By Josette Combes, Ripess Europe
Let’s start the year with the “optimism of the will” according to Gramsci’s expression, without forgetting the lucidity of the intelligence. Yes, at the beginning of this year, it is better to forget pessimism. We wish you to combine these two qualities, lucidity and courage, which are essential to continue to promote a dignified and fair economy as the basis for a society of good living. Best wishes for this year 2022 for your projects and your personal lives.
We thought it would be useful to start this year by raising awareness of the collaborative platforms that are developing as alternatives to platform companies. During the 10-year anniversary Congress a group met to develop a digital tools charter. In it you will find the objectives and principles that underpin the digital practice of RIPESS as an international network.
Laura Aufrère presents, in the synthesis of a study that identifies the characteristics of 9 case studies, the main features of these systems.
Among these cases, we can add APRES Geneva’s “SmarketPlace“, REAS Spain, the Mercado Social, Urgenci’s e-learning hub, the “rESSponsible innovation: cooperative digital platforms” training course, and that of APES Hauts de France. All in all, this is a fundamental movement that attests to the organisational capacity of SSE entities to group together initiatives and make them known to a wide audience by cross-referencing relevant information on the same theme while applying the principles of horizontal governance and profitability oriented towards redistribution.
The network’s news focuses on initiatives that address the challenges of the pandemic. The intercontinental RIPESS publishes a document presenting experiences that attest to the capacity of SSE to achieve, despite the pandemic, a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as defined by the UNDP recommendations.
The compilation made by REAS identifies 120 initiatives “in the sectors of local consumption, solidarity economy, culture and art, ethical finance and social security, and thus offers a wide range of alternatives to respond to the crisis in a more just and sustainable way, based on solidarity and social inclusion of the poorest and most vulnerable people who have been most affected by the crisis of the capitalist system and the COVID pandemic19 “.
Urgenci also publishes “Enacting Resilience: the Response of LSPA to the Covid-19 Crisis”, the response of producers and consumers to the challenges of the Covid-19 crisis.
Also to be consulted is the “Just green” project, a European project led by ENSIE and bringing together municipalities and social economy organisations for a decarbonised and inclusive economy for those who remain on the sidelines of the liberal economy.
In the Agenda, two pieces of information should be highlighted: the MOOC 2022 of Synergia in which RIPESS EU is involved and the cancellation in February, and its postponement to May, of the meeting organised by the EU “Social economy. The future of Europe“.
The solidarity economy, the economy of the future. In any case, the economy of the present, which this issue demonstrates the abundance and vigilance of. Let us therefore wish ourselves a year 2022, driven by the energy of each and every one of us, fruitful and united.
