has been so immense that people often believe if we changed our economic system, we’d lose the drive for innovation. Though the innovation achieved under capitalism has led to a decrease in needless death, greater standards of living, and massive economic growth, it has also created immense inequality and has led to ever more frequent recessions. As we approach the era of artificial general intelligence and irreversible climate change, how do we account for and justify the costs associated with capitalism?
The Canadian Worker Co-op Federation
April 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 03)
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In this episode of All Things Co-op, Cinar, Larry, and Kevin talk with Hazel Corcoran and Jared Blustein from the Canadian Worker Cooperative Federation. Hazel has been the CWCF's executive director since 1995 and Jared is a founding worker-owner of The Allium, a plant-based worker co-op in Calgary. The group discusses the unique landscape of the Canadian worker cooperative movement, touching on issues around building the solidarity economy and Canada's national legislation on cooperatives. Jared and Hazel speak to both the benefits of operating within the worker co-op framework as well as the challenges their organizations face in a largely capitalist economy.
Work and Leisure
March 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 02)
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In this episode of All Things Co-op, Larry, Cinar, and Kevin dive into the issue of leisure as it relates to both our current capitalist system and a future cooperative society. What does leisure look like under capitalism and how does it function? What does it mean for our non-work lives and interests to be commodified? The ATC guys explore what leisure could look like in a more cooperative society.
There Is An Alternative to Capitalism
March 2022 (Season 6 - Episode 01)
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In this first episode of Season 6, Cinar, Larry, and Kevin introduce the theme of Season 6: there is an alternative. Critics on the Left love to talk about what they’re against but rarely offer real alternatives. Playing off the widespread feeling of capitalist realism—that there is no alternative to our current economic order—the ATC guys propose that building a cooperative society is a concrete alternative to capitalism. Throughout this season, they will speculate about what that future society could look like, both in terms of political and economic structures, but also on a wider, socio-cultural scale. Human beings are more than mere workers! Kevin, Larry and Cinar will look at all the aspects that make up our life, from sports to sex and everything in between, to see what living would look like in a cooperative world.
OTHER SEASONS OF ALL THINGS CO-OP
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