*This is an audio version of a video originally intended for Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Peyoc7-W0lc *

An excerpt from my previous video The Communes of Rojava: A Model In Societal Self-Direction (https://youtu.be/cDnenjIdnnE). I'll be releasing several other excerpts over the coming days covering each committee of the commune system.

Can an economy be run democratically? That is the question I explore in this video, using the directly democratic cooperatives controlled by the communes in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (Rojava) as a case study.

As the global climate crisis heats up, economies under local control but linked together to meet people's needs on a large scale becomes direly necessary. Rojava's municipalized cooperatives lays the groundwork for just that, with its municipalized cooperatives, run through commune assemblies by the workers and the residents most affected by the work of the co-op. 

Much of the environmental crisis comes from those having the power to make decisions over communities that they never live in, pushing off environmental damage out of their sight. But a community that controls its economy through direct democracy of all residents is never going to vote to pollute their own neighborhood. It is that kind of economic autonomy that will be necessary to enhance our quality of life and prevent worsening climate catastrophe.

If you've seen previous excerpts from my Communes of Rojava video, feel free to skip to 2:34 to get past the introduction.

I. A Short Introduction to the Commune System: 0:00-2:29

II. Neighbor Economics: Cooperatives in Rojava (the main presentation): 2:34-9:53

Neighbor Economics: Cooperatives in Rojava (Excerpted)

Neighbor Democracy