Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Dharma. Culture. Ecology.

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

Can We do it Ourselves (Economic Democracy)

Posted on June 5, 2015June 5, 2015 by Dharma Documentaries
A thought-provoking documentary about economic democracy, which presents a different view of the workplace and how it could be run.

Can We do it Ourselves

In the 20th century we saw the rise of political democracy till it became at least an accepted part of the political life, even when it wasn’t working as well as it could or should be.

This Swedish-made film is about extending the same set of principles into the workplace in an attempt to produce a more equitable and just way of living in society.

At present capital owns businesses and hires labour, which is always under threat of dismissal, either because of lack of consumer demand, or because modernisation makes labour unnecessary.

The only alternative that was on offer in the last century was that the state own businesses and employ, and promise to provide for, the labour force. As in communism we have seen this doesn’t work any better.

The documentary examines a different way of organising work: the immediate workforce own the business and hire capital for investment in the products being produced.

It is simple model, which overturns the things which need to be changed, and yet can work with most of the structures already in place, like the market economy, means of distribution, etc.

This change in ownership from an adversarial to a cooperative model has already been tried, and consistently workers are reported to be more satisfied, work better, and be more concerned about the environment they are living in.

The film has interviews with many leading economists, both for and against the idea, and presents a clear case for economic democracy, without painting an overly rosy picture of what might emerge.

Amongst the interviewees are Noam Chomsky, Bo Rothstein and David Schweickart (whose book After Capitalism is part of the recommended reading).

 

if the video does not appear on the page, please first try reloading the page, and if that doesn’t work, leave a comment so I can update the page (the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of stills click here

 

TAGS:
Culture, Activism, Globalisation, Human Rights, Politics, Poverty

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments do not appear straight away, but are moderated before publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/35D

Donations

This site has taken more than a dozen years and 1000s of hours to build, and has 800+ documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Rights

Related Posts

  • Seeds of Freedom
  • Fairytales of Growth
  • A Force More Powerful 06, Chile
  • A Force More Powerful 05, Poland
  • A Force More Powerful 04, Denmark
  • A Force More Powerful 03, South Africa
  • A Force More Powerful 02, USA
  • Economics of Happiness
  • Louis Malle's Calcutta (India 1969)
  • Lords of Water

Recent Posts

  • Tours of the Caves of Dunhuang
  • Angkor Wat, Ancient Hydraulic City
  • The Magical Mountain of Tibet
  • Lords of Water
  • Radioactive Waste, A Nuclear Nightmare
  • Beyond Boundaries, Buddhist Art of Gandhāra
  • The Story of Sudhana, Gallery, Level 4
  • The Story of Sudhana, Balustrade, Level 4
  • The Story of Sudhana, Balustrade, Level 3
  • The Story of Sudhana, Gallery 3, 45-88

Random Posts

  • Shikoku Pilgrimage (Sacred Journeys)
  • Sacred Space, the Maibis of Manipur
  • To Play Kutiyattam with the Master
  • Prasad Bhandarkar: Bansuri Raga Shivranjani
  • Paintings by Zhang Daqian (Chang Dai-chien)
  • Indiana Jones 16, Foreign Devils Begone
  • Bagan, Myanmar (Expoza)
  • Amongst White Clouds in China
  • Great Minds 17, Xuanzang and Chinese Buddhism
  • The Children of the Buddha
© 2023 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme