May Day is for solidarity: Read Emily Kawano’s new paper on the solidarity economy

Jay OwenReforming Global Finance

Towards a Solidarity Economy: Emily Kawano’s vision of an economy for people and planet

We are proud to share the next paper in our “New Systems: Possibilities and Proposals” series – Solidarity Economy: Building an Economy for People & Planet. In this paper, Coordinator of the United States Solidarity Economy Network and Wellspring Cooperative Corporation co-director Emily Kawano offers her vision of an alternative economic system that puts people and the planet at its core. More than an academic model, as Kawano emphasizes, Solidarity Economy is an organizing strategy that seeks to transform all sectors of our economy by proliferating and connecting existing practices outside the mainstream of capitalism. The goal is to ultimately move the system away from a focus just on what works for homo economicus and towards an economy grounded in solidarity, equity, participatory democracy, sustainability, and pluralism. By understanding how we can help them integrate – in particular through raising public awareness, developing solidarity economy value chains, and building capacity – Kawano affirms that we will be able to transform our economy and society into one in which the welfare of people and planet comes first, just like “a caterpillar [metamorphoses] into a butterfly.”

Read the paper online now

Download the paper as a PDF

Listen to our podcast with Emily Kawano

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