Solidarity Society | Marianne.hill

Building a Solidarity Society: Power, People and Planet (2022). - We want a caring, deeply democratic and eco-friendly society, a solidarity society. Where to begin? See 'Happening Now' page for events this summer; my book (link above) answers questions about networking and organizing in these times. Students and faculty get a discount - just use your email with .edu or contact me at marianne.hill@maine.edu

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LD 1259 had a hearing Monday May 19 at 1pm - Judiciary Committee. This bill would prohibit local law enforcement from contracting with federal immigration enforcement authorities. Info on how to testify is below.

The SUPERFUND bill is carried over to the next session. Keep up the pressure. Ask your legislator to support LD 1870. This bill sets up a superfund that is financed by taxes on fossil fuel companies. The funds would be used to pay for remediation of the damage caused by climate change in Maine.

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To testify for or against a bill, go to mainelegislature.org/testimony/ . You will need the Committee name, the date and time, and the bill number. Sign up to testify via zoom - although it is not necessary for you to attend the zoom. My testimony for LD 1870 is here. ALSO know that the Sierra Club is working with legislators for a Citizens Oversight bill. A fund to support citizen efforts to ensure that state regulations are enforced would be set up, administered by the Attorney General's office. Funds would come from grants and from fees levied on polluters and others harming our natural resources.

Rally in Augusta May 22 for the environment - it is at the State House Welcome Center from 8:30am to noon.

OFFSET YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT FROM FLYING - Nonprofits like RainforestTrust.org purchase land and create reserves in threatened forests around the globe. This particular trust works closely with locals while doing this. Also, in these times, legal protections are threatened and the ACLU and National Lawyers Guild need our support.

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May 2025. Networking and coalition-building are our number one tasks today. Only together can we change our country's trajectory. I see courage, energy and resolve in abundance, but not the coalitions we need. Activists around the world have insights into the steps we must take - I summarize these in my article (next page). Coalitions are built on a shared goal. How about this one: a society which enables both people and planet to thrive? This imagined society would function as a deep democracy, responsive to each person's needs for health care, housing, education, a living wage, and a flourishing planet for future generations. Climate change, an existential crisis for humanity, would be tackled.

Only such a daring goal can inspire the courage and commitment needed to take on today's assaults. This long-term goal will require the creation of a new kind of political party. In the short-term, though, the goal requires us to build strong coalitions - coalitions that take on and successfully challenge some current inequities and environmental threats. Successful coalitions will recognize and overcome inter-group differences through respectful, accountable and inclusive practices.

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The U.S. plutocracy is self-serving and the priorities that guide top decision-makers are tearing us apart. I sketch out institutional and other changes that would move us toward deeper democracy and an economy that serves us all in my article on plutocracy (next page). Find out more about the visions that are inspiring activists around the globe in my book. Many are working to bring the vision of a solidarity society closer to becoming a reality!

OUTRAGED? Ready to protest cuts that harm people and planet? Indivisible.org is a website where you can find upcoming protests near where you live - anywhere in the US. May 5, Cinco de Mayo, saw thousands standing up for and with our immigrant neighbors and friends. Also, EVERY SATURDAY AT 11AM there will be a rally in Monument Square until 1PM. Bring a poster expressing your thoughts.

Building a Solidarity Society - Launch discussion Marianne Hill

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Highlighting Coalition-Building

Activists and thinkers from around the globe have much to say on coalition-building, based on both theory and practice. I look at their initiatives in several countries and draw some surprising conclusions. Besides sharing values and goals, coalitions must share analyses of the causes of the problems they are tackling. Our current prevailing belief in an economy that works for a few, not the many, is a debilitating one. In fact, only greater economic democracy can enable us to pursue such goals as net zero greenhouse gas emissions, a living wage for all, universal health care coverage and more. A continued reliance on greed and self-interest to steer the economy will only continue to deform our economy - not transform it. More details in my book on the imperative, urgent and feasible task of transforming society!

Daffodils at Laurel Hill Cemetery are in full bloom! And I found at least one relative buried here.

Is it the impossible dream: a caring, sustainable society that fosters the flourishing of people and planet? Or, is it our only realistic choice? Today the priorities of our leaders are upside-down. Although the economy is meant to serve us, too often our leaders place business and profit before people. In a deeply democratic society - a solidarity society - things would be different. We the people would have a say in all decisions made that profoundly affect us, including decisions made in the business world. To establish this deeper democracy, we must first gain clarity about how our laws protect the powerful few; then we must find the courage to challenge those laws and claim our rightful voice. The result will be a transformation of our relationships that brings healing and hope.

Marianne Hill, Ph.D. (Economics, Yale ’83), is a long-time economic researcher and social activist. Her new book is based on years of experience both in the US and overseas. It draws on her professional and popular writings on power and the economy. Marianne was the economic forecaster for the State of Mississippi (also editing the Mississippi Economic Outlook) from 1990 to 2013. While in Mississippi, she was a syndicated columnist for Gannett, and often appeared as a guest on radio and television shows. She initiated (and for several years organized) the annual State Economic Outlook Conference. She was the driving force behind the creation of the Mississippi Commission on the Status of Women.

From 1980-85, she was Senior Economist with the Governor’s Economic Council in Puerto Rico. From 1974-75, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, where she worked on her Ph.D. dissertation In 1970, she received an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, and in 1971, she helped to organize the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. Marianne has served on the boards of the International Association for Feminist Economics and of the Union for Radical Political Economics, among others. Marianne currently lives in South Portland, Maine, where she continues her political activism with the Sierra Club and the Unitarian Universalist Church, testifying at state legislative hearings, organizing forums, teaching an occasional class and writing op-eds. Her daughter Rosie lives in nearby Vermont. Marianne enjoys singing with her chorus and all manner of outdoor activities.

Why I Wrote Building A Solidarity Society

This book is, in many ways, a culmination of my activist and academic experience over the years. Among those years, 1974-75 stands out. In the fall of 1974, I arrived in Bangladesh in the midst of a famine that claimed over a million lives. I returned to the US a year later to a very different, affluent reality. I was struck hard by the fact that people around the world are living very different realities. Within communities and families, this is also true. Our understanding of these very diverse realities, so basic to how we live together, is lacking – tragically so at times. We must do better. This thought, over time, led me to write this book.

Building a Solidarity Society begins with a look at how the priorities of our leaders have led to terrible failures in the response to crises including the financial crisis and the COVID pandemic. I then examine the power and preferences of the wealthy, our broken democracy, and the widespread misconceptions that perpetuate and exacerbate social and political inequalities. I look at movements around the world that offer inspiring examples of what can be accomplished, and ideas that can fire our imagination and efforts. I conclude by addressing the critical problem of building unified support for a solidarity society.

"Examines the inequality in power and resources in the U.S. economy and shows how solidaristic movements can redistribute those more equitably. Highly recommended for social science undergraduates."

- Michael Reich, Professor, University of California at Berkeley

“Marianne Hill directly challenges the power structure-- both economic and political-- that is leading us towards the destruction of our planet. She shows what a transformed culture and economy might look like, and gives us solid guidance on how we can get there. The reader will be left with a strong sense of what needs to be done to build a caring and sustainable society.”

- Susan B. Inches, Author, Advocating for the Environment

“Every so often an economist writes an approachable book that dares to capture the imagination of those looking for big ideas. Marianne Hill has done just that, with this fascinating volume on how to promote shared prosperity and save our planet by changing the existing power structures and building a new kind of caring society. Readers will see phenomena such as hurricanes, cocoa farming, and corporations in a whole new light and will be empowered to change the status quo.”

-Yana Rodgers, Professor, Rutgers University

Marianne Hill

Economist, Author, Activist

Highlighting Coalition-Building

Why I Wrote Building A Solidarity Society

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