We are living in a time of multiple crises. The climate emergency seriously threatens the continued survival of humanity, exacerbating injustice, exploitation, poverty and vulnerability. And the global cost of living crisis is driving more and more people into precarity. Although these crises are often portrayed as novel and contemporary rather than cumulative consequences of centuries-old destructive systems, those that have been at the frontlines of marginalization caused by the current world order, rooted in colonization and capitalism, have always known, to quote the Zapatistas, that this house has been on fire for many centuries.
Coming up with solutions and alternatives to this destructive system has therefore been a necessity for communities across the globe. From the Black Panthers in the US to the peasant communes in Spain, from the Zapatistas in Mexico to the global Occupy movement, from the landless workers in Brazil to occupied Palestinians, from the Shack Dwellers in South Africa to the Diggers in the UK, Rojava to Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi, resistance to colonial and capitalist domination is abundantly spread. And one thing they all have in common is their focus on the ‘solidarity economy’ as a crucial pathway to autonomy and building a fairer world.
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