Will the revolution be funded?
Last winter I started to ask myself this question
Well, not that specifically but I started to question
whether or not we could actually make progress towards socialism while being funded by
rich people
Hi, my name is Fox. I live in upstate New York and organize with my local tenant's union
most of the time we focus on local issues
But last year, with a larger statewide housing justice coalition
We put pressure on the state to pass a bunch of new laws that protect tenants
Over the summer of 2019 New York State passed the biggest legislative upset in a generation
the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act
Hey everyone, we're over here in Albany fighting for tenant's rights, so
Come out and support us or, where you're at, support us
Okay cheer on
[crowd blows whistles, rings cowbells]
[cheers]
A large part of this victory
was due to the work of
nonprofit activist groups
Some of these groups were funded by the Ford Foundation
One of the world's richest foundations, which claims a mission of advancing human welfare
But suddenly, after our landmark victory, much of that funding was withdrawn
But why? Were they too effective? How are these vital organizers going to continue to make strides towards
housing justice without funding?
Uh, professional organizers still have to eat
Is this the end of the housing justice movement in New York State?
It got me asking big questions
Like if this is how we build our base, does it all crumble once the capitalists realize we've become too effective
Is it okay for leftist to take money from the capitalist class in order to fund the revolution?
[music]
Micah White is best known for billing himself as the co-creator of the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement
When I was young I decided that I was going to do this thing
Which is that I was going to have the ultimate activist pedigree and just like just do all of the insane things
So when I got back from Palestine, I was a big fan of this magazine called Adbusters
I worked my way up through making myself useful to the magazine
this is why I became a writer is to work at Adbusters magazine and
Became an editor and work my way up to the highest levels. And so what we did at Ad Buster's is we wrote a
what we call the tactical briefing and we designed a poster and the tactical briefing was basically just an email
[computerized voice: you've got mail ]
as soon as we send of the email there was about
Something like 200 people in New York City who did think it was a great idea and they were like these kind of outsider activists
And they ended up being the ones who,
You know
Organized the first day of the protest
So there's still a lot of controversy around the creation of Occupy Wall Street
I still get people telling me you didn't create Occupy Wall Street, and I'm like, okay like
I did and I co-created it in the sense with Kolle, because we were the first person who came up with the idea
We created the first Twitter account, I sent the first Twitter hashtag
We picked the date the tactic a lot of we framed the whole protest all this kind of stuff, but obviously, yes
I didn't even go to New York City. This is the very nature of contemporary social movements
I did not go to New York City. So you have people in New York City like
"He didn't create the movement. He was never here!"
and I'm like "absolutely you're absolutely right." I Never went to New York City, but the idea and all these
the parameters came from- from somewhere else
The Activist Grad School is an online school taught for and by activists
It's a space for activists who want to take their social movement creation and their protest theory to the next level
[music]
My critique of Micah White's boutique activism still stands true given his recent exploration into the apparently
revolutionary potential of the one-percent at the World Economic Forum
dot dot dot skeptical emoji
Micah White is a grifter
He claims to have invented the activism that was going on long before he turned up
Then he thinks he can teach us how to be activists. And now he is at Davos and releasing a cryptocurrency
Just fuck off
Unbelievably cynical and self promoting. Anyone who claims they co-founded a movement is already thinking
about the movement not as a collective endeavor
but as some sort of branded organization to be milked for fame and fortune
[sigh]
I mean, look I, I
There's all these unwritten rules and
We all experience them and I don't think anyone's done a good job
like if I could I would write an article where you just go and try to write down what these unwritten rules are I mean
You discover them through
stepping on them
Another one is we don't go to elite spaces. Anyone- The only reason- So another, a huge, a huge
Critique that happened because I went to Davos was the only reason he's going to Davos is because he sold out
that's the only reason someone would go to Davos is to sell out like and I'm like "Really? That's the only reason?" like I
I went to Davos and then I went to the extinction rebellion
I actually am following this other trajectory, which is really another one. Another one that I think is really hurtful is
that no one should be able to live as an activist like
Financially, like if you make any money as an activist, you're obviously some sort of criminal
Or a grift- A grifter, this word they use grifter
So the reason why I get invited, not a lot of corporations,
But why some corporation so interesting these questions is because if you think about Occupy Wall Street from their perspective and these social movements
So, within less than a month, 50% of Americans had heard about and we're following the Occupy Wall Street movement
We know this from like a poll at the time so that from a marketing perspective is priceless
So they so they yes
there's a tremendous amount of social pressure to and within corporations and elsewhere to make
activism kind of a wing of marketing and like, we want to do large-scale mobilizations because it's a great way to do free marketing and
About these brands that we're working on and so we've seen a lot of like attempts like Pepsi made that ad everyone hated
I wasjust thinking of that like ad in India where they're like
"Now I'm gonna drink Pepsi"
Micah: Totally. Yeah, so there's like that's that is a real that is a real danger
but I think that
So, I mean, I don't think I have like a super good answer. So I'm here to kind of like
What I see happening is that activism is being integrated more deeply into the functioning of power, and to elite circles
Which I mean which is why we're here
It's very strange that Occupy Wall Street would be here, you know in the sense
But there there is something about the capacity to mobilize people
that elites are very curious about and very much want to learn about and I think what I would say to youth is that they
Can't steal that power from us. They don't have the ability to steal it
They're gonna have to work with us in this in this endeavor. So it's interesting
So I think it's obvious that Micah White would say the revolution can and should be funded
He makes it clear that activists have failed and the rich elites need us to "mobilize"
large swathes of the population for their causes
which I guess he believes are just.
I mean, I guess he thinks there are some "good" rich people out there
He also brings up the fact that people still need to work for a living so they can eat and survive
He's got a point there
I mean, don't organizers and activists deserve that just like everyone else? Are they supposed to starve for the cause?
I certainly wouldn't want them to. That being said, White is criticized by some of the larger leftist platforms
And I'm starting to see where they're coming from
There's something very "sales-y" about him that I can't quite put my finger on
[music]
Their homepage touts that they are building a solidarity economy in Jackson, Mississippi
Anchored by a network of cooperatives and worker owned democratically self managed enterprises
The history of Cooperation Jackson is deep and layered and very much revolves around the activism of Kali Akuno
From helping a radically progressive mayor Chokwe Lumumba win election in Jackson in Mississippi in 2014
To his Jackson-Kush plan which helped form the basis of what later became cooperation Jackson
Kali Akuno is undoubtedly a socialist superstar activist
This is the black agenda morning shot from Monday, August 30, 2010 being brought to you by Kali Akuno in New Orleans, Louisiana
[crowd chants: Housing is a human right, fight!]
In a statement issued after the
Demonstration survivors village stated that the rest of the city focused on the disaster of August 29th
2005 as an event that happened in its past
Residents of public housing and supporters stood in an all-day rain to protest a visit of President
Obama to a neighborhood that has been purged of poor people
Turned over to Warren Buffett and his investor friends, that is being promoted as the future of public housing around the country
The future that Obama came to support today is the total privatization of public housing throughout the country
Which his administration is advancing with its promotion of the Petra bill
As billionaire Warren Buffett stated on his visit to Columbia Park
Development in March: "New Orleans is key" by which, he meant the total destruction of public housing, which he is promoting through his
Purpose Built Communities organization, which he co-founded with Atlanta
Developer Tom Cousins who administered destruction of all of Atlanta's public housing earlier in the decade
however activists in New Orleans have no intention of submitting to the designs of Petra or
Complying with Warren Buffett's dreams and going the way of Atlanta. They are mobilizing on the following demands
[protesters: What do we want?Housing! When do we want it? Now!]
The New Orleans activists were not able to stop Warren Buffett from growing his real-estate Empire
but I am happy that Akuno has been able to continue fighting for working-class justice in the south you
Don't know how many times I've talked to liberals and they will always ask that one annoying question:
"Oh, if socialism is so great then show me a model that works"
Well, that's it. Cooperation Jackson is a model that works. I'd say these guys are actually doing it
They're doing a socialism
That's what I'd say to all the Liberals out there. In fact, I already did on the radio over the summer of 2019
Fox: There is a good model for this for some of the stuff we're talking about
Host: That was what I was trying to ask, like "How help? How make capitalism go bye?" look up a place called called
Fox: So, look up a place called Cooperation Jackson
They're they're basically a socialists little socialist society
Host: Has any kind of government agency tried to step in and stop them.
Fox:  I'm not, you know, I'm not sure about that
I I would love to learn more about them. 
Host: But this like community, it sounds awesome,
but the US has a history of getting rid of awesome, like any kind of commune, or anything else
I'm not comparing this to Branch Davidianism, but they will send the ATF or whoever in there to kill you and
Nobody outside gonna know what went on in there
We'll just have whatever reports come out and it's just like, it seems like every time something comes along that's different. Even if it's good,
Eventually, someone stamps it out. So, you know I said it here if something happens to this place
It was the government not to sound like a paranoid weirdo
But I am a paranoid weirdo and it's really not that unheard of so, I mean, yeah, they'll just you know
If you guys like hear anything about this place, you know, just keep your ears peeled. Yeah
Fox: Well, we should there should be more of them, you know
Like we should see them as a model.
Host: We should make so many more they can't be stamped out. Exactly
Host: Yes, and so how to support them too as well. I hope the safe that you're able to mention them on the air
Yeah, Beetle and Freedom Walker bring up a good point: if Cooperation Jackson is a threat to the capitalist class
They might be in real danger
Folks who have a history of challenging capitalism usually end up dead. Especially if they're Black
long live the spirit of resistance
5:27 p.m. State Police helicopter drops and there is the explosion
[gunshots]
Now is a live picture of the water cannons pouring high pressure streams of water onto the top of the MOVE house
It's hard to say from where I sit but it doesn't seem like
Cooperation Jackson is in any immediate danger with regards to state sanctioned violence. At least I hope.
And, more importantly,
I think if we were to ask them if the revolution should be funded they would say the opposite of Micah White, right?
"Fuck capitalism! We don't need your money! We the people are gonna make this happen"
Our commitment should be to eliminate capitalism because it is not a system that's benefiting humanity
Maybe a small part of humanity, but not the most of us than the majority
So it's in that context that I challenge that we should build
Movements and when I and they're not giving us a gift because the wealth that they're distributing comes from the workers
so we are challenging them to get back a greater share of the wealth that we create as working-class people and
You know, it's largely appropriated by the capitalist class and it's state
Agency, so it's in that context where I said, we will challenge them, but it's going to be we must have movements
That's big enough the challenge at you know
Where they will send resources our way and we're not grateful for it because it's our money beside Bill Gates giving them billion dollar
We're not grateful to Bill Gates. That's money that they they stole from working-class
See, Bill, he given us something so you can look good in the eyes of the working-class. We are not grateful for that
We'll take it and at the same time we'll string him up the next day
[cheers, applause]
Okay, okay that's still fucking badass as hell
let's take those fuckers money, because they took it from us to begin with, take that money then turn around and
String them up the next day
Maybe that's what we need to remember as leftist, as activists, as organizers
we just need to take the money, because money is a resource from the capitalists, funnel it into our efforts and then turn around and
[slicing sounds]
Am right, comrade?
Peter Buffett is the son of the world's third richest man, Warren Buffett
He's an Emmy award-winning musician
his music absolutely slaps
[it's certainly music]
He's woke as fuck,
he wears his pussy hat with pride and vigor
He's the co-founder of the Novo foundation
One of the world's largest and most influential charitable foundations
But more than anything he's famous for writing a 2013 op-ed to the New York Times
criticizing the Charitable-Industrial Complex
 What to make of the following:
"Philanthropy is enjoying a heyday. The nonprofit sector has never given away more"
"316 billion in 2012 according to the Urban Institute
"Meanwhile government is in crisis and basic human services are being cut" Grid TV guest Peter Buffett
Thinks a lot about these topics
He's a musician and composer but yes, he's also the son of Warren Buffett. With his wife
he heads up a foundation, but in July he penned an op-ed with the provocative title "The Charitable
Industrial Complex" and he wrote: "as more lives and communities are destroyed by the system that creates vast
Amounts of wealth for the few the more heroic it sounds to give back
It's what I would call
Conscience laundering" so I've called it philanthro-feudalism, but I like this
Charitable-Industrial Complex, what do you mean by it?
Well, you know, it's a
System like so many others that have sort of I guess it's grown too big for its britches or something
Yeah, and I will say britches because it's mostly men
[reggae airhorns]
It really seems like it's sort of folding in on itself
And you know keeping itself alive as opposed to trying to put itself out of business
Dang!
For a billionaire or this guy seems pretty woke. If the revolution is going to be funded,
This is the guy to do it. This is the benevolent billionaire that we, as leftists, need
The dude fucking rocks. I mean, what do you think Peter?
What could possibly be the drawbacks?
How could funding the socialist revolution be considered wrong?
 Well, you know I Sort of hate to say it's wrong
Misguided you know off the tracks a little but not because there aren't well-meaning people but it's because you get caught up
You know one thing for instance is I say that when you have a billion dollar foundation, you're better-looking. Your jokes are funnier
[chuckles]
so you start to get into this funhouse mirror world and you can't
Get to the truth as easily because the money creates a dynamic that is really disastrous for real learning
Wow
Yeah, that's fucked up. But there must be a lot of actual good happening and the people in it still have the best of intentions
These are well-meaning people right? There's plenty of good to happening and certainly
Plenty of well-meaning people, but as it gets into larger sums
bigger egos
Bigger rooms with more people in them it starts to disconnect itself. I think from the very issues
It's it's supposedly solving or helping or whatever, huh?
Huh. So what happens when it becomes large sums of money?
 We've got people with vast amounts of money controlling government, ultimately too.
 But didn't we create a system when we create a graduated income tax?
so then you have governments that are elected with accountability to the people that decide how some of this money is spent the
Philanthropists today want to not pay taxes, shelter their money, but then- Well, control government, as you said.
Country. Yeah, yeah and then play with it with charitable contributions and you have the whole
It's a mess
I mean surely the fact that he's saying this means he's aware of the problems. So he's figured out a way around them, right?
[phone ringing]
Alex: Hey, I was just doing some research and found out some interesting data, you know
Peter Buffett's novo foundation? Well, they spent over a hundred million dollars from 2013 to 2018 in and around Kingston, New York.
Over sixty million dollars of that was in 2018 alone
Of all the small towns in the country. There are only two others where one philanthropist or foundation has given so much
They are Peter Buffett and the Novo Foundation in Kingston: sixty-two million dollars. The Walton family,
AKA Wal-Mart, in Bentonville, Arkansas:
Also 62 million dollars, and Howard Buffett in Decatur, Illinois:
Forty-five million dollars 
Fuck, that's a lot of money, Jesus
Good news though. Our friends at Cooperation Jackson say that Kingston is doing awesome things, just like they are
This place Kingston sounds like a leftist paradise. I wish I lived there there.
Oh, wait a minute, but I do live here
In 2018 Ulster County recorded its highest ever number of evictions and
Kingston had the highest eviction rate in New York State
The county also has triple the Airbnb activity of any other County north of New York City
The county has the sixth most unaffordable market for tenants in New York State
Since 2000 the median rent has gone up by 50%
while median wages have remained the same.
The county cop in charge of evictions openly says he moved here because there are no tenant protections.
A decade ago, opposing affordable housing was a bipartisan issue
Today some of the same people have moved on to blocking rent control
local politicians give tax breaks and sell public assets to private developers
and then do business with them after they leave office
Andrew Cuomo, the local government, and New York City
developers are openly mining the city's qualities to spur development,
tech jobs, and revitalization
It is a new city with a new attitude and a new trajectory. It's a totally changed place
It can be done. You are doing
Evidentiary note
Young friend of mine, millennial, was in California, an artist, calls me up: "I'm moving back in New York." "Where are you going?" "Kingston"
I said "Really?" she said "Yeah been there. It's very cool"
I said "See? I know
cool"
Howard does not know cool
[applause]
Fox: The same problems exists in the other two towns that are receiving the most concentrated
philanthropy. The influx of charitable investment leads to capital improvement which leads to gentrification and,
Without strong tenant protections, results in the displacement of the existing community
Okay
So let's take a closer look at this article titled "The U.S. City preparing itself for the collapse of capitalism"
"From a festival that helps artists trade work for healthcare to a regional micro currency
Kingston is trying to build an inclusive and self-sufficient local ecosystem'
much of this article revolves around an annual event called the
zero plus
uhh...
Oh...
Oh plus...
O Positive Festival.
The author
A co-founder of the festival, says "we came up with a plan
Drawing on the age old system of barter. We figured out a way to trade the art of medicine for the medicine of art"
hmm
Artists bartering for health care sounds pretty damn leftist, if you ask me. Let's see what this guy has to say about that
Joe Concra: We've got the motivation but interestingly this started before the Affordable Care Act. This is here now
Because complete wellness isn't just having health insurance
It's about community reassurance and how we are there for each other and it's like health
Assurance is what we try to try to really go after and how can we empower
communities to take control of their well-being? And that might mean putting a mural up of
You know an indigenous woman who paints the mural of an indigenous woman on the side of a building in Kingston
So we should be reminded of what's going on
so
That's really important
and those
Those murals that are behind here and the seven that are going up right now around Kingston and my hat is off to the art
witches of our art program Kimberly Anthonies for curating it. So well, there are now 29 murals here in Kingston and
They don't go anywhere, you know
They stay and we're reminded every day that we put murals in neighborhoods of people that look like people in each neighborhood
So we can begin to break down the bot- the barriers between our neighborhoods and between each other
Amanda Palmer: Yeah, and we need that so bad right now
so badly
Joe: Thank you. I know I don't want to take any more-
[record scratch] Fox: Wait, is that?
Amanda Palmer? The lady who wanted to pay musicians with beer and hugs?
Anyways back to the article
This article highlights eight different initiatives that support the main thesis of the article
That Kingston, New York is emerging as a left-leaning
self-sufficient community
But what if we take a closer look at these initiatives and how much funding each one has received from Buffet's Novo Foundation?
[cash register "ka-ching" sounds]
A more accurate title for this article would be: "How a billionaire is ushering in a new era of philanthro-feudalism"
[ding!]
But Peters financial entanglements are conveniently left out
We're left with the impression that these initiatives are just happening organically.
I don't want to claim that I know why this article was shared as widely as it was
But I think people have an idea that capitalism is fucked at this point.
I think if people knew the context
That all this cool shit is happening because of a billionaire philanthropist, it probably wouldn't have sparked reactions such as"
"I'm heartened to see places and people that are actively imagining and developing
alternatives to our current economy and planning for the inevitable changes that we are facing"
"I'm posting this again because I
Feel that this article illustrates
A hopeful example of how we can transform our communities into joyful places that sustain life and a world beyond
capitalism"
"Now that's a grassroots effort to cure what ails us economically,
politically, culturally, and medically, wow! An idea for our times"
"Whoa, this place looks lit"
Damn
That makes me kind of sad that Cooperation Jackson posted that article
It feels like this article was just spun-up as propaganda for the Novo foundation
To promote all of their organizations and this event that they're doing here in Kingston
Yo!
Kali Akuno is going to be here in Kingston headlining this event
What are the odds? That is so cool! Man, if he only knew the truth about Kingston
Me and my comrades reacted pretty badly to the Guardian article that they shared on Facebook
I'm gonna reach out to them and let them know why we reacted that way
Hey y'all.
I know a few of us Kingston locals blew up your post
There are strong feelings here about how O Positive, amongst many other nonprofits, are screwing over the city's working class population
I'm a longtime follower of what y'all have been doing
I've mentioned CJ many times when people ask me how a socialist model can work in real life
Like I mentioned, I helped start Kingston Tenant's Union and our local DSA chapter
Many of us who are fighting for housing justice/ social justice see that Guardian article is a huge slap in the face
I'd be happy to talk to anyone if you want more info on all this. In solidarity, Fox
[chirping crickets]
That's a bummer that they didn't respond, oh well
Man, that whole thing with Cooperation Jackson and the Novo organizations was so weird. Just for shits and giggles,
I'm gonna Google something
[slow, sad music]
We'll take it, but at the same time, we'll string 'em up the next day
We'll take it, but at the same time, we'll string 'em up the next day
We'll take it, but at the same time, we'll string 'em up the next day
We'll take it, but at the same time, we'll string 'em up the next day
We'll take it, but at the same time, we'll string 'em up the next day
[slowed] Hi, I'm Laura Flanders
Radio host: Have- has any kind of government agency tried to step in and stop them?
Fox: I'm not, you know, I'm not sure about that
Host: I hope it's safe that you're able to mention them on the air. 
It's not a radio station. It's something else
It's about these other ways
it can put its tentacles [slowed] put it's tentacles [even slower] put it's tentacles
 into the community and- and be an amplifier
of what's really already happening. 
My name is Micah White. I am- was the co-creator of Occupy Wall Street
And now I live in Kingston
[echoing] and now I live in Kingston...
The longer I stay with this question the more I firmly established myself in the "no" camp and
I think it boils down to two reasons
Reason number one: Clout Sharks and Elite Capture. In the case of Micah White
It's pretty obvious to see how money attracts opportunists, often in the form of Clout Sharking:
Lil Xan: Clout sharks, man, this clout shit is funny.
People who are out for social capital gain. Or, it usually happens by way of Elite Capture:
Concept of elite capture originated in the study of developing countries to describe the way
Socially advantaged people tend to gain control over financial benefits meant for everyone, especially foreign aid
But the concept has also been applied more generally to describe how political projects can be hijacked
in principle or in effect by the well positioned and resourced as
as Yang's "step up" demand exemplifies
The idea also helps explain how public resources such as knowledge,
attention, and values get distorted and distributed by our power structures and it is precisely what stands between us and
Smith's urgent vision of coalition politics
The individualism inherent in Micah White's body of work is palatable
He brags about being invited to elite spaces. He runs an "activist graduate school"
He's literally profiting off of the professionalization of activism
I don't know if a more neoliberal concept exists
Even if Cooperation Jackson is the perfect socialist model, they're inherently not.
It doesn't actually work
It relies on capitalism. It's crushing and unfortunate. I wanted so badly for it to be true
Just like many of my comrades
It would feel so good to have a W. And you could argue that sometimes we just need some inspiration some hope
but if we're being lied to
If we're not being told how all this works
We'll be left with more despair after the feel-good drug wears off
some folks on the Left
That I've talked to will make the argument in favor of funding
Saying that we can take the money as a resource from elites
But then turn around and cut ties with them as soon as we've secured the funding. This sounds ideal in theory
But in practice, I don't think I've ever seen an example of this working. It's usually the other way around
Elites pull funding once the nonprofit becomes, not only effective, but dependent
The Novo Foundation has quite effectively annihilated any shred of working class solidarity here in Kingston, New York
They've done so via tactics that have already been well documented by a group called Incite! in their anthology called
The Revolution Will not be Funded: Beyond the Nonprofit Industrial Complex. Incite! defines the nonprofit industrial
complex as a system of relationships between
the state, the owning class,
foundations, and nonprofits
The system of relationships results in the surveillance, control
derailment, and everyday management of political movements
They go on to say that the state uses nonprofits to
Monitor and control social justice movements.
Peter Buffet:  The station is really, I mean, I really do say it's a social justice
Organization disguised as a radio thing because we aren't just a radio station in the sense that we are out in the community,
supporting block parties, live streaming from City Hall, going to just about every event... but it really
Saw, you know in in a small community specifically
You could cover essentially the whole thing and become "The" station, which we have in a very short time
divert public monies into private hands through foundations
In 2017. Kingston was awarded a ten million dollar
"Downtown revitalization" grant. Eight of the 19 committee members that were hand selected to decide how the money was spent
Were from Novo funded nonprofits and even included Peter himself
Manage and control dissent in order to make the world safe for capitalism as our
As our footprint
in terms of the consciousness of the city grows, there'll be more opportunity for that, because more people will go
"Oh, hey, this is a place where we really could get into some things
And get some feedback" and and you know, the challenge is finding
Alternative voices that don't just want to push back against other voices
but actually want to contribute and yeah, you've described it before in terms of
being constructive
redirect activist energies into career based modes of organizing instead of mass based organizing capable of actually
transforming society
in a 2017 article by Akinyele Umoja
for the National Coordinating Committee of the New African People's Organization
Umoja writes:
Cooperation Jackson is directed by Kali Akuno
who terminated his membership to both New African People's Organization and
Malcolm X Grassroots
Movement the day prior to the victory of
Chokwe Antar as mayor and consequently announced that Cooperation Jackson would no longer be affiliated with our
organization
While it was intended to build worker owned and managed cooperatives, and organize the Black working class in Jackson
Cooperation Jackson has not been able to develop a base of support among indigenous Black people in Jackson,
particularly Black workers
This group has so far functioned merely as a nonprofit
to raise funds which seem to be dedicated primarily to employ a small clique of mostly
transplants to Jackson this group has failed to mobilize and organize Black workers in a city
Which is 80% Black and working-class
While its leadership has participated in the ultra-left attacks on the Lumumba
Administration and the political work of the New African People's Organization/
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Cooperation Jackson has relied on the legacy and used the name and image of Baba Chokwe
And the Lumumba family and the history of the New African People's Organization/
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Organizing in Jackson to gain and maintain support locally, nationally, and internationally
Moja is not alone in this sentiment. In a doctoral dissertation
titled Worker Owned Cooperative as Urban Economic Development by a University of Louisville student named Nick Condor,
a local community member alluded to an undercurrent of concerns about Cooperation Jackson:
"I don't see a lot of money going into the hands of the people from Jackson
I see a lot of people from out of town who are able to make a pretty decent living
but in reality
We are paying ourselves and buying up a bunch of land and we have two people out of ten that are from here
I don't see a whole lot of money going back into the community"
When respondents stated that the project
"Felt like a lab experiment" where people moved from out of state to test their economic approach on an unsuspecting community of people
desperate for opportunities.
"It's insulting when you come in here and you try to force a philosophy on someone without becoming part of the fabric of the community"
Allow corporations to mask their exploitative and colonial work practices through philanthropic work
Encourage social movements to model themselves after capitalist structures rather than to challenge them
During the pandemic novos gaggle of nonprofits coalesced to form something they call the community fund
Which amounted to a means-tested
500 dollars that you need your landlord to write a permission slip for
Based on Incite!'s work I can say "no" the revolution will not be funded
Revolutionary and grassroots groups might work in coalition with nonprofits on specific things
But we need to organize in ways that aren't reliant on billionaires to write checks
I'm pretty sure that Peter Buffett doesn't want to fund the revolution either. If I were to guess
I'd say that Peter is a lot like his dad and that he's always trying to read the tea leaves and hedge his bets
Incite!'s book came out before Peter wielded the power of a billion dollar foundation
It wasn't until 2006, a year after the book came out,
That Peter received a billion dollar commitment in the form of Berkshire Hathaway stocks from his dad.
In his big 2013 op-ed about the Charitable Industrial Complex, he says that he's not really calling for the end of capitalism
He's calling for humanism. Writer Mark Rahman made one of the only left critiques of the article at the time saying "the need for
Socialism is the only logical conclusion one can draw from the reality of capitalism. Peter Buffett offers no real coherent answer.
He is still defending a system which has inequality built into its DNA. Given his upbringing and resulting consciousness,
he just can't quite make the break."
I used to see Cooperation Jackson as a socialist model
But I also had no idea they're being funded by the same philanthropist that has this tight grip on my very own hometown.
Cooperation Jackson,
that Guardian article, and things like it are used as inspiration by many of us who dream of a
post-capitalist world
They are presented as "things that just happen," and the fact that a billionaire is funding them is conveniently omitted
This makes them nothing but a mirage
These things aren't moving us towards socialism or justice. They've got all the optics of an egalitarian society
Without actually being one. Instead, what we're left with, as Peter says himself, is "a funhouse mirror."
 The one thing, for instance, is I say that when you have a billion dollar foundation
You're better-looking, your jokes are funnier, you're invited ever. So you start to get into this funhouse mirror world
I mean, I tell people that you know, once you have a billion dollar foundation your jokes are funnier, you're better-looking
All these magical things happen
 and it's funny, you know,
When you have a big foundation like that
And I always like to point out that it's amazing when you have a billion dollar foundation
I joke about the fact that that when you have a billion dollar foundation
[all thee clips in unison] you're better-looking, your jokes are funnier
When you have a big foundation, you're better-looking and you're funnier, and you're all those things.
 It's amazing when you have a billion dollar foundation, though
You're you're funnier. You're better-looking
[laughter]
All these amazing things happen
[music]
