By Mike Menser and Juscha Robinson

Throughout the U.S. left, but in particular among those groups participating at the first U.S. Social Forum and the global justice movement more generally, “participatory democracy” is a phrase one encounters in all kinds of different movements and organizations, from anti-war meetings and environmental justice organizations, to direct action affinity groups, to community-sponsored agriculture outfits, international solidarity organizations and prison abolitionists. It is certainly a central feature of the solidarity economy. In this essay, we will talk a little about what “participatory democracy” (PD) has come to mean for such movements, but for the most part our remarks will focus on a particular mode of PD called “participatory budgeting”, an innovation made famous in Brazil but recently spread across the globe to more than 1,000 cities.

A powerpoint slideshow with visual examples of a wide range of solidarity economy practices. The slideshow generally attempts to highlight a sector such as the cooperative movement or community supported agriculture and use a specific example as an illustration, rather than attempting to include hundreds of individual examples. This is a work in progress, so if you have suggestions about additions or revisions, please let us know.