The solidarity economy movement finds itself at a critical juncture. The opportunity for a breakthrough amid crisis is real, even as social change movements today face increasing repression, fragmentation, and resource scarcity. Our challenge is survival while growing permanently organized communities to resist structural oppression and build the systems necessary for a just future.
Addressing these challenges will be a central theme of an upcoming gathering likely to attract hundreds of solidarity economy practitioners from across the country. Taking place in Atlanta at the beginning of May with the theme “Solidarity at Scale: Converging our Movements for System Change,” this Resist & Build Convening aims to both refine the movement’s vision and plan concrete actions in the coming years…
The post-2024 landscape, of course, presents many obstacles. These include the rollback of labor protections; environmental regulations; and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. We also face deepened economic precarity. Furthermore, the increased criminalization of activists and growing state repression put direct pressure on movements working to build economic alternatives…
The biggest challenge for movement groups is not the threat and reality of repression but the need to build greater capacity and coordination. While the solidarity economy movement has expanded, it remains underfunded and fragmented. Without sufficient financial resources, infrastructure, and cross-movement alignment, cooperative economic models will struggle to scale and become the widely viable economic pathways that they need to be…
These are scary times, but crises also create opportunity. We are now in a period where people’s faith in the status quo is shaken. There’s a growing openness to new narratives, new models, and new paradigms. In this context, the solidarity economy offers a transformative pathway to a new system beyond capitalism…
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