One of the most exciting opportunities to emerge so far from the Maricá Basic Income Evaluation has been the chance to join the president of the Brazilian Basic Income Network, the ever-impressive Leandro Ferreira, in sharing the story of Maricá’s remarkable response to Covid-19 and its broader solidarity economy with the readers of the Boston Review this past April. The piece, entitled “What a Solidarity Economy Looks Like”, has drawn interest from across the world, including readers as far away as Iran and Japan, who have expressed a desire to apply the lessons from Maricá’s successful community bank and complementary currency to their own local contexts.
So it was a particular joy to learn that a lightly updated version of the piece was selected for inclusion in the Boston Review‘s recent anthology, The Politics of Care: From Covid-19 to Black Lives Matter. The volume brings together some truly impressive work, including Greg Gonsalves and Amy Kapczynski’s title-bestowing essay, “The New Politics of Care,” and Robin D.G. Kelley’s stirring piece, “Getting to Freedom City.” It’s hard to imagine better company for the story of Maricá’s bold alternative to the rapaciousness and individualism that has characterized so many responses to the pandemic, in Brazil, the U.S., and much of the world.
The book is available in print and digitally; you can find it here.