My farmers are the best farmers 😭 #EatLocal #GiftEconomy #farming #FarmToFace #vegetables #farming #добыча

@astrochee

Good question.

I don't buy things, so I don't have that dilemma. But if I come across a belt or pair of shoes on a free table, or on a neighborhood giveway box, I'll take it and use it, with thanks to they who provided, including the animal it came from.

#Vegan #GiftEconomy #Barter #Leather

Dreaming about a #notforprofit platform to foster #mutualaid and free exchange of goods & services ? You can use our public server or deploy your own instance, and start sharing in your community. Navigate the map to discover existing free resources or requests, or add yours. + Filters + searching tools + online chat. https://shareish.org
#solidarityeconomy #gifteconomy #diverseeconomies #communityeconomies #emancipation #free #opensource #postcapitalism #OpenStreetMap #maps

@Aknorals Universal #BasicIncome provides direct funding for creators, and for everyone else.

In a #GiftEconomy, you don't even need #UBI – everyone gets what they need without worrying about money.

There is no place for rentiers in a good society.

https://www.journeyman.cc/blog/posts-output/2022-02-17-manifesto-for-a-good-society/

Hallo #followerpower / #fedihelp / #fedilz #FragDieFediverse #Fedipower Es gab vor Jahren mal ein #Buch zum kostenlosen Download, das auf Englisch über neue wirtschaftlich- soziale #Organsation|smodelle berichtete. Danach konnte man bei Gefallen spenden #Geschenkökonomie #gifteconomy In dem Buch wurde u.a. auch die Organisation einer holländischen bzw. aus Benelux sehr erfolgreichen #Pflegefirma/-#genossenschaft vorgestellt Wie heisst dieses Buch?

Anarchy means the absence of Hierarchy (artificial one's to be exact, such as political and economic), it does not mean Chaos (the absence of Law).

Those in power have used propaganda and brainwashing techniques for decades to make you believe that Anarchy is Chaos.

What they fear is a world without them.

#DirectDemocracy
#GiftEconomy

I think the folks on here will be interested in this.

The Freecycle Network, a modern gift economy:
Have something you don't need anymore? Give it away for free.
Need something? Search and see if someone else is giving it away for free in your area. TFN has been an active digital gift economy since 2003. Why not use it or tell a friend about it?

Fuck throwing things away and fuck the market. Gift economy all the way. Reuse all the way. Passing things on ALL THE WAY.
https://www.freecycle.org/
#GiftEconomy #Anarchism #FreecycleNetwork

This is the #gifteconomy in action.

https://www.protectedtext.com/site/helpusfight

It's true, #android doesn't have access to the iTunes store. :/ So where can we go to get high quality music files?

Well, bandcamp has high quality audio availavle for purchase directly from the artists. They run a #gifteconomy style pricing schema where artists set a minimim price as low as $0 and we the customers give as much as we feel we should. Some artists set minimum prices above $0.

Support artists directly, not recording studios.

https://bandcamp.com/

“Hoarding won’t save us … All flourishing is mutual.“

I just listened to this beautiful piece on the nature of the natural world as a web of gift exchanges. The author reminds us that we, humans, are also part of the natural world; this is an economics we can share, and must if we want to save ourselves.

https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/the-serviceberry/

#RobinWallKimmerer #GiftEconomy #Serviceberry #EcologicalEconomics #PlantTeachers #Indigenous

https://theeggandtherock.substack.com/p/i-wrote-a-story-for-a-friend

Beautiful, beautiful story about the story of the origins of the #EndStory of #Minecraft, how terribly #Notch (and company treated) the creator of the end story, how #Microsoft failed to do its due diligence in buying Minecraft, how the creator of the end story found a new perspective on the situation due to #MagicMushrooms, and about the power that comes from the #GiftEconomy and the #PublicDomain.

Also a fascinating #Copyright and #IP #law study.

h/t @kashhill

This is a compelling essay from Julian Gough, the author who wrote the story that plays at the end of #Minecraft, how he never signed away his copyright, how he learned to understand his complicated feelings about it all, and how he ended up gifting the story to the universe.

https://theeggandtherock.substack.com/p/i-wrote-a-story-for-a-friend

#love #TheUniversive #end #microsoft #gifteconomy #EndPoem #copyright

#Interview with Miki Kashtan about Gift Economy

https://soundcloud.com/venturestories/the-case-for-a-gift-economy

Also mentioned: Humberto Maturana (Origins of humanness in the Biology of Love), Genevieve Vaughan, Marshall Rosenberg

#gifteconomy #nvc #capitalism #governance #economy #communism #climateemergency #patriarchy

Happy New Year!
There are many reasons for wealthier folks to focus on the REDUCE action of the #Recycling cycle in 2023. Each returned gift consumed resources and likely contributed to #ClimateInjustice. Donate or join your local #GiftEconomy instead of returning!

Consumerism, Environmental Degradation, And Their Disproportionate Effects On Women | Feminism in India
https://feminisminindia.com/2022/07/25/consumerism-environmental-degradation-and-their-disproportionate-effects-on-women/

Happy New Year!

We can think of so many reasons for wealthier folks to focus on the REDUCE action of the #Recycling cycle. Economic projections anticipate that about 20% of gifts received this past holiday season will be returned. Each of those items consumed resources and likely contributed to #ClimateInjustice. Maybe consider donating or joining your local #GiftEconomy instead!

Consumerism, Environmental Degradation, And Their Disproportionate Effects On Women | Feminism in India

https://feminisminindia.com/2022/07/25/consumerism-environmental-degradation-and-their-disproportionate-effects-on-women/

@pritvee @breadandcircuses @bookstodon

In addition to loving #LittleFreeLibraries, I'm also an ardent fan of #BookCrossing, and have given away more than 3,000 books through the latter.

https://Bookcrossing.com
#books
#sharing
#GiftEconomy
#CommunityBuilding

The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance
by Robin Wall Kimmerer

"As Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and ecological systems to reimagine currencies of exchange?"

https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/the-serviceberry/

#GiftEconomy

Why the Gift Economy is Hard (and trying to find some solutions)
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I have always had a strange relationship with money. I have never wanted money, lived most of my life with financial security but also understood what it means to not have enough money, and now I believe that money should really be abolished. It is just a made up social construct after all.

When I first learned about the gift economy, I fell in love. It felt like a relationship-focused approach to security that could either replace or work along side other economic systems. In fact, it already does exist alongside capitalism, so it seemed like a natural place to put my time in energy in the search of building out something new and less oppressive than capitalist economy.

I’ve been experimenting with the gift economy in different ways for a number of years now but have always come up against the same problems. It’s unfamiliar and uncomfortable for people to accept gifts without reciprocating or choose what to pay in a pay-what-you-want model. We’ve all been heavily indoctrinated into paying people “an hourly wage” for their time and labour. Even Marx believed that an hour of time held specific value and he’s considered the father of the communist movement.

The truth is that hourly wages don’t always work, especially when the work you’re doing is outside of an industrial system. Community based, small scale, hand made, etc: this work is not prized because of it’s efficiency. There’s usually cheaper, faster ways to accomplish tasks. The value is found in other ways: the artistry of handmade items, the craftmanship of using local resources, the ability to serve under-valued or at-risk community members, the regenerative practices of growing high nutrient foods. The potter, the artist, the ecological farmer: few of these workers make an hourly wage.

Alas, when I ask people to pick the value of a handmade rug, they choke. They panic. They assume that the inherent value is more than what they can afford. But in reality, there is no inherent value. I have no overhead and I’m self taught. For me, it’s based completely on how the item will be used, cared for, consumed, or loved. You can walk into Ikea and buy a rag rug for $10. You can walk into a boutique store and pay $150. The rug itself isn’t much different. The value difference has been place on it by the seller, based on what they think the buyer will pay. But the rug itself is essentially the same.

When I worked for an employer, my hourly wage value was determined by someone else. As an independent freelancer, my hourly wage was determined by the market and what other professionals could squeeze out of their clients. When I was doing freelance work, I chose a different path and decided to keep my wages intentionally low in order to attract the type of work that I found personally rewarding.

Now, I’m kind of floating out there in the ether with anything that might be considered “work”. I mean, I have a job with my family business. I don’t keep track of my hourly wage, I just do the work that needs to be done and hope we make enough money to pay the bank. The rest of my time is spent doing unpaid labour, some of it homeschooling or caretaking, some of it being a creative, some of it mutual aid in my community, some of it learning and writing about things that I’m interested in and believe are important. Sometimes it’s sharing memes on the internet. My favourite hashtag comes from Jen at @thebonusroom : #wholesomehardworkinganticapitalist (https://www.redbubble.com/people/BonusRoomJen/shop?asc=u)

Can this work be valued by an hourly wage?

Do I even want it to be?

I think the answer to both of these questions is no, but I’m also a human being that exists in such circumstances that ascribed value provides a reference for me that I’m doing something WORTH DOING. This value might be monetary, it might be social media cred, it might be subscribers to a newsletter. But this value is helpful to let me know which work is important to others.

This long winded rant has two purposes.

One: to say that operating outside capitalism is hard and when you see others doing this work, please don’t be intimidated. Take some time and accept that these things that seem different are hard but not impossible and maybe even acknowledge to them that you appreciate their efforts. It goes a long way.

Two: I recognize that accepting money for work that has no inherent value is okay in this crumbling economic nightmare in which we exist and, as such, I’m going to open up a paid version of my newsletter for those who are interested in supporting me financially.

The pitch: in addition to the weekly-ish email rant, paid subscribers will automatically receive quarterly snail mail care packages (zines, tea, weaving, sewing, art, etc.) as well as a weekly update about our unschooling activities. Part of the reason for putting the additional email behind a paywall is that not everyone here are unschoolers and genuinely don’t care about these updates. The other part is because being accountable to paid subscribers will keep me honest and also show me that this work is in fact meaningful to folks.

Paid subscriptions will cost $5/month, $30/year (the minimum I can set) or $50/year (for those with financial security). If these costs are a barrier and you would like to receive the unschooling updates, let me know and I’m happy to gift you a subscription. Care packages will also be available individually from my website as they are now. (https://www.subsomatic.com/care-packages/)

For those that might be new around here and interested in learning more about our unschooling practice, you can read my essay about Intersectional Unschooling (https://www.subsomatic.com/intersectional-unschooling/) : the anti-oppressive approach that we take to home education and relationships in our immediate family. It’s also available as a zine (https://www.subsomatic.com/product/intersectional-unschooling/). In the weekly updates, I’ll talk about our approach to learning, wins and challenges that we face, thoughts about traditional and alternative education models, approaches to consent, managing anxiety and neurodivergence, using games as a core part of our unschooling practice, autonomy and independence, and really whatever else comes up.

If you're interested in subscribing, you can do so here: https://swimupstream.substack.com/

Thanks for coming along on this ride, and reading if you’ve made it this far in the post. I really appreciate your consideration to help place a financial value on this work that I’ve been doing. <3

Originally post at https://swimupstream.substack.com/p/why-the-gift-economy-is-hard-and

#gifteconomy #unschooling #intersectionalunschooling #alternativeeconomy #value #anticapitalist #anticapitalism #wholesomehardworkinganticapitalist

This is a really long blog post by the author of the ending narrative in the most successful video game of all time, Minecraft.

It‘s about the universe, and love, and why despite a lot of pressure from Mojang and Microsoft the ending of Minecraft is now free under a CC0 license: „I hereby liberate it from the corporate economy, where it’s been illegally detained since 2014, and place it officially in the gift economy.“

https://theeggandtherock.substack.com/p/i-wrote-a-story-for-a-friend

#minecraft #art #giftEconomy

Sometimes I just put things and love and myself out into the world and never really know what will come of it. I never expect reciprocation but man, is it ever a beautiful feeling when receiving gifts in return.

I wasn't expecting anything in the mail and it was such a surprise opening these amazing handmade and locally sourced thoughtful gifts this afternoon.

So much love Katy and the rest of this community that is spread by distance but feels so close 💞
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#gifteconomy #gift #giftradically #sharingeconomy #leaneconomy