Incorruptible Mass

Hi, this is Anna Callahan and you’re listening to Incorruptible Massachusetts. Our goal is to help people understand state politics: we’re investigating why it’s so broken, imagining what we could have here in MA if we fixed it, and reporting on how you can get involved.

Today I’m interviewing Elena Latona from Neighbor to Neighbor, and Aaron Tanaka from the Center for Economic Democracy.

As I talked with Elena and Aaron, I felt so at home with the whole approach of their work. In the opening of every episode I say we are imaging what we could have here in MA — and that is what their organizations are all about. They talk about how much of what we do in this political and economic climate is reactionary — we fight against what we don’t want. Neighbor to Neighbor and the Center for Economic Democracy are about helping people go beyond that and envision what is possible.

I’m going to quote Guy Alperovitz, who often opens his talks this way. If you don’t want capitalism, and you don’t want state socialism, what do you want? And why should we listen to you if you don’t know?

Aaron and Elena’s organizations exist to create the space for us to dream bigger. To create a compelling vision of a world where our economy works for all of us, and is based on the idea that we are well only when you are also are well.

This feels so comfortable to me in part because that was one of the driving tenets of The Incorruptibles. In the wake of the 2016 election, when other groups were focusing on fighting back against Trump. The Incorruptibles was created to study times when progressives have won big, when we've taken over entire political bodies and passed great people-centered laws, and how did we do it? And, of course, to train people across the country to create their own strategies to take back their own cities.

If all we do is resist the constant erosion of our rights, we will never live in a just world. Thank you Elena and Aaron for this vital work of giving people space to imagine a better future, one that we can create together.

Elena is the Executive Director of Neighbor to Neighbor. Before that, she served as Executive Director of Centro Presente, a Boston-based immigrant rights organization. Elena holds a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts.

Aaron Tanaka is the Director and co-founder of the Center of Economic Democracy. Before that he co-founded the Boston Ujima Project, which organizes neighbors, workers, business owners and investors to create a People's Economy in Boston.

Without further ado, here is my interview with Elena and Aaron.