alternative economies

How to Launch a Transition Town/Transition Initiative in Your Community

Saturday & Sunday, November 21 - 22, 2009, Starting at 9:00 a.m. The Transition Network and Transition US (www.transitionus.org) are offering the two-day Training for Transition course as developed by Naresh Giangrande and Sophy Banks of the Transition Network in Totnes, England (www.transitiontowns.org). The course is an in-depth experiential introduction to Transition for those considering bringing Transition to their community. It meets the training requirement for local initiating groups to become an internationally-recognized Transition Town.

Venezuelan scholar-diplomat Escalona discusses crisis w/ a stellar panel of economists

Friday, June 12, 2009, 7:00 p.m. Venezuela's Adjunct Ambassador to the United Nations and economist Julio Escalona returns to e5 to address the global economic crisis and preview the upcoming UN Assembly's Special Session on the crisis. Joining the conversation are Richard Freeman (Harvard's National Bureau of Economic Research), Julie Matthaei (Wellesley College) and Arthur MacEwan (UMass Boston).

Program details to follow. See attachments below for the flyer and details of the UN conference; click to read the speaker bios.

A Conversation with Jorge Santiago

Thursday, April 2, 7:00 p.m. As the Wall Street financial crisis sparks urgent discussion of shortcomings in the US economy, the Mexico-US Solidarity Network invites you to join us in examining lessons from economic projects in the indigenous communities of southern Mexico . Jorge Santiago is the former Director of Desarrollo Económico y Social de los Mexicanos Indígenas (DESMI; Indigenous Mexican Social & Economic Development) where he has worked since the 1970s developing economic alternatives in over 200 indigenous communities in Chiapas , the southernmost state of Mexico.

Saturday, January 17, 2009, 6:00 p.m. Members of the Boston delegation to the eighth World Social Forum (Belem, Brazil) will begin the evening by discussing their objectives for the forum, then moving onto identify the forum's contributions and closing by stating how the want the forum to evolve. Topics to be covered include solidarity economics, the human right to water, migration and global social movements. The event will be followed by informal conversation and music from Brazil. There will also be an auction to benefit the Global Economic Alternatives Network (GEAN).

Report on the ESF and the Building the Alternative Solidarity Economy Seminar

encuentro 5 on 10/23/08

Pasqualino Colombaro reported on the ESF to a gathering of activists and social forum organizers. He provided an overview of the forum, its themes, organization and attendees. Then he described the Building the Alternative Solidarity Economy workshop organized by the Global Economic Alternatives Network (GEAN). His presentation closed with a review of the Labor & Globalization Network (L&G). [a podcast of his presentation will also be available soon]. Click on the titles below to read Pasqalino's presentation.