Solidarity Economy

Co-operatives Are At A Pivotal Point

October 22, 2024 Kenzie Love, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Organize! Cooperatives, New Economy, Solidarity Economy, United Nations

When the United Nations General Assembly declared 2012 as the first International Year of Co-operatives, it seemed to herald a bright future for the movement. With the theme of “Co-operative Enterprises Build a Better World”, the International Year of Co-operatives had three main objectives: increasing awareness, promoting growth, and establishing appropriate policies. As CWCF Executive Director Hazel Corcoran notes, it was a heady time. There were large events including a summit in Quebec City held that year, the international Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade was unveiled, and numerous smaller- scale events took place.

Introduction To DES: Solidarity Economy Districts

August 12, 2024 Tamat, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Finance and the Economy, New Economy, Solidarity Economy, Transformation

In today's video, we bring you an in-depth interview with representatives from the Verona Solidarity Economy District (DES). We will discover how the movement started, its roots in the Lilliput network in Varese, and how it has grown over the years to become an established reality in the field of solidarity economy. Topics covered in the video: - The origins of the DES: The history of the movement, from its early steps taken over 20 years ago thanks to the Lilliput network, to the founding of the DES in Varese and Verona. - The Lilliput network and the G8: How awareness of global dynamics, such as those of the G8, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, influenced the birth of the DES.

Insights Into GAS: Solidarity Purchasing Groups

August 7, 2024 Tamat, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! New Economy, Organic Farming, Solidarity Economy, Solidarity Purchase Group

Discover what it means to be part of a Solidarity Purchase Group (GAS) through the interview with Vincenzo Vizioli, president of AIAB Umbria. With a journey that began in the late 1980s, Vincenzo explains how his choice for organic and biodynamic farming has evolved into a model of sustainability, cooperation, and mutualism. In the video, Vizioli tells the story of the Italian Organic Movement and the birth of GAS and IAP, highlighting the importance of sustainable agriculture and the need to promote social participation and community resilience. He then delves into the concept of GAS, explaining how these groups not only facilitate access to quality organic products but also promote a fair and solidarity-based economy.

The Role Of The Labor Movement In Solidarity Economy

May 21, 2024 CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Labor Movement, Solidarity Economy, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Enjoy this panel discussion on the role of the labor movement in solidarity economy hosted by the Solidarity Economy Club at CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies from Friday, May 10 , 2024. Solidarity Economy is an internationalist framework that seeks to unify diverse community-based initiatives toward a values-centered alternative to capitalism. Some of these initiatives include cooperatives, community gardens, land trusts, tenant’s unions, care networks & more. There has been increasing attention on the role of the labor movement in solidarity economy as union leaders seek new ways to fight back against the increasing precarity caused by neoliberalism, automation and AI.

Liberation Economist, Part Two

May 18, 2024 Euclides André Mance and Matt Noyes, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Liberation, Open Source, Software, Solidarity Economy

The theme of software licensing is very interesting. One time Richard Stallman was in Curitiba and stayed at my house for a week. He and I had many conversations about this and in the end wrote a joint statement on the importance of linking free software and solidarity economy, developing solutions for the solidarity economy that are truly free, libre, etc. But I posed to him an ethical problem: free software, precisely because its license allows for its use for any purpose, can lead to its use for ends that are not liberating, purposes tied to exploitation, domination, ecological degradation, or what have you. To what extent does a totally unlimited freedom, with no ethical parameters, contribute to the real expansion of freedom for all and not just some?

Liberation Economist Part One

May 10, 2024 Matt Noyes, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Strategize! Brazil, Economic Democracy, Liberation, Solidarity Economy

By applying theoretical principles of network analysis to economics, I was able to formulate a strategy of collaborative solidarity networks as a means of economic liberation. This work had a very controversial scientific dimension and I wanted to give it a consistent formulation. So, in the late 1990s, I developed software to demonstrate the possibility of making consistent projections by modeling economic flows. That is, at the outset the goal was to create a simulation of economic feedback flows, on a scientific basis, in order to test the validity of the approach. The first program – RedeSol (Rede Solidária) – was published in 1999, and was available to download on a software repository in Brazil.

Solidarity Economy And The Economics Of Abundance

December 28, 2023 Institute for New Economic Thinking, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Economic Democracy, Local Economy, Solidarity Economy

How do we transform societal structures and pave the way to economic democracy? Professor Jessica Gordon-Nembhard explores the potential of cooperatives and solidarity economics as pathways towards economic democracy and justice. Drawing on historical examples from the civil rights movement and the Knights of Labor in the 1880s, Gordon-Nembhard demonstrates how cooperative economics can counteract the exploitation inherent in capitalist systems. She underlines the importance of communal ownership and shared decision-making as mechanisms for wealth redistribution, arguing that such models can liberate communities from economic exploitation.

Manifesto For Wholesome Cooperation: A Sociocratic Perspective

August 21, 2023 Sofa Coop Circle, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, New Economy, Sociocracy, Solidarity Economy

Sociocracy and cooperativism stem from the premise that humans thrive as social animals. Quite possibly, cooperation acts as our most characteristic trait as living beings. We need each other. No human effort, made by a lone individual, succeeds. Since the dawn of our species, we have engaged in cooperation, and we're still figuring out how to do it best. We could certainly do it better than we are now, and sociocracy sheds a light on the way forward. Sociocracy (also called dynamic governance) means governance by the socios: those who associate together. In other words, if you join, if you participate, you get to have a voice in decision-making.

Solidarity Economy 101: The Kola Nut Timebank Story

August 15, 2023 The Laura Flanders Show, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Capitalism, Chicago, New Economy, Solidarity Economy, Time Banks

What if there was a way to trade time and share skills with your neighbors in a way that met a range of needs without involving cash? Since 2017, the Kola Nut Collaborative has operated Chicago’s only open-platform time and skills exchange, otherwise known as a timebank. Part mutual aid and community organizing, members come together to hear each other’s needs and share what they have to offer. Founding coordinator Mike Strode speaks with Laura about the changes he has seen in his community, how people are showing up for others, and what it takes to build a solidarity economy. Tune in for more on timebanking, and how it just might work in your community.

Economics For Emancipation: Tame, Smash, Escape

July 27, 2023 Geo Collective, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Organize! Capitalism, Economic Democracy, New Economy, Solidarity Economy

I'm currently the education programs and research manager at the Center for Economic Democracy and we're a movement support organization based in Boston, Massachusetts. Our work focuses mostly on capacity building in the movement, with the goal of democratizing economic power. In terms of what we actually do, what that looks like is organizing and building local coalitions, experimenting and trying to create new models of economic democracy, and also connecting trends locally with national partners to strengthen the broader Solidarity Economy movement. And ultimately, what we're doing at CED is trying to build new collective governance and ownership infrastructure to really shift power to frontline residents, both locally, but also creating models that potentially could be used elsewhere, or scaled in different ways.

Social And Solidarity Economy: Views From US, Spain And Latin America

July 24, 2023 Latin American and Iberian Institute, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Latin America, Municipalism, Solidarity Economy, Spain

The Latin American and Iberian Institute was pleased to host this virtual panel, The Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) Movement: Perspectives from the U.S., Spain and Latin America. Topics covered include: The Barcelona Experience with Local Economic Democracy by Dr. Santiago Eizaguirre Anglada; Latin American Solidarity Economic Circuits and SSE Networks by Euclides Mance and the Social and Solidarity Economy in the United States: Progress and Challenges by Yvonne Yen Liu.

Solidarity Economics – A Path Away From Capitalist Exploitation

July 9, 2023 Institute For New Economic Thinking, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Resistance Report Cooperatives, Finance and the Economy, New Economy, Solidarity Economy

Professor Jessica Gordon-Nembhard explores the potential of cooperatives and solidarity economics as pathways towards economic democracy and justice. Drawing on historical examples from the civil rights movement and the Knights of Labor in the 1880s, Nembhard demonstrates how cooperative economics can counteract the exploitation inherent in capitalist systems. She underlines the importance of communal ownership and shared decision-making as mechanisms for wealth redistribution, arguing that such models can liberate communities from economic exploitation.

Why Is The Co-Operative Movement So Successful In Emilia Romagna?

May 16, 2023 Matt Hancock, Low Impact. Create! Cooperatives, Italy, Solidarity Economy, Worker Ownership

In a region of 5 million people, there are 4000 co-operative businesses, that employ 250,000 people – just under a quarter of the entire workforce. The co-op movement in ER goes back to the mid 19th century, with roots in the workers’ mutual aid societies, and many of the early ones are still strong today. It wasn’t a reaction to capitalism. The co-op movement developed alongside capitalism. There’s an entrepreneurial spirit, but also a propensity to do things together – creating associations, unions, co-ops, credit unions etc. There’s joint purchasing and lobbying, collective bargaining etc. There’s a sense that ‘we have to solve problems together’ rather than as individuals.

Why We Need The Solidarity Economy

December 25, 2022 Solidarity Economy Staff, Resilience. Create! Cooperation, International Solidarity, New Economy, Solidarity Economy

We are living in a time of multiple crises. The climate emergency seriously threatens the continued survival of humanity, exacerbating injustice, exploitation, poverty and vulnerability. And the global cost of living crisis is driving more and more people into precarity. Although these crises are often portrayed as novel and contemporary rather than cumulative consequences of centuries-old destructive systems, those that have been at the frontlines of marginalization caused by the current world order, rooted in colonization and capitalism, have always known, to quote the Zapatistas, that this house has been on fire for many centuries. Coming up with solutions and alternatives to this destructive system has therefore been a necessity for communities across the globe.

How The Ghana Susu System Helps The African Diaspora

August 25, 2022 Amidu Mutaru, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Banking, Canada, Economic Security, Solidarity Economy

I was born in Nalerigu village in northeastern Ghana. For most of my life, I watched as my mother, Mariama, worked as a trader and used Susu to meet her financial needs. My mother used money from susu to pay my school fees and to carry out her trade business. Ghana’s Susu system is widely used by the people. Susu means “small small” in the Twi language (Amankwah et al. 2019:2). I only knew about Susu as a banking tradition in Ghana. I did not know that I would come to learn of its activity in a ‘developed’ country when I moved to Toronto, Canada to carry out my doctoral studies in anthropology. In the Spring 2022 I was hired as a research assistant to work on a project to understand rotating savings and credit associations – known as ROSCAs.

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