The Social Economy as the Economics of Liberation

The Social Economy as the Economics of Liberation

The four oppressions! n n Capitalism—source of oppression: overwhelming rights of capital Colonialism—source of oppression: global extension of capitalism Communism—source of oppression: excessive power of the state Patriarchy—source of oppression: unequal relationships between sexes

World Social Forum, Porto Alegre

Liberation from capitalism n n n This is where co-operation started The Webbs and the Miners’ next step Reclaiming surplus value Challenging the power of capital to buy labour Robert Owen, William Morris and the utopian community Guild socialism

Liberation from colonialism n n n Imperialism as a global extension of capitalism Colonialism as the institutionalisation of global capitalism Challengendered inferiority Ghandi’s ideas of Swaraj Vandana Shiva and the subsistence perspective

From Medellin to Porto Alegre n n n Latin bishops’ conference, Medellin, 1968, created the term ‘institutionalised violence’ Comunidades eclesiales de base (CEBs: local church communities) Gustavo Gutierrez Merino (born 1928, Lima, Peru), A Theology of Liberation (1972) Leonardo Boff (born 1938, Concórdia, Brazil), Church: Charism and Power: Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church Eliminated by JPII and Cardinal Ratzinger

The concept of ‘emancipatory praxis’ n n n Everyday experience of poverty: mutualism as a practical rather than ideologically driven response Uses a radical reintepretation of the Bible. Jesus as revolutionary. Marxist ideas of class struggle Deeply rooted in the local Church: importance of mutualism as local solutions Change grows out of meetings to discuss scripture: community involvement Realisation of the Kingdom of God on earth: importance of utopian project: coops as real change agents rather than the ‘lottery mentality’, living on dreams, encouraged by the conventional economy

Social economy in the poor countries n n n Social economy grew under the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, as a source of resistance and mutual support: from 15% of the workforce in Santiago in 1970 to some 20% by 1982. Provides around a third of jobs in the poorer quarters of Santiago. MST in Brazil and the peasant challenge to state support for neoliberal, neocolonial land ownership patterns Case-study from Argentina: The Take, taking over factories left idle because of financial collapse Côte d'Ivoire: 827, 000 small farmers are co-operative members Nicaragua: 78 per cent of maize and 59 per cent of beans are cooperatively marketed

Liberation from communism n n Concentration of state power: loss of initiative Issue of scale: one bicycle factory Party replaces community Bureaucracy creates inefficiency

Co-operatives in Central and Eastern Europe n n n Gorbachev hoped to liberalise via co-ops Lost history of co-operation in Czech Republic: in 1994 new agricultural coops operated on 47 per cent of cultivated land controlled 67 per cent of production Cooperative is frequently co-opted by the state and now not trusted

Liberation from patriarchy n n ‘Sisterhood is powerful’ Women’s strength in community Reproductive labour A different attitude to resources: ecofeminism

The Holy Family

n n Extended by Engels in his The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1942) In communal economies women are equal or more powerful (matrilineality) The growth in private property undermines the role of women Men's ability to generate a surplus creates patriarchy where women (and slaves) become themselves the property of father and husband.

Feminist views of patriarchy n n Feminists focus on women's work as reproductive rather than productive labour The invisible nature of women's work The iceberg model (Maria Mies) Ecofeminists argue that loss of embeddedness is source of spiritual and environmental alienation

Are women natural co-operators? n n Ease of access to finance Sharing of skills and building of confidence Micro-finance developed in women’s co-ops and businesses Could this idea be based on stereotyping?

What do the four have in common? n n n Concentration of power [democratisation] Inequality of access to resources [equality] Alienation [empowerment] Self-delusion [self-realisation] Isolation [mutuality, reciprocity, sharing]

Assess the four concepts in terms of the three organisational forms n n n Democratisation Equality Empowerment Self-realisation Mutuality Social firm Social enterprise Co-operative