Solidarity economy movement should challenge capitalist social relations for an eco-socialist political movement

An interview with Kali Akuno, Cooperation Jackson Mississippi and co-author of “Jackson Rising Redux: Lessons on Building the Future in the Present”, Kali Akuno & Matt Meyer.

Interviewer: Georgia Bekridaki, Dock- Ripess.

Kali Akuno represented Cooperation Jackson in Greece in July 2024, as a guest of the Association of Social Solidarity Economy Organizations of Attica, named “Syntonismos”. Two public events were organized in order to bring Solidarity Economy activists and promoters in contact with experiences from USA, Europe and especially Greece.

On the one hand, the focus of the exchange was on the living conditions of the black community in US and especially in Mississippi as well as the role of SSE as a political project for the deliberation process. Οn the other hand, discussed was the evolution of the SSE wave in Greece under completely different conditions from those in which it emerged during the years of the intense economic crisis. Important lessons learned and the overall conclusion was that in years of global polycrises the Solidarity Economy, in order to achieve its most visionary goals, must be a conscious work of the grassroots with the aim of creating a new society in the here and now, but also a struggle for the overthrow of capitalism, so that cooperatives and other forms of Solidarity Economy will not narrow their fullest role in a strategy of survival and alleviation.

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