Neighborhood Meetings are part of DSA-LA’s Neighborhood Solidarity Program—our chapter’s campaign to strengthen and grow socialist organization by uniting with our neighbors through tenant organizing, mutual aid work, and political study. These meetings are open to community members as well as new, and long-time members.

Building on previous meetings, we’ll spend time planning and information sharing in support of our upcoming community benefits workshop dedicated to the benefits available through (and the failings of) the American Recovery Act.

We’ll also discuss together socialist struggles for decommodified goods, grounded in the 21 pages of recommended readings below.

• Labour Wants to Free Us From the Market, by Saoirse Gowen (she/they) (Jacobin Magazine, 2019) This piece goes over decommodification through the lens of government intervention and how universal programs—specifically the NHS—can be used to take public goods out of the market.

• Decolonial Feminist Economics: A Necessary View for Strengthening Social and Popular Economy by Natalia Quiroga Diaz (Viewpoint Magazine, 2015) Along with presenting some different forms and features of solidarity/popular economies, the reading contextualizes them with examples from South America focusing on a decolonial and feminist perspective.

• Seven Ways to Build the Solidarity Economy — by Emily Kawano (Open Democracy, 2018) A brief explanation of some ways individuals can foster a solidarity economy.