About this issue... Contents Cooperative incentives, as opposed to competitive ones, can lead to better quality products and stronger social ties, (see Community Supported Agriculture beginning on page 4, and Making Workbikesfor the Neighborhood on page 14). Such incentives appear only in communities that actively work to assert the value of labor, especially that of local workers who have been marginalized by the global economy. For example, at Downtown Community Television (see page 10) independent producers are given a chance to work on important themes that are unacceptable to network television executives. They have put sweat equity into a formerly dilapidated building, which now acts as a haven from which to do their community work. At Anandwan (see page 22), leprosy patients, formerly rejected by society, transformed abandoned land into a hospital, a self-reliant town and a national center for activism. Cooperative incentives and valued work go hand-in-hand with broad participatory self-government on the community level, where people both decide and carry out policy. This kind of politics has a rich history (see page 32), and must be rekindled if communities are to function fairly and Page 2 Rain Winter/Spring 1992 Volume XIV, Number 2 Front Cover: (clockwise from upper left) “Neighborhood controlled food and transport”: communities are better able to examine and fulfill their own needs than is the world market. Here a fellow in Zurich, Switzerland experiments with milk containers and a "Long John" transport bike. The producer/consumer food co-op Topinambur (see page 6) wanted to transport food via human power. A fine modem version of this bike is now available from Oregon: see page 14. “Direct Self-Government”: It is neither necessary nor desirable to hire professionals to administer cities and provide services. People can best do this themselves (see page 32). From a sketch of Pont-Aven, France, circa 1880. “Respected Local Labor”: Here a healthy leprosy survivor works on the community workday at Anandwan (see page 22). The community workday, known as Shram Dan, was an idea of Gandhi's, meant to make community service a regular part of the week. Anandwan is built on abandoned land, free from many economic pressures, where manual labor has as high a value as any other work. Since the town is self-reliant, projects at Anandwan need people more than money to survive. 4 Community Supported Agriculture CSA’s can resolve the waste and insecurities inherent in market agriculture. 6 Ziirich Supported Agriculture CSA's were being defined for the western world during the early 1980's in Switzerland. 8 Sustainable Agriculture projects CSA’s, permaculture and sustainable agriculture. 9 Alternative Economic projects Land trusts. Local currencies, Schumacher groups. 10 Global and Local Cameras New York’s Downtown Community Television (DCTV) has provided video tools for the underprivileged for 20 years, and has incidentally won 8 Emmy Awards for documentaries. 12 DCTV Productions A listing of DCTV's professional videos on problems at home and around the world.
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