Author: RIPESS Europe

What is happening in Europe and the world as we started this new year is quite unsettling. We seem to be getting closer and closer to the precipice. We are facing too many alerting situations at the same time, which makes it ever more difficult to have a vision for the future, let alone a strong common voice to counter the noise that is making us deaf. Not to shout more loudly: to be heard.

So we take courage and persevere… we need to rely on our collective capacities and the ethical force of SSE. We need to strengthen and widen participation and political engagement. Within the strategic vision of RIPESS Europe for 2026-2030, emerging from our work last year, participatory democracy is not merely an internal organizational goal but a central pillar of repoliticising the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). Rather than viewing SSE solely as a collection of economic practices, the sources position it as a “citizen-led transformative political force” designed to counter democratic erosion, authoritarian populism, and social fragmentation.

In our vision, RIPESS Europe approaches SSE as “everyday participatory democracy,” which functions by linking citizens and institutions at the local level. This process involves:
• Relocating political action to territories: Moving beyond established public policy frameworks to create “living laboratories”.
• Self-managed structures: Reimagining the public interest through cooperative decision-making, community assemblies, and inclusive governance.
• Economic Citizenship: Embodying resilience and territorial cooperation through community-led enterprises and solidarity hubs.

A key component of repoliticising the movement is fostering autonomy and self-determination to reduce dependence on neoliberal corporations and top-down institutions. This is achieved through:
• Democratic Control: Advocating for democratic control over essential strategies, such as energy and climate policies, to resist “green capitalism” and the commodification of green initiatives.
• Autonomous Infrastructures: Promoting community-based structures like housing and food cooperatives and mutual aid networks.
• Sociocratic Governance: Internally, RIPESS Europe is implementing sociocratic shared governance to model the participatory principles it advocates for externally.

Building a “Social Bloc” through Participation
To confront authoritarianism and systemic exclusion, we think SSE as mouvement should be building a durable “social bloc” by weaving alliances with movements for climate justice, feminism, and labor.
Ultimately, the goal of repoliticising SSE through participatory democracy is systemic transformation. By positioning SSE at the intersection of economic, ecological, and social justice movements, RIPESS Europe intends for these participatory models to serve as a strategic counterweight to neoliberalism and authoritarianism. This involves not just isolated projects, but building knowledge commons and thematic think tanks where practitioners and researchers co-produce tools for advocacy and informed experimentation.

It’s time to use our collective intelligence, to speak out and to be heard. Will you join us?