The Ujamaa Hour: Four Episode Pilot Webcast on Developing Solidarity Economy Initiatives in Black Communities

Published in

Time Not Money

5 min readMay 9, 2019

In the fall of 2018, the Kola Nut Collaborative partnered with BRIJ Embassy for Black America in order to develop a commentary and interview segment broadcast within the online community, BEBA, which would deepen member awareness of several cooperative economic strategies employed within Black communities in historical and contemporary times. Below are the five initial segments produced during this partnership. Four of those episodes were on our original production schedule. A fifth episode was filmed in homage to Ujamaa as both Julius Nyerere’s economic development vision for Tanzania and the fourth principle of Kwanzaa.

The thematic arc of these segments was meant to guide viewers through four broad concepts which comprise the process and desired outcome of cooperative economics including: Cooperation, Capital, Economy, and Autonomy. These concepts evoke the use of cooperative economic strategies as a developmental method for moving communities on a pathway towards self determination. The goal was to shift the group from a focus on the consumer side of economic cooperation towards a narrative of collective ownership and shared production. While there were significant technical difficulties to overcome in broadcasting the segment, we are largely satisfied with the outcome and intend to extend the run of the show into the indefinite future.

The Ujamaa Hour is a public facing complement to the Cooperation for Liberation Study & Working Group which is limited to the audience we are able to gather from communities in Chicago. We hope that this contribution to the conversation about cooperative initiatives in Black communities aids those cooperators in connecting with one another and strengthening our collective work.

New episodes of the Ujamaa Hour can be located on Facebook Watch.

MOVEMENT MONDAY: Tune in this evening at 7:30 pm discuss cooperation. How do we define it? How can we approach Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa) with this definition in mind? Are there historical models of complex cooperation that are relevant to the Black experience?

Also, look out for a recap of the Blackonomics Gathering in Minneapolis hosted in part by Nexus Community Partners & Village Financial Cooperative; a preview upcoming sessions within the Cooperation for Liberation Study & Working Group; plus answers to the questions you have about building more cooperative practice into your life.

#CoopOfCoops #ResiliencyGuild2018 #mycelium #GiftEconomiesOfScale #TradingSpaces #SocialInfrastructure #CreatingMorePossibilities #EmergentStrategies #CollaborativeEconomy #SolidarityEcosystem #BRIJChicago #LoveBlack #GiveBlack #BuildBlack #TheUjamaaHour

MOVEMENT MONDAY: Tune in on 11/12 at 7:30 pm discuss capital. How do we define capital? What are the 8 forms outlined in the Neo-Green Book? Leading from our prior episode, how does cooperation and cooperative enterprise work to preserve capital as community wealth? #TargetAintLocal

We will also examine Federation of Southern Cooperatives as a model of regional wealth building which uses cooperation to maximize capital amongst its membership.

Also, look out for a preview of a forum to be hosted by Cooperation for Liberation Study & Working Group; a recap of the Chicagoland Cooperative Ecosystem Coalition (CCEC) gathering; plus answers to questions you have about using cooperation to maximize your capital.

Featuring special guest Renee Camille Hatcher of Business Enterprise Law Clinic — BELAW at The John Marshall Law School.

MOVEMENT MONDAY: Tune in on 12/10 at 7:30 pm to discuss economy. What is an economy? Who are the experts in our economy? Leading from our prior episode, what are innovative approaches for building our community economies that employ the 8 forms of capital? #EconomyAsEcosystem

We will also examine Cooperation Jackson as a model of an ambitious effort to use cooperative strategies, financial and non-financial capital, and transformative local governance structures can create a solidarity economy which better serves the entire city.

Also, look out for a recap of the Coop Forum hosted by Cooperation for Liberation Study & Working Group; a primer on the Chicagoland Cooperative Ecosystem Coalition (CCEC) gathering; plus answers to questions you have about expanding your reach into the social economy.

Featuring special guest Stacey Sutton of UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.

NYERERE REVISITED: Tune in today at 1 pm for a special edition of The Ujamaa Hour where myself and Kamau Rashid will be engaging the political and cultural legacy of Julius Nyerere whose Ujamaa development program in post-colonial Tanzania presents an ambitious vision of how we should be approaching cooperative economics in this present moment.

While we often frame this principle as building our own stores and profiting from them together, have we imagined deeply enough how individual economic activities interlink to create an ecosystem?

What are some of the steps we might take now in order to shift ourselves towards a cooperative economic orientation which lays the foundation for autonomous community development?

In addition to Nyerere’s insights on Ujamaa, this dialogue will also be informed by Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s essay for The Next System Project, “Building a Cooperative Solidarity Commonwealth”.

http://www.nathanielturner.com/ujamaanyerere.htm

https://thenextsystem.org/building-cooperative-solidarity-commonwealth

MOVEMENT MONDAY: Tune in on today (1/14) at 7:30 pm to discuss autonomy. Why is “autonomy” a named quality within the 7 cooperative principles? How do we employ the previously discussed aspects of cooperation, capital, and economy in developing autonomous spaces? Where have autonomous spaces existed in the past and who is working towards them in the present?

Leading from our prior episode, how can a more expansive understanding of economy and cooperative economics grant us pathways towards autonomy? #AutonomousZones #ResistAndBuild

We will examine US and Jamaican maroon societies, Brazilian quilombos, and free Black settlements as historical sites of resistance which were simultaneously in pursuit of social and economic autonomy.

Also, look out for co-governance demands you should be requiring of your elected officials this year; a recap of recent developments in Coop 4 Lib Study & Working Group; plus answers to questions you have about creating autonomous spaces as sites of resistance, reimagination, and rebuilding.

Featuring special guest Kristina Brown of Counter Balance: ATX on behalf Njera Keith of Black Sovereign Nation and 400+1.

#CoopOfCoops #ResiliencyGuild2019 #mycelium #GiftEconomiesOfScale #TradingSpaces #SocialInfrastructure #CreatingMorePossibilities #EmergentStrategies #CollaborativeEconomy #SolidarityEcosystem #BRIJChicago #BRIJAustin #LoveBlack #GiveBlack #BuildBlack #TheUjamaaHour #Coop4Lib

The Ujamaa Hour: Four Episode Pilot Webcast on Developing Solidarity Economy Initiatives in Black Communities

Written by M. Tekhen Strode