Acting in Solidarity

One of the risks of building little bubbles that meet real human needs is the impulse to build a fence around them. To avoid this, we need to recognise that our liberation is dependent on the liberation of all. One way to act on this recognition is to contribute to transformative solidarity by connecting the set of principle and practices through which we seek to change structures while also changing ourselves.

Acting in solidarity in this way requires an enduring commitment to the principles of justice and the practice of doing the relational work of connecting across differences. To do this, we need to recognise the debts being accrued through historical and ongoing injustices; we need to engage in processes of reparation and transformation; we need to figure out how to invest in more just co-created futures for those yet to come; and we need to recognise our partial perspectives and learn to act with courage, curiosity, and humility.

While these specific actions of solidarity should always be formed through relationships with those most impacted, we also need to avoid re-creating extractive expectations that people on the front-lines of injustice benefit from being in relation with those of us still learning how to show up in solidarity. This includes actions that support specific resistance efforts as well as participating in those movements that create space in the cracks of late-stage capitalism for the possibility of better futures.

Given that RAD approach to housing began in the context of currently-housed settlers getting increasingly concerned about the climate and housing crises, there are four dimensions of solidarity that we see as minimum considerations when implementing RAD Housing projects in similar contexts

• Acting in solidarity with First Nations peoples
• Acting in solidarity with people who are disproportionately at risk of displacement
• Acting in solidarity with experiencing housing stress
• Contributing to a broader ‘solidarity economy’ movements

As these four dimensions of solidarity remind us, we wouldn’t need RAD housing if we already lived in a world where First Nations sovereignty was honoured; where no one was being displaced by our failures to adapt to climate change; where housing was available to all; and where self-determined labour was directed for people not profit.

This is why we’ve positioned these four dimensions of solidarity as minimum considerations for any implementation of RAD housing. We expect that different housing collectives will also need to consider additional acts of solidarity that leverage the specific dimensions of privilege - and specific experiences of oppression - among those involved.

Along the way, we need to be building relationships that inform acts of solidarity: listening to those with direct experiences in resisting each of the specific injustices that impact us all, and remaining open to our vision of a better future changing as we participate in commoning with people with different perspectives from ours.

Below are some examples of specific ways housing collectives can be acting in solidarity in each of the four areas:

Acting in Solidarity with First Nations

Implementations of RAD housing projects led by settlers will occupy land that has been stolen from First Nations people who have experienced generations of being violently displaced from their homes by colonising settles seeking capitalist gains. Therefore, at a minimum, we need to be paying the rent and acting in solidarity with First Nations peoples fighting for land-back and self-determination.

First Nations people have led many processes through which housing collectives can be acting to reduce the destructive impacts of property ownership on their lands. For example, the Wurundjeri Land Council offers consultation services for settlers planing projects on their lands, and have a process for forming Aboriginal cultural heritage land management agreements about how to protect and manage the land on specific properties in ways that help sustain important environmental and cultural practices of the area.

There are also avenues for building relationships with First Nations people through which to become accomplices in the fight for land-back. For example, while the details depend how these relationships emerge, it may be possible to enshrine legal commitments into collective stewardship practices that help guide our participation in full land-back protocols. For those invited to, it may be possible for collectives to become residential communities that function as living labs for practising Indigenous-led approaches to stewarding the interconnected networks of commons.

Acting in Solidarity with refugees and people who are disproportionately at risk of displacement

We should also be acting in solidarity with people who are disproportionately at risk of displacement in a global context. These risks that are being amplified by the climate crisis - with island countries such as Tuvalu and Vanuatu expected to be complete submerged by the end of this century.

One action to acknowledge these unjust impacts is to take responsibility for our daily contributions to the causes of this crisis. For example, we could cap household emissions at a target that matches those nations most at risk, rather than waiting on local governments or international guidance to direct us. At the same time, we could be supporting refugees more directly by designing physical infrastructure and relational practices for our housing so that we can provide emergency shelter for people navigating broader refugee support systems.

Acting in Solidarity with people experiencing housing stress

In addition to compounding the impacts of the climate crisis on First Nations peoples and refugees, the housing crisis is contributing to the injustices faced by people who are homeless, living in precarious situations, struggling to find affordable rentals, navigating underfunded infrastructure like public housing, or otherwise experiencing housing stress.

As with the other forms of justice, we need structural change to achieve equitable housing. At the same time, a housing collective might be able to act in solidarity with those experiencing housing stress by showing up to eviction defences, designing with specific accessibility needs in mind, and forming agreements for emergency-shelter so that none of their available housing are left empty.

Participating in ‘solidarity economy’ movements

The solidarity economy is “an organizing framework for those who wish to create a systemic commitment to and practice of interdependence and collective liberation in the economic activities that meet our material needs.”

Solidarity economies can emerge from movements that build networks, federations, and coalitions that help to integrate three common strategies for social change: personal transformation, building alternative institutions, and challenging dominant social, economic, and political relationships and institutions.

There are a wide range of solidarity economy tools, including community land trusts, housing collectives, worker cooperatives, producer cooperatives, complementary currencies, and open source software. Solidarity movement-building strategies draw multiple tools for liberating economic activities together. Examples of these strategies include creating solidarity supply chains and sharing peer-to-peer technical assistance.

For example, a RAD housing collective could contribute to solidarity economy movements by cultivating networks with worker cooperatives for the skills, labour, products, and services needed to retrofit and maintain collective housing across multiple properties.

Forming networks with worker cooperatives as part of participating in the the solidarity economy movement also helps us to act in solidarity with workers fighting for dignified, safe, and sustainable livelihoods. Some examples of worker cooperatives providing products and services relevant to retrofitting, include Earthworker Construction Cooperative, Earthworker Energy Cooperative, Earthworker Smart Energy Cooperative, and Cooperative Power