Growing out of social movements in Latin America and the Global South, the solidarity economy (SE) movement provides real alternatives to capitalism, where communities govern themselves through participatory democracy, cooperative and public ownership, a culture of solidarity and respect for the earth. In our vision, all of the things a community needs — from housing, schools, food, local governance, art, healing, and transportation — can be controlled and governed by everyday people.
Solidarity economies can look many different ways and go by many different names around the world. These practices aren’t new, but build upon many traditions and ancestral practices of collective decision-making and resource sharing. Some models we can look to include: Worker-owned cooperatives, community land trusts, timebanks, community lending, participatory budgeting, people’s assemblies, and mutual aid networks.
Check out some of our favorite resources below to learn more about solidarity economy movement vision, values, and practices:
Resources
The Basics: Capitalism vs the Solidarity Economy
- What is the Economy? and What is Racial Capitalism? – Economics for Emancipation
- Solidarity Economics – Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard
- Shifting Power Towards the Solidarity Economy – Amrita Wassan on the Next Economy podcast Now
- An Introduction to Solidarity Economies – Julia Ho & Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard on Solidarity Is This podcast
- System Change: A Basic Primer to the Solidarity Economy – Emily Kawano
- Solidarity 101 – Nati Linares & Caroline Woolard on the Remember the Future Podcast
- Resist and Build: A series to inspire radical imagination and resist a return to “normal” – Creative Wildfire
Movement Foundations
- Black Feminists in the Third Sector: Here Is Why We Choose to use the term Solidarity Economy – Caroline Shenaz Hossein and Megan Pearson
- Rematriation Resource Guide – Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
- Black Co-op History – NEC resource compilation
- Solidarity Economies in Latin America – NEC resource compilation
- Feminist and Popular Economies – NEC resource compilation
Related Frameworks & Theories of Change
- JUST TRANSITION: From Banks and Tanks to Cooperation and Caring – A resource on Just Transition by Movement Generation
- DUAL POWER: Dual Power Then and Now: From the Iroquois to Cooperation Jackson – ROAR
- ERODING CAPITALISM: How to Be an Anti-Capitalist Today – Erick Olin Wright
What is a Solidarity Economy *Ecosystem*?
- Ideology of Black-led Co-ops & the Solidarity Economy Ecosystem – Stacey Sutton on Everything Co-op podcast
- Solidarity Economy Ecosystems with Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard – Video from Cooperative Economics Alliance of NYC
- Solidarity Economies: Building Community Power – NEC & NPQ series featuring stories about SE ecosystems in the DC Metro Area, New Orleans , Oakland, Los Angeles and Buffalo.
SE Models & Sector Case Studies
- Elements of the Democratic Economy – Next Systems Project
- Transformative Justice Knows No Borders: Learning From Community-Based Responses to Harm Around the World – Interrupting Criminalization
- Building Our Future: Grassroots Reflections on Social Housing – Policy Link
- Solidarity Economy Shorts Podcast– Cooperative Journal Media & NEC – Episodes on Land Back, Abolition & Housing, Cultural Organizing, Black Solidarity Economies, and Cooperative Ecosystems.
Trainings & Self-Guided Courses
- Economics for Emancipation
- Creative Study: Introduction To Creative Work In The Solidarity Economy
- El Cambalache – Periodic offerings on decolonial economics & cooperative economies based in Chiapas, MX
- PeoplesHub – rotating offering of trainings, including Solidarity Economy 101 with Solidarity Economy Principles Project
- Mapping Our Futures: Economics and Governance, Highlander Center
- From Racial Capitalism to Solidarity Economy – Webinar recording from Highlander Center
Books & Deep Dives
- Beautiful Solutions – Elandria Williams, Rachel Plattus, Eli Feghali & Nathan Schneider
- Beyond Racial Capitalism: Co-operatives in the African Diaspora – Caroline Shenaz Hossein, Sharon D. Wright Austin & Kevin Edmonds
- Constructing Worlds Otherwise: Societies in Movement and Anticolonial Paths in Latin America – Raul Zibechi
- Collective Courage – Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard
- Jackson Rising Redux: Lessons on Building the Future in the Present – Kali Akuno & Matt Meyer
- How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century– Erick Olin Wright
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