4/26 Book Commoning Labour and Democracy at Work, Toronto & more
http://www.azzellini.net - https://www.facebook.com/dario.azzellini
March-May 2026, Dario Azzellini's newsletter in English - approx. 4-5 times a year (also available in Spanish and German)
To unsubscribe: https://www.azzellini.net/newsletter/subscriptions
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0. Before
1. New Books and research reports (English, German):
2. Academic articles: Book chapters and journal articles (English, Spanish)
3. Videos/Audios (English, German, Spanish)
4. Interviews and journalism (English, German, Serbian, Turkish)
5. Talks/Conferences (Toronto/CAN, Buggerru/Sardinia)
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0. Before
Hello!
Toronto! I'm coming... book launch on March 10 in Toronto, CAN! See 5.
Very dark times. This is the global counterrevolution that follows every failed revolution...
One place to discuss this and what to do will be the Labour Transfer School 5!
June 3-10, 2026, in Buggerru, Sardinia (Italy), as every year. Unfortunately, for 2026 we are sold out and there is a waiting list... However, if you are a unionist, labour activist, militant researcher... look at our website and the previous programs and mark it for 2027:
https://www.labourtransferschool.org/
Read more in 5
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You want to organize a book launch, workshop or discussion regarding "Commoning Labour and Democracy at Work: When Workers Take Over," just let me know!
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Dario
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1. New Books and research reports (English, German)
Dario Azzellini and Marcelo Vieta. Commoning Labour and Democracy at Work: When Workers Take Over. Routledge, 290 Pages, 2025 (a more affordable paperback will follow)
This book investigates the return of workers’ self-management in recent decades as responses to recurring neoliberal crises. In particular, the book homes in on worker-recuperated enterprises (WREs), a promising form of workers’ self-organization whereby workers restart troubled, bankrupt, or shuttered companies as cooperatives or other forms of democratic workplace.
The book argues that WREs are prefigurative of new forms of work based on equality and sustainability. Framed by the concepts of autogestión, the labour commons, and prefigurative ethico-political practices, the book argues that WREs contribute to the construction of more directly democratic community economies. Drawing on a range of contemporary case studies from numerous countries in the Global South and North, as well as new theories of workers’ self-management, the book contributes a critical development, political economic, and class-struggle Marxist perspective to the re-emergent labour question within anti-systemic social movements, while theorizing the transformative nature of WREs for workers, work organizations, and communities.
Reviews:
ChuanZhi Ye reviews our book in the British Journal of Industrial Relations and ends writing
"In today’s increasingly globalized capitalism, this work undoubtedly has important reference value and guiding significance. For scholars, policy makers and practitioners who focus on labour relations, economic democratization and social justice, this book is undoubtedly a rare must read."
http://www.azzellini.net/node/3392
https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.70049
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2. Academic articles: Book chapters and journal articles (English, Spanish)
Azzellini, Dario; Brandl, Sebastian; Matuschek, Ingo. 2025. “Sustainable work and industrial 85-107. relations in Europe.” Industrielle Beziehungen. 31:1.
The socio-ecological transformation is a key issue on the political agenda of the EU and its member states, as seen in the Green Deal. However, despite joint declarations, there are differences in the national transition paths. The UNDP Development Report 2015 calls for a transition to sustainable work, defined as work that promotes human development and reduces or eliminates negative impacts for both present and future generations. The approaches deal in different ways with elements of industrial relations as systemic orientations or ideologies that are more or less shared nationally by the specific actors (politics, business, trade unions and civil society). This article examines the extent to which there is a normative consensus in the member states on the ideas and objectives of a Green Deal or sustainable work as well as how industrial relations are addressed. The analysis is based on various literature reviews on sustainable work, socio-ecological transformation and just transition. The perspective is contextualised by industrial relations theories, which assess the inclusion of the topos of sustainable work in the Green Deal and whether it goes beyond it. To this end, the article presents different development paths preferred by actors from specific country clusters, and concludes by discussing the embedding of civil society movements in industrial relations. The result is that trade unions and civil society actors in particular must shape the content of a just transition and ensure its implementation.
https://doi.org/10.5771/0943-2779-2024-1-85
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Azzellini, Dario. 2025. “Contemporary Communes and Council Democracy in Latin America.” Socialism and Democracy. DOI: 10.1080/08854300.2024.2435067.
Ideas and practices of communal self-administration are widespread in Latin America, especially among indigenous and Afro-American communities, stemming from ancestral customs. Commune-like self- administration predates the Paris Commune and has surfaced repeatedly throughout history. It was present in the wars of independence, in peasant uprisings, in revolts and revolutions in the early 20th century and in the struggles of its second half. The idea of the commune as democratically self-governed space corresponds to the framework of alternative imagination of many popular movements and the experiences of building popular power...
Article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08854300.2024.2435067
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Azzellini, Dario. 2026. “Contemporary Communes and Council Democracy in Venezuela.” In: Kets, Gaard; van de Sande, Mathijs (eds.). Communalism as a Democratic Repertoire. From the Paris Commune to the Present. Advances in Democratic Theory series. London/New York: Routledge. 183-196.
In Communalism as a Democratic Repertoire Gaard Kets and Mathijs van de Sande bring together historians, sociologists, political scientists, theorists, and philosophers to reconstruct how "the Commune" has continued to serve as a source of inspiration to different movements and tendencies throughout the past 150 years, and how communalist thought and practices help us reimagine what radical democracy may look like today. Divided into three parts, contributors begin by exploring how the Paris Commune shaped political debates and influenced various theoretical oeuvres as well as political practices. Part II develops communalist ideas or strategies in a contemporary context. Part III sheds light on three different contemporary communalist practices in the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Latin America.
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Azzellini, Dario. 2025. “La democracia consejista y comunera en contra del Estado-nación.” In: Curto López, Saúl (ed.). La emergencia de la Democracia Comunal. Valencia: Tirant Lo Blanch.
"Este volumen, además de ser una compilación de estudios sobre realidades comunitarias, también es una primera aportación tanto teórica como práctico-empírica para situar la democracia comunal como un posible campo de trabajo e investigación en las próximas décadas. Pensamos que esta posibilidad, no sólo existe, sino que, además, tiene sentido y pertinencia en la situación social que vive el mundo..."
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3. Videos/Audios (English, Spanish, German)
Just Transitions - a global exploration: Colombia
Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change, 26.1.2026 (audio)
Professor Vera Trappmann speaks to senior researcher Dario Azzellini about his research on Colombia’s approach to just transition in this latest episode of the “Just transitions – a global exploration” series. Dario gives an overview of Colombia’s holistic and community-driven approach to just transition – where unions, activities and communities push for a post-extractivist future, despite immense risks and structural challenges.
https://soundcloud.com/leedsunibschool/just-transitions-a-global-exploration-colombia
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I Seminario sobre Planificación Económica y Autogestión: Josè Luis Carretero y Dario Azzellini: Modelos, experiencias y debates para pensar la autogestión en el siglo XXI (video)
Instituto de Ciencias Económicas y Autogestión (ICEA), 13.12.2025, 15 min.
Dario Azzellini, Universidad de Duisburg Essen: Variedades de Empresas Recuperadas por sus Trabajadorxs en Europa. Los ejemplos de Francia, Grecia e Italia
Josè Luis Carretero: Cooperativismo, integración y desarrollo. Abraham Guillén en Perú.
https://www.youtube.com/live/Ivxn-a0PlMs
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Analyse und Einordnung des US-Angriffs auf Venezuela (Audio)
Radiozwitschern #39, Radio Corax 10.1.2026
Am 03.01.2026 griffen die USA Caracas, die Hauptstadt Venezuelas an und entführten den Präsidenten Maduro. Drohgebärden der US-Regierung richten sich infolgedessen an viele weitere Länder, während europäische Regierungen zögern, den Angriff zu verurteilen. Gemeinsam mit dem promovierten Politik- und Sozialwissenschaftler Dario Azzellini in New York und dem freien Journalisten David in Kolumbien sprechen wir darüber, was genau passiert ist. Die beiden ordnen die Situation ein und geben Prognosen, wie sich das imperialistisch getriebene Verhalten der USA nun weiterentwickeln könne.
http://www.azzellini.net/interviews/analyse-und-einordnung-des-us-angriffs-auf-venezuela
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4. Interviews and journalism (English, Serbian, Turkish, Spanish)
Political Scientist Dario Azzellini on the Attack on Venezuela
“The US Is a Dying Empire”
Marko Miletić | Mašina, January 9, 2026
According to political scientist Dario Azzellini, the US attack on Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro do not merely constitute a violation of international law, but its complete collapse. In an interview with Mašina, Azzellini explains why he sees this event as a symptom of a “dying empire,” and at the same time as a prelude to a new, dangerous phase of global conflict....
https://www.masina.rs/eng/the-us-is-a-dying-empire-political-scientist-d...
http://www.azzellini.net/node/3394
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Politikolog Dario Acelini o napadu na Venecuelu: „SAD su umiruća imperija“
Mašina, 06.01.2026
Napad SAD-a na Venecuelu i otmica predsednika Nikolasa Madura, prema politikologu Dariju Aceliniju, ne predstavljaju samo kršenje međunarodnog prava već njegov potpuni kraj. U intervjuu za Mašinu, Acelini objašnjava zašto ovaj događaj vidi kao simptom „umiruće imperije“, ali i kao uvod u novu, opasnu fazu globalnih sukoba...
https://www.masina.rs/sad-su-umiruca-imperija-politikolog-dario-acelini-o-napadu-na-venecuelu/
http://www.azzellini.net/node/3395
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International personalities call for solidarity with Rojava: Attacks must be stopped immediately. Thinkers, academics, writers, and artists from the United States, India, Chile, Germany, Catalonia, and Scotland call for solidarity against the attacks on Rojava
DEVRİŞ ÇİMEN | ANF, 26.1.2026
Dr. Dario Azzellini, researcher and documentary director, holds a PhD in political science and a PhD in sociology, Berlin, Germany:
“Déjà vu in Kurdistan?
Kobanê is again besieged by jihadists from three sides and Turkey, the jihadists’ strongest ally, on the fourth side. The situation reminds of 2014-2016, when Daesh and other jihadist militias massacred the predominantly Kurdish population in the rural areas of the region, occupying more than 350 villages. Back then, Kurdish forces, supported by Western countries interested in stopping ISIS. This time, the situation is different....
Turkish:
ANF: https://anf-news.com/avrupa/rojava-bizimdir-koruyalim-223415
Yeni Yaşam Gazetesi: https://yeniyasamgazetesi9.com/aydin-ve-sanatcilardan-cagri-rojava-bizimdir-koruyalim/
Ozgür Politika: https://www.ozgurpolitika.com/haberi-rojava-bizimdir-koruyalim-208221
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5. Talks/Conferences (Toronto/CAN, Buggerru/Sardinia)
Mar 10 (Tuesday) 3 pm to 5 pm, Toronto Community Book Launch
Peace Lunge, OISE Building, 252 Bloor St., West Toronto, ON
March 10 I willl be in Toronto with Marcelo Vieta for a book launch of "Commoning Labour! We will also have Andrés Ruggeri from Buenos Aires as special guest!
Commoning Labour and Democracy at Work: When Workers Take Over
Across the world, workers and communities have responded to neoliberal restructuring, austerity, and economic crisis by taking over workplaces and converting them into worker-managed cooperatives and community-anchored enterprises. From Argentina’s worker-recuperated enterprises to experiments in worker cooperatives and democratic workplaces across Latin America, Europe, and North America, these initiatives have prefigured new ways of organizing work – grounded in solidarity, and collective ownership. They are turning workplaces into spaces of democracy and commons – a labour commons.
Join book authors, Dario Azzellini and Marcelo Vieta, and Special Guests: Andrés Ruggeri, professor at the University of Buenos Aires and director of the Documentation Center for Worker-Recuperated Enterprises and invited labour organisations, cooperatives, and scholars from Toronto and southern Ontario, for this community–university gathering that uses the book Commoning Labour and Democracy at Work: When Workers Take Over as a starting point for a collective conversation about the possibilities and limits of building labour commons in Toronto today. The authors hope to begin a dialogue and movement-oriented discussion among labour, cooperative, and community actors in Toronto, that asks:
How can we democratize and cooperativize more and more workplaces in Toronto?
What can be learned and adapted from democratic workplaces and worker-recuperated enterprises elsewhere?
What institutions, alliances, and infrastructures are needed to sustain democracy at work in a highly financialized, precarious urban economy?
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June 3-10, 2026 in Buggerru, Sardinia (Italy)
Labor Transfer School 5 - Registration closed
LabourTransfer is an independent, not for profit, international initiative of global labour scholars interested in collaborations, synergies and knowledge exchange between academia and social organizations, aiming at producing emancipatory knowledge on labour and social issues. LabourTransfer gives participants a chance to exchange their research interests with academics, labour activists, artists, journalists and trade unionists from all over the world. LabourTransfer is not a traditional academic summer school or a training centre for trade unionists but a co-learning, strategizing, and networking place for labour activism and social justice.
If you are a unionist, labour activist (paid or unpaid labour), militant labour researcher... check the website and save early June 2027 for the next LTS!
https://www.labourtransferschool.org/
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Dario Azzellini
https://www.azzellini.net https://www.workerscontrol.net
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