SOLIDARITY NETWORKS FOR OTHER ECONOMIES
Dear Friends,
Solidarity economies focus on reproducing life and livelihoods, over generating a profit. This difference is everything to the women in the Danilo Gonzales Cooperative, the Denis Gutiérrez Cooperative and the El Privilegio Cooperative, all of which contribute to the inner workings of the Cafeteria Monte Grande, located in San Ramón, Nicaragua.
Join CAN in supporting these women-led cooperatives as we strengthen solidarity networks so rural communities continue to nurture shared lands, reconnect across generations with their ancestral knowledge, and build local food economies.
Margarita Mercado, coffee producer, Sofío Sánchez Cooperative.
The Cafeteria Monte Grande opens its doors everyday from 7am to 9pm. Inside, women from the Danilo Gonzales Cooperative are preparing traditional recipes, innovating with smoothies and salads, and brewing coffee. The women of the Denis Gutiérrez Cooperative grow fruits and vegetables in their home gardens for the smoothies and salads, while women from El Privilegio Cooperative process and roast the coffee beans. All three cooperatives are part of the UCA San Ramon, representing 18 cooperatives and 567 families.
Together, they nurture diversified coffee forests while providing additional ingredients to the Cafeteria such as honey, beans, yuca, and pork. Locals and tourists alike frequent the Cafeteria Monte Grande extending the network of this solidarity economy. Goods are cultivated, crafted and traded with a focus on the common good. As you sip a cup of coffee at the Cafeteria you enter into relationship with the soil, rain, shade trees, and farmers that made your cup of coffee possible -a whole community effort to uphold dignified livelihoods for women and community food sovereignty.
The capitalist economy that today grips the earth is based on large-scale exploitation, violently re-organizing life and land for resource extraction. In this logic a cup of coffee is transformed into an isolated exchange of cash for beans. Monocrop plantations replace small diversified farms. However, solidarity economies grounded in local ecologies and cultures, such as the Cafeteria Monte Grande, offer another path forward.
Aura López, coffee producer, Denis Gutiérrez Cooperative.
Building solidarity networks for other economies requires us to re-imagine our relationships and work towards more just interconnections. The women of the Cafeteria Monte Grande continue transforming their local economy through a culture of justice, cooperation and care.
In Solidarity,
The CAN Team
Join us and our partners in strengthening solidarity networks for other economies. Every dollar you contribute to CAN up to $50,000 will be matched through December 31st!
