September 2024

Particiapnts at the 2024 National Conference on Black Cooperative Agenda. Photo by Eve Fouché.
In this issue we take a look at the growing momentum of Black cooperative organizing that’s been happening across the US, along with attacks against Black allies of the solidarity economy. Keep scrolling for the newest news and resources across the global Black solidarity economy, and the latest on what we’re up to at Collective Diaspora. Please share with others and reply to let us know what you think.

Maroon Dispatches

News from across the global Black solidarity economy

Black-Led Day participants at the 2023 Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference. Photo by National Black Food & Justice Alliance.

Black Co-ops In the US Building Steady Momentum (US)

Black solidarity economy organizing in the US has continued its powerful steady march this year since the May 1st opening day celebration of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op. Just one month later over 200 Black cooperators and supporters from across the country gathered in St. Paul, MN, for the 3rd National Conference on Black Cooperative Agenda. The conference featured sessions profiling the new National Association of Black Cooperators and a keynote address by Melvin Carter III, St. Paul’s first African American mayor, who declared his intention to make St. Paul into “the co-op capital of the world”.

 

Signs of ongoing momentum have continued since then across the US. This month both the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives’ upcoming national worker cooperative conference in Chicago and the Up & Coming Food Cooperative Conference in Kalamazoo, Michigan feature sessions focused on Black cooperatives. There has been such an increase in the number of Black food cooperatives in recent years that the Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference (which is geared towards food co-op start-ups) has been running a “Black-Led Day” for the past three years. The conference’s Black-Led Day is focused on sessions that meet the needs of the growing numbers of Black food co-op startups and is organized by the National Black Food & Justice Alliance.

 

Chicago’s Black solidarity economy organizers have decided to take advantage of the arrival of Black cooperators from across the country heading to their city for this year’s national worker cooperative conference (Sept 12-14). On Sept 13th members of the PATHS collaborative (Partners for Abolition, Transformation, Healing & Solidarity) will be hosting a launch party for their rebranding as -  Black Liberation x Solidarity Economy (BLxSE). Local organizers decided on the name change in order to be explicit that they operate at the place where Black liberation and the solidarity economy meet. If you’re in Chicago make sure to join this Friday night party! Just make sure to RSVP here.

 

 

All of this good news hasn’t been without setbacks of course. A major setback for Black solidarity economy organizing both within and outside of the US, as well as a threat to global peace and justice, was the recent electoral defeat of two of the most progressive members of congress,  Black congress members Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, in their bids for re-election. The two progressives lost their seats to centrist candidates backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC directly targeted both for their stance against Israel’s campaign of genocide against the people of Palestine.

 

Pro-Israel lobbying groups led by AIPAC spent a record-setting $25M this election year to defeat Bush and Bowman in order to weaken the Democratic party’s left wing and keep billions of dollars in federal aid and military spending flowing to Israel. AIPAC previously tested this approach three years ago when they successfully funded the ouster of congress member Nina Turner, another Black progressive (note: all three AIPAC-ousted congress members have been Black. Black congress members historically have the most progressive voting records).

 

Jamaal Bowman had just recently introduced the National Worker Cooperative Development and Support Act in congress, which requires federal agencies to develop programming to support worker cooperative development and sets aside financing for worker co-ops. While Cori Bush, a former Black Lives Matter organizer, in addition to championing legislation to advance alternatives to policing through the People’s Response Act, had just reintroduced a resolution to put pressure on the Honduran government to recognize collective Black land titles held by Garifuna communities in Honduras that face violent persecution by government, real estate developers and drug traffickers seeking to control Garifuna territories (see our August newsletter).

 

Bowman and Bush’s electoral defeats will undoubtedly have an impact on these and other legislative battles, and will require additional support in order to move forward. Their targeting by AIPAC is a reminder of the interconnected nature of local struggles around the world, and how they impact each other.

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Beat the Drum

Calls for Support

  • Call for Donors - HELP APRIL TAYLOR RECOVER - April Taylor is a Black queer co-op organizer from Lexington, Kentucky. She has been involved in grassroots organizing for racial and economic justice for over 20 years. She is a co-founder of the Wild Fig Books & Coffee worker cooperative, Kentucky’s only Black owned bookstore. And she’s supported other grassroots groups across the south while at the Highlander Research and Education Center. Unfortunately, April suffers from a chronic autoimmune disease as well as painful shingles outbreaks that risk facial paralysis and hearing loss. April is a single mother of three children and her friends and family are requesting your support. DONATE HERE to help support April’s medical treatments and expenses.    

  • Call for Volunteers - BLACK CO-OP STUDY CIRCLE is an educational opportunity for Black cooperators in the Baltimore/mid-Atlantic region. It's being organized by Lynn Pinder (Baltimore Green Justice Workers Cooperative); Amber Jones (Namberjo Consulting) and Taji Amani (Baltimore Roundtable for Economic Democracy). They’re looking for partners to help coordinate. VISIT HERE for more info on the study circle.

  • Call for Co-op Startups -  NORTH STAR BLACK COOPERATIVE FELLOWSHIP is back! Applications are open now through Sept. 8th for Black-led cooperatives, collectives, and land trusts seeking to learn and reclaim the history of Black cooperative economics. Fellows come together for seven months of co-learning, storytelling, and skill-building. Applicants both in and outside of Minnesota Accepted. To learn more about the fellowship and apply VISIT HERE.

Collective Diaspora News

Welcome New Members

We’re happy to welcome our newest members in recent months, including Black co-ops previously featured in our Black Co-ops for Change webinar series:

Global Black Solidarity Economy in the News

News articles/essays/press covering any aspect of the Black solidarity economy

 

 

Resource Library: Podcasts & Videos

Digging Deeper

Websites, Books, Journal Articles, Reports, and More

    • Solidarity Economy Funding Library (website)

      A US based resource from the New Economy Coalition for those engaged in social justice organizing to find funding, investing, and fiscal sponsorship opportunities, as well as detail relationships between movement organizations and funders. It contains information on US based foundations, fiscal sponsors, government agencies, Investors, banks, and financial services organizations.

    • Black Farmer Fund Resource Page (website)

      This new webpage from the Black Farmer Fund houses resources such as webinars, grants, legal aid and more, to support Black food businesses and the Black food justice organizing community throughout the Northeast.

    • Reclaiming Our Own Time (ROOT) Sabbatical Fund (grant opportunity)

      This program will support fellows to take three continuous months off to focus on rest and reflection for those who create and nurture community change, and identify as a part of the Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color (BIPOC) in Minnesota.

    • Custom Collaborative’s 2023 Annual Report (annual report)

No Movement Without Art

Songs, Film, Murals, and Paintings

Prints by Theo Third Aye available for free downloads at www.threethethird.com. Also visit their IG to view even more prints: @thirdayetheory

Jobs

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