Editorial by Josette Combes, RIPESS Europe

This newsletter remains a modest media and only relays the news of our members, the ones they provide us and the one we collect during the month. A French media Basta! had the good idea to create an independent press portal that hosts a hundred medias and put online a map of alternatives. Socioeco has long since produced the map of solutions and collected  SSE maps, including the one on journalism of solutions that identifies independent media articles on SSE.

The young people of the “Inspeer” adventure are also looking for these “inspiring” experiences that could convince young and old to get involved.” According to them, “86% of 18-45 year olds say they are ready to commit (…) only 20% take action, the rest remain inactive, wondering what to do, how and with whom to get started. Suffice to say that we can not complain about the abundance of information in this field but that any initiative in this direction is welcome and will feed the socioeco.org web site thanks to our watch Françoise Wautiez.

The youth was very present at the 22nd meetings of RIUESS and student cooperatives that are multiplying and are studied and supported by the researchers of the network. The French example of an inter-university network inspires the Italian network which plans to implement an equivalent, the researcher-actor link is definitely considered as essential to the progress of solidarity economy.

In resonance with the above, let us mention the Youth Week organised by the Council of Europe and the Year of Youth by the European Union. Let us not doubt that young people will be present at the European Social Forum that the RIES and others intend to organise in the autumn in Florence.

From 27 May to 11 June, representatives of governments, workers and employers from the 187 member States of the International Labour Organization (ILO) discussed issues relating to the world of work at the International Labour Conference. This year occupational safety and health , learning and the social and solidarity economy was among the items on the agenda of the Conference.

A delegation from RIPESS Intercontinental participated in the conference as observer. We will provide their feedback as soon as they send it to us.

One would not dare to hope that they would be inspired by the works published by Rubén Suriñach Padilla, a summary of which is given here before the Idearia meeting in Madrid. Or those of Coopter on social inclusion and territorial cooperation that have just taken place in Rome.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) celebrates its 100th anniversary. Tribute to this honorable organization that has a lot to do, alas! RIPESS Europe at a young age (10 years old) is working towards the preservation of rights and is launching a new programme: “For a caring working environment” claiming that the issue of care is political.

Similarly those who fight so that pesticides do not come back out the window when they are supposedly taken out the door. And those who work for the right price in fair trade, see Mikkel’s video. Living in a healthy environment through the fruits of one’s labor is an inalienable right.

The space of this editorial does not allow us to quote all the articles that you will discover in this June edition. We wanted to focus on inspiration and youth, in short…the future.

There will be a newsletter in July-August dedicated to Poland since the next RIPESS Europe GA will be held there in September. A way to offer you to JOIN US by registering on the site whose look we have completely revised so that it is more attractive and more functional.

Have a beautiful summer!