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Solidarity-based ideology

L'équipe TAOA

 

Solidarity-based ideology represents the foundations of barter clubs. If the foundations are not solid enough, everything collapses…The system becomes corrupted and immediately takes back to traditional business excesses.

 

They said:


“If the system is not based on a strong ideology to which a massive lot of people subscribe actively, then nothing can function” Carlos Perez Lora (Red Mar y Sierras)

If we have another look at the written theories about barter clubs, they always emphasize solidarity-based ideology:

“In a crisis, bartering is a social re-engineering experience, created inside society, implemented by middle classes as well as by the underprivileged. This activity has been proved to be a real tool for social and collective participation. It is something possible, it is collectively started by the people left out of the economic boom, it makes it possible to re-invent the market through social economy and its tools, appealing to trust, reciprocity, solidarity, instead of the hard competition imposed by the market. Bartering enables to benefit from goods and services produced by society, it implies social responsibility, durability, human development, social participation and egalitarianism.” Carlos de Sanzo, founding member, Clarin 27/05/10


Declaration of the principles of barter systems

 

  1. To be a real human being doesn’t suppose to be mastered by money.
  2. We are not trying to promote articles or services, but to help each other to give a superior meaning to our life, due to our work force, to mutual understanding and fair trade.
  3. We assert that it is possible to replace fruitless competition, profit and speculation by reciprocity between people.
  4. We believe that our acts, products and services can follow moral and ecological norms rather than business diktats, consumerism and short term profit.

…

12. We do believe in the idea of progress as a consequence of long term wellfare for the largest amount of people, for all societies.

 

Doing our survey, we could notice this ideology in the people’s words. Most of them proved really committed in solidarity, and felt acutely responsible for their community.

 

Reality versus theory: a gap

 

The reality of barter clubs is finally very different from this beautiful solidarity-based ideology. The crisis was such, in Argentina, that at its peak, everybody rushed to barter clubs: they had become the only alternative to get food and to survive.80 members in 2000,800 000 in 2001 and 2 500 000 in 2002.Thousands of people came to swap everything they had at home (clothes, furniture, books…) for food. Training could no longer be proposed to everyone, the key-word for prosumer was gradually forgotten and ideology vanished (see work culture.)

Barter clubs that were originally “a complementary social and fair economy » had become a charity business, a stopgap measure to the crisis. The ‘creditos’ that were meant to be a’ currency for social transformation’ had become poor people’s currency, a sort of transitional money before better days. Then, as soon as money reappeared again, with State subsidies (plan) and formal economy got going again, many left the clubs and the system collapsed within a few months. (read the article about the barter decline).

No radical transformation of the system and of the society will be possible if there is no change in the paradigm, in the objectives and if a solidarity-based ideology does not underlie behind the behaviors and the way of life of most people.


All the nodos still working that we interviewed about their first objective told us : ‘ solidarity’. Just the pleasure to meet, to talk, to discuss, to commit oneself to helping the underprivileged, to be useful to one’s community.

 

The example of the nodo of Capitan Bermudez, Rosario.

 

One of the most exemplary nodos is the one of Capitan Bermudez, a few miles off Rosario. We met there a small group of people, organized in an association “Poriajhu”, strongly involved to develop social and solidarity-based economy in various activities: Micro-credit (Banco Popular de la Buena Fe), fair trade, local  crafts, ethic radio, and barter clubs. All these activities are strongly intertwined. When a new member joins the barter club and sells his own products, he is systematically invited to a meeting about the opportunities offered by micro-credit.

Thanks to micro-credit, a young member has been able to open a fair trade shop, ‘La Enmarada’. (The ferias take place on the buenafe properties). Small craftsmen whose products are on sale in the shop Enmarada can also sell them in creditos in the barter clubs. The ethic radio promotes all these initiatives.

 

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