The following is a transcript of the video above from our webinar, “Reimagining the Economy: Building Regional Solidarity Economies.” Watch the full webinar here.
We talk about collaboration fundamentally as the practice of Black and Indigenous people responding to each other's collective needs. These are things that communities of color have been doing for centuries to care for one another. At [an] everyday level, [that] can look like daycare with neighbors, pooling resources for a cookout, things we see in mutual aid after a disaster or hurricane. When I think about solidarity and talk about it…[mean] Engaging in a consistent or daily practice of collaboration with one another and understanding that as I work to meet my needs in this neighborhood, community, or home we share, I am meeting my own needs by working for yours. Our joy is interconnected, our survival is interconnected, our liberation is interconnected.
We know that our current capitalist paradigm stifles and undervalues these systems of care. That's what this movement work is about. We are here today to celebrate and understand the implementation of these Black and Indigenous practices around care in an economy that is here for us, that is here to support and uplift us – not to exploit us . This is people and planet centered. We currently have an economy designed to exploit the unmet needs of its workers and our communities in order to stay ahead and thrive. [Cooperation] remains vital to our survival, but…it is often out of reach for us as participants.
For me, the solidarity economy is about using each other and our collective wisdom to really take back the economy… make it really work for us, using all of these practices that are already inherent in us and that we already have Embodying each other day after day to truly make it a space where we can own our work and thrive.
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