PARTS OF THE INTERVIEWS REALIZED IN THE EXHIBITION "Alternative Economics, Alternative Societies"

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The Paris Commune 1871, Alain Dalotel

... One thing that must really be stressed is that the Paris Commune of 1871 is a direct democracy. And this particular direct democracy has nothing to do with participatory democracy. The Commune is not about reforming the public services, it's about changing society, not adapting it. In 1871, people want revolution and think they have the capacity to make it happen with guns and cannons...

Excerpt from a video realized in collaboration with Rebond pour la Commune, 25 min, recorded in Paris, France, 2004.

Workers' Collectives during the Spanish Revolution, Salomé Moltó

... No one was forced to join the collectives but everyone was eager to do so because it signified a higher income, your needs were covered and apart from that, if a system of that kind is afoot it is not a small percentage of the population which supports it but 99 percent of the nation...

Excerpt from a video, 22 min, recorded in Alcoy, Spain, 2004.

Yugoslavia's Workers Self-Management, Todor Kuljić

... But compared with the state of present Yugoslavia, for example, where a type of wild capitalism reigns, it was a relatively well-functioning democracy. The working class and the poor people had a type of sovereign right, which they do not have today. One cannot reject Yugoslavian self-management as a whole as totalitarianism...

Excerpt from a video, 23 min, recorded in Belgrade, Serbia, 2003.

Inclusive Democracy, Takis Fotopoulos
www.inclusivedemocracy.org

... The overall aim of the inclusive democracy project is to create a society in which people determine themselves, in which, in other words, the "demos", as it was the classical concept for the people, has overall control over the political sphere, the economic sphere and, the social sphere in general...

Excerpt from a video, 37 min, recorded in London, Great Britain, 2003.

Participatory Economics, Michael Albert
www.parecon.org

... The values of participatory economics are equity, solidarity, diversity and self-management. Equity refers to how much we get from our work. And the norm is that we should be remunerated for effort and sacrifice, not for property or power...

Excerpt from a video, 37 min, recorded in Woods Hole, USA, 2003.

Anarchist Consensual Democracy, Ralf Burnicki

... First, in an anarchist consensual democracy, affected persons would have the right to be consulted on decisions. Second, all persons who are disadvantaged by a decision would have the right to veto in this decision-making process. This right allows them to nullify the decision so that discussion can begin again...

Excerpt from a video, 29 min, recorded in Bielefeld, Germany, 2005.

bolo’bolo, p.m.
www.bolo-bolo.org

... It would probably take longer to explain that the communism that I am talking about is not the one that I saw. It is easier to simply say I am for bolo'bolo, and then everyone starts to think of the things all over again, to re-think them...

Excerpt from a video, 22 min, recorded in Zurich, Switzerland, 2004.

Utopian Feminist Visions, Marge Piercy
http://archer-books.com/Piercy

... Most utopian novels that women have written are very different. They tend to much looser, more anarchical societies. They tend to be very concerned that the daily work of society should be as prestigious as the jobs that are now loaded with rewards...

Excerpt from a video, 24 min, recorded on Cape Cod, USA, 2003.

Caring Labor, Nancy Folbre
www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~folbre/folbre

... Caring Labor... whether we are coming out from a corporate capitalist point of view or from a socialist point of view, we have to recognize that there is this kind of labor that is different than other kinds, that is not as reducible to the logic of exchange or to the logic of central planning or bureaucratic administration...

Excerpt from a video, 20 min, recorded in Amherst, USA, 2003.

Free Cooperation, Christoph Spehr
www.outofthisworld.de/yeti

... There are three aspects that have to be taken into account if you want to build a free cooperation. The first is that all rules in this cooperation can be questioned by everybody The second is that people can question and change these rules by using this primary material force of refusing to cooperate And the third aspect
is that the price of not cooperating should be similar for all participants in this cooperation...

Excerpt from a video, 32 min, recorded in Bremen, Germany, 2003.

Change the World Without Taking Power, John Holloway

... There is simply something wrong with the whole idea of trying to transform society through the state. The failure to transform society through the state has to do with the nature of the state itself, that the state is not just a neutral institution but a specific form of social relations that arises with the development of capitalism...

Excerpt from a video, 23 min, recorded in Vienna, Austria, 2004.

All interviews have been carried out by Oliver Ressler. Transcripts of whole interviews could be found at www.ressler.at

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