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Joe Guinan

@joecguinan.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.4K following 75 posts

Blackburn-Irish exile in the imperial metropolis · President of @democracycollab.bsky.social · There are real alternatives · Views strictly personal

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Reposted by Joe Guinan
John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
"Yankee Go Home - Oil and Empire" Stiofan O'Nuallain chatting to @joecguinan.bsky.social of the @democracycollab.bsky.social about Venezuela, Imperialism and the end of the 'rules based order'. open.spotify.com/episode/4aQA...
Poster depicting a map of South America with the words 'Yankee go home' and images of an oil 'noddying donkey' and American troops and helicopter
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Rivkah Brown @rivkahbrown.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
The belly flop is the signature move of this government. “Phase two of my government starts today,” Keir Starmer intoned on 1 September, signalling little more, it turned out, than his own hubris. A portrait of a PM in his final throes, by @joecguinan.bsky.social novaramedia.com/2025/09/15/a...
novaramedia.com
Arrogant and Inept, Keir Starmer’s Hubris Is Blowing Up in His Face | Novara Media
Liberals and lobby journalists jubilated last year when the grownups were finally put back in charge. Now, Starmer’s future and indeed Labour’s seem as certain as an iceberg lettuce, writes Joe Guinan...
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University of Wisconsin Press @uwiscpress.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
The first event of @pelledragsted.bsky.social's U.S. tour for his book, Nordic Socialism: The Path Toward a Democratic Economy, is coming up August 1: @politicsprose.bsky.social will host Dragsted and @joecguinan.bsky.social @democracycollab.bsky.social. Details: politics-prose.com/pelle-dragsted
At the top, a banner with repeating thumbnail images of the cover of NORDIC SOCIALISM, set at an angle. Then, photos of Pelle Dragsted and Joe Guinan. Then text that reads "Pelle Dragsted & Joe Guinan in conversation, August 1, 2025, 7 PM. Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, DC.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Everywhere we look there are new tripwires being laid, actions by the Trump Administration that could easily serve as the proximate cause or trigger of a financial crisis that could cause a chain reaction ending in a great crash. www.democracycollaborative.org/blogs/a-grea...
democracycollaborative.org
A Great Trump Crash? — The Democracy Collaborative
Everywhere we look there are new tripwires being laid, actions by the Trump Administration that could easily serve as the proximate cause or trigger of a financial crisis that could cause a chain reac...
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Democracy At Work @democracyatwork.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Check out this recent episode of @redneckgonegreen.bsky.social with @joecguinan.bsky.social of @democracycollab.bsky.social #democracyatwork #educate #agitate #organize #redneckgonegreen @democracyatwork.bsky.social
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Trump’s “cover story, and perhaps even his belief, is that tariffs by themselves can revive American industry. But he has no plans to deal with the problems that caused America’s deindustrialization in the first place.” —Michael Hudson www.democracycollaborative.org/whatwethink/...
democracycollaborative.org
Return of the Robber Barons — The Democracy Collaborative
Donald Trump is promoting a false narrative of what made America’s nineteenth century industrialization so successful. Instead of supporting a regrowth of U.S. industry, the effect of Trump’s tariffs ...
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Democracy Collaborative @democracycollab.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Return of the Robber Barons: read Michael Hudson’s @democracycollab.bsky.social paper on Trump’s tariffs and his inverted understanding of what drove the success of America’s nineteenth-century industrial takeoff. www.democracycollaborative.org/whatwethink/...
democracycollaborative.org
Return of the Robber Barons — The Democracy Collaborative
Donald Trump is promoting a false narrative of what made America’s nineteenth century industrialization so successful. Instead of supporting a regrowth of U.S. industry, the effect of Trump’s tariffs ...
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Phil Free @philfree.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
“With all this activity the principles of another, very different economy begins to come into view. Finance in this economy would be put back in the service of people, communities, & the planet.” Community Wealth Building - @joecguinan.bsky.social www.democracycollaborative.org/blogs/creati...
democracycollaborative.org
Creating a just economy through shared ownership — The Democracy Collaborative
Twenty-five years ago, when The Democracy Collaborative was formed, we set about the work of political-economic system change.
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Democracy At Work @democracyatwork.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Don't Miss today's New @redneckgonegreen.bsky.social with @joecguinan.bsky.social of @democracycollab.bsky.social at 6PM ET LIVE on the @democracyatwork.bsky.social #youtube channel here: youtube.com/@democracyat...
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
We are pleased to launch “Tracking the Crisis,” our news aggregator and once-weekly round-up, which tracks the Trump Administration’s administrative, legislative and other actions, as well as an array of movement responses. The link for subscribing is www.democracycollaborative.org/tracking-the...
democracycollaborative.org
Tracking the Crisis — The Democracy Collaborative
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Democracy Collaborative @democracycollab.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
📝 NEW TRAINING: Introduction to Community Wealth Building Join us to learn about Community Wealth Building as an approach to local economic system change starting in your place and/or community. Register here ⤵️ www.democracycollaborative.org/events/intro...
democracycollaborative.org
Intro to Community Wealth Building Training — The Democracy Collaborative
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Democracy Collaborative @democracycollab.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Last week Minister Tom Arthur told the Scottish Parliament about the irrefutable advantages of Community Wealth Building TDC’s CWB Global Lead @neilmcinroy.bsky.social continues to promote, develop and advise on the model across Scotland Scottish CWB legislation is due later this year
Scottish street scene
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Eleanor Finley PhD @eleanorfinley.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Join Northern Virginians for the Democratizing NOVA Summit 2025 at George Mason University! #NorthernVirginia #nextsystem #systemchange @democracycollab.bsky.social #NoVA @georgemasonu.bsky.social
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
The Third Way formulation—neoliberal economics plus status quo establishmentarianism, with tokenistic faux social liberalism ineffectually triangulated away to right-wing authoritarianism—is among the least popular politics there is in this Age of Anger. www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
theguardian.com
German election live: Conservatives projected to win and far-right AfD in second
Friedrich Merz claims victory for CDU/CSU alliance as incumbent chancellor Scholz concedes defeat; Alternative für Deutschland almost doubles vote share to 20%
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Teddy Roosevelt established the U.S. Forest Service. Trump and Musk are taking their buzzsaw not just to the New Deal and Great Society but to the gains of the Progressive Era when the modern state was established. The Gilded Age Robber Barons are back! www.sfgate.com/california/a...
sfgate.com
Federal funding cuts are crushing California's small mountain towns
Calif. mountain towns are surrounded by public lands. They're already dealing with the fallout of cuts to the U.S. Forest Service and land management agencies.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Super late to this, I know, but the second book is, if anything, even more terrifying and prophetic than the first, with its far right president promising to make America great again—written in 1998. Perhaps dystopian fiction really is serving as a how-to guide for fascists!
Parable of the Talents front coverParable of the Talents back cover: 

Originally published in 1998, this shockingly prescient novel's timely message of hope and resistance in the face of fanaticism is more relevant than ever.

In 2032, Lauren Olamina has survived the destruction of her home and family, and realized her vision of a peaceful community in northern California based on her newly founded faith, Earthseed. The fledgling community provides refuge for outcasts facing persecution after the election of an ultra-conservative president who vows to "make America great again."
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Teddy Roosevelt established the U.S. Forest Service. Trump and Musk are taking their buzzsaw not just to the New Deal and Great Society but to the gains of the Progressive Era when the modern state was established. The Gilded Age Robber Barons are back! www.sfgate.com/california/a...
sfgate.com
Federal funding cuts are crushing California's small mountain towns
Calif. mountain towns are surrounded by public lands. They're already dealing with the fallout of cuts to the U.S. Forest Service and land management agencies.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Nice piece for @democracycollab.bsky.social by Joana Ramiro.
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Neil McInroy @neilmcinroy.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
The energy sector’s ‘Wind Rush’ risks replicating existing patterns of financialized extraction. www.democracycollaborative.org/whatwethink/...
democracycollaborative.org
The energy sector’s ‘Wind Rush’ risks replicating existing patterns of financialized extraction — The Democracy Collaborative
The Democracy Collaborative’s Neil McInroy has recently chaired a taskforce on incorporating Community Wealth Building approaches into the devel opment of the renewable energy economy in ...
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Democracy Collaborative @democracycollab.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
If Community Wealth Building approaches are to continue to grow and become the foundations of a more sustainable economy, they’ll inevitably come into conflict with existing models of financialization and extraction. A look at offshore wind in Shetland: www.democracycollaborative.org/whatwethink/...
democracycollaborative.org
The energy sector’s ‘Wind Rush’ risks replicating existing patterns of financialized extraction — The Democracy Collaborative
The Democracy Collaborative’s Neil McInroy has recently chaired a taskforce on incorporating Community Wealth Building approaches into the devel opment of the renewable energy economy in ...
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
The opposite of the canary in the coal mine, the very last person for whom the penny drops!
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Chris Dillow @chrisdillow.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
The last time a foreign president tried to seize European territory, European governments responded by confiscating the assets of his billionaire cronies.
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Democracy Collaborative @democracycollab.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Only a few days in, and already we can see the broad shape of what Trump’s Second Term will bring — a radical effort to reshape and repurpose the administrative state. www.democracycollaborative.org/blogs/shock-...
democracycollaborative.org
Shock and Awe: Trump’s First Hundred Days — The Democracy Collaborative
Only a few days in, and already we can see the broad shape of what Trump’s Second Term will bring — a radical effort to reshape and repurpose the administrative state.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
The immediate challenge is not to be shocked and awed into confusion and debilitating paralysis but instead to formulate a counter-response commensurate with the scale of the challenges and capable of reaching the vast majority of ordinary Americans. www.democracycollaborative.org/blogs/shock-...
democracycollaborative.org
Shock and Awe: Trump’s First Hundred Days — The Democracy Collaborative
Only a few days in, and already we can see the broad shape of what Trump’s Second Term will bring — a radical effort to reshape and repurpose the administrative state.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
“IN THE LAST YEAR of his life, Martin Luther King Jr. began to move toward an ever-more-profound and radical understanding of what would be required to deal with the nation’s domestic and international problems.” From the archive, Gar Alperovitz on the MLK he knew. sojo.net/magazine/jan...
sojo.net
Beyond the Dreamer
As the country marks Martin Luther King Jr.'s 85th birthday, a veteran activist explains why it would be a mistake to remember King as only a great civil rights leader.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
“The most unpopular incoming government of all time.” Well done to all concerned! www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
Quote that Sir Keir leads “the most unpopular incoming government of all time.”
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
So shall the world go on, To good malignant, to bad men benign, Under her own weight groaning, til the day Appear of respiration to the just, And vengeance to the wicked... —John Milton, ‘Paradise Lost’, XII. 537-41.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
The alternative to the Volker Shock and Carter’s embrace of neoliberal economics. Consumers Opposed to Inflation in the Necessities (COIN) was backed by over 100 members of Congress, and proposed sectoral planning, price controls, and public ownership.
keywiki.org
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Privatisation unmasked. The privatised water companies have been used as ATMs for withdrawing cash by their private shareholders. Loaded up with debt to finance dividend payments, there has been no investment, and the public will now have paid three times. www.theguardian.com/money/2024/d...
theguardian.com
Average water bill in England and Wales to rise by 36% over five years
Firms accused of forcing households to pay for years of underinvestment after Ofwat agrees to increases to help fix sector
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
The private finance engine that Labour has installed at the heart of its economics is a machine that lowers not increases growth, and concentrates the returns amongst the wealthiest asset owners, driving inequality and indebtedness. tribunemag.co.uk/2024/07/no-w...
“The financial sector then is extractive from the real economy…” Quote from linked article.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Since we’re now being told we should have bombed Syria in 2013, a piece from the archives on our record on bombing. www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemoc...
opendemocracy.net
Bombs away! Air power as panacea
When will we turn aside from a century of bombing and begin to invest in the conditions of peace?
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
As Israel and Turkey bomb Syria, the Starmer government suspends asylum for people fleeing Syria because they view everything through a cynical geopolitical (and domestic political) lens rather than a humanitarian one. If you are in the British Labour Party, this is your enduring shame.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Events in New York City remind me of Jack London’s The Assassination Bureau Ltd., a strange outlier in his work. As the system tanks and we all descend into Hell, it’s surprising there hasn’t been a lot more of this about. Kim Stanley Robinson picks up the thread in The Ministry for the Future.
Cover of Jack London’s The Assassination Bureau Ltd
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Solidarity with our friends in South Korea and the struggle to preserve democracy, political freedoms, the rule of law, and due process. Coming soon to a post-democracy near you!
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
This isn’t a communications problem, though—at least, not only one. The Starmer government is actively screwing over many people and promising to do little to make things better for the majority, lest Blackrock’s profits suffer. Programmatically, they are a void. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Labour’s big relaunch won’t solve its biggest problem: this government doesn’t speak human | John Harris
Farage and Trump are winning because they understand the politics of emotion, while Labour is lost in numbers and statistics, says Guardian columnist John Harris
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Sinn Fein tried to triangulate like centre left parties the world over, but centre left parties the world over are in rapid secular decline. They forgot they needed to win first, and that required sweeping in with a popular and populist left programme. Instead, they bled votes right and left.
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Neil Warner @neilwarner.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Starter pack of people and organisations who do work on policies to promote economic democracy, primarily through social ownership and democratisation of finance. I'm sure there's a lot missing here so please give suggested additions
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Thanksgiving reading. The latest Quirke novel from John Banville.
Cover of John Banville, The Drowned
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
So it looks like the British authorities do know how to respect and enforce a warrant.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
The Wampanoag would have done better if they’d pushed the Pilgrims into the sea. #Thanksgiving
Painting: The First Thanksgiving
by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe
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Democracy Collaborative @democracycollab.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Sally Rooney in the Irish Times on the urgent need for a next system of political economy beyond capitalism. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
irishtimes.com
Sally Rooney: When are we going to have the courage to stop the climate crisis?
Capitalism is driving the destruction of our planet. We have to think outside – and against – the framework of our current political system
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
“Either we confront the system that is threatening our civilisation – or “property will cost us the earth”. Every year, every month, the argument grows more and more difficult to refute.” Sally Rooney calls for a next system of political economy beyond capitalism. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...
irishtimes.com
Sally Rooney: When are we going to have the courage to stop the climate crisis?
Capitalism is driving the destruction of our planet. We have to think outside – and against – the framework of our current political system
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Democracy Collaborative @democracycollab.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Our Index of Systemic Trends, via Aditya Chakrabortty’s analysis, in The Nation magazine’s U.S. presidential election postmortem: www.thenation.com/article/poli... The 2024 Index of Systemic Trends: index.democracycollaborative.org
Quotation from Aditya Chakrabortty: 

Above a truly stunning graph showing average hourly wages for blue-collar workers in the United States, Chakrabortty notes that

for the vast majority of US employees—whether middle class or working class, teacher or shop assistant—wages have flatlined. Not for four or even 20 years—but for most of the past half century. Strip out inflation, and average hourly earnings for seven out of 10 employees have barely risen since Richard Nixon was in the White House.

As he explains, if you start from an oligarchy where, while the rich get steadily richer, “most workers only get by because of low gas and food prices,” and then add a hefty measure of post-Covid inflation, the recipe for conflagration is complete.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Labour promised hardly anything at the election and are not delivering on even that. Lots of complacent centrists greatly underestimating the political damage that is doing to popular faith in politics in an Age of Anger in which populist alternatives can materialize very rapidly indeed.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Time for the taxi driver meme, haha. But in my taxi to Dublin airport I was chatting to my Romanian driver, who was absolutely buzzing that in the first round of the Romanian presidential election the candidates of the two traditional parties had been beaten by outsiders.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
How can there be a popular front against fascism when the liberals are not actually against fascism, and when they’d rather cooperate with fascists than with the left and social movements?
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
I see the trolls are arriving on here.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Great starter pack from @scpartners.bsky.social go.bsky.app/2nj5Vii
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
If you’re a British voter, sign the petition. Labour have the thinnest mandate of any majority government in the democratic era, they think they can do whatever they want because of their loveless landslide, and they are led by liars. Hold them to account! petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
petition.parliament.uk
Petition: Call a General Election
I would like there to be another General Election. I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead up to the last election.
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Joe Guinan @joecguinan.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Polish translation of The Case for Community Wealth Building out next year.
The Case for Community Wealth Building - book by Joe Guinan and Martin O’Neill
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