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# System prepended metadata

title: Solidarity Economy <> Mutualist Anarchism

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DIRECT (Climate) ACTION GETS THE GOODS 

exeunt: "@magentaceiba i'm curious what distinctions you may see if any between the solidarity economy thesis and Kevin Carson style mutualist anarchism"

My only exposure to solidarity Economy is through working in coalitions with folks like New Economy Coalition - https://neweconomy.net/ - Center for Economic Democracy - https://economicdemocracy.us/ etc . Actually had both Kevin Carson and Shavaun Evans from New Economy Coalition on global Bloom webcasts!, at different times, in our Future Economies series. If there is a thesis I'm not aware of it. 

The results seem similar to me as far as forming businesses and networks of businesses and p2p advocacy, squad mode relationships etc.

Solidarity economy folks that I've met tend to lean into emphasizing or taking care to empower people of color owned businesses, because those folks disproportionately struggle and there's a lot of interest in building community wealth and getting out from under years of redlining and disenfranchisement from business, land, and home ownership etc. Not exclusively though for sure, just taking care to correct/repair that imbalance.

Whereas afaik Kevin Carson doesn't particularly lean into race dynamics, more the nuts and bolts of how anyone can do coops and peer production etc.

The underlying patterns seem similar to me, from direct experience. This is a super broad generalization, but I've found the expression of mutual aid in both communities to be different. In mostly white communities I've seen it be overtly separate initiatives. Whereas in BIPOC-led solidarity coalitions, it seems more integrated - care relationships form that are more organic and tend to be less often circumscribed in a specific initiative. I could unpack why but won't here. Mutualist anarchist groups I've met tend to organize more by cell / smallknit community and in that sense the same unorganized mutual care emerges.

Which kind of leads into the other difference I see which is that Solidarity Economy folks I thiiiiiiink tend to have more overlap with organized government-oriented attempts to change policy, which is a strategy I disagree with because it's wrapped up in left socialist hey let's gain control of the government machinery instead of that machinery IS the problem.

However, it's NOT a direct overlap. It's just they run into each other in coalitions more often. But it's almost like solidarity economy is focused on business and anarchistic mutual care, and the socialist bent leans more into oppositional politics - sometimes successful esp at local levels, for example resisting installation of an oil refinery and instead achieving community-owned solar power - but rarely successful at national levels and that ends up being a huge waste of energy and backfires when it comes to fed gov $ allocation. At least in the US and any country heavily wrapped up with empire economic plays.

Another layer of the solidarity economy that is more noncommercial is networks of displaced farmers who are organizing to squat on land and practice agroecology, around the world. Though they tend to end up being hoovered into NGO groups. Imo that's kind of a 3rd actor problem and not necessarily the solidarity economy itself. When folks don't hack their way into true coooperative ownership of production and land etc, they frequently get hoovered into NGO complexes that then squash their movement power.

solidarity economy probably needs more kevin carson less race politics NGOs. 
