Raphael Arar
@rarar.com
Head of Design @ One Project
Mentor @ NEW INC
Visiting Faculty @ Calarts
Executive Board @ Leonardo / ISAST
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rarar.com
oneproject.org
leonardo.info
Mentor @ NEW INC
Visiting Faculty @ Calarts
Executive Board @ Leonardo / ISAST
---
rarar.com
oneproject.org
leonardo.info
Pinned
Raphael Arar
@rarar.com
· Oct 10
While Trump & Big Tech privatize money creation through stablecoins, we designed an alternative with Yanis. Give that power to the people instead: digital central bank accounts funding a trust fund for everyone without new taxes or debt. See how monetarycommons.com
Reposted by Raphael Arar
"Modernism can best be understood as a cultural field of force triangulated by three coordinates: formalized academicism in the arts; technologies of telephone, radio, automobile, aircraft; and the imaginative proximity of social revolution."
Perry Anderson
(modernism debates contra blackfriday)
Perry Anderson
(modernism debates contra blackfriday)
November 28, 2025 at 2:59 PM
"Modernism can best be understood as a cultural field of force triangulated by three coordinates: formalized academicism in the arts; technologies of telephone, radio, automobile, aircraft; and the imaginative proximity of social revolution."
Perry Anderson
(modernism debates contra blackfriday)
Perry Anderson
(modernism debates contra blackfriday)
Reposted by Raphael Arar
Direct democracy is neither a utopian fantasy nor mere procedural formalism. Rather, as our video of the week contends, it is a perpetually contested practice that requires international solidarity and the courage to build power from below.
Feat. Yavor Tarinski at @firestorm.coop
buff.ly/g4wqkOd
Feat. Yavor Tarinski at @firestorm.coop
buff.ly/g4wqkOd
November 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Direct democracy is neither a utopian fantasy nor mere procedural formalism. Rather, as our video of the week contends, it is a perpetually contested practice that requires international solidarity and the courage to build power from below.
Feat. Yavor Tarinski at @firestorm.coop
buff.ly/g4wqkOd
Feat. Yavor Tarinski at @firestorm.coop
buff.ly/g4wqkOd
Reposted by Raphael Arar
Welcome to our Bluesky page, where we post about the theory and practice of democratic economic planning! You can find out more about INDEP on our website (www.indep.network), while you can find recordings of our events on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@INDEP-Netwo...
November 23, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Welcome to our Bluesky page, where we post about the theory and practice of democratic economic planning! You can find out more about INDEP on our website (www.indep.network), while you can find recordings of our events on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@INDEP-Netwo...
How to Plan an Economy
A series of diagrams viewed through an overhead projector outlining models for democratically planned economies—all of which have been imagined, none of which have been realized.
Now on view in Portland through the end of Nov carnationcontemporary.com/Planning-Rap...
A series of diagrams viewed through an overhead projector outlining models for democratically planned economies—all of which have been imagined, none of which have been realized.
Now on view in Portland through the end of Nov carnationcontemporary.com/Planning-Rap...
November 22, 2025 at 5:35 PM
How to Plan an Economy
A series of diagrams viewed through an overhead projector outlining models for democratically planned economies—all of which have been imagined, none of which have been realized.
Now on view in Portland through the end of Nov carnationcontemporary.com/Planning-Rap...
A series of diagrams viewed through an overhead projector outlining models for democratically planned economies—all of which have been imagined, none of which have been realized.
Now on view in Portland through the end of Nov carnationcontemporary.com/Planning-Rap...
Reposted by Raphael Arar
🚨Free Markets Are Planned: The Neoliberal Paradox with Christoph Sorg
Dr. Christoph Sorg is a social scientist researching theories of economic planning in times of digitalization and the climate crisis.
We discussed his publication "Finance as a form of economic planning"
⬇️
Dr. Christoph Sorg is a social scientist researching theories of economic planning in times of digitalization and the climate crisis.
We discussed his publication "Finance as a form of economic planning"
⬇️
November 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM
🚨Free Markets Are Planned: The Neoliberal Paradox with Christoph Sorg
Dr. Christoph Sorg is a social scientist researching theories of economic planning in times of digitalization and the climate crisis.
We discussed his publication "Finance as a form of economic planning"
⬇️
Dr. Christoph Sorg is a social scientist researching theories of economic planning in times of digitalization and the climate crisis.
We discussed his publication "Finance as a form of economic planning"
⬇️
Reposted by Raphael Arar
'To what extent, beneath the now-fetishized aesthetic, was socialist modernism meaningfully the product of a radically different social system to liberal capitalism?'
Owen Hatherley on 'Socmodernist' architecture, in NLR 155.
newleftreview.org/.../owen-hat....
Owen Hatherley on 'Socmodernist' architecture, in NLR 155.
newleftreview.org/.../owen-hat....
November 18, 2025 at 2:20 PM
'To what extent, beneath the now-fetishized aesthetic, was socialist modernism meaningfully the product of a radically different social system to liberal capitalism?'
Owen Hatherley on 'Socmodernist' architecture, in NLR 155.
newleftreview.org/.../owen-hat....
Owen Hatherley on 'Socmodernist' architecture, in NLR 155.
newleftreview.org/.../owen-hat....
"…part of the role of radical agitation, of political speculation and of utopian art and culture is to gesture towards the alternative worlds and ways of being beyond the ambit of immediate need."
Jeremy Gilbert and Alex Williams on the new Marxism:
‘This is precisely why it is important not to conceptualise material interests as transhistorical categories existing outside of specific social conjunctures.’
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
‘This is precisely why it is important not to conceptualise material interests as transhistorical categories existing outside of specific social conjunctures.’
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Jeremy Gilbert & Alex Williams, Alternative Horizons — Sidecar
A reply to Dylan Riley.
newleftreview.org
November 15, 2025 at 10:07 PM
"…part of the role of radical agitation, of political speculation and of utopian art and culture is to gesture towards the alternative worlds and ways of being beyond the ambit of immediate need."
Reposted by Raphael Arar
"In an era when Western liberal democracies face mounting crises of legitimacy, the Chinese model offers alternative ways of conceptualising the relationship between popular sovereignty and effective governance."
Building Whole-Process People's Democracy in China
For Building the Future, a research collection on contemporary socialist construction, Paweł Wargan and Jason Hickel look at the concept of “whole-process people’s democracy” in China, a complex…
buff.ly
November 15, 2025 at 9:28 AM
"In an era when Western liberal democracies face mounting crises of legitimacy, the Chinese model offers alternative ways of conceptualising the relationship between popular sovereignty and effective governance."
Reposted by Raphael Arar
The four-decade endurance of Brazil’s MST (Landless Workers’ Movement) is a patient, durational politics woven through everyday life. Our video of the week positions MST as a model of grassroots resilience and prefigurative politics.
Feat. Alex U. Flynn
buff.ly/rPM6rTh
Feat. Alex U. Flynn
buff.ly/rPM6rTh
November 14, 2025 at 12:02 PM
The four-decade endurance of Brazil’s MST (Landless Workers’ Movement) is a patient, durational politics woven through everyday life. Our video of the week positions MST as a model of grassroots resilience and prefigurative politics.
Feat. Alex U. Flynn
buff.ly/rPM6rTh
Feat. Alex U. Flynn
buff.ly/rPM6rTh
Reposted by Raphael Arar
Following up on the two recent #FutureHistories episodes with Aaron Benanav (@abenanav.bsky.social), here you'll find the full versions of his new papers #BeyondCapitalism 1 & 2 -> buff.ly/k23voql
Must read!
Find the two episodes here:
Ep1 -> buff.ly/MkPKGXT
Ep2 -> buff.ly/dqWZ5Q3
Must read!
Find the two episodes here:
Ep1 -> buff.ly/MkPKGXT
Ep2 -> buff.ly/dqWZ5Q3
November 11, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Following up on the two recent #FutureHistories episodes with Aaron Benanav (@abenanav.bsky.social), here you'll find the full versions of his new papers #BeyondCapitalism 1 & 2 -> buff.ly/k23voql
Must read!
Find the two episodes here:
Ep1 -> buff.ly/MkPKGXT
Ep2 -> buff.ly/dqWZ5Q3
Must read!
Find the two episodes here:
Ep1 -> buff.ly/MkPKGXT
Ep2 -> buff.ly/dqWZ5Q3
Reposted by Raphael Arar
"building class consciousness is encouraging individuals+collectives to orient themselves to a horizon beyond that of immediate selfdefence: to instill belief in the plausibility of alternatives.
why the utopian impulse to abstraction can never be fully exorcised"
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
why the utopian impulse to abstraction can never be fully exorcised"
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Jeremy Gilbert & Alex Williams, Alternative Horizons — Sidecar
A reply to Dylan Riley.
newleftreview.org
November 9, 2025 at 5:37 PM
"building class consciousness is encouraging individuals+collectives to orient themselves to a horizon beyond that of immediate selfdefence: to instill belief in the plausibility of alternatives.
why the utopian impulse to abstraction can never be fully exorcised"
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
why the utopian impulse to abstraction can never be fully exorcised"
newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...
Reposted by Raphael Arar
A new episode of Future Histories!
This time I talk to Aaron Benanav (@abenanav.bsky.social) about the second part of his ‘Beyond Capitalism’ essay series in New Left Review (@newleftreview.bsky.social).
Full episode here:
www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blo...
#FutureHistories #Podcast
This time I talk to Aaron Benanav (@abenanav.bsky.social) about the second part of his ‘Beyond Capitalism’ essay series in New Left Review (@newleftreview.bsky.social).
Full episode here:
www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blo...
#FutureHistories #Podcast
November 9, 2025 at 10:01 AM
A new episode of Future Histories!
This time I talk to Aaron Benanav (@abenanav.bsky.social) about the second part of his ‘Beyond Capitalism’ essay series in New Left Review (@newleftreview.bsky.social).
Full episode here:
www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blo...
#FutureHistories #Podcast
This time I talk to Aaron Benanav (@abenanav.bsky.social) about the second part of his ‘Beyond Capitalism’ essay series in New Left Review (@newleftreview.bsky.social).
Full episode here:
www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blo...
#FutureHistories #Podcast
Reposted by Raphael Arar
A printable zine version of Phil Neel's recent article, "Theory of the Party," is now available in our PDF library.
illwill.com/print/theory...
illwill.com/print/theory...
November 4, 2025 at 3:06 PM
A printable zine version of Phil Neel's recent article, "Theory of the Party," is now available in our PDF library.
illwill.com/print/theory...
illwill.com/print/theory...
Reposted by Raphael Arar
Free workshop: Managing shared finances as a team
Nov 6, 3pm EST
Your cooperative runs democratically, but does your bank account?
Learn to set up shared wallets where multiple people control spending and every transaction is transparent.
No technical experience needed.
Nov 6, 3pm EST
Your cooperative runs democratically, but does your bank account?
Learn to set up shared wallets where multiple people control spending and every transaction is transparent.
No technical experience needed.
October 30, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Free workshop: Managing shared finances as a team
Nov 6, 3pm EST
Your cooperative runs democratically, but does your bank account?
Learn to set up shared wallets where multiple people control spending and every transaction is transparent.
No technical experience needed.
Nov 6, 3pm EST
Your cooperative runs democratically, but does your bank account?
Learn to set up shared wallets where multiple people control spending and every transaction is transparent.
No technical experience needed.
Reposted by Raphael Arar
I wrote about public libraries as spaces of civic solidarity, common knowledge, and public infrastructure — all endangered by commercial and federal saboteurs
Extralibrary Loan: Making the Civic Infrastructure We Need
Amid a war on public knowledge, libraries are pushing outward, enlarging the commons through new configurations of civic and creative life.
placesjournal.org
October 28, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I wrote about public libraries as spaces of civic solidarity, common knowledge, and public infrastructure — all endangered by commercial and federal saboteurs
Reposted by Raphael Arar
BADA BOOM! The HM London Conference programme is now online!
Online registrations close Tuesday 4 November at midnight GMT!
Online registrations close Tuesday 4 November at midnight GMT!
Twenty-Second Annual Conference - Historical Materialism
Deadline extended to 27 May! Resurgent Reaction: Marxist Strategies at the End of the Liberal Order 6-9 November 2025, SOAS, Russell Square, Central London Deadline for abstracts: Friday 16 May 2025
www.historicalmaterialism.org
October 24, 2025 at 3:01 PM
BADA BOOM! The HM London Conference programme is now online!
Online registrations close Tuesday 4 November at midnight GMT!
Online registrations close Tuesday 4 November at midnight GMT!
Reposted by Raphael Arar
The claim that capitalism has been replaced by a new digital “feudal order” misreads the dynamics of today’s economy. Instead, our article of the week insists that capitalism endures, reorganized around rent, not production.
By @koheisaito.bsky.social & @ryujisasaki.bsky.social
buff.ly/uTbsnvE
By @koheisaito.bsky.social & @ryujisasaki.bsky.social
buff.ly/uTbsnvE
October 25, 2025 at 11:02 AM
The claim that capitalism has been replaced by a new digital “feudal order” misreads the dynamics of today’s economy. Instead, our article of the week insists that capitalism endures, reorganized around rent, not production.
By @koheisaito.bsky.social & @ryujisasaki.bsky.social
buff.ly/uTbsnvE
By @koheisaito.bsky.social & @ryujisasaki.bsky.social
buff.ly/uTbsnvE
We're looking for a designer who can move fluidly between product and brand to help us build Common—infrastructure for economic democracy at scale. DM me with any questions! job-boards.greenhouse.io/oneproject/j...
Product Designer
Remote Work
job-boards.greenhouse.io
October 23, 2025 at 8:42 PM
We're looking for a designer who can move fluidly between product and brand to help us build Common—infrastructure for economic democracy at scale. DM me with any questions! job-boards.greenhouse.io/oneproject/j...
Reposted by Raphael Arar
“I see just a massive opportunity on the horizon, and not just in Europe but all over the world, to start building a new, good internet outside the U.S. One that’s multilateral, one that’s pluralistic, one that is enshittification-resistant from the start. It’s going to be accelerated by Trump.”
October 21, 2025 at 3:04 AM
“I see just a massive opportunity on the horizon, and not just in Europe but all over the world, to start building a new, good internet outside the U.S. One that’s multilateral, one that’s pluralistic, one that is enshittification-resistant from the start. It’s going to be accelerated by Trump.”
Reposted by Raphael Arar
Downtown Portland has some new art at 5th and Washington🐸 👀
Click the link to read more about Portland's Protest Frog: www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
Click the link to read more about Portland's Protest Frog: www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
October 15, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Downtown Portland has some new art at 5th and Washington🐸 👀
Click the link to read more about Portland's Protest Frog: www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
Click the link to read more about Portland's Protest Frog: www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Raphael Arar
Imagine a similar story where democratic investment banks are instead reporting on the quarterly results of their social investment programs.
It’s not sci fi. China’s massive investments into steel mills and infrastructure come directly from state banks not private capital. Now add democracy.
It’s not sci fi. China’s massive investments into steel mills and infrastructure come directly from state banks not private capital. Now add democracy.
October 14, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Imagine a similar story where democratic investment banks are instead reporting on the quarterly results of their social investment programs.
It’s not sci fi. China’s massive investments into steel mills and infrastructure come directly from state banks not private capital. Now add democracy.
It’s not sci fi. China’s massive investments into steel mills and infrastructure come directly from state banks not private capital. Now add democracy.
"Design is not just production. It's discernment – the discipline of questioning, testing, refining and making choices." via @renderg.host
The Worst Designer I've Ever Worked With Was Also the Most Productive - Annotated by B. Prendergast
When companies mistake volume for value, and incentivise outputs over outcomes.
renderghost.leaflet.pub
October 14, 2025 at 6:45 PM
"Design is not just production. It's discernment – the discipline of questioning, testing, refining and making choices." via @renderg.host
Reposted by Raphael Arar
"In a follow-up to his and Brenna Bhandar's "Slumlord Empire", Alberto Toscano writes about the Trump administration's Gaza ceasefire plan's genocidal logic of displacement and accumulation."
proteanmag.com/2025/10/13/p...
proteanmag.com/2025/10/13/p...
Planning Against Palestine • Protean Magazine
In a follow-up to his and Brenna Bhandar's "Slumlord Empire", Alberto Toscano writes about the Trump administration's Gaza ceasefire plan's genocidal logic of displacement and accumulation.
proteanmag.com
October 13, 2025 at 5:49 PM
"In a follow-up to his and Brenna Bhandar's "Slumlord Empire", Alberto Toscano writes about the Trump administration's Gaza ceasefire plan's genocidal logic of displacement and accumulation."
proteanmag.com/2025/10/13/p...
proteanmag.com/2025/10/13/p...
While Trump & Big Tech privatize money creation through stablecoins, we designed an alternative with Yanis. Give that power to the people instead: digital central bank accounts funding a trust fund for everyone without new taxes or debt. See how monetarycommons.com
October 10, 2025 at 11:47 AM
While Trump & Big Tech privatize money creation through stablecoins, we designed an alternative with Yanis. Give that power to the people instead: digital central bank accounts funding a trust fund for everyone without new taxes or debt. See how monetarycommons.com