POST-CAPITALIST FUTURES: A COVID READING AND DRAWING GROUP

We invite participants to collectively imagine a post-capitalist world

by reading related articles, drawing, reflecting together and making plans for action​.

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Contact us to receive more information on the reading & getting the link to join through Jitsi:
reading-drawing@swapmarket.info

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Join in a session of this Scotland-based group that uses creative and playful means to imagine radical alternatives to the capitalist economy. They draw from texts in feminist philosophy, feminist economics and reflections from activist groups.

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During covid-19 and social distancing, we have begun a programme of remote exchange and skills sharing including
an online events programme. We have formed a reading and drawing group, which grew organically from the
remote exchanges of the Swap Market project, in particular the future visioning exercises lead by
artists Ailie Rutherford and Raman Mundair. Our group invites participants to playfully and collectively imagine a
post-capitalist world:

“this moment of global crisis and the Covid pandemic is likely to transform capitalism as we know it. While this is a difficult time for all of us, can times of crisis also open  up space for new possibilities to emerge? It is in these times that large collective shifts in consciousness are possible and major shifts in political and economic structures can happen. We are already seeing lower pollution levels, reduced consumption and new mutual care networks. What else do we imagine happening that didn’t seem possible before?”.

We have seen a new language evolving recently around solidarity economies, mutual aid and online collaboration
since the covid crisis began, alongside an increased interest in how we can use available technology to connect and support each other through difficult times. The need for a radically different economic model has been at the core of our work with The People’s bank of Govanhill and Swap Market since 2015 and we are keen to continue this work has an increased appeal to an even wider public. We are now looking at how this new global interest in community care models and trans-local solidarity through technology can continue to manifest beyond the current crisis.

https://thepeoplesbankofgovanhill.wordpress.com/2020/04/01/imagining-post-capitalist-futures/

 

What we do
Our group has been really popular and is attracting participants from across the globe, with people joining in from
Canada, India and across Europe. Fortnightly we decide collectively on short articles to read that inspire us to think about how we can live and work together differently, with a focus on “the pandemic as a portal” (quote from
Arundhati Roy). We join together to discuss what we’ve read, make drawings and action plans.
We propose to run a series of online sessions from the group, across the summer, with rotating facilitation. By
making our group open to NSU members (and a wider audience) we can engage others in our network of feminist thinkers and activists from across the globe, seeing our common concerns and thinking together about how we can
act collectively across borders, to reach common aims.

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Tues 14th July - Responding to the Upstream podcast with Jason Hickel
on International Development and Post-capitalism.

Hosted by Petra Baiba Olehno

 

Tues 28th July - Looking at the work of  Joy Buolamwini and the Algorithmic Justice League.

Hosted by Ailie Rutherford

 

Tues 11th Aug - Looking at Hawaii's feminist economic plans for post-covid recovery.

Hosted by Heather McLean

 

Tues 25th Aug - Reading and drawing around Silvia Federici's work on Feminism and the Politics of thre Commons

Hosted by Janie Nicoll

 

All taking place at 8pm BST