• Date: 11/12/2025
• Time: 1pm GMT
• Duration: 2 hours
• Meeting link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81689985242

1. Welcome and grounding
2. Context and learning intent
3. Theme reflections: Interweaving Decision-Making; Learning and Education; Mapping and Solidarity; Empathy and Care; Solidarity Economy and Collaboration; Coordination and Support Structures
4. Breakout planning / Each room produces 3 items: 1 concrete decision or next step; 1 collaborative practice; At least 2 drivers for the action
5. Report-back
6. Governance , Geographic space holding and next steps
7. Documentation and closing

The 17th Assembly of the Global Tapestry of Alternatives (GTA), held on September 19, 2025, brought together weavers and endorsers from diverse territories to share experiences, reflect on ongoing struggles, and identify pathways for collective action.

This document gathers key reflections and follow-up contributions from that session to guide preparations for the upcoming Assembly (#18, December 2025). It aims not to replicate the official minutes, but to highlight the main lessons, tensions, and proposals that can inform collective planning, coordination, and governance within the GTA.

Available here

• Note: to be able to switch the audio interpretation channel:
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• Facilitators: Liepollo and Ryan
• Translators: Bruno and Coral
• Note-taker: Bea
• Participants: Franco, Steve, Melanie, Itzel, Seno, Vera, Carlos, Camilo, Ashish, Matt, Roberto, Valentina, Deissy, Hugu, Shrishtee, Joy, Mauricio, Alcar, José Luis, Haki, Necibe, Reyna, Shail, Sastro, Profe Juan Silvano, Yuli, Alex,

Liepollo opened the assembly and invited participants to reflect on how we arrive today and to introduce themselves by naming a color representing their current state.

Red: Franco

Blue: Bea, Steve, Valentina, Shrishtee, Haki, Seno

Green: Melanie, Mauricio, Roberto, Najeeba, Itzel, Vera

Orange: Carlos, Vera, Ryan, Sastro

Yellow: Camilo, Matt

Brown: Alcar

Black: Ashish, Hugu

White: Deissy

Fucsia: Raquel

Grey: Joy, Shail

Lilac: Reyna

Participants briefly introduced themselves and their contexts (Mexico, Argentina, India, Philippines, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Canada, Hungary, Oaxaca, Kurdistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Oaxaca's Autonomous Communal University, etc.).

Ryan introduced the space as an invitation to open listening, co-reflection, and sharing themes for collective exploration.

Liepollo emphasized: deep listening, brevity, shared governance of the space, co-creative participation and naming what each theme means to us from our contexts.

What does every theme mean to us?

Interweaving Decision-Making

Franco: Some of the challenges of GTA involve connecting with the weavers. Decision-making spaces are something that continues to be explored—how to make decisions in such culturally diverse spaces? How can we make decisions from a horizontal perspective on the tapestry and more? 2026 priority: explore intercultural, democratic decision-making structures.

Ashish: One of the difficulties lies in connecting the local work we do with the global work we do. This involves the time, intellectual, and emotional energy required. GTA must stay grounded in local processes while enabling global coordination.

Learning and Education

Carlos: He just met with the people who are defending Yasuní. One of the key takeaways is how Yasuní has ​​become a lesson in the sacredness of the land in the face of its exploitation. The GTA has tried to develop processes that help us understand that there are different ways of relating to one another.

Steve: When we think about learning and education, we sometimes think about school, but it goes beyond that. Like this assembly, as it's embodied in the Learning and Education group, there are some periodicals that are going to be published. The book that Steve participated in talks about how we can all get involved in education. Shared the link: https://www.norrageducation.org/launch-nsi-10-education-for-societal-transformation-alternatives-for-a-just-future/

Franco: In Argentina, the far-right government is using the “alternatives” and “autonomy” language to justify regressive, market-driven reforms in the education law. It is important to analyze how emancipatory language is co-opted.

Melanie: Part of learning is unlearning. Maybe Knew not New…

Raquel: Need to question metrics and purposes of learning (e.g., “human resources”). GTA must resist state-imposed frameworks of learning measurement.

Sastro: Education always has two sides: oppressor vs. working people. Importance of community-built alternative education.

Mapping and Solidarity

Valentina: Link between local field processes and global networks. Mapping helps identify learning pathways toward systemic transformations. Must account for colonial/patriarchal structures shaping nation-states.

Vera: Shared the Post-Growth Alliance program—a 9-month cohort supporting alternative and Indigenous organizations. She will share this notes by email early in 2026. Collaboration with aligned groups (Ecoversities, Emergence Network, SERG, Bhutan Happiness Center, etc.). Focus on amplifying mutual aid and post-capitalist practices.

Ashish: Importance of documenting stories of alternative learning. Invitation to contribute to Radical Ecological Democracy: https://radicalecologicaldemocracy.org

Sastro: Mapping is essential for organizing communities (workers, cooperatives, consumption, wages, housing). Helps understand local situations and build alternatives.

Empathy and Care

Sastro: Solidarity must be linked to everyday community and worker life.

Liepollo: Our work is often difficult and confrontational. Need to reimagine safe spaces, circles of care, and radical love. Love is dangerous for capitalism: love for land, love for community, love as resistance.

Valentina: Care and empathy are central to feminist emancipation and decoloniality.

Shail: Oppressive systems rely on self-doubt and scarcity. Empathy and care counter isolation and build trust across diversities.

Participants discuss the importance of coordination and collaboration in building solidarity economies and the role of physical gatherings in fostering cross-learning and collaboration.

Solidarity Economy and Collaboration

Melanie: Eco - root is home, divides and polarities are colonial constructs so when we base our engagement in community through solidarity, we break down that separation. We are strongest together. How can we think about economy without also engaging the social, the power relations, radical democracy etc. Communities have always survived by counting on ourselves and each other. Perhaps the alternative was the divergence to the colonial. And now we fight to return to commons, caring for each other, not competition, profit etc. Corporate cooptation - idea of FUBU - for us by us. Pluriversal solidarity is the strongest with conscious recognition of what we need to shed… hopeful space.

Valentina: Shared podcast and reference list:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYnAcma7xtw
• https://www.volvamonosverdes.com/podcasts/episode/1b0d988a/cuestionando-el-sistema-economico-or-mauricio-hernandez-or-131

Raquel: Need clarity: social solidarity economy vs. social enterprise. How do communities weave solidarity economy across territories? Desire for more concrete collaboration and shared processes.

Coordination and Support Structures

Ryan: presented the work that has been done and also introduced Camilo who just joined the team.

Camilo introduced himself and he is happy to listen to everyone. How weaving can strengthen us through interweaving. It also aims to create a map of all these relationships and all this knowledge that can be brought together. He will reach out to all participants representing the weavers and endorsers for weaving coordination and this mapping within GTA.

Steven: Emphasized urgency of global collaboration. Cited ADELANTE model; even when imperfect, these global networks must coordinate more.

Ashish: Gatherings (thematic and global) significantly improve coordination and horizontality. In-person meetings (e.g., Bogotá, Indonesia April 2026) are crucial. Need to prepare well for Indonesia to advance collaboration.

Sastro: Economic solidarity and collaboration are fundamental principles for us (GTA). Social movement communities have been trapped in advocacy movements labeled political movements, forgetting about economic weaving or economic solidarity. Meanwhile, society or communities want improvements in things like food, clothing, housing, welfare, education, and health.

How can we create a counter-economy to the capitalist system, or can we move autonomously, ignoring the capitalist system? For example, worker cooperatives versus sole proprietorships. How benefit vs. profit differs. This is something we must firmly instill as an alternative to the capitalist system.

Participants discuss the need for better coordination and support structures to enhance collaboration and solidarity within GTA and beyond.

Group 1: Ashish, Necibe, Liepollo, Deissy

Group 2: Camilo, Reyna, Roberto, Valentina, Carlos

Group 3: Sebastian (CMCCrianza Mutua Colombia), Franco, Juan (CMM), Vera

Group 4: Sastro, Melanie, Raquel, Ryan, Hugu

Group 5: Alex, Joy, Matt, Shail

Liepollo invited everyone to share in two minutes from each group.

• Group 3: (Franco) They shared what's happening with their weaving projects in Mexico and Colombia. They're happy that they're getting back on track in Colombia with a seminar on January 24th. The GTA will also be supporting the participation of some of the participants in Mexico. Juan also shared what's happening in Mexico, and Vera shared the work of the WEALL. They also discussed the challenges of connecting these field experiences to participate more in global processes. That's something to explore next year.
  

  • Group 4 (Raquel): How can we collaborate more in the learning process? How can we collaborate, perhaps do something more concrete? Learning to unlearn and also other ways of facilitating transformative learning processes. And perhaps connecting it with MASSA's work could be a process of weaving and collaboration. Not only the process of a school that MASSA proposes, but also how to think about the curriculum as it relates to alternatives and resistance to capitalism in learning. They mentioned that I should organize a discussion initiated by the TG LE to think about how to proceed more concretely there.

  Melanie: It is also important to meet in smaller groups beyond TG and Assembly, but to be more organized. Started to discuss possible collaborations such as developing global curriculum on solidarity economy, sharing and reflecting on experiences and/or a reflection on best practices for developing collaborations, and how we can expand that in the coming year

Franco: In relation with Learning and Education, he want to share that next week we have a new meeting of the Thematic Group in Learning and Education. It will take place Dec 18th at 1pm GMT. Everyone here is invited to join the group. If you want to participate, just send me an email (franco@reevo.org)

Sastro: It is important to know how collaboration for the curriculum could be done.

• Group 5 (Matt): They considered inter-weaving and diverse collaborations in various decision-making spaces. They paid close attention to this topic within their communities and at other levels. How can we weave this into everyday life? They also discussed learning and unlearning. How can we bring field experiences into our daily processes? In the mapping process, it's important to identify these spaces, but also to consider how the maps can be used. How to form smaller groups for sharing information was discussed. The regional level was also discussed, focusing on how to work together more closely.
• Group 2 (Carlos): They met with Don Roberto and discussed the situation in the territories resisting mining. Not only has extractivism increased, but so has the violence fueled by drug trafficking to gain access to these territories. We see this pattern repeated in communities caught between capitalism and the state. It's crucial that these networks can weave together solidarity. Local epidemiology, epistemology, and knowledge must be given visibility and space to create networks. Processes like the Sacrifice Zones Laboratory exist to foster solidarity. To better document and link in the GTA structure.
• Group 1 (Liepollo): They paused during the weaving process to consider how to sustain themselves when faced with ecological and political dangers. How to build solidarity despite the difficulties of our particular contexts. How solidarity can take place. How to consider representation in important spaces to account for these processes and bring that information back to our communities. They spoke of decolonial feminism, which offers us the possibility of thinking about ways to create and weave in a more supportive manner. Deissy also commented on the circularity so that the word circulates more horizontally.

Ashish: More documentation is needed on the ways in which decolonial feminist practices are carried out. Also, when revisiting the themes for the physical assembly in April, it's important to consider how the GTA can weave itself together in a horizontal and decolonial way.

Franco: A paper about structure is being prepared that will be shared in Indonesia.

Presented the funds allocation and sources for 2025: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Icd95j3\_fgsHFHudRzBrzB0IpJAHz4i7FXZkxsW76rs/edit?usp=sharing

Remaining funds of 2025 will be used in 2026, mainly for Weaving actions and the in-person Assembly in Indonesia.

Liepollo: Reminded of the assembly's working principles:

• Deep listening
• Consent-based decisions
• Capturing concerns
• Simple shared documentation
• Accessibility and translation checks

Bea will share the documents.

Franco: It's important to have a virtual assembly before the in-person one to establish the points beforehand. Hopefully in March.

Agreements

• Explore how to enable better decision-making processes across the GTA network.
  
• Discuss ways to counter co-option of alternative education language by regressive governments.
  
• Camilo to reach out individually to participants to explore ways of improving coordination and support structures for GTA.
• Consider how to better connect local/regional weaving with global weaving efforts within GTA.
• Delineate more clearly between social solidarity economy and other forms of social enterprise within GTA.

  • FT: Plan and announce the next virtual assembly before the in-person assembly in Indonesia.

  Assembly closed. Songs played: Amacala by Siphokazi and Soft life by Nomfundo Moh, suggested by Liepollo.