Plan for a Cooperative Politics and Economy for Slab City
Formation of Neighborhood Community Centers (NCCs)
As a place to encourage socialization, collective planning, support community groups, and provide services, we would be well served to build Neighborhood Community Centers in each section of town.
The NCCs would contain kitchens and dining halls, planning rooms, hang out spaces, and amenities all provided free of charge for members of the community and visitors.
Formation of Cooperative Associations (CAs)
Cooperative Associations could be formed to operate out of the NCCs to provide the necessities of the members of the community. Food, water, electricity, sanitation, building, communications and medicine could all be the basis of the formation of CA’s . A CA formed to provide access to groceries and cook community meals could be called the Food Cooperative Association for example.
Federation of NCCs and CAs
Each of the NCCs and CAs could federate on various levels. They could form an Association of Neighborhood Community Centers, Federation of Food Cooperative Associations, or Partnership of the Local Sanitation and Building Cooperative Associations for instance, providing the means for these organizations to work together, share information, and take on larger projects than they could accomplish on their own.
Research, Development, and Independence
Beyond just providing for the necessities of the community, the CAs can also work on finding ways to provide those necessities using local materials. For instance, working on solar thermal systems that can be built from scrap and salvage or recycling programs to provide materials to build or make things with. This would help us be less dependent on outside support or money economies.
Encouragement of Trades
With necessities being provided, people in our community can also focus on and develop non-necessities and luxury trades. We can provide workshops and clubs in our NCCs to allow people to develop skills around electronics, crafts, and other trades. Organizations could form for people who want to develop these skills and use them for the betterment of the community.
Horizontalism
None of these organizations would require an administrative arm or leadership group. Instead they could allow the members to decide on the basis of participation and volunteerism, with each project having as much resource and participation as people are willing to give based on the estimation of the value of the project by the members of the organization and wider community. Organization of events and meetings could be done by those interested in doing so without the need for a dedicated organizer.