by Yvon Poirier

Québec, Canada

November 16, 2009

During the last session, I mentioned the problems with the way the origins of Solidarity Economy as a concept were presented in the draft Statement.  The draft says that the concept emerged within the WSF process (2001 to today).  This is not the case.  The different meetings of the WSF were useful, but other meetings and activities probably had more impact in developing the concept.

Early origins: 1986 to 1997

After contacted many different persons, I have found that the concept was first used in South America and in France, at about the same time, 1985 or 1986.

The exact origins in South America are known.  Luis Rozetto from Chile is regarded as the author who has made the concept well known in South America since 1986.  In his website (in Spanish only), http://www.economiasolidaria.net/, he has many publications on this subject. He even mentions that the Pope John Paul II said in a speech in his trip to South America «An economy of solidarity is a great hope for South America».  This website is dedicated to an online Masters on «Solidarity Economy and Sustainable Development».

At about the same time, the expression became known in France. However, I have not found which author first used the expression, and in what year. One possible author is Jean-Louis Laville. However, I have not been able to confirm this.  Different activists in France have confirmed that it started getting used in the late eighties.

The concept started being used in a fairly large scale by practitioners, in France and in South America in the nineties. In France, a non-profit calling itself REAS was started in 1990 or 1991. The acronym in English would be «Alternative and Solidarity Economy Network».  They had members in many regions in France. In 1993, I visited the headquarter in Paris (established in an abandoned factory). They were running different businesses such as a restaurant training young people who were on welfare, a Fair Trade shop, an incubator for small businesses,  microfinance activities, etc. Even if they went bankrupt in 1998, they had a large impact. There still exists today a REAS in Spain.

Again in France, in October 1995, a half page advertisement was published in the newspaper Le Monde. It was called «Appeal for a Solidarity Economy». This appeal was signed by hundreds of leading Solidarity Economy practitioners and intellectuals.  At about the same time, the expression became known in the French speaking province of Quebec in Canada, since extensive links exist with France.

In March 1997, a group of University people, from French and Spanish speaking countries, met at Leuven University in Belgium.  They decided the time was ripe to organise international meetings.

Building Solidarity Economy: 1997 to 2009

Three initiatives that complement each other.

A. Globalisation of Solidarity meetings  : RIPESS

The first meeting was held in Lima, Peru, in September 1997. They were expecting 175 participants. Much to their surprise, they had almost 400, from about 35 countries.  Considering this success, and the growing interest of networking in an era of growing neoliberalism, they decided to organise other meetings.

Since then, international meetings are held every four years, alternating South-North.  In October 2001 in Quebec City (over 400 participants), in Dakar Senegal in November 2005 (1200 participants) and in Luxemburg last April (700 participants). At the first two meetings, almost all participants were either, French, Spanish or Portuguese, speaking.  At the 2005 and 2009 meetings, there have been more and more participants from other countries, including Asian countries. However, they are still in minority (in part because of lack of funds for travel).

In most continents, continental meetings are being organised since 2005. Latin America has had 3 continental meetings and now Asia has had two.

B. The Workshop on Social Solidarity Economy (WSSE) and ALOE

After the world meeting organised by the FPH in 2001 in France, the FPH supported the creation of different work groups (over 20).  One of them, the WSSE, became quite dynamic in promotion Solidarity Economy. The WSSE became a sort of think tank of SSE, made up of individuals from different continents, including some members of organisations involved in RIPESS. In 2007, the WSSE became ALOE: Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and Solidarity Economy. The ALOE was formally launched by Marcos Arruda in October 2007 at the first Asia Forum. http://aloe.socioeco.org/

C. The WSF events: 2001-2009

Solidarity Economy activists have been attending WSF events since the first Forum in 2001.  The process of the WSF needs to be explained. The organisers, in respecting the Charter they have, let different movements organise themselves workshops and other activities.

In other works, the WSF does not organise activities on SE (or any other subject).  The initiatives come exclusively come the social movements themselves.

The WSF was a great opportunity for Brazilian SE activists.  It was in one of the first Forums that they decided to set up the Brazilian Solidarity Economy Forum (FBES). At the 2003 Forum in Brazil and at the 2004 event in Mumbai, many workshops were organised by activists. For the 2005 event in Porto Alegre, «economic alternatives» was one of the 11 themes.  Together, RIPESS and ALOE organised different workshops.

At the last Forum in Belém last January, there were again many workshops organised either by the FBES or different other organisations.  The FBES was in charge of logistics (food for example) for this section of the event.

Our friends from the FBES have explained that SE has a strategic problem within the WSF process.  Solidarity Economy itself is not used by the WSF organisational committee.  The organisers (and the official programs) use expressions such as alternative economy, etc.  One of the reasons is that RIPESS is not a member of the WSF international council.  The «members» of the organisation have a bigger say on the format, and the way things are named, than non-members.  On light of this situation, the RIPESS Board has decided to apply to become a member of the International Council. This is not done yet. However, RIPESS has now started to attend meetings as observer.

Even if SE does not have full recognition in the WSF process, the different meetings have been a great occasion for SE practitioners, supporters, activist, intellectuals, etc.  Since the meetings are yearly (either in the global meetings every 2 years, or the regional or country forums), this has helped very much.  For example, it was at the first US Social Forum in Atlanta in June 2007 that US SEN (Solidarity Economy Network) was born.

To conclude

The promotion and use of Solidarity Economy has grown through a complex and interrelated process.  The three related initiatives have been intertwined in good part. Many individuals and organisations have participated directly within the 3 initiatives. Since the RIPESS meetings are held every four years, the annual events of the WSF have been of strategic importance to meet regularly, including meetings of the RIPESS Board. The WSSE and now ALOE has also helped extensively in elaborating the concept, and in its promotion.

This document was written according to the knowledge gathered over the years. However, a note of caution.  There are certainly many facts that are incomplete (not having attended all meetings) and the above analysis is certainly an interpretation on my part.

For North America, I am attaching to this message a paper written with the help of Emily Kawano. In particular, we relate the way the concept got to be known and grown in North America.