Links to resources on cooperatives, commons, community wealth building and more.
Publications from the original Community Wealth Builders
US-based, but a wide range of reports and other resources on economic democracy.
Scottish Think Tank with a rich bank of policy papers on land reform, social care, energy policy, resilience, etc.
ARCHIVE: Podcasts from the Combination
The CombOver episode 9: Cooperatives in Northern Ireland
To mark Cooperatives Fortnight (22 June – 5 July) Maurice talks to Tiziana O’Hara of Cooperative Alternatives and Ellie Perrin, who is writing a PhD thesis on this episode’s topic: the cooperative movement in Northern Ireland.
The CombOver episode 8 – Compassion Unconfined: a restorative approach to climate justice
In this episode of the CombOver, Maurice talks to Tanya Jones about her research on the concept of restorative justice, how that approach relates to the issue of climate injustice, and how the present crisis – the episode was recorded during the COVID-19 lockdown – will provide both challenges and opportunities for those who simply want to return us to ‘business as usual’ as fast as possible, but also for those who are determined to build a more equitable, sustainable, democratic, and just political and economic system.
The Crank and the Commonwealth
In a special episode of the CombOver for May Day 2020, Maurice reflects on the mechanisms driving up inequality, and proposes a shift in gearing from the Crank Economy towards a democratic, horizontal economy in which wealth is held in common – a new commonwealth.
The CombOver: Confined to Quarters
Like others, during the unfolding coronavirus crisis, we find ourselves confined to quarters here at the Combination. So we can’t interview people face to face. But Maurice has taken the opportunity of his daily exercise allowance (and dog-walking time) to record some reflections on a quartet of values that shape his thinking.
The result is this series of four episodes, each confined to a quarter of an hour long (of course), looking in turn at sustainability, nonviolence, equality and democracy.
We at the Combination wish you the best: stay safe!
The CombOver
Welcome to the CombOver, a podcast about politics, made in Northern Ireland, but not necessarily about Northern Ireland.
Episode 1: Unhappy New Year?
In Episode 1, recorded in January 2020, Maurice Macartney talks to Stephen Baker about the state of politics, and of the climate, as we enter the new decade.
Episode 2. Climate Justice: It’s the Law
In Episode 2, Maurice talks to Tanya Jones about her experience of campaigning on Fracking in Fermanagh, her involvement with Extinction Rebellion in Scotland, and about the role of the courts in seeking climate justice.
The Next Village
These are some more of the podcasts Maurice made in 2011 and 2012 for Beyond Skin’s ‘The Next Village’ project, looking at a range of issues relating to our global neighbours. Find out more about Beyond Skin here.
(Posted: December 2019)
8o8 Series of shorts – the Millennium Development Goals
1. Poverty eradication: Scrabo Tower
2. Education: National School, Folk Museum
3. Gender equality: Velázquez Portrait of a Maid
4. Child mortality: Egyptian Dol
5. Maternal health: Taweret sculpture
6. Disease eradication: Friar’s Bush cemetary
7. Environmental sustainability: Vishnu group
8. Global partnership: Kulap figures
Long-form podcasts
After Empire: Africa and India
International Women’s Day Centenary
Begin with the smoke
To mark Holocaust Memorial Day, we are posting this link to a podcast made by Maurice Macartney for Beyond Skin’s ‘The Next Village’ project a few years ago.
In this programme Maurice looks at the responses of artists and composers to the traumas of Polish twentieth century history, with the help of Polish musician Marcin Krziewicki.
Posted 27 January 2017
Connections and Combinations
In an audio programme to go with the first of a projected video series taking the long view of how we got where we are today, Maurice Macartney presents a podcast largely recorded on a recent brief visit to Brussels.
The city is one of the wealthiest, on aggregate, in Europe, and is a by-word for political power. Yet there are also pockets of poverty and marginalisation neighbouring the site of the great European Institutions. One of them, Molenbeek, was the area from which terrorists recently launched attacks in Paris and in Brussels itself. But it has a perhaps surprising connection with the industrial cities of northern England. Follow the link below for the podcast.
Connections and combinations part 1: Brussels (ComPod1)
Posted 1 January 2017