En quoi cette initiative est-elle unique ?
Most people in Jackson, Mississippi live at or below the poverty line, and face chronic unemployment, poor health and an extreme wealth gap between black and white. Cooperation Jackson is helping transform the city into one that is ecologically and economically regenerative, rooted in equity, solidarity and mutual aid.
Résultats les plus remarquables
To date the project has provided quality employment and wages to a growing number of Jacksonians, initiated a process to decommodify land, and embarked on the creation of permanently affordable housing. It has also built a broad consensus on the need for food sovereignty and laid the foundation for the development for a human rights charter and commission to respect, protect, and fulfill the basic human rights of all Jacksonians.
Launched in May 2014, Cooperation Jackson has supported several progressive candidates to get elected to municipal offices; started a growing network of cooperatives; created the Fannie Lou Hamer Community Land Trust; and set up the Human Rights Institute – initiatives that are delivering quality employment, affordable housing and food sovereignty in a way that respects, protects, and fulfills the basic human rights of all Jacksonians.
Underpinned by the Jackson-Kush Plan which involves building people power through people’s assemblies, developing an independent electoral force, and building a social and solidarity economy, the project’s ultimate goal includes making Jackson a zero-waste and emissions city capable of providing a range of local goods and services via community production.
From community energy centres to the creation of three eco-villages, within the next five years the project will retrofit 100 homes (making them completely off-grid) and build the capacity to produce 10% of Jackson’s vegetables on urban, solar-powered farms.
Cooperation Jackson is also working to combat climate change, the system of excessive resource extraction, and to change various laws in the state of Mississippi that limit cooperatives to agricultural businesses, utilities, or credit unions, and is engaged in a long-term campaign to strengthen working class organisations in the state.
Citation du comité d'évaluation
"Dans une situation de quasi-apartheid économique dans le sud des États-Unis, il est inspirant de voir une initiative populaire croissante s'organiser pour la justice socio-économique et environnementale qui englobe de multiples voies vers l'égalité et qui combine des tactiques de pression pour plus de propriété collective (fiducies foncières), de droits du travail et d'économie locale durable et juste ainsi que pour une représentation politique progressiste au sein du conseil municipal et au-delà.”
– Iva Marčetić
En savoir plus
Pour en savoir plus, lisez cet article de fond sur ResilienceVous pouvez également télécharger le formulaire de candidature rempli par cette initiative pour participer au prix Villes Transformatrices.