For more than 50 years, my social and political engagement has moved at the intersection of democratic renewal, social justice and local sustainable economy, always driven by the question of how people can gain more say and ownership over their economy, living environment and institutions. Over the past twenty years, I have been intensively involved in Community Wealth Building, commons, cooperatives and the community economy, among other things as co-founder of Ru Paré Community, Station Wildeman and cooperative enterprises such as “Samen aan de Slag” and “Samen leren in de Wijk”. Reciprocity is my guiding principle throughout: commons and cooperative initiatives offer the opportunity to make reciprocity the organising principle of the economy and society once again.
Since retiring as director of SWSL, I have been actively involved in cooperative initiatives in Amsterdam-Noord, and at Commons Network I hope to play a connecting role between thinking and doing, between local initiatives and policy.
