A look at what SEN has been up to
August 21, 2011
written by Emily Kawano, SEN Coordinator
Between January 2010 and August 2011, SEN has made exciting progress in meeting our overarching goals of 1) building the solidarity economy (SE) movement through education and organizing, 2) connecting with the global SE movement and 3) supporting SE with research and dissemination of best practices, tool-kits, data, and theory.
MOVEMENT BUILDING
» Solidarity economy at the 2010 U.S. Social Forum
SEN devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to ensure that there was a strong presence of real world solidarity economy practices, analysis and organizing at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit. We were very active on the National Planning Committee and continually worked to create a stronger bridge between social movements that focus more on resistance and the solidarity economy that focuses more on building a systemic alternative. We raised the visibility of the solidarity economy in the following ways:
· We played a part in getting the solidarity economy included in one of the tracks and we organized a track of 120 solidarity economy workshops. (SE Program: http://www.populareconomics.org:2082/frontend/x3/filemanager/dir.html?dir=%2fhome%2fprograms%2fpublic_html%2fimages)
· We played a central role in organizing the Plenary on Alternatives, Visions and Solutions. We worked hard to bring speakers to talk about different aspects of the solidarity economy including Daniel Tygel, Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Forum on the Solidarity Economy, Amenothep Zambrano, Executive Secretary, Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), and Rob Witherell, United Steelworkers- Mondragon Cooperatives collaboration.
· We had a solidarity economy table for information and publications.
· We worked with local organizations to organize a tour of social solidarity economy enterprises in Detroit.
· We organized a Solidarity Economy People’s Movement Assembly (see attachment of outcomes) and held our second SEN Annual Meeting which was attended by around 50 people.
» See, Believe and Build tours
We did three See, Believe and Build events in since 2010. The first was through the U.S. Social Forum which combined many solidarity economy workshops with a tour of the solidarity economy in Detroit. The tour was anchored by the Center for Community Based Enterprise and highlighted a restaurant coop, bakery, and community gardens.
The second was a collaboration between CPEand the Highlander Research and EducationCenter. We held a Fall Institute at the HighlanderCenterin Tennesseeon the theme of Beyond the Economic Fright Fest: Building a sustainable and just economy.We combined classroom learning with a trip over the Smokey Mountains to Asheville, NC where we heard had lunch at a restaurant coop and community space, and heard from two immigrant women’s cooperatives including a housecleaning and a textile business. This was followed by a trip to a social enterprise that re-cycles waste for use by artists and craftspeople. This is the second time that we have done a training at Highlander and we are happy to have be involved in seeding a budding movement to connect and support the development of the solidarity economy in the south. The Southern Grassroots Economies Project is working to create a sustainable economic base and to build on what already exists.
The third See, Believe and Build event was part of CPE’s 2011 Summer Institute with a special track on Media, Democracy and the Economy, held in Northampton, MA in July. Close to twenty participants came along on a walking tour of the solidarity economy in Northampton. We visited the Hungry Ghost Bakery which is working to re-establish local wheat growing, which had been wiped out by big agribusiness. Customers get free seeds to grow, both to build supply as well as data on which varieties are best suited of the Valley. We visited the Media Education Foundation which produces radical documentaries, Dynamite Space - a community arts space, where we heard about Valley Time Trade, and C3, an artists’ collaborative network, and then walked to Montview, a perma-culture farm and educational center. As always, it was a great combination of learning and seeing.
» Local organizing
NY Solidarity, based in NYC is working to identify and map the solidarity economy in the city (http://www.mapsforamerica.com/solidarityeconomy). They are working to bring together solidarity economy practitioners and movement builders to create connections and mutual support.
The Jersey Shore Neighborhood Cooperative is a group that we have been working closely with to train community researchers to map the solidarity economy in their neighborhoods. This process was used as an organizing tool to bring together some of the marginalized groups including formerly incarcerated, youth of color and immigrants. It has resulted in the establishment of several projects, including a wood working cooperative that already has an order for church pews.
Well Spring Initiative, in Springfield, MA, the Center for Popular Economics and the Center for Public Policy and Administration at UMass, are leading a collaborative initiative to create jobs and revitalize low income neighborhoods by leveraging the joint purchasing power of the anchor institutions to create worker/community-owned businesses. This initiative builds on the Mondragon and Cleveland’s Evergreen Cooperative models. Stakeholders in this process include Springfieldcommunity groups such as WMass Jobs with Justice, Pioneer Valley Project, New North Citizens Council, Partners for Healthy Communities, along with its major institutions – Baystate Health, Providence Health, Mass Mutual, the MA Higher Ed. Consortium, UMass, and the 4 Springfield colleges are enthusiastically on board. In November, we brought in Ted Howard, one of the architects of Evergreen Cooperative, to talk with the Well Spring stakeholders, as well as to speak at public events at UMass and Springfield. We have identified a number of promising areas of business including food (retail, wholesale, and processing), energy, and construction. We are optimistic that Well Spring will raise over $400,000 to cover the cost of research and organizing for the next two years.
Southern Grassroots Economies Project, March 18-20, Highlander Center, TN.More than 30 representatives from organizations from across the South and Appalachiacame together to consider the importance of developing cooperative economics as a part of their social justice work. The groups were as varied as Fuerza Unida, a sewing cooperative in San Antonia, TX that was developed after the fight to keep a Levi’s plant open was lost; ProSouth Lawn Care, a new lawn cooperative made up of youth from Project South’s youth program in Atlanta, GA; Third Coast Workers Cooperative, an organization in Austin, TX that develops cooperatives among people of color and poor folks; Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, a CDFI and community economic development group working in KY ; Southern Federation of Worker Cooperatives, a long time cooperative and credit union builder and network covering AL, GA, MS and SC; and the Highlander Research and Education Center in TN, a popular education center that is on the SENboard. A temporary coordinating committee has been formed and is working toward hosting a 2nd larger gathering in the Fall in Epps, AL at the Federation's Training Center, developing curriculum including a certification process and is looking at the multiple ways it will interact with the Solidarity Economy Network. As Niqua, a youth member of ProSouth Lawn Care said on the last of day of the meeting, “I feel like we are a part of history now.”
BASEN (Boston Area Solidarity Economy Network) organizes an ongoing speaker series on issues such as building cooperatives, green jobs, and sustainable agriculture. Julie Matthaei, of BASEN was a keynote speaker at the Transition Town Conference held on March 28 at Tufts University, MA. Around 300 people were in attendance.
Green Solidarity Economy Conference, July 23rd, Worcester, MA. This regional gathering sought to build solidarity economy analysis, skills and strengthen networks through collective agenda setting. Over 150 people participated which was well beyond the expectations of the organizers.
There also groups in the Bay Area, Detroitand Chicagothat are continuing to meet and pursue various initiatives.
EDUCATION – workshops and presentations
» Solidarity Economy workshops and presentations
Since 2010, in addition to the 120 workshops at the US Social Forum in Detroit, we facilitated 15 solidarity economy workshops across a wide geographic spread, including Brazil, Canada, NH, MA, TN, MO, IL, NY, CA, NJ. Close to 1,000 people participated in these workshops. Click the link for a complete list of workshops and events: SEN Workshops, Forums and Events
» Tool-kit, curriculum, best practices
We have developed many pieces of a tool-kit and curriculum that people can use to educate themselves and others about the solidarity economy. The curriculum includes sample agendas, slideshows, participatory exercises, readings, a list of resources. We also have an on-line solidarity economy course that we will continue to build upon.
RESEARCH & POLICY
» Mapping – methodology in cooperation with RIPESS global project.
In addition to the mapping work in NYC and the Jersey Shore that is mentioned above, there are local mapping initiatives in the South, Boston, W. Massachusetts, and Philadelphia.
We have assembled a team of academic and community researchers and have applied for funding to create a national mapping and economic integration platform. SEN has taken on the responsibility for moving this work in the U.S.as part of an international RIPESS project. Click on the link for more detail: Mapping and Economic Integration
» International Forum on the Social Solidarity Economy, Oct. 17-20, 2011 Montreal, Quebec
We are helping to organize this international forum that will focus on the role of the state and public policies in promoting the solidarity economy. This Forum is spearheaded by the Chantier in Montreal in collaboration with include RIPESS, the International Labor Organization, the Brazilian Forum on the Solidarity Economy and SEN.
» Make Wall St. Pay petition was initiated in March 2011 by SENto demand that “President Obama investigate and call to account all those responsible for the economic crisis, prosecute all persons determined to have engaged in criminal misconduct to the full extent of the law, and determine a proper process for assessing liability and mandating payment of reparations to the people damaged by these crimes.” We have collected over 1500 signatures to date
» Policy – International Forum on the Social Solidarity Economy, Montreal.This international forum that will focus on the role of the state and public policies in promoting the solidarity economy. This Forum is spearheaded by the Chantier in Montreal in collaboration with include RIPESS, the International Labor Organization, the Brazilian Forum on the Solidarity Economy and SEN.
PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA
· Solidarity Economy: Building Alternatives for People and Planet, (2008) Jenna Allard, Carl Davidson, and Julie Matthaei, eds., Lulu Press, an edited volume of essays about the solidarity economy, most of which were drawn from workshops presented at the US Social Forum in 2007, covering a wide range of issues.
· Solidarity Economy I: Building Alternatives for People and Planet,(2010) Emily Kawano, Thomas Neal Masterson and Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, eds., Lulu Press.We published an edited volume of essays about the solidarity economy. Most of the 28 essays were drawn from workshops at the 2009 Forum on the Solidarity Economy.
· Cayapa:SEN worked with Benito Diaz at the Universidad de los Andeson a special issue of a leading Venezuelan journal on the social economy. We helped put together a set of essays on the social solidarity economy in N. America.
· Justice Rising, Fall 2010 V5(1), Special Issue on the Solidarity Economy. http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/pdf/AfDJR51.pdf
· Solidarityeconomynet– blogrun by SENBoard member Carl Davidson covers a wide range of issues relevant to the solidarity economy. http://www.solidarityeconomy.net
· “Worker Cooperatives and Transformative Movement: the U.S.Context,” Jessica Gordon-Nembhard and Emily Kawano, prepared for the journal and conference of the Rosa Luxembourg Institute, Germany.
· International SE Newsletter– SEN is working with RIPESS on an international newsletter about the solidarity economy. We will provide a report from the U.S.on a quarterly basis.
· Grassroots Economic Organizing Newsletter– we are planning to co-publish one issue with a focus on SENand the solidarity economy, with the possibility of increasing the number of issues in future years.
· PacificaRadio's 'What's At Stake,'3/9/11, Dean Baker and Emily Kawano spoke with host Verna Avery-Brown about the roots of the economic crisis. Emily focused on the systemic and long term crisis of neoliberalism and solidarity economy solutions.
INTERNATIONAL LINKAGES
RIPESS (Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of the Social Solidarity Economy). SEN represents the U.S.in this network and Emily Kawano sits on the Board of RIPESS. She attended the four day Board meeting held at the end of March 2011 in Pariswhere the network held very valuable discussions about the different approaches/strategies to building the solidarity economy (SE) in the different continents. RIPESS continues to develop the global mapping and economic integration project and joint involvement in a number of SE forums and strategizing meetings, including the FIESS in Montreal (October), ASEF in Kuala Lumpur (November) and Africa (early 2012). We are also looking ahead to the next International SE Forum which will be held in 2013 in Asia. The Asian Alliance for a Solidarity Economy is interested in collaborating with SEN on educational programming.
