Alkon, Food Justice and the Challenge to Neolibralism, Week 3 Blog Post

I loved that Alyson Alkon has brought together these strategies of cooperative ownership, food worker's movements, and policy to restrict bad actors. First, I would like to point out that I think the overall arch of the article was to remind us that there isn't one single solution. She mentions many times in this article how all three of these strategies can be used simultaneously. Additionally, it's not our job to fix everything right now, it's our job to come up with creative alternatives to our current systems.

I won't touch as much on policy and restricting bad actors as I think Alkon did a great job by stating how this was probably the most important aspect of all of these strategies. People and organizations coming together to change legislation can be a huge win for a lot of people. Basically, a change in law will benefit the most people in a society. I also enjoyed learning that arguing that the companies will suffer financially has been a great leveraging tool for these grassroots organizers. 

Worker cooperatives are a great idea and play on many important elements that come from employment. Worker cooperatives take away the employee/supervisor dynamic, the unequal pay, and the pressures of asking for time off or extra support. I love the idea of working in a co-op environment where everyone is sharing duties and getting paid the same. Where no one is higher on the ladder than anyone else. 

Another great point made during this part of the article was the quote from Marx. Karl Marx understood that the labor force was the backbone of production. And production is still necessary for existence even without capitalism, but production through exploitation is actually the "normal" under capitalism. In fact, capitalism's progression depends on a large, exploited working class. Additionally, a great part because Alkon then draws on the critiques of neoliberalism by the MFC.

Ultimately, I think the most profound strategy is that involving food worker's movements. Learning how the Coalition of Immokalee Workers pressured billion-dollar companies into agreeing to the Fair Food Program was so thrilling! I love learning about what people like me and you are out there doing to change how we can all get proper access to healthy food. These are people that are doing very powerful and daunting work. It makes me want to go out and do more for my community and help bridge gaps of access for my own neighbors.