Solidarity as Economic System

for Dealing with Social Crisis

In Haiti, sharing communities are proving more shock-proof in the wake of disaster than market-based economies.

By Beverly Bell
posted Mar 26, 2010

“If it weren’t for solidarity, Haiti wouldn’t be alive today,” is an expression commonly heard here since the earthquake of January 12.

Haiti’s history is based on sharing and cooperation—expressed with gifts and solidarity toward those surviving on the margins. These displays usually go unnamed and unnoticed.

Some are formalized systems. One is called konbit—collective work groups in which members of the community labor without any expectation of compensation or even return. Konbit is the equivalent of a barn-raising, an option for those without enough hands to accomplish the task by themselves or enough money to hire labor. The cooperation of konbit has allowed farmers to harvest their fields and engage in other major work projects from time immemorial.

In sòl—revolving loan funds—a group of women puts a certain amount of money into a common pot each week or each month; the total is given to a different member each time. That way, each woman can, at some point, have enough capital to allow her to make a significant expense: hospital care for a sick mother, a carton of soap bars that she can buy on discount and sell for profit, a new cooking pot for a fried dough business on a street corner. She doesn’t return the allotment and there is no interest to pay; no one profits off of anyone else. The exchanges are based on trust and human relationships.

Report from the 1st Solidarity Economy

Social Forum & World Fair, Santa Maria

and Porto Alegre, Brazil - Jan 22-29, 2010

By Emily Kawano

Center for Popular Economics
and US Solidarity Economy Network

Santa Maria, in the southern-most state of Brazil, likes to call itself the solidarity economy capital of the world.

There's some truth to that. I recently had the privilege of attending the 1st Solidarity Economy Social Forum and World Fair at the invitation of  the FBES (Brazilian Forum on the Solidarity Economy),  SENAES (National Secretariat of the Solidarity Economy) and Marist Solidarity. The invitation was extended to the RIPESS* Board, and five of us were able to make the trip: Carlos Amorin (Uruguay), Ana Leighton (Chile), Eric Lavillunière (Luxembourg), Nancy Neamtan (Canada) and myself from the U.S.

For 15 years they have been hosting a Solidarity Economy Fair. This year it drew an estimated 150,000 people who came to shop for handicrafts, wine, cheese, sausages, pastries, bread, cookies, fruit and vegetables that are produced by solidarity economy enterprises. Many of these are worker cooperatives, while others are family-owned and run small businesses.

There were coops from the Amazon region like Polo Pro Bio, that sold lovely leaf shaped hot mats made out of sustainably harvested and processed rubber, and women's cooperatives selling jewelry made out of colorful locally harvested seeds and other natural materials.  Local vendors sold cold, freshly squeezed juices, sweet pastries, and hot turnovers with meat and cheese. There were many stalls selling the popular regional tea erva mate, which is sipped through a silver straw tipped with a strainer. Many people carried along a thermos of hot water to keep their tea topped up. Vendors were mostly from Brazil, but some traveled from other Latin American countries. At times it was hard to move because the aisles were so crowded.