Phase 3 of the web forum is open from 9 to 21 September
Results:
29 contributions in total:
7 contributions in 3 languages
4 contributions in French and English
8 contributions in French only
5 contributions in English only
1 contribution in Spanish only
Syntesis n°2 : www.ripess.org/forums/topic/theme-2/
Summary of where we are at the end of phase 2 The first three questions put forward as the framework for Theme no. 2: SSE Initiatives in Territories, centred on linking producers with consumers and production with finance in order to create an alternative market for SSE products and services at the local, national and international levels.
The organization team chose to run the forum by giving priority to the change of scale offered by bottom-up solutions. Two ideas emerged.
1. Both the form and content of democratic debate need to be reconstructed.
Neither States nor multinationals are capable of defining and imposing respect for balanced regulations. And no independent force has yet emerged from society to supervise and verify respect for democratically validated collective rules. It is essential to learn the lessons that local solidarity economies teach us, because they are rooted in daily realities. However, this type of local approach is not only geographic. It is interlinked and systemic. It underpins all the levels of a ‘complex’ democracy: the management of daily problems as well as the conditions governing the dynamic and differentiated link to the globalized economy.
2. Making the local or regional territorial pact more widespread is about learning to become partners, providing mutual support within a legitimate framework and producing collectively.
The territorial roots of these sorts of solutions herald new forms of economic organization. They (re)incorporate the fundamental issues of coexistence and give people a role to play rather than excluding them as factors that curb profit.
Organizing daily life within territories allows people to (re)learn how to govern themselves without waiting for institutions to do the job.
Several decades of initiatives have fed into this approach. It has produced new collectives of participants. They come from all social categories, age groups and professions, women and men, activists, entrepreneurs, trade unionists, researchers and elected representatives. They have learned practical lessons: how to combine the potential of available resources in order to (re)connect sectors with territories and the horizontal with the vertical without creating hierarchies; organize partnership relationships on multiple levels; (re)locate the economy and create jobs to lessen the impact of macroeconomic shocks, and support the resilience of living areas, ecosystems and minority cultures so they can take back control over their futures.
They take action throughout the world, working to build an alternative economic model based on the real rather than a speculative economy, and representing the third pillar, still under construction, of globalization with a human face.
This is a vast task, since international regulations are inadequate. They cannot manage natural and cultural resources (the planet’s common goods and shared resources) equitably and efficiently. Neither can they manage all the different flows within the world’s hugely varying situations: ecosystems, overpopulated cities, weakened territories, the specific consequences of climate change, etc.
The economic and social context is getting tougher, and violence is never far away. It is crucial that we find collaborative, viable and lasting solutions. Our societies are not prepared to do so.
How can we put in place shared social responsibilities governed by common law in order to banish the arbitrariness and the abuses practised by dominant positions from the local to the international levels? How can we direct economic policies towards the primacy of human beings and respect for the natural resources that underpin life on earth?
How can we (re)define the legitimacy to govern enjoyed by public authorities, segmented by field of action, the hierarchical level of jurisdictions and political affiliation?
What sort of cooperative relationships should be put in place between these public authorities and organizations created by inhabitant’s initiatives within stable partnerships in order to work together towards the general interest and providing all the planet’s inhabitants with access to fundamental rights?
Phase 3 will look at the fourth question: the SSE is developing which actions/innovations that contribute to territorial development? How we can make progress in order to change the scale of solutions?
The question being put to those involved with this intercontinental network is: how can we work together to support the transition to a real economy centred on people over the next four years?
The organization team would like you to take the plunge and share your experiences and analyses in the forum’s three languages: English, Spanish and French.
