Their title is so ironic...but i guess they realize this...

when i found this site i remembered the numerous fallings out i had with employed, salaried people, many of them white and/or middle-class, who worked in community orgs, who attempted to get me, a worker who did not have full-time or permanent work in an org or academic setting of any kind, to do work for $50 honoraria or for free. i was actually defined as for profit (and therefore capitalist) because i had to charge money for the workshops i offered...while those who demanded that i not charge continued to do good community work inside orgs for enough money that they could go on vacations and send their children for horse back riding classes. they thrive. i've seen their names and their faces here and there during the G20 protests and aftermath. yup. there is work to be done inside our ranks in terms of how the work of some is exploited while the work of others is valorized and bought for the highest available dollar. we are not just divided by the work of police infiltrators, we are also divided because we're not really clear about community based worker friendly praxis which would allow us to fully walk our talk.

about the carrotworkers' collective:

We are a London-based group of current or ex interns, mainly from the creative and cultural sectors who regularly meet to think together around the conditions of free labour in contemporary societies.

We are currently undertaking a participatory action research around voluntary work, internship, job placements and compulsory free work in order to understand the impact they have on material conditions of existence, life expectations and sense of self, together with their implications in relation to education, life long training, exploitation, and class interest.

Contact us at carrotworkers@gmail.com if you would like to get involved. It would be great to hear from you.

Please note that we hold meetings fortnightly and may thus take some time to respond to requests and emails. In defiance to compulsively self-promotional regimes of overwork, we like taking time to think and discuss things over…