Visual Notes of The Build and Fight Formula
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Build and Fight Formula Educational Series Part 4: Worker Self Organization & Management→
/Kali Akuno talked about Worker Self Organization and Self Management as a key part of the Build and Fight Formula. Tune in June 10th for part 5 Community Production
Build and Fight Formula Educational Series Part 3: Food Sovereignty
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The Build and Fight Formula Educational Series
Part 3: Food Sovereignty
“The Build and Fight Formula is both an argument and a proposed methodology on how to build eco-socialism from below, meaning through the self-organized activities and institutions of the working class and oppressed people.”
Read MoreDeveloping Community Asset Vouchers and Rotational Labor Associations in Jackson, MS
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Creating Community Asset Vouchers and Rotational Labor Associations in Jackson, MS
Cooperation Jackson hosted Grassroots Economics in Jackson, MS from Monday, March 10th through Thursday, March 14th. The purpose of this encounter was to set up our own Mutual Exchange and Rotational Labor Association (ROLA) system in Jackson.
Read MoreBuild and Fight Formula Education Series: Part 2 Mutual Aid
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The Build and Fight Formula Education Series
Part Two: Mutual Aid
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
“The Build and Fight Formula is both an argument and a proposed methodology on how to build eco-socialism from below, meaning through the self-organized activities and institutions of the working class and oppressed people.”
Read MoreRedneck Gone Green: The Build and Fight Formula with Kali Akuno
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Redneck Gone Green
The Build and Fight Formula with Kali Akuno
Monday, March 3, 2025
This edition of Redneck Gone Green with David Cobb and Shane Knight, they discuss the flaccid state of the Democratic Party and what it's going to take for us to save ourselves with Cooperation Jackson's co-founder Kali Akuno about their educational series "The Build & Fight Formula."
Read MoreBuild and Fight Formula Education Series: Intro
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The Build and Fight Formula Education Series
Part One: Introduction, the Argument
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
“The Build and Fight Formula is both an argument and a proposed methodology on how to build eco-socialism from below, meaning through the self-organized activities and institutions of the working class and oppressed people.”
Read MoreTrump's administrative coup with David Cobb and Kali Akuno
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Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Just two weeks in power, the new Trump administration has already led a horrifying whirlwind of attacks on immigrants, transgender people, tribal nations, people of color, and women. Government institutions are being dismantled. Make no mistake, these shock-and-awe actions are designed to keep people in fear and paralyzed as a fascistic presidency stages what is being called an administrative coup.
Our guests today, David Cobb and Kali Akuno, are among the few who saw this moment coming years ago, and have never stopped organizing against the fascist threat. In their work, including the creation of the People’s Network for Land and Liberation, they take a programmatic approach to overcoming fear through clear analysis and direct action. They aim not only to resist, but to build real infrastructure to keep people safe, meet basic needs, and cultivate the idea and practice of political and economic democracy on a mass scale.
As the Italian antifascist and theorist Antonio Gramsci said, “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters.” For David and Kali, as well as for our guest host Meleiza Figueroa, the way through is not only fighting the monsters, but bringing that new world into being. We’ll spend the hour with our guests discussing the nature of this current historical conjuncture, and what they have been doing to prepare the people for this very moment.
Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman features conversations with leading thinkers and activists, with a focus on labor, the economy, and protest movements.
Read MoreIs Economic Collapse on the Way?
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Over the weekend of February 1st and 2nd, Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. Mexico’s tariffs are set to go into effect on March 1; China’s and Canada’s are set for tonight. All countries have threatened retaliatory actions in response. What does all this mean?
Hear a take on this question from Kali Akuno in dialogue with Thandisizwe Chimurenga on Rootwork.
Monday, February 3, 2025
Read MoreProspects for Movements in the new Trump regime
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Interview by Firoze Manji of Daraja Press
Conducted Sunday, January 26, 2025
Kali describes a more effective and organized Trump regime implementing policies that are creating significant contradictions and challenges, particularly around immigration and labor. He highlights how deportations and anti-immigrant policies are already impacting food production and elderly care. Kali argues that Trump is attempting to reset the terms of the global empire and reshape American society, potentially moving towards more authoritarian governance. He warns of increased militarization of police and the empowerment of right-wing militias. However, Kali also sees opportunities emerging from these crises. He emphasizes the growth of mutual aid networks and community-based solutions, particularly around food production and distribution. He advocates for expanding these efforts, suggesting slogans like "every yard a farm, every garage a factory" to encourage local production. The conversation touches on the potential for civil conflict given widespread gun ownership, with Kali cautioning that right-wing groups have already been well-trained with arms and firepower. Progressive forces will never match their military might, nor should they do so. Overall, while acknowledging the serious challenges ahead, Kali emphasizes the importance of building alternative systems and solidarity networks to meet community needs in the face of systemic crises.
Read MoreLearning from ‘La Revolución Bolivariana’: A Conversation with Kali Akuno
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Learning from ‘La Revolución Bolivariana’: A Conversation with Kali Akuno
An in-depth discussion on how the Bolivarian Revolution inspired the Mississippi-based project Cooperation Jackson.
November 22, 2024
Read MoreDisrupt the Chaos: Build and Fight Formula Kick Off
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Disrupt the Chaos: Build and Fight Formula Kick Off
Kali Akuno and Rosa Clemente kicked off the first Build and Fight Formula kick off on Tuesday, October 29th, 2024.
Kali and Rosa will be doing a dialogue series about the Build and Fight Formula, which is a transformative dual power strategy being developed by Cooperation Jackson. Kali is in the process of writing a book on this strategy and aims to publish it in 2026 via Pluto Press. The dialogue series will be the 1st Tuesday of every month on Disrupt the Chaos and all of its platforms.
Read MoreRevolutionary transformation is possible, all you need is the will
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Kali Akuno interviewed by revolutionary Catalanian journalist, Jesus Rodriguez for the Catalan journal, Directa.
The interview was conducted on Wednesday, October 23rd. And published on Friday, October 25, 2025.
Read MoreKali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson Executive Director, speaking on Catalonia Television
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Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson Executive Director, speaking on Catalonia Television, 3CAT MES 324. This program was aired live on Tuesday, October 22, 2024. The Transformative Potential of a Union-Coop Alliance
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The Transformative Potential of a Union-Coop Alliance
he following is an audio excerpt and transcript from a point raised by Kali Akuno from our webinar “Remaking the Economy: Escaping Corporate Capture.”
Read MoreReally, Really Free Market #4 Photo Gallery
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The Really, Really Free Market #4
Cooperation Jackson our 4th Really, Really Free Market for the year 2024.
The Really, Really Free Market is a community aid and exchange process that tries to embody the principle of “from each to each” to meet our community needs.
Be on the lookout for our next Really, Really Free Market on Saturday, December 21st.
And also be on the lookout for the introduction of a community voucher exchange system to be introduced into the Really, Really Free Market process in 2025. We will be receiving training from Grassroots Economics and incorporating their innovative voucher system in Jackson.
Read MoreDisrupt the Chaos: Interview with Kali Akuno
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Disrupt the Chaos: Interview with Kali Akuno
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
Check out the first Disrupt the Chaos show with Rosa Clemente featuring Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson. And be on the lookout for a monthly feature of Kali on Disrupt the Chaos the first Tuesday of every month as he breaks down the Build and Fight Formula being developed and promoted by Cooperation Jackson.
Read MoreBuild, Fight, Transform: Building a Regenerative Economy through the practices of Solidarity, Decolonization and Degrowth
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Build, Fight, Transform: Building a Regenerative Economy through the practices of Solidarity, Decolonization and Degrowth
Thursday, September 19, 2024
The Tishman Center hosted our Senior Fellow, Kali Akuno, for a ‘lunch and learn’ on campus. Akuno is an organizer, educator, and writer for human rights and social justice. He is also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Cooperation Jackson, an emerging network of worker cooperatives and supporting institutions. Kali shares his ideas on building participatory democracy from the grassroots level and altering the commodity form of production to regenerate social relations. He also engages in dialogue with attendees on Check out his upcoming book, The Build and Fight Formula and his recent book, “Jackson Rising Redux: Lessons on Building the Future in the Present.
Read MoreRemaking the Economy: Escaping Corporate Capture
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Remaking the Economy: Escaping Corporate Capture
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
What is “corporate capture” and how can people escape its effects—in our politics, our culture, our daily life, and in the nonprofit sector? How do people, in short, build an actual everyday politics and economics of liberation?
This was the organizing question for the summer 2024 issue of Nonprofit Quarterly. To addresses this question and expand upon their contributions, three authors from NPQ’s summer economic justice magazine will explore the concept of corporate capture and how movement-based groups can build viable escape routes to advance economic justice.
Participating in the webinar conversation are the following people:
Kali Akuno is the cofounder and executive director of Cooperation Jackson, based in Jackson, Mississippi.
Hannah Appel is cofounder of the Debt Collective, a professor of anthropology, and associate director of the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy, based in Los Angeles, California.
Arlene Martinez is deputy executive director of Good Jobs First, based in Washington, DC.
Sara Myklebust is research director for Bargaining for the Common Good, based at Georgetown University's Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor in Washington, DC.
Read MoreBuilding a Solidarity Economy in the South (and Beyond)
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This article is from Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine’s summer 2024 issue, “Escaping Corporate Capture.” Written by Kali Akuno, Executive Director of Cooperation Jackson
The fundamental premise of the Build and Fight Formula is that we must abandon our deficit-based perspective of scale and pivot to a perspective of bounty—one that appreciates the value of a multitude of autonomous organizing projects.
Read More