The time comes when one stops thinking in blocks of time, but instead in processes. Thus it comes as no surprise that we missed yesterday’s (17 September) anniversary. At the moment our minds, hearts, and souls are concentrated on climate change.
It is not as if we are neglecting other topics. Looking back on the past year our greatest success has been the Gig Economy Project. First, the selection of Ben Wray to lead GEP has proven to be outstanding. He has successfully formed it into an interface between workers, unions, academics, and politicians. He has never lost the focus on the practical conflicts and the real people involved in this highly exploitative branch. Originally conceived as a European project, it now plays an important role in the worldwide workers’ gig economy movement. Financing has been touch and go as there were few people who had heard of the gig economy, much less understood that it is one of the most important economic developments of our time, while highly detrimental for workers and society. Three grants got us started over a three year period: the first from the Lipman-Milliband Foundation, followed by the Stiftung Menschenwürde und Arbeitswelt, while the current 12 month stretch has been generously supported with eight thousand GBP by the Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust. We thank all of you and hope you are aware of how crucial and effective your contributions have been.
We are now working on a “Politics and Climate Change Project” and what a lot of work it is. The idea is to provide daily expertise concerning what is actually being done by governments and corporations to stop climate change. As we all know, we are being fed a steady stream of lies. Nothing is really changing. That is why it is no longer enough to analyse the deteriorating situation, but we must have the concrete solutions and compare these with the so-called fixes we are being offered. We are trying to assemble a groups of experts capable of doing this at such a rapid pace. This is asking a lot. Most of them have professions and responsibilities. Still, if we do not do this, who will? We are pleased to say that we have already won some contributors as authors or advisors such as Bill McGuire, Tim Jackson, and Steve Keen. If you work in the field and wish to become involved, please feel free to contact us here. We would be very pleased to hear from you.
Otherwise we keep plugging away at our routine, trying to keep everyone at the cutting edge of developments in economics, politics, climate change, labour struggles, inequality in all its facets, etc. Here we would like to thank all the authors and organisations who provide us with content – without remuneration.
What remains highly disturbing for us is that over 5,000 readers use BRAVE NEW EUROPE regularly, some for four years now, and never feel they ought to support us financially. This certainly does not reflect the values we are trying to disseminate on the website and which many of you invoke in your tweets and comments . Yes we know that many simply cannot donate. Others need to use any extra money for the labour struggles they are involved in themselves. University employees in Britain have been entangled in strikes since we launched this website and still are. Nonetheless there are many of you who are not in such a situation. Maybe it would be the right thing to financially support us now. Go here to donate. We would once again like to thank those unfailing few that have helped keep us viable.
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