Opting Out of Corporate Rule

Paths Through Utopias

Isabelle Fremeaux and John Jordan (2011)

Film Review

Paths through Utopias is a video diary of a French couple’s tour through European collectives in which citizens are resisting corporate rule and reclaiming control over their own lives. The collectives visited include

• The Climate Action Camp (2007-2010) which blocked the construction of a third runway at Heathrow Airport (see Battle of Heathrow Climate Victory)

• Jugoremedija, the chemical factory in Belgrade workers occupied to block its closure and subsequently transformed into a workers cooperative.

• Two self-governing collectives in Catalan (Spain) in which workers reclaimed vacant housing to produce their own food, created their own local currencies and started a citizen-run radio station.

• A self-governing off-the-grid collective in Britain.

• Zegg, an intentional community and eco-village in Germany where members are experimenting with alternatives to monogamy.