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AI, analogy, innovation, and commodity power in Spyros Samothrakis’ recent contributions

Spyros Samothrakis recently published an article (2024) and made a presentation in a series of virtual seminars organized by our research group[1]. His contributions are stimulating and deserve a serious discussion. I will try to participate in such a discussion by first underlining the aspects I think are promising in these contributions and then focusing on the issues I think are more problematic.

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Call for papers: Planning, democracy and postcapitalism

De la résilience à la résistance : Comment les personnes racisées naviguent dans les structures d’oppressions dans la société et au quotidien?

Sur la base d’une analyse des textes scientifiques, historiques, sociologiques et politiques et de recherches menées dans le milieu communautaire, cet article se veut une exploration des expériences et vécues des personnes racisées dans le milieu communautaire à travers les effets actuels du colonialisme. Un bref survol sur l’historique du racisme systémique s’impose pour bien saisir les subtilités des violences vécues par les personnes racisées.

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The Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Socioeconomic Development of Vulnerable Families in Rwanda

The central point of this study is to analyze the role of Nonprofit organizations in the socioeconomic development of vulnerable families, a case study of USAID Gimbuka “Be Resilient” program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Caritas Rwanda since 2012. Specifically, this study assessed how the program contributed to health improvement, economic development, and job creation among vulnerable families supported.

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Gender Discrimination and Female Children’s Education in Northern Nigeria: A case study of the Gbagyi of Abuja

Are you curious to know how gender inequality affects the education of female children in Northern Nigeria? This study of the Abuja Gbagyi has revealed some startling information that everyone should know. You will learn more about the difficulties young girls in this area face and what can be done to advance gender equity and educational access.

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Community Fridges and Emancipatory Social Transformation

This research sought to answer the central question of whether community resource sharing has the potential for anticapitalist social transformation. In this paper, we try to answer three questions: 1) whether a community fridge can erode capitalism; 2) whether community resource sharing encourages thoughts or behaviours outside capitalism ; 3) what is the impact of the community fridge and does it contribute to human flourishing?

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From prison to Saint Paul University, was it a coincidence?

I never wanted to tell anyone about my prison experience. This text is my story, how it started, it went wrong and how I pulled myself back from the abyss. As I am a student of social innovation, I realized that my lived experiences could be helpful not only for others to learn about my mistakes and transform their lives and for those researching this topic.

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Colloquium on democratic planning at The Great Transition

On May 23rd 2021, the research group on democratic economic planning at the CRITS organized a colloquium of three conferences at The Great Transition.

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Conference: The Ecological Case for Democratic Planning

Video recording of Bengi Akbulut conference at the CRITS on October 21st 2020.

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Moving from Abstinence to Harm Reduction in the Age of Physical Distancing

Social Innovation – Exploring the space in between