Solidarity economy

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Solidarity Economy or Solidarity Economy is a form of economic activity in which money as a means of valuation and payment is wholly or partially replaced by other processes or agreements. She uses elements of corporatism and syndicalism . The phenomenon is studied in the social sciences - economics, sociology, and political science.

Solidarity economy refers to needs-oriented , social , democratic and ecological approaches. Solidarity economy projects should be in the service of people. Furthermore, it is often based on the conviction that everyone is part of society and that their work contributes significantly to progress .

Concept and goals

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Solidarity economy projects exist in many regions and societies, for example in Latin America , but also in Europe . These include open source software projects and alternative educational institutions, sharing , repairing cafes , gratis shops , self-managed enterprises and residential communities .

The projects and models often pursue goals in three areas:

  • Social goal : The community should be organized democratically and socially. The materialism is to overcome and the individual be reintegrated into society.
  • Political goal : participation and democracy are to be expanded. The aim is to create a kind of community of solidarity that sees itself as a system of values and norms that focus on people.
  • Economic goal : living and working conditions should be improved without borrowing . Various endeavors such as the preservation of the natural foundations of life, sustainability and needs-based management are part of it. If necessary, impairments or damage caused by humans should be remedied. The economic goal overlaps with the political and social.

New social movements are also mentioned in this context. In them, people also get involved against the consequences of globalized capitalism , but above all against exclusion, marginalization , precariousness , unemployment and poverty. They join forces and try to work with other economic models.

countries

Germany

Representatives of the solidarity economy often invoke the cooperative idea . This can be traced back to the organizational forms ( unions , guilds ) that were already known from the Middle Ages . It was accepted by the labor movement , but also reached into the trade union movement and anarcho-syndicalism . A modern form of social movement began in England and on mainland Europe from the middle of the 19th century: it made use of purposeful and theory-based planning. The cooperative movement is to be understood as an important attempt at solving the social problems raised by capitalism .

After setbacks in the 20th century, for example the smashing of the trade unions and cooperatives by the Nazi regime, and affairs in the 1980s (see Neue Heimat and Konsumgesellschaft “co op” ), a wave of founders in the field of “alternative economics ” followed between 1968 and 1989 ". The union merger of various sub-unions into the United Services Union Verdi until 2001 should compensate for the privatization.

Solidarity economy has so far been the subject of research and teaching in Germany at the University of Kassel and at the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster .

In Germany, researchers at the University of Kassel began to collect information about alternative forms of economy under the heading of “solidarity economy” in 2007. By organizing work in a collective, solidarity and hierarchy-free manner, it embodies a strategy to combat social exclusion. The researchers set up five criteria for defining such establishments:

In September 2015, the Solikon 2015 Congress , prepared by an alliance of over thirty organizations, took place in Berlin . The practice-oriented part of the event consisted of excursions to alternative, ecological and cooperative management projects in Berlin and Brandenburg as part of a week of change . During the congress under the motto “We can do it differently! Solidarity Economy in Practice ”, panel discussions, forums and workshops took place over four days at the TU Berlin with around 1000 participants: These offered an overview of the diverse approach of a solidarity economy and on topics such as the common good economy , commons , fair trade or transition towns the opportunity to exchange experiences and to network. The change week was repeated in 2016 and will take place again in Berlin and the surrounding area in September 2017.

Austria

In February 2009 the Solidarity Economy Congress took place at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna . It was attended by over 1,000 participants and showed the existence of a large number of solidarity-based economic initiatives in Austria, including barter exchanges , free shops ( gift economy ), food coops , regional currencies , community gardens and solidarity housing projects such as building groups ( building owner community ).

In Austria, a network of file-sharing platforms has been created, which regularly exchange information at the meeting of the Austrian exchange groups . With za: rt , the platform for cooperation between regional transaction systems, a clearing house for exchanges between different exchange groups was founded. In addition to small, local exchange groups, there are also larger systems and networks in which several regional groups participate.

Different models of regional currencies are e.g. B. originated in Vorarlberg, Styria and Lower Austria (Waldviertel).

There are also several file sharing sites, community gardens, free shops and food coops in Vienna.

The following Solidarity Economy Congress took place in February 2013 at the same location.

Canada

The solidarity economy is known in Canada as the social economy . The number of companies following this principle is currently estimated to be more than 7,000 in the Province of Québec .

The Chantier de l'economie sociale was founded in Québec . The importance of the solidarity economy for regional development is strongly emphasized . Due to the direct relationships between solidarity companies and the environment in which they are located, new needs should be recognized and interpreted more quickly. In 2007, the Chantier represented around 6,200 solidarity companies with around 65,000 employees and maintains contacts with the Brazilian organization, the Fórum. Charles Guindon from Chantier was at the national conference in Brasília , where a joint project was continued. The problem lies with the Canadian government, as it only makes money available for such projects if they are used for development aid .

Argentina

After the economic collapse in Argentina in 2001 , 20% of the Argentine population was unemployed and over 50% were impoverished. Mass demonstrations, road blockades, strikes and nationwide factory occupations were the result. Some businesses were previously given up by their owners. The reasons were partly economic problems due to the economic crisis, partly deliberate bankruptcies in order to set up a new company elsewhere with new employees. Others invested the capital withdrawn from the business in other industries , especially in agricultural exports . Some factory owners left the country. This resulted in many workers starting to occupy factory premises and resuming production. In some cases, the takeovers were negotiated with the former owners without occupying the company.

Since in the vast majority of companies the management and large parts of the administration left the company together with the owners, more than 50% of the personnel costs were usually saved. This made many businesses profitable again. The factories were continued with the aim of securing livelihoods instead of maximizing profits . Today more than 200 factories are in the hands of workers and ensure the livelihood of more than 10,000 employees.

Cooperatives were usually chosen as the legal form of the factories. You see yourself as a new generation of cooperatives that are widespread in Argentina. In contrast to traditional cooperatives, the works meeting is the company's internal decision-making body. Each member has one vote. The works meetings are usually held at least once a month. This is where all company-related decisions are made. Only for day-to-day business are there partial sub-groups that cover certain work areas such as sales, administration, etc. However, the works meeting is always the final decision-making body and information body.

The development was not as successful as in Brazil. The wages of these companies fell in 52% of the cases. The working hours usually stayed the same. In many cases, the legal situation of these companies has still not been clarified either. In some cases evictions or foreclosures could not be prevented. Some of these companies therefore asked for nationalization , but the self-administration of the companies should be retained. Another demand on the Argentine Republic was the creation of a fund to provide the cooperatives with the necessary start-up capital. This was to ensure that machines and land remain in the company's possession.

Brazil

Paul Singer at the attac advice in Gladbeck 2007

In Brazil in particular , attempts are being made to put the solidarity economy into practice. Many Brazilian companies went bankrupt during an economic crisis in the 1980s and 1990s . Workers bought and rehabilitated such firms to keep their jobs. Today many of these factories are solidarity-based companies. One of their mottos is Outra economia acontece ("Another economy is happening"). Support from trade unions and the government is seen as essential to success . In 1996 the trade union umbrella organization of Brazil Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) campaigned for the cooperatives . The ANTEAG (Associacao Nacional dos Trabalhadores e Empresas de Autogestao e Participacao Acionara, dt. 'National Association of Workers in Self-Governing Enterprises') and SENAES (Secretaria Nacional de Economia Solidaria, dt. 'The national secretariat for the solidarity economy') are responsible for founding new cooperatives and their merger.

The national secretariat has a key role in this. It currently has the status of a department of the Ministry of Labor and has been headed by the economist Paul Singer since 2003 . It represents the movement for solidarity economy in Brazil with all demands on state and private institutions as well as international organizations. Other main tasks of the Secretariat are to disseminate information on the concept of the solidarity economy and to provide political and material support to cooperatives across Brazil. The secretariat has had its own budget since 2004 . It is used for various projects:

  • Establishment of forums and centers for cooperatives in order to bundle interests and thus enable the joint sale of products,
  • Mediation of trading partners, meetings or courses, advice on legal questions
  • Help with the organization of trade fairs and seminars
  • Help with the preparation of balance sheets and statistics
  • SENAES is also committed to the question of legal regulations, e.g. As whether a cooperative officially legal form of a company is recognized
  • Creating guidelines for the solidarity economy and monitoring its implementation

The cooperatives are supported in developing an alternative economy by government bodies, intellectuals , universities and cooperatives . Over 3,000 alternative businesses, over 500 support organizations, more than 80 cities and the public administrations of six countries organize themselves through the Brazilian Forum for Solidarity Economy .

The establishment of cooperatives is supported by innovation workshops that are carried out at Brazilian universities. One example is the innovation workshop of the University of São Paulo (USP) under the direction of Paul Singer and Sylvia Leser de Mello.

Another focus of the SENAES work is the strengthening of the regional economy . It is supported by churches, trade unions, universities and political parties across the country.

literature

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dagmar Embshoff and Sven Giegold : Solidarity Economy in Globalized Capitalism , VSA Verlag, (PDF 1.7MB)
  2. ↑ http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb5/soziologie/sel/fachgebiet/fachgebiet.htm
  3. ↑ Solidarity Economy Project ( Memento of the original from October 27, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / prosol.uni-muenster.de
  4. ^ Islands in the capitalist sea
  5. ↑ The SOLIKON 2015 | SOLIKON. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Center for Technology and Society: SOLIKON 2015 at TU Berlin. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Solidarity Economy: Movement in Movement . In: the daily newspaper . ( taz.de [accessed on July 18, 2017]).
  8. ↑ Concept SOLIKON2015 | SOLIKON. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Change Week 2017 - Living and working differently in Berlin and Brandenburg. Retrieved on July 18, 2017 (German).
  10. ↑ za: rt
  11. ^ Talents exchange group Vorarlberg
  12. ↑ STYRRION
  13. ↑ Waldviertel regional currency
  14. ↑ Exchange group association
  15. ↑ Gartenpolylog - platform for community gardens in Austria
  16. ↑ foodcoops.at
  17. ↑ Solidarity Economy Congress 2013
  18. ↑ http://www.boku.ac.at/news/newsitem/17070/
  19. ^ Economiesocialequebec (in French), accessed on October 28, 2018
  20. ^ Chantier , accessed July 16, 2007
  21. ↑ http://www.fbes.org.br
  22. ↑ [1] PDF at www.uni-protocol.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / web.fu-berlin.de  
  23. ^ Paul Singer is a member of the Honorary Board of the Paulo Freire Center in Vienna [2]