What's the Economy For Anyway? Why We Need a Solidarity Economy 

This workshop will raise the provocative question of “What is the economy for, anyway?” Is it to provide for the welfare of people and planet, and if so, how well is the current economic system delivering? The answer is pretty poorly.

The solidarity economy (SE) is a fast-growing global movement that connects, strengthens and builds upon the inspiring work thousands of initiatives that, taken together, are pieces of an alternative model for just and democratic economic development. Examples include cooperatives, community currencies, land trusts, the commons movement, participatory budgeting, fair trade, open source & free software, and ecological production and consumption.

This workshop will present a "real world" framework for understanding and organizing around the solidarity economy concept, with a particular emphasis on practical connections between SE efforts and the worker co-op movement. How can worker cooperatives contribute to broader efforts to build a solidarity economy? How can a growing solidarity economy increase the visibility and viability of worker-owned businesses? This workshop will be a combination of presentation, participatory exercise and discussion.

Emily Kawano is an economist and the Executive Director of the Center for Popular Economics, a collective of progressive economists dedicated to helping ordinary folk (meaning non-economists) understand how the economy works. She also serves as the director of the newly formed U.S. Solidarity Economy Network. Emily has taught economics at the Univ. of Massachusetts and Smith College, and worked as the Economic Justice Representative at the American Friends Service Committee. Ethan Miller is an organizer, educator and writer whose work focuses on cultivating a democratic culture and economy of solidarity. Author of a number of articles on solidarity economics, he is a founding member of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network (www.ussen.org), a web editor for Grassroots Economic Organizing (www.geo.coop) and coordinator of the Data Commons Project, developing a public directory of solidarity economy initiatives (http://dcp.usworker.coop). Ethan lives, works and tends the orchard at the JED Collective (www.jedcollective.org), an intentional community and cooperative
subsistence farm in Greene, Maine.