Understanding Power

Understanding Power

Power is a critical piece of the equation when it comes to making the kind of economic systems change our communities need. Without the powerful voice of social movements demanding change, systems tend to continue benefiting those they always have. Listen in as CEMI organizational leaders and their partners Silvia Paz (Alianza Coachella Valley), Esmeralda Vazquez (Inland Empire Labor Institute), Michael Segura (Just San Bernardino), Daniela Flores, Dylan Castillo, Fernanda Vega (Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition), Dr. Nosakhere Thomas (Inland Empire Black Worker Center), Lyzzeth Mendoza (Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice), Ben Reynoso (San Bernardino City Council), and Jorge Osvaldo Heredia (Garcia Center for the Arts) talk about building and using community power towards changes in our economy.

HOW IS IT APPLIED IN SOLIDARITY ECONOMICS?

Traditional approaches to economic development and to the economy function in ways that benefit some and exclude others. As a result, systems based on those approaches create and recreate racial and other forms of inequity. Solidarity Economics understands that in order to change the systems that produce inequity, powerful social movements – rooted in the voices and experiences of the people they represent – are needed. These movements, built through community organizing, must understand how power operates in the status quo, reimagine power so that it is based in community and mutuality, and then harness that power for campaigns that transform economic policies and systems into ones that benefit all.

RESOURCES

Organizing: People, Power, Change by the Leading Change Network
Power-Building Ecosystem Framework, a one-pager by the Equity Research Institute
Stanford Social Innovation Review series on Building People Power
The Three Faces of Power by the Grassroots Policy Project
Power: A Radical View by Steven Lukes