This week we’re talking about protecting ancestral lands from Digawututklh to Alaska and Honduras, actually-existing practices of grassroots democracy, cooperative networks in Palestine, and disaster cooperativism in Valencia and beyond.

PS: If you love reading these stories of solidarity economy movements around the world, make a gift today to help NEC meet this moment and keep the Roundup going strong. Give $50+ or become a monthly donor by Dec 31st and get a free copy of Beautiful Solutions!

Wiyot land return ceremony on Nov 13, 2024. Photos by Andrew Goff.

Land Back Wins: Earlier this month, the Wiyot Tribe in Northern California celebrated the return of Digawututklh, a 357-acre section of ancestral lands that encompass open dunes, coastal forest, and access to Wigi (Humboldt Bay) and Shou’r (the Pacific Ocean). The return of Digawututklh builds on generations of organizing, most recently carried on through NEC member Dishgamu Humboldt, a tribally-controlled community land trust formed in 2020. This November, the Eyak people in Alaska and the Yavapai-Apache Nation are also celebrating the return of ancestral lands. 

Building up Grassroots Democracy: This week, NEC member SMASH is reminding us that, “Americans spent $20 billion dollars on the 2024 election. With that kind of money, we could have effectively eliminated hunger or homelessness.” As we fight back against increased repression after the election, we are also looking to examples of communities building up practices of grassroots democracy. From climate justice assemblies in Seattle to participatory budgeting in Cleveland and “facism-reslient” cooperative housing in Miami, NEC members are showing us different ways to build democratic economies at the local level. 

Solidarity Economy Ecosystems in DC and Beyond: On the latest episode of Solidarity Economy Shorts, we hear how NEC member Beloved Community Incubator has evolved toward regional solidarity economy (SE) organizing as a means to build power in the face of uncertain political conditions. Now more than ever, we can learn from SE movements and what happens when ”groups resisting the harms of the dominant economy decide to take economy building into their own hands.” For more examples, check out these beautiful new case studies from NEC member Seed Commons about the cooperative ecosystems growing in North Carolina, Baltimore, and West Virginia.  

Worker-led recovery brigade in Valencia via @DurrutiRiot. 

“Solo el Pueblo Salva al Pueblo:” Following horrific floods in Valencia, Spain in October, over 100,000 workers and residents took to the streets to demand accountability for the lack of government support. In the absence of aid, the people have taken recovery into their own hands — organizing clean-up brigades and international mutual aid efforts with huge support from local migrant communities. This is one example of “disaster cooperativism,” or the “expansion of community-owned or community-led entities in the wake of a disaster.” Learn about other examples of disaster cooperativism in action, from credit unions in Puerto Rico to community land trusts in Florida and Oregon.

Resistance Economies in the West Bank: Palestinians in the West Bank are creating a network of farming cooperatives to resist occupation, reclaim their land, and build sovereignty for their people. Learn more about farms like The Land of Despair Sprouts with Hope Cooperative and help sustain their work via the Palestinian Social Fund. As the US moves forward with a $20B weapons deal with Israel this week, take action to support the resistance economy by joining in the People’s Arms Embargo.

Defending Black Land in Honduras: In Honduras, communally-held Garifuna lands are being targeted for agribusiness, luxury real-estate development, and privatization. The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) has been leading the fight to defend these ancestral lands, often facing deadly violence and state repression. Learn more about the cooperative traditions and fight for land in Afro-Indigenous communities in Honduras in this recent webinar with Collective Diaspora.

• “Let’s unite!”: Poisoned residents of America’s sacrifice zones are banding together
• “We cannot truly achieve equity without repair”: A look at a movement for housing justice
• A White Couple Donated 80 Acres in an Act of Reparations. Now It’s Becoming a Home for Black Farmers
• A Political Roadmap to Social Housing: How Do We Win?
• Farmworkers Are Organizing to Resist Trump’s Attacks on Immigrant Workers
• Growing Food Instead of Lawns in California Front Yards 
• Greece hit by general strike as thousands of workers protest over the high cost of living
• How Colorado Mobile Home Residents Organized for Policy Change
• Progressive Ballot Measures That Passed This Week
• Putting the People and their Communes First
• The growing stakes in the Kansas City rent strike as it passes 30 days
• The Hudson Valley’s Cooperative Ownership Movement
• Transformative Justice Is Global 
• Trump’s Planned Immigrant Purge Sends Stagnant Private Prison Stocks Soaring
• The Election Is Over and the Bombs Are Still Dropping. We Have to Stop Them.
• UN votes 187-2 to lift US blockade of Cuba—and Washington ignores it

PODCASTS 

• Building Local Solidarity Economies w/ Beloved Community Incubator – Solidarity Economy Shorts
• Prefigurative Politics and Workplace Democracy w/ Saio Gradin and Nicole Wires – Upstream Podcast  
• Grassroots Democracy with Molly Martin & Erika L. Anthony  – Partners for Dignity and Rights
• Urban Environmental Marronage: Connecting Black Ecologies with Charisma Acey – Shareable
• Systems Change Right Now – For the Love of Radical Giving

VIDEO 

• Ashé’s Vision for New Orleans w/ Ashe Cultural Arts Center – Boston Ujima Project
• Worker Co-op Conference Recordings – US Federation of Worker Cooperatives – Sessions on Building Regional Ecosystems, Growing Worker Voice Through Public Support, and more.

PUBLICATIONS 

• Assemblies as a Tool for Just Democracy – Partners for Dignity and Rights 
• The People’s Guide to Project 2025 – Democracy Forward
• The Watermelon Index – Progressive International – A database of companies complicit in Israeli crimes and worker campaigns against them.

Associate Director, Equity Trust
Communications and Program  Associate and Program Administrator, Land Justice Futures
Communications Organizer and Fishing Community Organizer, North American Marine Alliance|
Cooperative Bookkeeper, Wholehearted Bookkeeping
Event Coordinator, Center for Economic Democracy – Deadline Nov 21
Managing Director of Donor Engagement, Grassroots International
Programs Director, Foundation for Intentional Community
Real Estate & Finance Analyst, East Bay Permanent Realty
Various Positions, Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Various Positions, Highlander Center
Various Positions, Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB)

If you’re hiring, consider submitting to The Roundup.
For more opportunities, check out this job board from NEC member Post Growth Institute and this one from the U.S. Federation of Worker Co-ops!

Making Money Make Change
MMMC is an intimate space that uses workshops, storytelling, and skill-building to create a space for young people with class privilege and wealth to explore questions of identity and responsibility in a supportive environment. MMMC programming is dynamic and specific to young people with wealth who are interested in social justice. Whether you have been grappling with what it means to have class privilege for some time and value social change, or you are new to thinking about these topics, we invite you to attend and explore these topics in community. (Nov 24 – Nashville, TN)

NYC  Cooperative Leadership Intensive 2025
The Cooperative Economics Alliance of New York City (CEANYC) is pleased to request applications for our fifth Cooperative Leadership Intensive (CLI). Members of worker-owned cooperatives, food cooperatives, housing cooperatives, HDFCs, community land trusts, community gardens, CSAs;  community development credit unions and mutual aid groups are eligible to apply. (Apply by Nov 28) 

Lánzate Festival
Lánzate is a political and cultural festival for Latinx change makers, brought to you by Mijente.Gente from the front lines of la lucha y el perreo come together at Lánzate for connection and entertainment. It is for Latinx and Chicanx people who seek to build social movement and community that is pro-Black, pro-LGBTQ, pro-worker, pro-immigrant, pro-planet and rooted in self determination. (Dec 6-8 – Atlanta, GA)

Start.Coop Cooperative Business Incubator for Rural Entrepreneurs
In this online, 8-week facilitated incubator program, we use a Lean Co-op methodology that helps you build both your business and ownership models. We are open to all kinds of rural projects, including but not limited to those interested in starting child care cooperatives, home care cooperatives, housing cooperatives and food-related cooperatives. (Applications Open Jan 15) 

Level I: Facilitative Leadership Skills Training
Join the Roundsky cohort Increase your facilitative leadership capacity in this training by tapping into tools, skills, confidence to facilitate in the midst of uncertainty, and gaining effective and collaborative decision-making processes. (Applications Due Feb 2)