Article by Markus Blümel, RCE Graz-Styria (University of Graz) until 11/2023 and Verein für Solidarökonomie (Association for Solidarity Economy).
On November 23rd, about 80 people gathered at the University of Graz for the “Social Economy Enquete: Democracy”, conference. The opening address was by Elke Kahr, the mayor of the City of Graz – the second largest city in Austria, governed by a Communist-Green coalition.
Social economy – following the EU-definition – refers to an economic practice that pursues social and/or ecological goals and essentially includes democratic or participatory decision-making structures and processes. The focus of the “Social Economy Enquete: Democracy” thus was the question of how social economy can contribute to democratizing economy and society as a whole and how economy in general can be democratized. Tendencies towards the erosion of democracy and the increase in authoritarian developments were seen as the context.
The Social Economy Enquete: Democracy, was prepared in a participatory process including an open call for contributions. 13 workshops were shaped by a coordination group of more thatn 20 people and the topics – all addressing democracy and participation in the (social and solidarity) economy – ranged from housing, mobility, care, social work, alternative food systems to inclusion, workplace democracy and broad-based employee ownership.
A space was created for exchanging experiences and practices encompassing progressive as well as more mainstream approaches. Activists, practitioners, academics, students and officials came together in order to deepen the understanding that democracy and participation are at the core of Social (Solidarity) Economy, to learn from different approaches and experiences and to discuss conceptual ideas and ways of strengthening economic democracy and SSE.
The Social Economy Enquete was part of a process which began in November 2022 when the “1st Austrian Social Economy Congress” took place in Graz (see the RIPESS Europe newsletter article here) which was followed by a “Social Economy Enquete: Common good” in Vienna in spring 2023 and a “Social Economy Declaration. For an Economy in the Service of People and Nature”. It was published in September 2023 and presented to members of the Austrian parliament. The latter was signed by about 60 networks, federations and organizations in various fields such as Social and Solidarity Economy, labor unions and welfare organizations.
The Social Economy Enquete: Democracy was organized by RCE Graz-Styria – Center for Sustainable Social Transformation of the University of Graz, the Institute of Psychology of the University of Innsbruck, AUGE/UG – Alternative, Green and Independent Trade Unionists Vienna, and The Association of Public Services and Public Enterprises Austria (VÖWG) and it was co-organized by “Verein für Solidarökonomie” (Association for Solidarity Economy, which is member of RIPESS Solidarity Economy Europe), together with Attac, Smart Coop Austria and others.
The next step might be a third Social Economy Enquete highlighting another core dimension of Social Economy, namely solidarity. The Social Economy Action Plan (SEAP 2021) can be seen as a major impetus for starting the Social Economy Conference as a process bringing together the various actors in the field of Social Economy in Austria, attempting to make Social Economy more visible on different levels and to advocate for better frameworks. There is still (very!) much to do. We have achieved, though, to write a “Declaration” that has the support of a broad range of networks and organizations, and the next steps are to raise awareness, shape the public opinion and influence politics. It seems that compared to other European countries the importance of Social Economy has not been understood (well) by political decision makers in Austria. But as Wolfgang Weber, psychologist from the University of Innsbruck, put it:let´s address political decision makers and – probably even more important – let´s continue to build up social economy from the bottom and create “Real Utopia” (Erik Olin Wright).
The results of the Social Economy Enquete: Democracy will be published on the Social Economy Website of the RCE Graz-Styria, where the Social Economy Declaration can be downloaded: https://socialeconomy.uni-graz.at
