This hour-long podcast documentary, produced in partnership with Upstream, explores the Solidarity Economy in New York City, Amsterdam, London and other places where co-operatives and the commons are creating change in the place of market failure and lack of poor public provision.
Co-producer Della Duncan explains more:
“In this episode we explore a phenomenon that has existed throughout centuries both within and alongside Capitalism. Wherever relationships have been based on reciprocity, sustainability, and democratic governance, you’ll find the Solidarity Economy. We learn of it’s origin and about how it is strengthened by counter-movements and during times of crisis. We follow its presence throughout the history of a particular marginalised community in the U.S., celebrating the courage of African American co-operative thought and practice. We then paint a picture of a modern solidarity response to economic austerity. And finally, we dream about it’s potential in the face of ecological peril and plan for what it will take to grow the Solidarity Economy to serve as a movement of movements.
This episode features Michael Ventura, co-author with James Hillman of We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy, the World’s Getting Worse, columnist of Letters at 3AM with the Austin Chronicle; Caroline Woolard, artist and organiser whose work explores intersections between art and the solidarity economy; Michael Lewis, solidarity economy researcher and co-author of The Resilience Imperative; Pat Conaty, research associate at Co-operatives UK, and co-author of The Resilience Imperative; Jessica Gordon Nembard, Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development, and author of Collective Courage: A history of African-American Cooperative Economic Thought & Practice; Biba Schoenmaker, co-founder of Broodfonds Makers, Stuart Field, founder of Breadfunds UK, and Jos Veldhuizen, a member of Broodfunds in Amsterdam.