Rosario, Argentina: The Solidarity Economy, turning business upside down
Action
One of our first and most formative meetings in Rosario was with the City government’s Subsecretary of Solidarity Economy. The basic goal of the department is to create and promote a city economy based on principles of solidarity and social equity.
As the department head explained, this involves five main activities:
- Educating and working with unemployed people to help them develop and maintain democratically run cooperative enterprises. (e.g. educational workshops and training in cooperative management)
- Developing new forms of production and financing for these solidarity enterprises. (e.g. a communal warehouse for supplies, exclusive discounted loans)
- Working with the media and communication networks to develop a new consumer mentality based on solidarity principles. (e.g. community bulletins, public advertising)
- Developing municipal legislation that makes it easier for solidarity enterprises to operate successfully. (e.g. making registration easier, tax exemptions)
- Establishing and legitimizing the new solidarity economy. (e.g. developing and evaluating indicators to measure progress)
Perhaps most impressively, the city has passed an ordinance requiring that all small public work contracts (e.g. cutting grass, cleaning storm drains) be awarded to cooperatives, and the municipal bank only does business with small and medium enterprises.
Since our meeting, we’ve found ourselves enjoying the solidarity economy in our everyday lives, be it shopping for socially produced goods (baked goods, crafts, cosmetics, produce) at community fairs or the permanent solidarity economy marketplace, exploring the diverse small businesses that dominate the city, or just stopping for prolonged chats with local merchants, who often seem to care as much about conversing as about making the sale.
The Solidarity Economy marketplace at La Toma supermarket cooperative
Reflection
The solidarity economy struck us as oddly upside down. Was it because the city was developing laws that explicitly discriminate against big business, while we’ve been told our whole lives that you have to attract corporations to generate jobs? Was it that the values on the city’s sleeve (not to mention its public education campaigns) were solidarity, equity, and human development, rather than competitiveness, productivity, and economic efficiency? Or was it just that we were on the other side of the equator, where the water spirals in reverse and apparently so do the ideas?
The solidarity was especially impressive for being both so holistic and so simple. Through a thoroughly planned campaign, the city was comprehensively working to shift economic values and activity to a system based on solidarity principles. Devastated by Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis, the city decided not to sell itself to multinational capitalists but rather to redevelop the economy based on local means (incidentally, the municipal bank was the only bank not to close its doors during the 2001 crisis). Sure, Rosario still has multinational production plants and corporate offices, but fewer than most cities its size (all but 8 of the city’s 2456 industrial enterprises are small, medium, or micro businesses). Meanwhile, we’ve never seen locally and cooperatively produced goods so accessible or common.
On the other hand, the solidarity economy is growing thanks to the everyday efforts of ordinary city residents, especially those of very limited means. The majority of people involved were previously without work or many job skills. With the city’s help, they learned how to produce and sell or exchange something successfully. In turn, many people with more resources have decided to shop with solidarity enterprises, if not because of moral commitments then because the apples are crisp, the prices good, and the social interactions more human.
Question
What have you produced, exchanged, or sold in solidarity? Where have you bought or consumed through a solidarity economy? What made these interactions more or less difficult?
One of our first and most formative meetings in Rosario was with the City government’s Subsecretary of Solidarity Economy. The basic goal of the department is to create and promote a city economy based on principles of solidarity and social equity.
As the department head explained, this involves five main activities:
- Educating and working with unemployed people to help them develop and maintain democratically run cooperative enterprises. (e.g. educational workshops and training in cooperative management)
- Developing new forms of production and financing for these solidarity enterprises. (e.g. a communal warehouse for supplies, exclusive discounted loans)
- Working with the media and communication networks to develop a new consumer mentality based on solidarity principles. (e.g. community bulletins, public advertising)
- Developing municipal legislation that makes it easier for solidarity enterprises to operate successfully. (e.g. making registration easier, tax exemptions)
- Establishing and legitimizing the new solidarity economy. (e.g. developing and evaluating indicators to measure progress)
Perhaps most impressively, the city has passed an ordinance requiring that all small public work contracts (e.g. cutting grass, cleaning storm drains) be awarded to cooperatives, and the municipal bank only does business with small and medium enterprises.
Since our meeting, we’ve found ourselves enjoying the solidarity economy in our everyday lives, be it shopping for socially produced goods (baked goods, crafts, cosmetics, produce) at community fairs or the permanent solidarity economy marketplace, exploring the diverse small businesses that dominate the city, or just stopping for prolonged chats with local merchants, who often seem to care as much about conversing as about making the sale.
The Solidarity Economy marketplace at La Toma supermarket cooperative
Reflection
The solidarity economy struck us as oddly upside down. Was it because the city was developing laws that explicitly discriminate against big business, while we’ve been told our whole lives that you have to attract corporations to generate jobs? Was it that the values on the city’s sleeve (not to mention its public education campaigns) were solidarity, equity, and human development, rather than competitiveness, productivity, and economic efficiency? Or was it just that we were on the other side of the equator, where the water spirals in reverse and apparently so do the ideas?
The solidarity was especially impressive for being both so holistic and so simple. Through a thoroughly planned campaign, the city was comprehensively working to shift economic values and activity to a system based on solidarity principles. Devastated by Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis, the city decided not to sell itself to multinational capitalists but rather to redevelop the economy based on local means (incidentally, the municipal bank was the only bank not to close its doors during the 2001 crisis). Sure, Rosario still has multinational production plants and corporate offices, but fewer than most cities its size (all but 8 of the city’s 2456 industrial enterprises are small, medium, or micro businesses). Meanwhile, we’ve never seen locally and cooperatively produced goods so accessible or common.
On the other hand, the solidarity economy is growing thanks to the everyday efforts of ordinary city residents, especially those of very limited means. The majority of people involved were previously without work or many job skills. With the city’s help, they learned how to produce and sell or exchange something successfully. In turn, many people with more resources have decided to shop with solidarity enterprises, if not because of moral commitments then because the apples are crisp, the prices good, and the social interactions more human.
Question
What have you produced, exchanged, or sold in solidarity? Where have you bought or consumed through a solidarity economy? What made these interactions more or less difficult?
4 Comments:
At 10:41 AM, Jen said…
I've tried to sell various items that I've made at craft fairs. It didn't work all that well.
It's interesting to me - that after I read this post - I had a conversation about this with someone I work with, who follows Savannah govt pretty closely, and I learned that, at a local level, some of these ideas are trying to emerge. But it seems that just when we take a step forward at a local level, the federal government steps in and makes it that much more difficult.
At 5:20 PM, Renate said…
Say more, say more. What were some of Savannah's ideas?
At 4:42 PM, Jen said…
I'll have to ask again for details, but off the top of my head, one thing I know is that there is a movement called "Buy Local Savannah." They advertise all around, and encourage everyone to 1) buy from local vendors and 2) go downtown into the city (you'd be surprised - people from outside the city think Savannah is such a big, bad, scary, violent place. I'm not kidding).
So anyway, I remember the Buy Local thing because it was brought up in a meeting, talking about city development in Savannah vs. Charleston. Charleston has a lot more high-end shops that people have heard of before. One of the reporters said, to paraphrase, that Savannah needs to brings these types of stores in because while our local stores are nice and all, they aren't a draw to tourists because people, when traveling, want to go to stores they know.
I countered that when I am somewhere new, I don't want to go to a chain store or chain restaurant - I want to shop somewhere I can't go anywhere else.
I was told that I wasn't the norm. :)
Anyway, I'll see if I can get more info.
I've also learned - as an aside here - that Savannah actually does recycle. We don't have curbside recycling, and there aren't many places to drop things off. But what they do is sort the trash at the landfill, recycle what they can, and then burn the rest and produce steam power. Incredible to find out. By burning the rest, it is actually less poluting than coal (I can't remember the details, sorry) and it reduces the amount put in the landfill by 90%.
At 11:43 AM, Renate said…
I just wrote an article with more details about the Solidarity Economy. You can find it at UpsideDownWorld.org.
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