Contents
1. Introduction:
a) Subject of the module
b) Connection/ relevance to degrowth
c) Aim of the module
2. Theoretical Content:
a) Mainstream approach to the topic and the critique
b) Degrowth approach to the topic
c) Alternatives: Proposed methods or alternatives to address the topic within degrowth
3. Experience of the course:
a) What was done and how (methodologies/ best practices)
b) Presentations and case studies
c) Pictures and videos
4. Conclusions
5. Reference list
Introduction
GROWL partner ANTIGONE, in collaboration with ILIOSPOROI Network and the People’s University of Social and Solidarity Economy, organized an international Course on Solidarity and Cooperative Economy, during 1-6 October 2014, in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Participants had the opportunity to get trained as trainers on concepts such as degrowth and solidarity - cooperative economy, through theoretical lectures, participatory workshops, interactive showcases, plenary sessions and open space debates.
Subject of the module
Greece and Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) share strong and growing links.
In the current context of a global crisis, Greece has been one of the most impacted countries, and the place of major social and political shifts. Among these shifts, the loss of accountability of both the Greek State and the European Union , an acuter awareness of systemic inequalities, and the break-down of the social contract in favour of the Memorandum politics, constitute as many recurrent patterns of discontent (Kirtsoglou, 2013), and contribute to the elaboration of what Theodossopoulos (2014) analyzes as an “indignation discourse”.
This “indignation discourse” has a transformative, empowering dimension: while producing a wide repertory of resistance actions, it becomes a subversive political weapon, leading towards change in political and social life. Besides, this indignation discourse has become an element of a transnational resistance discourse, where the critic of the national mismanagement of the crisis creates a far wider debate on capitalism and on the neoliberal growth narrative.
As far as it goes against the neoliberal paradigm, and attempts to empty economy from its capitalist roots and to reinsert humanity in economics, Social and Solidarity Economy constitutes undoubtedly a part of this new resistance discourse and agenda.
Thus, it is not surprising that Greece quickly became a platform and somehow a laboratory for new economic practices and approaches, potentially exportable and relevant for other countries. It is also not surprising that in the context of the Growl course on Social and Solidarity Economy, Greece has been chosen as the host country for the course : this choice allowed the Growl participants to learn more about the Greek movements, as well as it gave to Greek initiatives the opportunity to gain more visibility and support.
The structure of the GROWL Module on Solidarity and Cooperative economy will reflect the structure of the GROWL Course in Thessaloniki. In the pages that follow the reader will have the chance to get to know some basic theoretical concepts behind solidarity economy and degrowth, as seen in key literature. This module includes also abstracts and presentations realized during the Course, case studies and methodological elements on how to set up similar initiatives and realize innovative workshops on solidarity economy and degrowth.
The course addressed theoretical, practical and political aspects of degrowth and solidarity economics. Speakers included university professors, researchers, activists and practitioners from Greece, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Belgium, Poland and Portugal, including representatives from some of the most prominent solidarity economy initiatives in Greece.
Topics included : Degrowth theory put into practice; A theoretical framework of solidarity economy; Cooperative economy- legal and institutional frameworks; Cooperative working spaces; Producer- consumer networks and cooperatives; Barter exchange networks, Complementary currencies & Time banks; Ecovillages and self-resilient communities; Growth, austerity and crisis, which way out?
The lectures - workshops were hosted in the collective working space OIKOPOLIS, in Thessaloniki for the first half of the seminar, and at an ArtHouse in Tagarades for the second half. Participants had the chance to undertake field visits in prominent case studies such as the worker self-managed factory VIOME and the collective peri-urban farm PERKA.
Connection/ relevance to degrowth
The essence of degrowth, which is frugal abundance according to Latouche, is not something new to people and societies. From Diogenis and his clay pot until the pro-industrial communities, people lived within a communal economy of sharing, mutual aid and cooperation. Since the “industrial revolution” and even until the first theoreticians of degrowth and political ecology (Gorz, Illich, Bookchin and Castoriadis), people always found ways to be self-sufficient and live with dignity, even with few possessions. With the emergence of the neoliberal -free market- capitalism that was built upon mass consumption, technocracy, urbanization and surplus production this condition changed. Modern societies seem detached from their humanity and the natural environment, trapped in the fetishism of growth and capital accumulation.
Degrowth is a concrete utopia according to Latouche (2010), an ensemble of applied utopias (nowtopias), and solidarity economy is degrowth in practice.
Localization of production and consumption; cooperative economy; mutual aid, autonomy and self-sufficiency; direct democracy; multiculturalism and respect for diversity; the protection of individual rights and freedoms; conservation and preservation of natural resources; the protection and safeguarding of public goods (eg water, coasts, forests); decentralization; agro-ecology; non-dependence on nuclear energy, oil and mineral resources; the use of cycling and the depreciation of private cars; energy autonomy based on renewable sources both at home and community levels; self-management of health and alternative therapies; opposition to mining and large infrastructure projects, (i.e: nuclear power plants, waste incineration plants, dams, highways); reuse, recycling and local-decentralized waste management; minimization of the production and consumption of meat; protection of the rights of animals and those of Mother Earth; are concrete degrowth transition proposals discussed and applied within the ecological movement for decades.
Degrowth, just like Solidarity Economy, is a new narrative, a vehicle for the radical transformation of society and the economy. They are an ensemble of ideas, practical solutions and policy proposals, a path towards social justice, prosperity and sustainability which has detached the meaning of life and freedom from the notions of consumerism and rampant materialism. This does not simply mean the greening of industry and the economy, green technologies and green jobs, but rather the radical transformation of production and consumption patterns, the radical reform of democratic institutions and social structures, the elimination of social inequalities and the safeguarding of rights, individual freedoms and inter-generational justice.
It means to achieve progress without growth, to focus on qualitative indicators of prosperity and not on factitious growth rates, while at the same time pursuing a deep and wide application of democracy in our societies. It means to strive for variety and to respect diversity, to apply solidarity and cooperation in order to deconstruct the structural immorality of neo-liberal capitalism, individualism and competitiveness and the dominating relations they impose, so that we can find again the path to harmony with our natural world and ourselves.
Aim of the module
In modern Greece and Europe what we need is a catholic “change of narrative”, a change of the collective imaginary and a paradigm shift, and now it is a historic opportunity to achieve this, by learning from our mistakes which led us to the current crisis. We need to develop a collective outlook beyond the crisis by exploiting the opportunities arising from it, in order to achieve radical changes in economy and the society. An alteration of the collective imaginary regarding growth and consumption is necessary in order to avoid further degradation of social prosperity and the depletion of natural resources. We have to overcome the obsession with continued economic growth (GDP) and to focus on everything that substantially improves living conditions and reduces inequalities, i.e: to have a satisfactory job but work less hours in order to have enough free time and spend quality time with our beloved ones within a friendly and sustainable environment. We must invest upon a cultural and institutional decolonization from economism and the religion of growth, to invest in nature and the alteration of our consciousness, to take matters into our own hands.
Degrowth is what adds to Social Economy its radical dimension, and both degrowth and Social and Solidarity Economy need to be thought, reflected and diffused together as interdependent imaginaries. Degrowth offers the political framework so that solidarity economy is not implemented merely as a painkiller for the impacts of the capitalist crisis, within the same system, but rather as a foundation for the transition to another socioeconomic system, socially fair, ecologically sustainable, resilient and self-sufficient.
As a part of the GROWL project, this module aims to create a space for thinking this interdependency, exchanging practices and experiences, at a time where transnational solidarity constitutes a key factor of the success of creative resistance initiatives to the neoliberal discourse and politics.
It also aims to create a space for self-training, following the idea that far from being a fixed material, knowledge is constructed by practice and experience, where exchanges and mutual training play a crucial role.
Content
How can we define Social and Solidarity Economy ? What approach is relevant for Degrowth, and why is this Degrowth approach so important ? Social Economy and Solidarity Economy constitute two different fields, with two radically different relationship with the neoliberal and the degrowth dicourses.
Whereas the Social Economy approach is and has been already appropriated by the mainstream and capitalist approach to Economy, in the same way as Environment sustainability or Green development before, Social and Solidarity economy as a very precise way of producing and consuming, or to employ other words, of exchanging, is inherent to Degrowth.
Isolating both approaches and providing precise definitions of Social and Solidarity Economy is essential to avoid the trap of an empty, mistaken and consensual discourse on social economy, with the high risk of losing its radical message.
Mainstream approach to the topic and the critique
Social Economy is defined by Nasioulas as “the sum of economic activities which involve private means and pursue social, collective or public goals, thus being a third economic sector between the public and the private”24
Jacques Defourny offers a more inclusive definition, where he defines the fundamental values of these initiatives. These principles are the aim of serving members or the community, rather than generating profit, independent management, a democratic decision making process, the primacy of people and labour over capital in the distribution of income.25.
Following the European perspective Social Economy can follow the legal framework of co-operative enterprises, mutual societies and associations26. It can be commonly understood as part of a “third sector” of the economy. Thus, it would complement the “first sector” (private/profit-oriented) and the “second sector” (public/planned).
To define social Economy, we could probably use Ethan Miller’s definition (2010) : “While exact definitions of the social economy vary, a common definition is that it includes cooperatives, mutuals, associations, and foundations (CMAFs), all of which are collectively organized, and oriented around social aims that are prioritized above profits, or return to shareholders. The primary concern of the social economy is not to maximize profits, but to achieve social goals (which does not exclude making a profit, which is necessary for reinvestment).” We also could use the diagram he proposes :
Because of its ambiguous and institutional nature, social economy is the place of numerous debates on its relationship with capitalism. As Miller (2010) states it , “some consider the social economy to be the third leg of capitalism, along with the public and the private sector. Thus, advocates of the social economy push for it to be accorded the same legitimacy as the public and private sectors, with a corresponding level of support in public resources and policy. Others, on the more radical end of the spectrum, view the social economy as a stepping stone towards a more fundamental transformation of the economic system”.
Degrowth approach to the topi
The Degrowth approach to economics radically differs from the social economy approach, and is linked with Solidarity Economy.
Breaking with social economy, “the solidarity economy (Diagram 2 below) seeks to change the whole social/economic system and puts forth a different paradigm of development that upholds solidarity economy principles. It pursues the transformation of the neoliberal capitalist economic system from one that gives primacy to maximizing private profit and blind growth, to one that puts people and planet at its core. As an alternative economic system, the solidarity economy thus includes all three sectors – private, public and the third sector. The solidarity economy seeks to re-orient and harness the state, policies, trade, production, distribution, consumption, investment, money and finance, and ownership structures towards serving the welfare of people and planet” (Miller, 2010).
As Degrowth, Solidarity Economy does not promote one single approach, but tends to combine different perspectives. It is pluralist, values and builds on concrete practices, and proposes a new vision of economy which values humanity and social relationships rather than the goods. What distinguishes the solidarity economy movement from many other social change and revolutionary movements in the past, is that it is pluralist in its approach - eschewing rigid blueprints and the belief in a single, correct path; the solidarity economy also values and builds on concrete practices, many of which are quite old. The solidarity economy, rather than seeking to create utopia out of thin air and theory, recognizes that there currently exists a concrete utopia, a utopia in action. It is rooted in the practices of participatory democracy and promotes a new vision of the economy, an economy that puts people at the center of the system, an economy that values the links, the relationships rather than the goods.
Quoting again Miller (2010), we could easily say that the main difference between social and solidarity economy is the following : the solidarity economy explicitly has a systemic, transformative, post-capitalist agenda. The social economy is a sector of the economy that may or may not be part of a transformative, post-capitalist agenda, depending on whom you’re talking to.”
The values of Social and Solidarity Economy are humanism, democracy, solidarity, inclusiveness, subsidiarity, diversity, creativity, sustainable degrowth, equality, equity and justice for all, respect for the integration of countries and people. In other words, Social and Solidarity Economy targets a plural and solidarity-based economy.
Interesting is, that Social and Solidarity Economy, and more generally grassroot economic practices don’t only follow degrowth’s values, they also constitute examples of degrowth in a more literal sense. As it is pointed out in D'Alisa, Demaria, and Kallis’ collective book (2015), , they have less carbon content and material throughput when compared to the State or market systems offering the same services. One example that is given is that an alternative organic food network, for example, might require more workers per unit of product than an agri-business (though also less fertilizers, pesticides and fossil fuels).
Alternatives: Proposed methods or alternatives to address the topic within degrowth
Following the logic of the Growl course, rather than a didactic and taxonomic description of the different alternatives and methods that Degrowth offers to tackle Social and Solidarity Economy, here are three case studies of successful initiatives led from the bottom up. Because of the setting of the course in Greece and because of the symbolic place of Greece in this field, we decided here to dedicate two of them to Greek organizations.
1 A transnational movement : The “silent revolution” of the water cooperatives by Kostas Nikolaou - Member of Initiative K136
Water cooperatives are not an isolated localized phenomenon. On the contrary, they thrive in countries with variable environmental and social-political-economic conditions, indicating their adaptability. Thousands examples of urban or rural water cooperatives exist in the USA, Canada, Latin America (Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Bolivia) and Europe (Finland, Denmark, Austria etc)[1]. Moreover, water cooperatives have won high marks for customer satisfaction and operational performance worldwide[2].
The international financial capital promotes the private or the public-private management of water, loyal to the neoliberal fundamentalism, although its own researches show other things. It is very characteristic the outcome of a World Bank research: “Consumer cooperatives can offer an alternative institutional model for delivery of urban water supply and sanitation services. The cooperative model has a number of potential advantages over private and public utility models. All utility cooperatives are characterized by the facts that owners and customers are the same and that cooperatives do not have a profit objective. All utility cooperatives have two boards (Administration and Oversight), and the one member–one vote election system. The ownership model and governance structure can result in a clear objective for the utility: provide sustainable service at affordable cost. The fact that any cost reductions are translated into lower tariffs constitutes a strong incentive to pursue efficiency. Other advantages are the flexibility associated with the absence of cumbersome procedures, and a strong customer orientation derived from the alignment of objectives”[3].
Despite the significant number of successful water cooperatives globally, international policy discussions have largely by-passed them. Furthermore, water cooperatives have been largely ignored both in research and policy. The discussion has focused on private and public water and sanitation systems ignoring community based options[4].
Because the water cooperatives constitute an alternative model for the water management aside from the public (governmental or municipal) and private model, they are created and operated “from below” on a non-profit basis, they are independent of economic and political interests, they ensure the most possible democratic citizen participation and they do not leave a distinct position for bosses of private and public sector. These are not good reasons to conceal them?
The text below is a synoptic and indicative overview of the water cooperatives in the continents of Europe and America (north and south).
Austria: More than 5.000 water coops
Austria is one of the European countries where the cooperative water management plays the most important role. More than 5.000 water cooperatives in the country serve citizens in rural areas. An example is the Wassergenossenschaft Gramastetten (Water Cooperative of Gramastetten) founded in 1947 and provides drinking water to about 2.000 people. Membership is connected to the ownership of real estate and apartments. All relevant information is available to everyone and important decisions are taken by the general assembly of all members. The administrative and most of the technical work is done on a voluntary basis. The regional association of water cooperatives provides expertise, quality control, and training for the volunteers. The water quality is good and tariffs are far below average. The principle of strict non-profit management, the use of local water sources and the low administrative costs due to voluntary work by the members are the main reasons for the low prices.
The Wassergenossenschaft Gramastetten, with its 569 members, it is one of the biggest water cooperatives in Austria and an example of an autonomous, self-managed and decentralised water provision with democratic water management and strong elements of participation (making nearly every household a member). The principles of non-profit and solidarity cooperation are crucial to its functioning[5].
Denmark: More than 2.500 water coops
Denmark has a long tradition of water cooperatives. No single Ministry in the government of Denmark is responsible for water supply and sanitation, which is considered foremost a local government responsibility. The Danish water supply is highly decentralized, with large and small waterworks situated all over the country. In 2001 there were 2.740 “common utilities”, of which municipalities owned 165 and 2.575 were owned by consumers’ cooperatives[6].
Finland: Around 1.400 water coops
Finland has also a long tradition of organizing water services through cooperatives, especially in rural areas but also in bigger townships. Currently there are some 1.400 water cooperatives in the country providing water supply and increasingly also sewerage services. A research team of Tampere University of Technology using their substantial experience with water cooperatives and the data collected in a variety of projects in Finland discuss the general characteristics, diversity and main stakeholders of water cooperatives and finally, argue that water cooperatives have great potential[4].
Spain: Water coop in the middle of the Civil War
There was cooperative water management in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. The company Agbar, which took over the operation after the defeat of the democrats, featured incredible reforms achieved by the water cooperative[7].
USA: Close to 3.300 water coops
Close to 3.300 water cooperatives in the U.S. are consumer-owned utilities formed to provide safe, reliable and sustainable water service at a reasonable cost. They provide drinking, fire protection and landscaping irrigation water. In addition, many of them provide wastewater services. Water cooperatives are most often found in suburban and rural areas that are located too far from municipal water companies to receive service.
Most water cooperatives are small (serving 501 – 3.300 consumers) or very small (serving fewer than 500 consumers). 89% of the population that is served by public water systems is served by either a publicly owned, municipal water system or a cooperative utility. The remaining 11% of Americans are served by privately owned water systems. Non profit cooperatives are the most common organizational form in small communities[8].
Canada: Approximately 200 water coops
In Canada the cooperative model is most widely used in rural areas. There are approximately 200 water supply cooperatives in Canada, mainly in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec[9].
Latin America: the world’s largest water coops in urban areas
There is a longstanding history of water supply and sanitation cooperatives in Latin America. A research team from Cochabamba-Bolivia (University Mayor San Simón and Food and Water Watch) and Canada (University of Ottawa) documented 26 successful alternatives in the water sector in Latin America. They documented 9 cases of single public providers (municipal water utilities), 12 non-profit non-state providers (including community-run systems and cooperatives), 3 non-profit/non-profit partnerships, and 2 public/non-profit partnerships. They argue that the cooperative model potentially presents an alternative form of collective ownership that defies the capitalist logic of private property. Compared to private businesses or state-owned utilities, which are controlled by shareholders or elected officials, cooperatives that provide basic services have certain organisational advantages that make them potentially more democratic[10].
In Brazil, cooperative model was introduced successfully for rural water supply and sanitation during the 1990s[2].
In Mexico, in the officially Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas (one of the 31 federal states), which is divided into 118 municipalities, cooperatives are the economic pillar of the Zapatistas. All is cooperative with policy based on direct democracy, education on solidarity economy and collective ownership, active participation of many in the life of the community[11].
In Argentina, some 10% of the population is served by cooperatives. In Buenos Aires after the departure of the company Enron, the consumer and workers cooperative successfully manages the water supply[7]. Among these cooperatives is also a case in the municipality of Moreno in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area[2].
The experience of a worker-controlled water utility in the province of Buenos Aires, Aguas Bonaerenses Sociedad Anónima (ABSA), has been heralded by the UN as a model water company. The province of Buenos Aires has 10 million inhabitants distributed over 74 cities with 48 municipalities, which are served by ABSA. Azurix, a subsidiary of ENRON, was granted a concession in 1999, but it only lasted for three years, during which time the company failed to invest in the maintenance and expansion of services, leaving behind a severely debilitated company. In the wake of the financial crisis of 2001–2002 and the bankruptcy of ENRON, the union proposed to take over the company as its technical operator (replacing Azurix), forming a cooperative which is run by the workers called the 5 de Septiembre. The provincial government agreed with the idea and bought Azurix’s shares, leaving the union with the 10% of shares that they already had.
The research team from Bolivia and Canada conclude that ABSA is a successful public water company under the administration of the workers’ cooperative controlled by SOSBA (the water workers union of Buenos Aires) having achieved 70% of water coverage and 45% sewerage coverage over a vast and dispersedly populated geographical area [10].
In Bolivia, major urban water utilities are managed as cooperatives under customer ownership, such as Saguapac Cooperative in the central part of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. This is the world’s largest water utility run as cooperative (183.000 members). The cooperative was created in 1979 and today, provides water services to around 871.000 inhabitants (although the total urban population of Santa Cruz is around 1.5 million). According to a study done by Corporación Andina de Fomento, Santa Cruz de la Sierra scores 99.3 out of 100 in water quality, one of the purest in Latin America. The Saguapac’s mission states that it will develop its activities while preserving the environment, and is working to preserve the quality of the groundwater aquifer[12].
A study by researchers at the University of Birmingham conducted in the late 1990s found that Saguapac is one of the best-run water companies in Latin America measured by criteria of efficiency, equity and effectiveness.
While the Saguapac cooperative has been heralded outside of Bolivia as a model, Bolivian water activists underline the fact that the utility’s concession area is a restricted geographical area within the centre of the city. The peri-urban areas are served by nine small cooperatives. Testifying to the fact that Saguapac is not the sole service provider in Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the existence of the Water Cooperative of Plan 3000 (La Cooperativa de Aguas del Plan Tres Mil, COOPLAN) in the poor suburb of Plan 3000. As Uruguay activist and political analyst Raúl Zibechi describes it, “In the middle of a racist city of white elites, the nucleus of the agro-export oligarchy, Plan 3000 is an immense and poor suburb of almost 300.000 inhabitants, a microcosm composed of 36 Bolivian ethnic groups. It is a city that – in the name of the struggle against inequality – the residents of Plan 3000 resist the machista, oppressive, and violent culture of the local elite”. COOPLAN was established in 1986 by the residents of Plan 3000 in order to address the problems created by reluctance of Saguapac to expand services to peripheral neighbourhoods. Today it provides about 80% of households within its service area with potable water (121 000 of 151 000).
Another also successful case of water cooperatives in Bolivia is Cosmol, a local service provider in Montero[10].
Towards water cooperatives of social solidarity economy and direct democracy
Approaching and recognizing the water as a commons and not as a commodity or as a means for taxing citizens is a prerequisite for the cooperative water management[13][14]. Prerequisites are also, the water cooperatives creation and operation “from below” on a non-profit basis, their independence of economic and political interests, to ensure the most possible democratic citizen participation[14].
The worldwide experience shows that each called cooperative does not belong obligatory in the social solidarity economy and direct democracy, if not based on the principles and procedures of the social solidarity economy and direct democracy. Moreover, these principles and procedures are not only a cooperative statute issue. Their realization needs the real participation of citizens in taking decisions via general assemblies, which cannot be done without a social movement to support it and composed by citizens educated for that[14][15][16].
Real Life Examples of Solidarity and Cooperative Economy
Introduction
During the previous five years, the connotation of “Greece” has changed from “beach, island and sun” to “crisis, unemployment and debt”. However, this dualism is far from reality. On the one hand, there are the images of the everyday crisis and on the other hand there are “efforts to reclaim and reinvent work against the logic of capital”, what are called nowtopias1. The Greeks have been lucky among their unfortunateness because during the economic crisis, new visions for an alternative economy with a political manifest are born. There are myriads of examples, but due to the subject of our chapter we will focus on the social and solidarity economy practitioners, because social and solidarity economy offers such as alternative economic vision in which a new political being is born.
We decided that the best way to explain the theory is from the everyday practitioners. There are many cooperatives, associations, informal networks, etc. This list is huge so we have chosen to present two of the “flagships” of SSE in Greece, which are based in Thessaloniki, where our GROWL took place. The first one is BIOME, a worker's recovered enterprise, while the second one is Bios Coop, a social consumer cooperative.
Sometimes you hear stories from abroad and you think that this is not possible in your city, province or country. Rarely, you are proven wrong. It is these times that being wrong gives the happiest filling of them all!
BIOME2
We are the ones who knead and yet we have no bread,
we are the ones who dig for coal and yet we are cold.
We are the ones who have nothing and we are coming to take the world
Tassos Livaditis (Greek poet, 1922-1988)
BIOME is the first and, so far, the only worker's recovered enterprise in Greece. It has been a radical approach towards the labor struggles, taking into consideration the Greek standards. BIOME managed to turn into reality their slogan “Occupy, Resist, Produce!”. This was not their initial goal, but if we want to discovered how they ended with this one, we should overview the history of their battle.
It all started in a period when noone could foreseen the future of Greek society. In 2006, when the request of BIOME's workers to join the syndicate of Philkeram Johnson, the company that BIOME was a subsidiary, was rejected. After that a small group of workers, that was cautiously expanded due to the fear of their bosses' reaction, managed to create their own workers union. In early 2009 the first bad signs could be seen: small delays in payments, that were escalating to considerable and significant. After some similar incidents, in August 2011 Philkeram Johnson applied for bankruptcy. However, the company could have been saved if some steps would have been followed, as the report that was ordered by the management board suggested. At this point, BIOME was left on its own, so that the workers would quit their struggle and be payed as less as possible. In this critical moment, it was the syndicate that played the crucial role.
BIOME's worker's union featured many grassroots characteristics, like the general assembly with decisive authority and no affiliation with the political parties, something that is rare in Greek syndicalism. During this assemblies the idea of running the factory by themselves was born, inspired by the Amplekia Cooperative of 19th century. This idea was voted by 97.5% of the workers! Meanwhile the union was active in a judicial struggle along with a political one (having meetings with all members of the parliament elected in Thessaloniki, the labour center (both of them were proven unsuccessful and timeconsuming) and the ministry of labour). In this ongoing fight, what made the difference was the response to the open call for support by the society. Unions, organizations and individuals supported their struggle and there was even created the Open Solidarity Initiative for BIOME. After some time, BIOME was invited to be presented all over Greece and its city created each own Open Solidarity Initiative for BIOME!
On 12 February 2013, after three days of intensive mobilization, BIOME kick-started its production, natural cleaning products without chemical substances distributed through solidarity networks. However, what distinguish BIOME from other eco-friendly productions is also its organization: repeability of the management board, which can only enforce the decisions of the general assembly, one vote to each participant, every member must be a worker and vice versa and social character of production during which is taken into account what is produced and what needs it fulfills.
Meanwhile, BIOME has been an open factory to the society, where labour struggles, arts, ecological sensitivity and political fights take place. This list is too long, so here will only be mentioned two examples. To begin with, BIOME was present and supported all the major social movements of Thessaloniki like the anti-extraction movement of Skouries and the movement against the privatization of the Water and Sewage Company of Thessaloniki (EYATH). At the same time BIOME is probably the first operating factory in Greece that serves also arts, for example it hosted a modern adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone, focusing on the relationship between the individual and the state.
Somewhere here, this sub-chapter ends and instead of a conclusion it is better to point the what BIOME really is. BIOME offers a new discourse for our feature world, taking place in a small occupied factory in Thessaloniki. Academics (David Harvey, David Graeber, etc), activists (Naomi Klein, Oscar Oliver) and artists (Manu Chao, Thanassis Papakonstantinou, etc) were charmed by BIOME's vision and action. However, what matters the most is all the anonymous people who saw BIOME as a practical example and are now envisioning and trying to create their new world.
Βίος Coop
We take our food in our hands!
Many would argue that Βίος Coop is an ordinary supermarket. We would like to think that they are both right and wrong. One the one hand Βίος Coop is indeed a supermarket, or to be more precise it is a non for profit Social Consumer Cooperative Grocery. On the other hand, Βίος Coop is a process of learning how to consume, cooperate and think in a radical way.
If we search for roots of this initiative , we should go back to 2011 when the Cooperation Initiative for the Social and Solidarity Economy (PROSKALO) was formated. Some members of PROSKALO started the planning procedure for Βίος Coop at that autumn and on the 29th of March the next year more than 100 people established its legal form. The road from the theory to practice was not a child's play, but on the 30th of November 2013, more than 300 cooperativist opened the doors of Βίος Coop to the public.
After almost two years of functioning, the data show the truth: more than 400 cooperativist, an increasing profitability and the most important, Βίος Coop was embraced by the neighborhood.
This success can be originated in the relation between products and prices of the cooperative. The products are carefully selected so they do not contain prohibited chemical additives, genetically modified, expired and other inappropriate and unsafe substances dangerous to our health and the environment. Moreover, the aim is not the maximization of profit, but to to achieve affordable prices for consumers yet fair to producers by bypassing intermediaries, having a more environmentally friendly approach to the production-distribution-consumption cycle. As for July 2015, the products can be distributed in the following categories: intermediary (5%), greek cooperatives (28%), international solidarity cooperative and fair trade, like Zapatistas, MST, Libero Mondo, etc (9%), Greek producers and team of producers, mostly local, (21%) and Greek quality production units (37%). However, this success can not be explained only buy the product-price relation, there is also another background.
Βίος Coop is also a place where SSE takes its place into our reality. First, all the major decisions are taken by the General Assembly through direct democratic procedures, while the elected Management Board runs the everyday procedure along with the workers. Its decisions are audited by the elected Supervisory Board and the General Assembly. Of course, all the procedures are open and every member is more than welcome to take part in them. Furthermore, we should state that there is not speculation, being a member or not, it does not affect your final bill! Moreover, at the end of each fiscal year the surplus will be returned to members and the local community (through seminars, workshops, support of international communities that are in need, distribution of traditional Greek seeds and plants, etc) , as defined in the Articles of Cooperative and shaped by decisions of the General Assembly. Here, it is needed to clarify that when we say that the surplus will be returned to members we mean in the accounts of members in order to be reinvested back into the cooperative! Least but not the last, Βίος Coop participates in a variety of festivals, supports NGOs and social initiatives and is at collaboration with local and international social movements.
To conclude, Βίος Coop is a supermarket, that when you leave after shopping. the only thing that you bear in mind is that together we can!
Bibliography
1 Carlsson, C. and F. Manning. 2010. Nowtopia: strategic exodus? Antipode 42: 924–953.
2 Based on the postscript of Makis Anagnostou, member of the worker's union of BIOME, from the Greek translation of the book “Recovered Enterprises in Argentina” by A. Ruggeri
Experience of the course
The GROWL Course on Social and Solidarity economy intended to combine different pedagogical approaches, while favoring participative and peer-to-peer learning. Thus, workshops, field visits and interactive learning were articulated to more academic presentations and case studies, in order to provide a wide range of learning processes, following the wider framework of non-formal adult education.
What was done and how (methodologies/ best practices)
GROWL partner from Greece, ANTIGONE, had the overall coordination; was responsible for logistics and for the smooth implementation of the Course; organized in cooperation with other partners the mobilities and realized an extensive dissemination of the programme and press release. Moreover, ANTIGONE mobilized its contacts especially at the academic and activism fields and provided for speakers and trainers.
ILIOSPOROI network, drafted the programme of the Course in collaboration with ANTIGONE; mobilized its network contacts with other degrowth and solidarity economy groups and initiatives; provided for speakers and trainers; facilitated the realization of the Course and of one participatory workshop; while they realized an extensive dissemination of the programme and press release to hundreds of collectives, media and multipliers in Greece. Moreover, ILIOSPOROI network drafted the GROWL Module on Social and Solidarity Economy in collaboration with ANTIGONE.
The following steps were followed during preparation and implementation:
- Drafting of programme outline (main themes and activities)
- Identification of speakers and key audience
- Communication with speakers and collectives
- Identification of potential venues and communication for necessary arrangements and bookings
- Mobility and volunteer management (accommodation bookings, arrangements for subsistence and local transport)
- Finalization of programme activities and speaker list
- Drafting of practical readers and uploading all useful info (programme, readers, background reading material) on GROWL website
- Drafting of press release and dissemination list
- Dissemination of press release for GROWL Course and public event
- Arrangement of practicalities (audiovisual equipment, printings, consumables, etc)
- Realization of public event and facilitation of the Course (training flow and participant management)
- Evaluation
The Course, as well as the Module were structured in such a way in order to cover theoretical, practical and political aspects of solidarity- cooperative economy and degrowth. As such, the most prominent university professors and researchers, activists, practitioners, policy makers, collectives and initiatives from Greece, relevant to the subject, were invited to present and participate in the proceedings.
The GROWL Course on Solidarity and Cooperative Economy included keynote presentations, workshops, showcases of case studies- best practices, simulation exercises, a public event, and study visits to solidarity economy initiatives.
The Course employed a variety of non-formal education methodologies like ice breakers and building trust exercises, a future search visioning workshop, experiential learning and role play exercises, as well as, a training of trainers seminar.
Non-formal education includes any planned programme of personal and social education created in order for young and older people to improve a range of skills and competencies outside the formal educational apparatus. Being aware that no educator is in possession of an ultimate truth constitutes one of the central points of the non-formal educational approach.
Non-formal education includes people's opinions and former experiences and is in every sense an attempt to enable them to search for and discover new ideas and experiences. In this learning process participants should be encouraged to become active and participate, to contribute to discussions and to learn from each other. As a result in the end they should be able to express their learning in actions that demonstrate their understanding of the issue.
The non-formal educational approach to human rights includes different parts among which there are cooperative learning, participation and experiential learning.
Cooperative learning can be described as working together in order to achieve shared goals. It promotes greater productivity, more caring, supportive relationships and social competence among the participants. Essential components are for example positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction and individual and group accountability. The most effective way of cooperative learning is group work.
Participation intends that young people make decisions about what and how they want to learn about human rights themselves. Through this active process of participation they develop various competencies as decision-making, listening, empathy with and respect of others and taking responsibility for their own decisions and actions. Participative activities therefore presume activeness and commitment.
Activities can be used as tool for experiential learning. They demand participation and involvement and help to achieve educational aims, though they are referred to as 'games'. These games always follow the same path through the phases of the learning cycle. Thus, the activities help people to become motivated easily, to develop knowledge and skills, to get involved, to take responsibility, to improve self-confidence and to feel solidarity with others.
In the context of the GROWL Course on Social and Solidarity Economy, the following activities have been implemented:
// TODO: Put energizers short descriptions on methodology boxes
Energizers - Ice-breakers
Letter market
Every participant has a sticker in his/her harm and s/he has to put as many underscores as the letters of his/her name. Participants should go around asking for the other participants’ name and exchanging the letters in common. The goal is completing the names.
Two truths and a lie
Tell the group that each person will introduce him- or herself by stating two truths about their life and one lie. The rest of the participants will guess which statement is the lie.
European map
We pretended the room to be a European map.
All participants were asked to take the right position within the room according to their current place of living. After some sorting out, some discussions, some moving back and forth, everyone found a position.
Then the facilitator went around asking who was who and commenting the distances between countries.
Yes – No walk
The trainer read some sentences where the only possible answers were yes or no. The participants had to move to one or the other part of the field according to the given answer.
- This is my first time to Greece.
- I speak Greek.
- I work.
- I study.
- I've been to an international seminar group before.
- I’m very keen on degrowth related issues.
Similarities & Differences
All participants were split up into groups of 4 or 5 people, while each group was supposed to have people from 4 or 5 different countries. Each group had to create a poster drawing a big flower. In the center each group wrote things that they all had in common. Then they drew one leaf for each person in the group, writing down the individual qualities of everybody. Doing this, people referred to the following themes:
- Job and/or school
- Hobbies
- Living situation
- Experience on degrowth.
After about 20 minutes of preparing the posters in the small groups, each group presented the result roughly in front of the whole group, naming only a few things that really stuck out.
Experiential learning exercises
During the Course the participants had the chance to realize two participatory learning simulations (the commons game and the visioning- future search exercise that are described in greater detail below), as well as, an experiential learning exercise on group dynamics.
Professor K. Bakirtzis gave first a short lecture on experiential learning and then the exercise followed. In the beginning the participants formed a circle and started massaging the front person on the shoulders. Then the circle and the participants changed direction (by having a 180 degree turn) so that they rub the shoulders of the other person siting next to them.
Then participants were split into two groups, in lines facing each other. Group A closes their eyes and keep their hands on their sides, elbows at 90 degrees and palms facing up. Group B then mingles and each participant takes a different position, forming again a line facing Group A. Group B participants then put their palms facing down, on top of the palms of their partner in Group A.
The facilitator then asks participants of Group A (that have their eyes closed) to feel and explore the hands of participants from Group B.
The facilitator asks then Group B to mingle again and participants to take different positions. One the line is formed, the facilitator asks Group A to open their eyes, and people from Group B to express in one word the feeling- experience they received from the exploration of their hands from Group A participants.
When each participant from Group B speaks, then group A again closes their eyes. Participants of Group B mingle again and choose the same partner from Group A from the previous part of the exercise. Group B also closes their eyes.
Now the palms of Group A participants face down, elbows at 90 degrees, and the palms of Group B face up and feel- explore the palms of their Group A partners. Participants are asked, if they feel comfortable, to let the exploration extend to arms ans shoulders.
The facilitator then asks participants from Group A to express in one word the feeling they received and then everybody opens their eyes to celebrate and share thoughts.
Participants received this exercise with great enthusiasm and open feelings at the end, although they were bit puzzled in the beginning.
Presentations and case studies
TODO: Short description and link to course space with QR-CODE
Workshops
COMMONS GAME
by Angelos Varvarousis, PhD. Cand.
Commons have arisen as an alternative to the sterile public/private dichotomy as well as a possible future scenario. Many scholars suggest that “commoning” is the action of the multitude in their effort to re-appropriate spaces and resources in order to transform them in commons. Nevertheless many questions emerge both in a theoretical and practical level regarding the making of new commons. Among others such questions are the following ones: How individuals who come from totally different ethnical, cultural and social backgrounds can act in common in a horizontal and democratic way without exclusions and/or authorities to supervise their actions? Why many commoning projects do not succeed to sustain over time and how these problems can possibly be solved? How a commoning process can remain inclusive when different priorities and views for the future of the common project emerge?
This simulation game on commons intends to bring people who participate in the GROWL programme in front of the aforementioned questions and practical problems. There is a double aspiration here. On the one hand through these games the participants will have the opportunity to understand better the dynamics and the complexity which exists in every “real step” for the transition towards a different world and on the other hand through the game and the possible flourishing collective inventiveness of the participants, useful solutions can be explored for similar problems. The idea is pretty simple. In a “degraded” neighborhood of the city of Thessaloniki there is a big enclosed piece of public land. This piece of land is not used by anyone permanently, although sometimes the local police forces use it for their vehicles and other similar reasons. The municipality tries to find a profitable future for this piece of land. Some argue that it should become a green park but the most argue that it should become a building to host public services. Accidentally some residents of the area decide to transform it into a common space. By appropriating the space they, gradually, transform the place in park, vegetable garden and space for solidarity economy activities.
After some months and the first enthusiasm which followed the first months of this social project, the first problems emerge. As the park receives fame, more and more people want to use it. Some of them do not want to participate in the assemblies and they do not agree with their decisions. Through their activities they “disrupt” the harmony of the venture and they are accused that they alienate the character of the commons. Furthermore, through the activities of the solidarity economy the owners of the small commercial shops in the surrounding area complain that the new activities threaten their shops. In addition, within the group of people who had started the venture there is a big conflict about the future of the park as well as for the ways to respond to the “external’ threats.
GROWL participants will be divided in smaller groups in order to represent the different social actors. Inspired also by techniques from the “forum theater” this simulation game will try to describe solutions for the aforementioned problems and challenges.
VISIONING EXERCISE: What kind of Degrowth do we want?
A brief simulation of the Future Search Method
by Michalis Theodoropoulos, MSc. (iliosporoi network)
This Visioning Exercise is inspired by the Future Search method (http://www.futuresearch.net/) of participatory planning.
What is Future Search?
The Future Search (FS) method consists of organising participatory visioning and planning meetings that help people to build up a mutual understanding, to agree upon a common ground and to transform their capability for action very quickly1
A Future Search Workshop (FSW) typically involves 40 to 80 people who share a common purpose and set of questions about a topic. They convene in a meeting and their activity is framed into five activities of two to four hours each, 16 to 20 hours in total: to review the past, explore the present, create desired future scenarios, discover common ground, and make action plans.
People adopt FS for three main purposes:
- To create a shared vision and action plan for an organization, network or community
- To enable all stakeholders to act on common ground and take responsibility for their own plans
- To help people implement an existing vision that they have not acted on together
The requirements for FS success are:
- Get the “whole system in the room”, inviting a significant cross-section of all parties with a stake in the outcome. Interdependent stakeholders should meet who among them have: Authority to act on their own; Resources of time, money, access and influence; Expertise – social, economic, technical – in the topic; Information that others need; Need, that is to say that they are people who will be affected by the outcome (these words form the acronym ARE IN).
- Explore the “whole elephant” (global context) before seeking to fix any part (local action): There is another way to say this, i.e. get everybody talking about the same world. That means a world that includes every participant’s perceptions. The “whole elephant” refers to an old Sufi tale of six blind men who went to meet an elephant. Each felt a different part. Indeed, in any conversation we are blind to others’ perceptions unless we pool experiences to create a shared reality. Each person thinks alone that the whole is only a larger version of their part. Before learning to see the whole together, you need to “unlearn” your partial vision of the world.
- Focus on common grounds and future action, not problems and conflicts: in a Future Search, participants are told that their task is finding common ground and planning future action. Problems and conflicts are treated as information, not action items, and people are suggested not try to change each others minds. They are encouraged to express their differences so that everybody knows where they stand, but energy is put into staking out the widest common ground that all can stand on.
- Have people self-manage their own groups and be responsible for action: A Future Search meeting avoids long speeches, exercises, instruments, or games based on external diagnoses of what the group needs. Self-managing small groups are instead extensively used, where everybody shares information, interprets it, and decides on action steps. Small group work is implemented to divide up the tasks – using a discussion leader, a recorder, a reporter, and a timekeeper – and to rotate people roles during the meeting. Under these conditions most people will take responsibility for what they learn and what they do from the new learning.
Workshop process sample
STEP 1 - Introduction
Facilitator introduces the principle tasks and goals of the workshop.
STEP 2 - Review the past
Participants explore key events in the histories of themselves, their community and the world, and present them on three time-lines.
STEP 3 - Explore the present.
Trends affecting the community are explored and illustrated by creating a mind map. Groups share what they are proud of and sorry about.
STEP 4 - Create ideal futures.
Visions developed in small groups and acted out to everyone. Barriers to the visions identified.
STEP 5 - Identify common vision
Shared vision identified, first by small groups and then by everyone. Projects to achieve are defined.
STEP 6 - Make action plans.
Projects planned by self-selected action groups. Public commitments to actions are identified and drafted.
GROWL VISIONING EXERCISE
What kind of degrowth do we want?
STEP 1
Introduction (5 minutes)
STEP 2 – review the past (Q: what events from the past have shaped you and the world around you? Where do we come from? Highlights and milestones)
Ask people to depict landmark dates and events from the past that formed the state of the world and the capitalist/ consumer society as we know it today. Also important dates for the degrowth movement and their personal development. Discuss in pairs (interviews) and write titles onto post-it stickers (each person takes note of the other's input). Draw timeline and participants put stickers on it. (25 minutes)
STEP 3 – explore the present (Q: How past practices have shaped present trends? Which external trends do we have to face? What are we doing about? What you are proud of and sorry about?)
Split into 4 groups. Ask people to discuss and write on posters (in titles) convivial/ degrowth/ traditional technologies and practices, that societies have followed until the impact of capitalism and how these have affected present trends. Also to write, on a second column on the posters, capitalist practices that have great impact on present trends. Participants share what they are proud of and sorry about. Groups do 2 minute presentations and stick posters on wall. Match common practices. (30 minutes – 20 minutes in groups, 10 minutes presentations)
STEP 4 – create desired future (Q: Where do we want to go? How is the ideal future you envision? What kind of degrowth do we want?)
Ask people to imagine themselves in 2030 in an ideal degrowth future. Then to write a letter (1 page) to a friend to describe this ideal future by providing details on society, economy, environment, culture, education, institutions, research and technology. (20 minutes)
STEP 5 – discover common vision (Q: Where do we have common ground and consensus? What is your common vision for the future of a degrowth society?)
Split into 4 groups and each group develops a narrative based on key concepts involved in the individual letters. Each group takes notes in a concise manner (bullet points and titles), focused on solutions, policies, tools and strategies, trying to establish a common vision for the future. Presentations from groups (5 minutes each group). Draw mindmap. Collection of personal letters. (40 minutes, 20 minutes group work and 20 minutes presentations)
STEP 6 – make action plan (Q: What are the projects, measures and next steps? What tools, strategies and actions will you pursue for full scale Degrowth implementation?)
Plenary discussion to identify strategies and action plans for full implementation of degrowth at local, national and international levels. Grouping of common tools and strategies, voting on most favorite action plans.
Needs:1 facilitator – time keeper; 1 assistant; 1 rapporteur; 1 recorder; Post-it papers; A4 and A3 papers; Markers, pens; 1 camera to record; duck-tape
The course through the eyes of its participants : photos and stories
A photostream is available here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/iliosporoi/sets/72157652341714464
// TODO: Put this as link inside the course area and put it together with the description and QR-Code mentioned above
Conclusions
The political proposals of degrowth, including those of Solidarity Economy offer a realistic yet revolutionary alternative for exiting the multifaceted crisis, in response to the TINA (There Is No Alternative) austerity doctrine, which the neo-liberal ideology is spreading. Proposals such as: less working hours but work for everyone, guaranteed minimum income, local currencies and local non-profit micro-finance institutions, small self-managed cooperatives and banks, barter exchange systems, taxation on advertising and ad restrictions from public spaces, transformation of road infrastructure into cycling, walking and open spaces, regulatory and tax incentives to discourage over-consumption of disposable products and under-consumption of multipurpose products, re-distributional and ecological taxation, de-commercialization of politics and strengthening of the active and direct involvement of citizens in decision-making (International Conference on Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, 2010), might seem radical to some but are more than feasible for many as they are widely applied all over the world.
Degrowth and Solidarity Economy by definition can only function critically and detached from neo-liberal capitalism, "free markets" and "free trade", the unequal distribution of resources and the abuse of rights and freedoms. They can only be opposed to violence, war, poverty, racism and nationalism. Solidarity economy practices are a daily revolution, the creation of another world here and now, a realistic utopia based on the principles of sustainable degrowth that places up-front concepts such as cooperation, solidarity, need reconstruction, symbiosis, offering and sharing. It is the creation of a new anthropological type (Kolempas and Billas, 2012) who will again give importance to small, inherent human values such as joy, vision, dignity, quality and meaning of life. That is, a redefinition of well-being.
At a practical level, the movement of degrowth gave a new impetus to the ecological movement, and was expressed radically through the development of many bottom up initiatives including those that consist solidarity economy. Initiatives which are offering everyday alternatives against the growth imaginary, which go beyond the crisis and the market economy: Eco-communities and eco-villages, reclaiming of agricultural land, occupation of inhabited buildings, co-housing, producer-consumer cooperatives, communal self-managed farms and orchards, permaculture and organic biodynamic cultivation, seed banks and seed exchanges, labor collectives, ethical banks, self-managed social centers, local exchange networks of products and services without money, time banks, alternative educational and cultural structures, public assemblies and participatory budgets at community level, are tested proposals which compose a multiform and diverse puzzle of alternatives in response to the multiple crises we are experiencing.
All of the above constitute everyday cracks upon the imaginary of capitalism (Holloway 2010) which we must multiply if we wish to change the world without taking Power (Holloway 2002), according to the imperatives of degrowth, autonomy and ecology. We must think about bottom up democracy, collectively, like in the struggles against the privatization of water or against gold mining, or simply as a daily struggle in order to live with dignity. The world is full of these cracks, as well as, full of important challenges ahead such as climate change, reduction of biodiversity, nuclear pollution and the depletion of natural resources.
With Degrowth and Solidarity Economy practices we can overcome the crisis, which is a result of unsustainable growth that signals the failure of “economism” (Kallis et al. 2009) and to seek a radical transformation at the individual and collective levels in order to reduce the pressures upon human societies and ecosystems. We have to overcome the imaginary of growth, passing from the macro-economics of markets and surplus trading to the solidarity- cooperative economy of natural resources, from the debt crisis and the neo-feudal memorandums, to a self-organized, egalitarian society, a re-distributional, decentralized economy, and self-managed local structures, aiming to self-sufficiency, well-being, ecological balance and freedom. As it has been nicely said, degrowth and ecology does not mean a return to the past and primitivism, but a return to a utopian future which we envision and anticipate, a society of equality, isonomy, ecological wisdom and sharing.
Degrowth and Solidarity Economy are not a panacea, nor they are an easy and quick procedure. Yet, this is a different, creative way to change our lives for the better, to experience the reasons why one deserves to live freely and hope for a better future with dignity. We have a historic opportunity to plant the seeds so that the utopia of today will become the reality of tomorrow.
Reference list
Apart from the references used in this module, we enclose below some useful background reading material that has been uploaded in the GROWL website: https://co-munity.net/growl/courses/solidarity-cooperative-economy
1The Future Search Workshop (FSW) derived from two models: the German Zukunftswerkstatt (“Workshop of the Future”) which was designed to allow ordinary citizens to participate in urban planning and the North-American Future Search Conference which aimed at accompanying organisations in the search of a common ground on which building a better future (Weisbord M., Janoff S., 2010)
Chapter authored by by F. Gillet and M. Terzo, Haute Ecole de Bruxelles, Belgium
Introduction
Agroecology is in the same time a large panel of techniques (local agriculture, organic-agriculture, permaculture, resilient agriculture ….), a critical look on those techniques with a theoretical reflexion on political, economical, cultural, social, ecological, human … levels and at the end also a philosophy that could be simply summarized as “an art of connecting and balancing agricultural activities and their ecological dimension in the everyday life”.
An important need of agroecology is to connect people together because they have to get out of the industrial and productive paradigm organised only on a managerial perspective. A possible alternative is thus cooperation between partners at the different levels of a more local, organic, resilient system. Cooperation means that people know each other better that only through money and business exchanges. They develop trust based on real relations, at least on the agricultural level but most of the time also in the everyday life and in the conscience of the common good.
We‘ll see in this training two dimensions of agroecology, the urban and the rural ones.
The training starts with a rural experience, by living in a farm that is today an ecovillage where agroecological dimension is present through vegetables production, goats milk production, organic bakery, organic food selling … but where a community of 40 people is also living and sharing a large space where several apartments or houses were built in addition to the original farm building. The aim is to reflect how agroecology fits in those several professional activities, how the common life is organized and what the interactions between both professional and common lives are. This is a first approach of the social dimension.
The second part of the training takes place in Brussels by visiting several projects. The urban farm called “Nos Pilifs” is a social economy enterprise employing workers with disabilities. Another urban farm in the city of Evere welcomes young workers for a practice placement of six months allowing them to learn the first steps of organic-agriculture. The district of Haren (North of Brussels) is another place where a tradition of urban gardening exists for one century. We there encounter activists (patatist movement) living on a place in Haren where a project of building a mega-prison is a real danger for maintaining this urban gardening tradition.
A TTT (training the trainers) day takes place at the end of the training. This day aims to see how the participants learned through the proposed activities and visits and how to have a reflection on the several methodologies used.
This document “social dimension of agroecology” aims to inform you about how this training happened, proposing you different tools allowing to organize such a training or a part of it in another context where it could be useful.
1.1 What is agroecology?
Formerly, agroecology is a new way of rethinking agricultural practices trough the knowledge of ecology (Altieri 1987). Here raise several other questions: what is ecology, why and how should we integrate its principles to the conventional agriculture?
Ecology is the scientific analysis and study of interactions among organisms and their environment, such as the interactions organisms have with each other and with their abiotic (soil, water, climate...) environment1. But since the Green Revolution, to increase agricultural productions, men constantly tried to overcome the constraints imposed by the natural environment. They changed the soil structure by the tillage and mechanization, and the soil composition by adding fertilizers, lime, pesticides... These changes have killed the natural macro and microbial life of the soil or they drastically disrupted the balance between these living organisms. They also conduct to global soil erosion. Fields are nowadays strictly artificial areas disconnected from their surrounding (semi-)natural environment. These fields even act on the environment as a trap where animals or plants which fall into it eventually die there.
According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005), it is now assumed that the global food system is a major source of land, forests, fish stocks, biodiversity and water degradation with most of the ecosystem services degraded or unsustainably managed2. These ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. They include supporting services such as nutrient recycling, primary production and soil formation ; provisioning services of wild food, water, biomass, medicinal resources, natural fertilizer… ; regulating services such as climate regulation, air and water cleaning, waste decomposition… ; and cultural services for sciences, education, ecotourism, wellness, leisure activities, and even spiritual experiences.
For instance, the use of insecticides to protect crops from pests also kills their pollinators (Potts et al., 2010). Reducing diversity and abundance of pollinators not only decreases the crop production (Kevan & Phillips 2001) but also affects the reproduction of insect-pollinated wild plants (Biesmeijer et al. 2006). This loss of wild plant biodiversity then affects the abundance and biodiversity of their pollinators, and thereby decreases the crop production. But the use of insecticides is not the only cause of disappearance of pollinators. Because of the massive use of chemical fertilizers in the fields, the nitrogen cycle is disrupted and the amount of available nitrogen for plants is 20 to 40 higher than the natural fallout, even in semi-natural areas. This large amount of nitrogen favours grasses, which are wind-pollinated plants, to the detriment of entomophilous plants that feed pollinators. The almond trees orchards in the US are an extreme example of this vicious circle. Their 130,000 hectares of almond trees cultivated in California now require the rent of 2 million honey bee hives in February to supply to lose of the wild bees (Summer & Boriss 2006).
As seen from this example, conventional farming techniques do not only affect the biodiversity of cultivated land, but also the whole environment, even to the detriment of the services that this environment can provide to the farmers.
The loss of biodiversity and soil erosion is not the only threat that conventional agriculture places on us. It is also engaged in the climate change and the energy crisis. For instance, the intensive rearing of cattle produce a significant amount of methane, a gas involved in the greenhouse effect leading to the global warming. And the production of one tone of nitrogen fertilizer requires a ton of oil equivalent.
One could also mentions the groundwater pollution by nitrates or the public health problems caused by pesticides widely used on fruits and vegetables or by the use of antibiotics required by intensive breeding.
After why, let see now how agroecology can offer an alternative.
Agroecology is based on a set of principles that involve different methods and techniques and that operate at three levels. These principles are summarised and completed by Stassard and collaborators (Stassard et al., 2012). They all challenge the productivity-narrative, based on biotechnology, for a sufficiency narrative based on agroecology. The three levels are: the production system in the strict sense, the food system in a broader sense, and the relationship between food production and society as a whole. At those three levels, agroecology promotes alternatives for a sustainable farming that is more independent, more self-sufficient, and so more resilient.
At the production system level, Gliessman (1998) suggest to exceed the scale of the cultivated plot to take an interest in the whole farming system. In line with this idea, Perfecto & Vandermeer (2010) suggest an integrated management of biodiversity with food production, making the farmer a land sharing rather than a land sparing manager. These ideas led to what is now called the integrated farming3 for a more sustainable farming.
At the cultivated plot scale, agroecology aims to drastically reduce the amounts of non-renewable external inputs and tillage techniques, which are cause of soil degradation. Chemical fertilizers can be replaced by natural fertilizers (manure, compost, leguminous crops, green manures). Chemical pesticide can be replaced by biological pest control. Field margins can be created to sustain wildlife and so revive part of the natural ecosystem services (pollination, pest control by natural parasites and predators as birds, natural barriers against wind and water erosion...). Winter planting stores the fertilizer surpluses, protects the soil from erosion and leaching, protects the soil microflora and microfauna during the winter and promotes the growth of spring planting by releasing fertilizers and by aerating and structuring the soil. Thanks to zero tillage seeding, the structure and wild life of the soil is preserved. All those techniques lead to the organic farming.
At a larger scale, farmers can also sustain biological synergies that promote the ecosystem services by increasing the genetic diversity, the species varieties, in time and space. These synergies should take place not only inside the farming system but also with its surrounding environment.
The principles of agroecology also consist in a global reduction of energy use, especially the use of petrol to favour renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar, water or biomass energy, the parsimonious use of water and the reduction of waste production (e.g. biomass recycling).
Finally, while each of the methods and principles mentioned here can be applied in conventional farming, agroecology exists only through their combined application.
At the second level, agroecology also deals with the “food system” because the current industrial model of food production and distribution is no more sustainable. This larger food system scale takes into account the spinneret and consumer organization dimensions, and the socio-economic and political dimensions of the construction of food systems (Francis et al., 2003). The principles of sustainability and self-sufficiency mentioned above are now applied to the distribution and marketing of food. New spinnerets appear, promoting local and seasonal foods, peasant, organic and urban farming. Consumers are organised in joint and solidarity purchasing groups to sustain local farmers. Some stores offer foods in bulk to reduce packaging, ugly fruits and vegetables to reduce wastage... We see reborn the working, community and shared gardens and orchards.
The third level of agroecology deals with the relationship between the food system and the society as a whole by taken into account the views, wishes and experiences of the citizens, consumers and practitioners. If agroecology mainly promote alternative ways of productions and distributions, it also an active fight against the conventional methods that contributes to the destruction of our environment, create inequity and unfairness, do not respond to a wise and sustainable use of natural resources. Every citizen should therefore refuse, transform, or even innovate, the proposals made by the experts, whether they are producers, distributors, scientists or politicians. It is on this principle that are formed activists, consumers, neighbourhoods and peasants organisations. For this, agroecology promotes deliberative forums, public debate, dissemination of knowledge and the construction of participatory research mechanisms that guarantee the scientific approaches while taking into consideration the expectations of everyone involved (Stassart et al. 2012).
1.2 What is the social dimension of agroecology?
In a large definition we can use the word “social” as the expression of the relations among the living beings. For instance, certain non-human animals as most of the mammals are called “social species”.
This point helps us to see that the word “social” includes a reflection on what happens among the living beings. We can call it “interrelational perspective”.
From a more anthropological view, the word “social” is more connected to the collective and community dimensions:
How are the groups organised, and how do they work?
What are the people doing when they act together?
What is the difference and the complementarity between acting alone and acting together and when is this balanced or not (we can call this "I/C paradox")?
In the common sense the word “sociality” connects to the word society. This connection explains for example the concept of “social security”, a social warranty that a society gives to their members. It may also connect to a little society: a group of friends, a club, a group of interests (social events, social net…). It connects also with economic, cultural, political, educational and spiritual dimensions of a society.
We have also the concept of social work including several professions working in the social field (working with and for people facing social challenges and social problems).
In the juridical sense, “social” can have ambiguous sense : it can connect to the relations between employers and employees (social lows, social conflicts…) or connect to relations between associates (social mandates).
Practical examples of bio-agriculture experiences
Let’s see in our case how this various social dimensions can be connected and give sense to the agroecological perspective in a degrowth context.
Let’s start our reflexion from 3 concrete cases, the stories of Marcus, of Dorian and Danielle, and of Gerard and Annelies.
Those 3 case stories came from a case study presented in “Agroécologie entre pratique et sciences sociales" (Agroecology between practice and social sciences).4
The presented persons were interviewed two times with a 10 years interval: once around 2001 and once around 2011.
Marcus and the “profitable organisation” perspective
Marcus is born in a farm. He is a 40 years old farmer at the first interview in 2001. He is coming from a large farmer’s family and has several brothers also farmers. One of them is involved in organic farming for several years now and convinced him about the profit he can make with this way of farming. Marcus then decided to shift 20% of his vast fields (350 ha) from “conventional” farming to organic farming (that means 70 ha).He is selling his organic meat and vegetables partly the supermarkets and partly to small distributors, local nets and markets. Business considerations are well present in the first interview. Marcus let us informed for example that he had to separate his farm in two different societies, one for the organic production and one for the conventional production, to avoid administrative problems. His choice for continuing to produce partly in conventional is linked to the opportunity of keeping the interesting quotas he has for producing beets. He is also limiting the working time for collaborators to a half time job (except short time jobbers in the high season). He is using machines in a kind of organic-industry-machines compromise. In the second interview, he is still speaking about business and industry but brings also more ecological considerations such as: quality of food, taste of food, importance that his family can eat with pleasure the farm production. The question of food security and social health is now well present.
Dorian and Danielle : “interaction between ecological and business principles”
Dorian was 40 in 2001 and managed the grand-parents farm (8 Ha) for 15 years. He was first working with a full-time employee in the organic-dynamic perspective. He was producing meat, milk and cereals, and baking bread. He was selling those products on his farm and on several local markets. During the interview, he spoke a lot about his ecological convictions: his concept of an agriculture working with -and not against- nature, about his choice of paying somebody for baking by hand and not with a machine, about keeping a farm at a human dimension, about non growing, about non specializing. He said “I don’t want to do just milk, just bread. The farm is like a living being, it is not only an arm or a leg…”. He preferred that people came to buy directly on the farm.
Because of his convictions, he was acting a little bit differently than his colleagues. He thought it was not useful to calculate too much or to produce mountains of butter. It was enough to do the amount of butter needed “here and now” to make people happy. He liked to take time for those who came to the farm, to show them what he was doing instead of “paying for advertising that will bring very few”…
We find in his speech critical about ecological as well as industrial (not calculating too much) and business (advertising) perspectives.
Ten years later, Dorian met Danielle, his new companion. She developed a cheese production. They are now selling all their products on a real little shop on the farm. They are also selling other products than their own ones: grocery, organic production from other farmers, fair-trade products. Ecological references are thus going on, with this specificity of linking local selling and fair-trade products, of linking local space and Fairtrade…
In 2008, a governmental food agency control detected an inacceptable level of PCB (polychlorobiphenyles) in their milk. They were obliged to stop the milk and cheese production during several months. This was a very difficult episode, financially and morally. They could finally go on thanks to the help, gives and loans of friends and family. This was the time they set up their own little shop on the farm.
Even if they are still critical in 2011 concerning the business, trade and industry principals, once more they still find positive references to its principals. This is especially the case when Dorian explains that after the control they had to find “researches” to “find solutions” (industrial principal). One of those solutions was to organise concerts and meals in the farm. Another initiative was to welcome school classes in the farm. In the more strict agricultural way, they are now thinking how to value the milk or how to keep animals as long as possible, to transform them by themselves and to sell the flesh in their shop in vacuum packing (business and merchant principal).
Gerard and Annelies: from business to social perspective
Gerard is a farmer’s son. At the first interview in 2003, he was 50. He started his career as employee of railway, a job he retrospectively considers as a routine. He decided then to move with his new wife Annelies, a woman who had a sociocultural professional career. They were working with two part-time collaborators on 2.5 hectares. They created an informal association with other producers for a better coordination of their vegetables productions, managing the varieties, quantities and prices. They created together an organic-shop and provided vegetables baskets to the households of the region.
At the time of the second interview, they distanced themselves from this association, preferring to be more deeply engaged in social and ecological aspects with fewer partners. They developed then other activities: bed and breakfast in the farm, collaboration with the village school to train children in organic-agriculture, welcoming young drug-addicts for their social reinsertion. Because Annelies had a life stories techniques training, she proposed individual and collective training to women farmers.
As we can see, ecological and social principles are well present in this case. Compared to the preceding interviews, these principles appears in the option of producing various vegetables on a small scale, of using workmanship more than buying tools and machines and of selling on site. Social and ecological preoccupations have even growth in the second interview in 2011. Distancing themselves with the producers association is justified by the desire to go deeper in sustainable, social and educative activities. When Annelies spoke about life stories, she presents them as a way to help women in rural area to keep a balanced life between the part dedicated to work and the part dedicated to other activities, between what they give to others and what they receive from them.
We can see in those three stories that several principles: agroecological - social -economical - industrial are interacting in different ways.
For a better understanding of those interactions let’s go through the stories with the following exercise.
Proposition of an exercise for looking on a project with the help of 7 criteria
For a better understanding of the social dimension of agroecological examples: organic agriculture, shared gardens, distribution nets, community projects, etc.
Top down (seeds legislation or sanitary controls) or bottom up (initiative of setting up an alternative shop or organising a participative certification net such as Ecovida experience in Brazil) Institutionalisation?
The question of localisation and delimitation: urban or rural area, a countryside where forest and fields are clearly separated or where both are imbricated ….?
Who are the different actors involved or to involve in the project?
What are the collective and/or community dimensions of the project?
A look to the history of a project helps to understand the triple relation between territories, institutions and actors of the project.
What is here the balance between, agroecological, economical, social and industrial dimensions
The exercise aims to share (in little groups) experiences and observations of agroecology, questioning the social dimension of them with those 7 criteria… and/or others.
In a second time you are invited to question the place where we are preparing questions for the inhabitants connected with those 7 criteria.
Content part
2.1 Kick of talk
Ideally this activity is presented by two persons: one should well know the place where the training takes place, the other one should keep in mind the whole program
Aim
Welcoming all the participants of the training and helping them to be comfortable with the schedule (program), living places (presentation of the working, sleeping and eating places) and with the other ones (helping the people to know each other).
Equipment needed and preparation
A room with chairs in circle. A flipchart to note information. Posters with detailed schedule of each day (remaining on the wall all along the training). A paper document with an overview on the schedule for each participant. Eventually, a beemer for presenting pictures of the place, schedule and documents.
Conduct of the activity (one hour)
Quick presentation of each participant (e.g. name and country). A deeper presentation including motivation and competences will be done later during the activity “Why degrowth?”
Presenting the place with all commodities and particularities.
Presenting the main rules of the place.
Overview of the whole schedule with the posters made for each day.
Answering the questions.
2.2. Dance and emotion
Ideally presented by two trainers called here
Aims, consistency with the theme and expectations
Starting training together about “social dimension of agroecology” it’s important that each person first remember “to be present to yourself and to the others as well as of the process of life that is going on through us as persons, collective and community”.
We‘ll go through body and soul exercises that help us and give us a possibility of moving as we feel it and experimenting the feelings and emotions we are going through during this sequence.
Equipment needed and preparations
A large room with a floor allowing dance and body activities, good audio equipment adapted to the size of the group (between 15 and 30 people). A lighting that can be very bright or more discrete depending of the different moments of the activity. A number of 1m long sticks (one by participant). Each participant has to wear clothes that allowed free movement.
Conduct of the activity (60-90 minutes)
- Walking …. Slowly…. very slow …. Little bit quicker, quick, quicker ……and coming back to slower, slow and very slow. Danou
Presence to yourself…. Space …. Changing direction - Group awareness
Breathing - opening myself to my breath, getting deeper and slower, feeling what happens all along the breathing canal from noise and mouth to the deepest inside of the body. Breathing helps to feel! Air and voice: voice games – collective improvisation: voicing helps to express. Rhythms a connecting between the people. Rhythm, voice and movement help to feel a vital energy, a feeling of life. François
Sticks - let’s form two groups: the first is acting and the second is looking and observing what happens.
Playing with the sticks by pairs: A is the leader - B follows … or not…
Nobody is the leader - B is the leader
Games by 3 persons-groups
If there is some more time: games with wire Danou
Free sequence Games with feet and percussions Danou
Various Geometry…: following my own hand - first alone, than in groups of 2, 3, 4... until 6 !
Dances by six without touching each other but being connected! Danou
Big double circle - everybody looking to the inside of the circle. Feel and find yourself again after all those games. Closing the eyes and breathe again deeply and slowly.
Than each participant from inside are doing little steps to the left side during a certain time… then stop. Slowly the people in outside circle, keeping closed eyes, present their two hands with the palms up. The people in the inside circle let progressively their hands come into the hands of the other without forcing something. Each one contacts and encounters the other with respect. Be attentive to what is experienced and felt. François
Examples of outcomes
Better conscience of breathing in the immobility as in the movement allowing a better contact with oneself.
Discover of the pleasure of free voicing together connected with the pleasure of cooperation.
Discover of the necessary nuances in the interactions for having a good collective result trough the sticks game.
Experiencing different kinds of rhythms and the possibilities of harmonising them.
Experiencing emotions with other participants and exploring with them the possibility of expressing feelings and sensations after those experiences. (all dance games and especially the exercise with hands at the end).
How to evaluate ?
Have a precise observation of each participant and of the whole group dynamic during the activity. Look how people are entering and engaged in the activity.
At the end of the activity, all participants sit in circle. Then ask each of them to say a little word or a little sentence that express what he was experiencing during this activity.
. What is degrowth? – a role-play
Aims, consistency with the theme and expectations
The purpose of the role-play is to enable participants to realise that:
- there are a lot of arguments in favour of degrowth;
- that degrowth takes place at various levels (economic, social, political, scientific, educational, local ...)
- that the various actors involved in degrowth can have different or even contradictory motivation
It also aims to teach participants how to defend their own convictions, while remaining open-minded to the convictions of the others. So they are placed in a situation where they have to argue the conviction of a category of the population with particular interests.
Because the defenders of degrowth are often passionate people, their speech can sometimes seem radical or sanctimonious. This role-play aims to teach them to be more responsive to others and less moralistic.
Equipment needed and preparations
A room where participants can meet in small subgroups of 4 to 5 people.
Labels on which are written the name of a particular category of the population: scientist, politician, economist, citizen, artist …
One envelops for each subgroup with a single representative of each population category on labels.
Conduct of the activity
At first, a short presentation is given to remind participants why degrowth is needed for the survival of the human being and why our present western way of life is no longer sustainable without digging deeper in the social and economic gap that separates us from the rest of the world. The presentation can be found here.
Then, the facilitator gives the instructions of the role-play:
form groups of 4 to 5 people
each group receive an envelope with labels
each people picks a label in the envelope and must play the role indicate on the label
the role-play lasts 30 minutes during which each people has 5 minutes to argue why his character (scientist, artist, economist, activist, …) is the most important one to defend and promote degrowth.
How to evaluate ?
Main arguments for each character can be summarised on a flipchart. Meanwhile, the facilitator must not forget that the aim of the role-play is not really to find argument but learning to combine with the views of the others.
2.4. Discovery of the social life at the farm “Vévy Wéron” part I
Aims, consistency with the theme and expectations
The main objective of this activity is to explore the social structure of the inhabitants of the farm Vévy Wéron. Through this activity, it’s attended to understand not only its current structure, but also how it emerged over time. It also aims to collect the motivations (philosophical, economical, societal...) of families to settle there, the incentives and disincentives of such a lifestyle, how they are selected and how they are integrated by the other families.
These aims are consistent with the theme of degrowth because they are related to the concepts of solidarity and sharing, of voluntary simplicity and resilience, and of environmental care and health.
Solidarity and sharing are mainly expressed in the social lifestyle of the farm. Voluntary simplicity is a personal matter. Environmental care and health are meanly assessed through the farming and food production activities.
Equipment needed and preparations
You need a room for the first part of the activities where participants can sit in a circle.
Participants should dress work clothing for an outdoor walk.
Conduct of the activity
A representative of farm residents is introduced in the room. For an hour, he exposes the history and rules of life of the farm. As he wished, he answers questions from participants during his presentation or at the end.
After a small break where participants are asked to dress with warm clothes, they are divided in subgroups of less than 10 people each for a guided tour of the farm. Voluntary inhabitants of the farm that are sufficiently fluent in English guide the subgroups for the tour. The maximum number of participants for each subgroup must not be too high in order to keep the tour convivial, not to afraid the guide (he’s not a professional guide), and to allow everyone to ask questions without being too oppressive for the guide.
Because each guide is an inhabitant of the farm with his own past, motivation and centre of interest, each tour is unique. As a result, after the guided tour, participants are invited during the teatime to share their experiences. Participants must also keep in mind that the information they collect from the guide will be use later in the TTT exercises.
2.5. Evening conference debate around the themes of degrowth and education
Aims, consistency with the theme and expectations
The goal of the first part of the conference debate evening is to remind the history and main foundations of the philosophy of degrowth through presentation given by a subject matter expert.
In a second part, as part of the “training the trainers” objectives, the participants are initiated to the guidance of a philosophy café oriented to the theme “degrowth and education”. The aim of this second part is to learn a technique of debate guidance were participants are asked to propose and debate solutions to a specific problem in a serene atmosphere that promotes innovations, critical thinking and collaboration.
It is expected from the participant to realise that the future trainer is not supposed to be an expert in degrowth. Nobody is supposed to be an “absolute” expert in all the action areas regarding degrowth (energy, pollution, mobility, gardening, recycling …). The role of the trainer is not to provide knowledge, he may if he can, but his main role is to manage the debates in order to make the participants aware of their own abilities to:
find solutions by themselves ;
find solutions thanks to the group, thanks to the sharing of resources and experiences ;
realise that there is not only one good solution, a unique way to get involved in degrowth.
Equipment needed and preparations
Time laps: 2 hours.
A room where participants can sit in a circle.
A flipchart or a blackboard and writing material.
A small paper sheet and a pencil for each participant.
Conduct of the activity
Part 1: conference
Time laps: 1 hour.
Part 2: philosophy café
Time laps: 1 hour.
The facilitator of the philosophy café gives a small sheet of paper and a pencil to each participant and asked him to write an answer to the question that will be asked. The answer must be short, as a single sentence, and personal. In our exercise, the question was “Which education for tomorrow's society in a context of degrowth?”
The answers are collected in a bag and given to the facilitator who randomly picks one in the bag and reads aloud. If needed, he may ask the writer for clarification.
Participants may intervene to argue the reasons for their approval or disapproval regarding the proposed solution. Participants who wish to speak should raise their hands. The facilitator distributes speech to allow everyone to express himself or herself.
When there is no more comment or after a while, the facilitator picks a new answer in the bag. In one hour, it is expected to consider 4 or 5 answers, no more.
During the last 10 minutes of the activity, the participants are asked to summarise the debate through a single word they loudly tell at the audience. Then, they can vote for the best word.
At the end, the facilitator summarizes the methodology so that participants are well aware of the procedure, the objectives and the role of the facilitator.
How to evaluate ?
- Were the participants loquacious, talkative ?
- Was each participant able to speak at least once?
-Did the chosen concepts stimulate the reflexion ?
- Does the final word satisfy everyone?
Examples of outcomes
No outcomes are expected because this philosophy café is just an exercise. But as a tool, the philosophy café is a good way to make people collaborate in finding solutions to simple problems.
2.6. Discovery of the social life at the farm “Vévy Wéron”
Aims, consistency with the theme and expectations
The main objective of this activity is to live part of the inhabitant’s everyday life at the farm Vévy Wéron. It aims to understand that community living offers many advantages but also involves obligations.
A secondary objective is to learn a technique or practice that is both related to degrowth and related social life in the farm.
Equipment needed and preparations
Well in advance, you need to negotiate with the inhabitants of the farm a list of workshop to be proposed to the participants, and the maximum number of participants for each workshop. So, inhabitants have the time to schedule the workshop and to prepare the needed tools and material.
You need a room with a flipchart.
Participants should dress work clothing for outdoor work such as gardening.
Conduct of the activity
Participants register on a flipchart on which several outdoor or indoor workshops are listed. The maximum number of participants for each workshop is indicated on the flipchart.
The proposed workshops are manual works directed by the inhabitants of the farm and that are part of their normal work. It’s supposed to last two hours. In our course, the manual works were the followings:
To cut and dry nettles for feeding the donkeys.
To prepare the evening vegan meal with the cooker.
To prepare apple pies for the teatime.
To store wood for winter.
To build a wooden crate for composting pit toilet wastes.
To manufacture a puppet booth.
To help milking the goats.
To sort the apples in crates.
To help at the bakery.
During the workshop, the participants are expected to learn the technique, to understand its usefulness and its place in the life of the farm, and to understand how it fits in a degrowth process and agroecology. At the same time, they can continue the discussion with the inhabitants.
After the workshops, participants and inhabitants are invited the have a common teatime and diner during which everyone can share and compare their experience in a friendly atmosphere.
How to evaluate ?
- Are the discussions at the teatime or diner focused on – or enough connected to- the experiences lived by the participants during the workshops?
-What were the most deepened subjects in the discussions ?
- Are participants satisfied with their work?
- Do they exchange experiences among them or with the inhabitants?
2.7. Visit of the farm “Nos Pilifs”
Aims, consistency with the theme and expectations
- Presentation of a sheltered workshop for disabled people.
- Learning how a commercial company located in urban areas is concerned with the protection of the environment and how it is involved in agroecology.
- Show how to combine agroecology and social integration of disabled people.
Equipment needed and preparations
Here, we took contact with the farm well in advance in order to schedule our visit. The visit includes a presentation of the farm in a seminar room with a film and slides, a tour of the infrastructures guided with team leaders, and a vegetarian lunch prepared by disabled workers with organic or local food.
Participants should dress clothing for outdoor walk.
Conduct of the activity
Part 1 (one hour)
The general presentation of the farm is give through a film and slides in a seminar room equipped with the required video material. The film is available here (part I) and here (part II). A translation of the film is proposed here. The translation is loudly given simultaneously with the film.
The slide presentation about the place of agroecology at the farm is given here.
The participants are invited to ask questions at the end of the presentation but the questions session must be short. The participants are indeed told they may continue to ask questions during the guided farm tour.
Coffee and tea are offered before leaving the seminar room.
Part 2 (one hour)
The participants are divided into two or three subgroups for more conviviality. They are guided through the different buildings and farm workstations. They can meet and discuss with the workers. The guide focuses his speech on agroecology, recycling, energy and water saving, and on the social integration of disabled people.
Part 3 (one hour and a half)
Nos Pilifs farm has a tavern where a room has been especially reserved for the participants. A vegetarian dish has previously been ordered. As every workstation of the farm, the dish at the tavern is prepared by disabled workers and is made of organic or local food.
How to evaluate ?
-Did the participants understand “What is done here ?”
-Did the participants have enough time and information to understand the constraints of such a company that must combine profitability, environmental concerns and integration of people with disabilities?
-Do they have time to discuss the choices made by the company and consider other solutions?
-How were the interactions after the film, during the visits, during the discussions, during the diner?
-Did they identify this experience as a work on “social dimension of agroecology” ?
2.8. Visit of Haren district and encounter with the “patatist activists”
Aims, consistency with the theme and expectations
Have a focus on the political dimension of agro-ecology. See how alternative projects bring lot of links between the participants creating a strong social dimension in those projects. Discover of different dimensions of political engagements (from “just a new little idea, simply different” to “hard activist movement” through agroecological projects.
Equipment needed and preparations
Taking contact with different people managing projects in this District: Evere urban farm, Haren Gardeners, Cultural center of Haren “De Linde”, Patatist representatives.
Participants should dress clothing for outdoor walk.
Beamer and documents ready for presentation in the cultural center.
Conduct of the activity (half a day – here from 14:00 to 22:00)
Travelling from Nos Pilifs to Evere urban farm - 30 min
Visiting the Evere urban farm with Thomas, farmer-trainer in the project - 45 min
Debriefing of the visit in Circle - 15 min
Travelling from Evere to Haren - 30 min
Visiting the district of Haren guided by Haren urban gardeners and inhabitants, discussing with them about the agroecological state of the district on the way to the Kelbeek - 60 min
Encounter with patatists in the Kelbeek and visiting the infrastructures built on the place where the construction of a mega prison is planned. - 30 min
Discussion with them in the tent: Who are the patatists? - Story of the movement from the first day where they planted potatoes in this field (april 2014) with 400 persons until today (November 2014) with the construction of more permanent infrastructures for occupying the place – Who are the persons engaged in this movement and how do they live? -what is the impact of the movement on the political authorities responsible for the prison project? - Connection between patatists and the movements “Campesina” and “Landless peasants”? – What is the future of the movement ?
All this discussion is happening in a circle with a facilitator helping for questions and answers, exchanges of ideas and debates to be done in a respectful and open mind perspective - 60 min
Travelling to Haren cultural center “De Linde” for a conference by Elisabeth Grimmer (Inhabitant of Haren) aiming to synthesize all the problematic of the project “Prison of Haren” including a discussion with the audience (participants of Growl training and some other participants invited) - 60 min
Buffet – Dinner allowing easy exchanges between participants - 60 min
Travelling to the sleeping place (here at the Haute Ecole de Bruxelles) - 60min
Outcomes
Discover of agroecological projects on a concrete way by visiting them on the field and encountering the people who are in the center of the action.
Awareness of the tension lived by the Haren inhabitants between the gardening tradition they have and the planned mega-project.
Encounter with Haren inhabitants through discussions, visiting their district and sharing a meal with them.
Experimenting the core of an activist movement and looking on their motivations, engagement and modes of action.
How to evaluate ?
-Did we have a good time management to have an interesting look on the several projects?
-Was this succession of visits good balanced between “adventure and comfort”?
-How were the interactions during the visits, during the discussions, during the conference, during the diner?
-Is the problematic of Haren clear in the mind of the participants?
2.9. Training the Trainers (TTT) – I – World café
Introduction
At the early beginning of the course, participants were given the “Train-the-Trainer module” document (available here). A short presentation of the document is given. People are told that they can use the back of the sheets to take notes during the activities. They are also told that their notes will be very important for the TTT day.
Aims, consistency with the theme and expectations
The main objective of this world café is to allow each participant to be aware about the different elements that should be taken into account when preparing its own activity. This awareness is done through three analysis grids: analysis of the key levers and obstacles; analysis of the environmental issues; analysis of the global brain.
The analysis grid of the key levers and issues consists of a series of questions to ask oneself to properly prepare its activity.
- For my project, which educational methods?
- People involvement?
- Practical scenarios in learning?
- Citizen-based approaches?
- What is the motivation of the people?
- Which support from the management and from de colleagues?
- Which partnerships with other organisations?
- How much time is dedicated to coordination?
- Which material and financial supports?
- Which support from referees and/or from people from the outside?
- Which communication means?
- Which consistency?
The Environmental issues analysis grid aims to allow the trainer to be aware that there are many fields of action or target audiences, or to ensure that all fields of action and target audiences are taken into account by the training. These fields of action or target audiences are the followings:
The global brain analysis grid aims to allow the trainer to be aware that people think and learn in different way. Some parts of the brain dominate the others, and therefore people are more receptive to certain arguments or sensitive to certain approaches.
There are four main types of brain, depending on what they value most (more information here – in French):
INFORMATION I value knowledge | IMAGINATION I value intuition |
EXPERIENCE I value practical action | FEELINGS I value sensitivity |
People who value knowledge are used to understand and learn thanks to simple oral or visual presentations (lectures, courses, books, demonstration, visits...).
People who value intuition perform in creative workshops where they are free to create and imagine.
People who value practical action do not just need to see or to ear but they must also practice to learn. Cooking, building a wooden crate for composting pit toilet wastes, manufacturing a puppet booth… are such practical activity we organised.
People who value sensitivity need to touch thinks or to share with the others in a convivial atmosphere to live and to feel emotions. They mostly learn and memorise when things are full of emotions. Petting goats, listen to a moving testimony, having fun at teatime, shearing meal of cooking together are such activities that can bring emotions.
Equipment needed and preparations
A large seminar room where subgroups of 4 to 5 people can sit at round tables.
Large sheets of paper and colour pencils.
Adhesive gum or tacks to hang paper sheets on the room's wall.
Conduct of the activity
Part 1 (half an hour): levers and obstacles
People are invited to sit at round tables in subgroups of 4 to 5 people. A large sheet of paper is given for each table. The sheet is previously divided in two columns (levers on the left side – obstacles on the right side) and shows a central label with the title “Projects or places visited”.
People are invited to fill both columns of the sheet with what they consider as levers or obstacles to a single or the whole projects and places visited during the past few days. They can fill it by their own way: with words, short sentences, drawings...
At the end, all the sheets are fixed on the room’s wall and people are invited to browse all the sheets. The aim of the display is to find the important items and synthesise them.
As an alternative to the display of sheets, a person may be designated as spokesman of the table. For the following analysis grid, all the people are changing table, except the spokesman. The latter then made a report to new members of what has been done by his group. A discussion can then take place in order to find the important items and synthesise them. A new spokesperson is then nominated for the next analysis grid.
Part 2(half an hour): environmental analysis grid
Same methodology than part 1. The environmental issues analysis grid is stuck in the centre of the sheet and the pie areas of the grid are extended by lines to the edges of the sheet. The theme of the grid (here “agroecology”) is written in the central circle of the grid. In our exercise, the participants have to fill in the pie areas in order to answer the following question: “What have we done, see, or learned about agroecology during our course that could be related with the different issues mentioned on the grid?”. The answers could deal with activities, feelings, concepts, people, methodology…
Part 3 (half an hour): global brain
Same methodology than part 1. A symbol evocating the brain is stuck in the centre of the sheet. The sheet is divided in for quarters that represent the four types of the global brain. In our exercise, the participants have to fill in the quarters with the activities of the week that mostly fit with one of the four categories of the grid.
Examples of outcomes
Here are examples of outcomes from the three grids.
Part 1: example of levers and obstacles analysis grid
Part 2: example of environmental analysis grid
Part 3: example of global brain analysis grid
How to evaluate?
Analysis grids can be used both for preparing and evaluating the activities. When preparing and filled in by the trainer, it can warn him that some dimensions or target audiences are not taken into account. At the end of the course (or activity), it can be filled in by the participants of the training as an evaluation tools for themselves and for the trainer.
2.10. Training the Trainers (TTT) II “Be in the trainer position”
In the end of this training, as an “open conclusion” participants are invited to choose individually and to discuss in little groups of 3 – 4 persons a subject they would like to present in the position of the trainer (individually or in binomes…). This theme can be choosed in the different subjects already presented this week or can be a new subject (connected with the week theme “social dimension of agroecology”).
The focus is double:
- on the content of the presentation (what’s about?)
- on the methodology: what is the form of the training (presentation, game, interactive exercise, art performance…)?
This group work will be a starter for developing ideas by participants and help them to take the position of trainer in their own contexts.
At the end of this sequence, we can experiment one or two proposed trainings in the form of micro trainings (15 min activity – 15 min debriefing).
References
Altieri, MA 1987, Agroecology: the scientific basis of alternative agriculture. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, USA.
Biesmeijer, JC, SPM Roberts, M Reemer, R Ohlemüller, M Edwards, T Peeters, AP Schaffers, SG Potts, R Kleukers, CD Thomas, J Settele & WE Kunin 2006, “Parallel declines in pollinators and insect-pollinated plants in Britain and the Netherlands”, Science, vol. 313, no. 5785, pp. 351-354.
Francis, R, G Lieblein, S Gliessman, TA Breland, N Creamer, R Harwood, L Salomonsson, J Helenius, D Rickerl, R Salvador, M Wiedenhoeft, S Simmons, P Allen, M Altieri, C Flora & R Poincelot 2003, “Agroecology the ecology of food systems”, Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, vol. 22, no. 3; pp. 99-118.
Gliessman, S 1998, Agroecology: ecological Processes in Sustainable Agriculture, Chelsea, MI: Ann Arbor Press.
Kevan, PG & TP Phillips 2001, “The economic impacts of pollinator declines: an approach to assessing the consequences”, Ecology and Society, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 8, [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol5/iss1/art8/
Perfecto, I & J Vandermeer 2010, “The agroecological matrix as alternative to the land sparing/agriculture intensification model”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 107, no. 13, pp. 5786-5791.
Potts, SG, JC Biesmeijer, C Kremen, P Neumann, O Scheiger & WE Kunin 2010, “Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers”, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 345-353.
Stassart, PM, P Baret, J-C Grégoire, T Hance, M Mormont, D Reheul, D Stilmant, G Vanloqueren & M Visser 2012, “L'agroécologie : trajectoire et potentiel pour une transition vers des systèmes alimentaires durables”, pp. 25-51 in Van Dam, D, M Streith, J Nizet & PM Stassart, Agroécologie entre pratiques et sciences sociales, Educagri Editions, Dijon.
Summer, DA & H Boriss 2006, “Bee-economics and the leap in pollination fees”, Agricultural and Ressource Economics Update, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 8-11.
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecology - 10.IV.2015
2 Cited by Stassart et al., 2012.
4Denise Van Dam and Jean Nizet In Agroecologie entre pratique et sciences sociales pp 249-264 Ed Educagri
Authors: Eva Fraňková*, Nadia Johanisová*, Eva Malířová**
Editing, graphics: Nikola Fousková*** & the GROWL team
* Department of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, http://humenv.fss.muni.cz/english, emails: eva.slunicko@centrum.cz (Eva Fraňková), johaniso@fss.muni.cz (Nadia Johanisová)
** NaZemi (OnEarth), Kounicova 42, Brno, Czech Republic, www.nazemi.cz/contacts, email: eva.malirova@nazemi.cz
*** Society and Economy Trust, Údolní 33, Brno, Czech Republic, www.thinktank.cz, email: info@thinktank.cz
Introduction
The course „Degrowth and Local Economic Alternatives in the Czech Republic” took place in Valeč, Czech Republic from 18th till 22th of June 2014. Its aims were to provide both deeper understanding and practical experience of degrowth, to experience and reflect on participatory teaching methods applicable to degrowth, to create inspiring environment and facilitate meeting, sharing of ideas and discussion between people who seek an open-minded debate within a beautiful environment of the baroque village, castle and park of Valeč.
The course comprised of 4 main parts:
- Basics of degrowth (theory)
- Local economics alternatives (examples of practice) in the degrowth context
- Direct degrowth practice (work therapy)
- Train-The-Trainer (TTT) module for future trainers of degrowth
Most of the learning part made use of the so called Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT) approach. RWCT provides concrete, practical methods, techniques and strategies integrated into an open but compact system which aims at developing critical thinking and supporting active learning processes. It is based on constructivist pedagogy and builds on the principles of physiological functioning of the human brain which is reflected in the three-stage learning model of E-R-R: Evocation – Realization of meaning – Reflection.1
This chapter focuses on the specific topic of the course, i.e. local economic alternatives in the context of degrowth.2 It brings the theoretical introduction to the topic (section 2) and povides examples of activities with students/participants following the RWCT approach (section 3). The materials should be useful both for the participants of the GROWL courses and for anybody else who wants to learn more, and possibly also discuss and teach about degrowth. It is a work in progress, and thus any feedback, comments and suggestions for improvements are very welcomed (please contact the authors).
Alternative economic systems in context
text by Nadia Johanisová3
We are living in times of swift, unsettling changes, of multiple crises (ecological, energy, and economic) and, as some would say, of a collapse of civilization as we know it. The impact of human production and consumption on nature and its "resources" is the key element of our predicament. There is the issue of ecosystem destruction wrought by human agency (WRI 2005), and the depletion of non-renewable resources (minerals, fossil fuels) with a vast range of consequences (TES 2007; HEINBERG 2011). This chapter deals with some alternatives and possible pathways to a regeneration of our economic system. In getting a thorough grasp of the context and meaning of these alternatives it is nevertheless imperative to first briefly delve into some of the basic critiques of contemporary economic thought (and of its practical impacts) and to briefly introduce current approaches to money creation and circulation, both of which significantly influence the workings of other economic phenomena.
Economic growth
Mainstream economics faces a growing wave of criticism (JOHANISOVÁ, 1998). One of the basic critiques concerns its application of mathematical methodology to relationships within the vastly complicated system of society and nature, which leads to many oversimplifications and serious omissions. Economics is also criticised for posing as an objective (i.e. positive) science, which describes reality as it truly exists, devoid of any values or assumptions of its own.
However, there are fundamental unacknowledged and therefore un-reflected values of mainstream economics which influence the assumptions economic models are based on as well as the content of economic textbooks. Such assumptions are transformed into axioms that cannot be rebutted within the thought system of mainstream economics because they are not critically reflected. (GOČEV 2006). According to critics (e.g. DALY&COBB 1990, BINKA 2008), contemporary mainstream economics is thus in some respects not a science even in the positivist sense. On the contrary, some of its aspects resemble a belief or a religion. If we concentrate on these "religious" aspects of mainstream economics, there are at least three such unacknowledged values.
These three neoclassical values or axioms are the beliefs in economic growth, free trade and in the perfect competition model. In the following text we will focus on the first one – economic growth.4
Economic growth is mostly defined as growth of the monetary value of the goods and services produced within a certain time period (generally one year) in a given country. It is most often measured as the yearly increase of an indicator of this aggregate production, called the gross domestic product" (GDP).5 As economic growth is usually given as a percentage, its absolute values (i.e. the absolute numerical/financial value of yearly increase of the GDP) are not discussed. In contrast to classical economists who believed that economic growth would one day come to an end, current mainstream economics does not explicitly deal with the issue. The implicit assumption is that growth will continue ad infinitum. At the same time, mainstream economics does not question whether this is good or bad, or more precisely, it assumes that it is good.
Although mainstream economics does not criticise economic growth and on the contrary seeks to promote it, economic growth as an existing phenomenon (within the economy) as well as a phenomenon seen as desirable from the mainstream economic (and also political) standpoint has faced criticism over the past decades by a number of authors (i.e. MISHAN 1967/1994, SCHUMACHER 1973/2000, DALY&FARLEY 2004).
Main objections to the contemporary concept of growth include the following:
- Growth in GDP indicates growth in production, which implies a growth in non-renewable resource and energy consumption and growing pressure on ecosystems.6
- The GDP indicator does not measure the non-monetized/informal economy, e.g. caring for family members, mutual neighbourly help or subsistence farming. Economic growth thus may be accompanied by erosion of social networks and bonds and diminish possibilities for non-monetary means of satisfying human needs.
- Economic growth is not indicative of the carving-up of the economic pie, i.e. of fairness in distributing income, including the increased income gained from the extra products and services produced as part of growth. It may thus be accompanied by growing inequality of income within a given society.
- Data on GDP growth do not show what is actually being produced (e.g. Is it useful? What is its lifespan?), for whom it is produced (e.g. How long will the product travel to its final recipient?), and how it is produced (e.g. Will the producer get a just price? How does the production impact the environment?). Furthermore, opponents of economic growth argue that its continuation at the present rate is mathematically impossible: growth of the national product in percentages masks the exponential growth of its absolute value (any number growing at a certain percentage doubles at regular intervals). Permanent exponential growth is unsustainable by its very nature.
Creation of money, instability, and the growth imperative7
Today, most money is created in banks through a process known as multiplied expansion of deposits or fractional banking. A detailed description can be found in most mainstream economic textbooks which, however, do not discuss its implications.
Some Consequences of the Creation of Money via Debt:
- instability of the whole system — the money supply can grow quickly, but it can decrease quickly as well (if people, companies, or governments take out fewer loans)
- easy means of profit for the banks — seigniorage
- widening gap between rich and poor (those who lend money profit via interest × those who borrow grow poor via interest payments)
- systemic pressure on increased indebtedness of families, companies, governments etc.
- pressure on development and economic growth.
The issue of money, debt, and interest is complex and we can only touch upon it here. We leave aside the issue of speculation and of deregulation of the banking sector; we will only concentrate on the point of pressure on development and economic growth. How does the creation of money as debt promote economic growth? Richard DOUTHWAITE (2000) and Willem HOOGENDIJK (1991) discuss the issue of the growth imperative: In a debt-based economy, in which the mechanism of money creation and investment leads to ever-growing indebtedness, there are creditors (banks, savers, shareholders, pension funds, some governments) who require their debtors (consumers, companies, governments, municipalities…) to pay interest (or dividends). This has the following implications:
Factors of the growth imperative:
- Money must make a profit: it has to be lent out/invested in a manner leading to as much interest/dividend as possible, making possible its later repayment, including interest or dividends, for the investor. Hence the pressure on companies to become larger, on ever-more production and innovation, on new investments and "development" in the form of new golf courses, incineration plants and other profitable projects which may or may not be in the public interest. "Money must grow", as HOOGENDIJK (1991) puts it; in other words: repaid loans must be re-invested or lent out again as soon as possible. One reason is also in the fact that the stability of the money supply (the amount of money in circulation) depends on this loan/repayment/loan treadmill. According to DOUTHWAITE (2000), economic growth has changed from choice to necessity due to the way money is created.
- Another factor of the growth imperative is the hope that economic growth will create new jobs. Unfortunately, under free market conditions economic growth may create new jobs, but at the same time it eliminates other jobs as companies strive to cut costs, especially the greatest cost: staff salaries. Douthwaite estimates that the continuing automation of production shuts down about 3% of all job positions each year (DOUTHWAITE 2000).
- A third factor of the growth imperative is the structure of public limited companies. It is an advantage for shareholders for their companies to grow, since increase in the scale of such a company's production and assets causes its share value to rise as well.
We may thus conclude that the way in which money is created and passed into circulation, and, more generally, an economy based on debt (and on profit-oriented investment), are some of the driving forces behind the growth imperative and therefore also behind economic growth. Since "money must grow", economic growth simultaneously becomes the driver behind the increase of the money in circulation (HOOGEDIJK 1991). In the case of a steep and long-term decline in production (that is, if the opposite of economic growth occurs) there is the danger of a concurrent swift decrease of money in circulation. That may lead to another decline of production etc.
Does this mean we are trapped? We will address the topic further on in the text.
Other economic theories, other economies
As mentioned in the introduction to this section, there are other schools of economic thought outside mainstream economics, often referred to as heterodox economics as a whole. Here we will briefly mention several authors who might be classified as heterodox/ecological economists.8 We will not however focus on such diverse schools of thought, but rather on topics that shed a different light on the economy, and on authors, not necessarily coming from an economic background, who base their work on values different from the economic mainstream.9 We will also mention some movements linked to the topic of "other economies".
Steady state economy
One of the first economists to attempt a different look at the issue of economic growth is the American author Herman Daly. His pioneering textbook of ecological economics (DALY&FARLEY, 2004) is premised on the economy as part of the Earth's ecosystem. Ecological economics for him has certain basic values and goals, which it should express explicitly. In addition to the traditional economic goal — efficiency of resource allocation — he explicitly postulates two other main goals of ecological economic research and policy:
- equity: achieving a distribution of wealth in a way ensuring that every individual can make a decent living, a aim that DALY&FARLEY (2004) rather unusually extend to future generations.
- optimal scale of the economy: In the case of production, this means to strive (for example, via ecological taxation) for a material and energy throughput through the economic system which would not focus on maximisation and growth, but on stability, and which would not endanger the planet and future generations' right to decent livelihoods.
Rather than perpetual growth, Daly thus suggests, as a goal for both the economy and for economics, a steady-state economy, in which the aggregate flows of materials and of energy through the system (that is, the consumption of natural resources and energy) would not grow in time, but would remain stable. Like Hines, Daly sees economic globalization and the race to the bottom as a great barrier to such efforts (DALY&FARLEY 2004:392): ecological tax reform, for example, which would help stop resource wastage, is paralyzed by the imperative for competitiveness on a global playing field.10
The non-monetized economy, commodification and convivial activities
One of the topics discussed widely across heterodox economic literature is the non-monetized or informal economy. The non-monetized economy includes all transactions outside the realm of monetary exchange. It involves caring for family members, neighbourly help, volunteering, do-it-yourself and a number of other activities including subsistence farming, in which people consume food grown by themselves. We have already mentioned the critique pointing out that the economic growth indicator – the GDP - does not measure these activities and may even mask their decline.
Ivan Illich (1973), an influential and radical thinker, goes further and interprets the whole process of modernization as a process of commodification, in which the activities that people used to be able to provide for themselves gradually change into goods — commodities. He sees this process as a loss of freedom and as production of scarcity: When economists speak of scarce goods which need to be allocated efficiently, ILLICH (1973) suggests that it is the process of commodification, reducing life to a process of production and consumption, which artificially creates (produces) such scarcity. An individual who is no longer able or cannot create a thing on his own and at the same time has insufficient means to buy one loses his or her autonomy and becomes poor (modernization of poverty). Wherever commodification has set in, people are no longer able to grow, produce and mutually provide the necessities of life via self-help. Instead, they have to buy their industrially manufactured substitutes. They are liable to lose their autonomy: while no longer able to provide what they need themselves, they often lack the money to buy it
Illich urges people to strive for independence from the economic system and to build convivial institutions, use convivial technologies and engage in convivial activities, with the word “convivial” meaning "autonomous, creative, and liberating." For Illich, the word “convivial” designates such activities, institutions, or tools that enable and strengthen human co-operation, initiative, and communication. "Convivial" activities, institutions, and technologies thrive where economic mentality, reducing life to simple production and consumption, has not yet taken over, or where people actively resist such reduction. Thus convivial technologies are technologies that enable and strengthen human co-operation, initiative and communication. According to Illich, modern convivial tools include e.g. public libraries, telephones, post offices, municipal public transport and markets for small producers.
In his book No More Throw-Away People, the American lawyer and activist Edgar Cahn, one of the founders of time banking (see below), discusses issues around the non-monetized economy and emphasizes both its importance for society and the fact that it is often invisible, and goes unappreciated. He introduces the term co-production to define activities within this invisible economy, and looks for ways to appreciate and promote activities which we tend to overlook simply because they are done for free. Through her model of a three-layer cake, ecological economist Hazel HENDERSON (2001) adds another dimension to this discussion by pointing out that besides the non-monetized economy of human society there is also a non-monetized economy of nature. Nature provides us with its "goods and services" free of charge and we are not able to survive without them. Therefore the bottom layer of her "cake diagram" consists of goods and services of nature, the middle layer comprises the non-monetized human economy and only the third, topmost layer designates the monetized economy. Through her cake model, Henderson emphasises the ecosystem of the Earth as a foundation on which humans depend: it is bottom-most in her diagram. The next layer, encompassing the sphere of the non-monetized economy (mutual aid and social relationships) is dependent on the layer below it. Last of all comes the monetized economy, the very topmost layer dependent on both the economy of nature and of non-monetised human relationships.
PHOTO_CAKE_HANDERSON
Figure 6: Hazel Henderson´s three)-layer cake model of the economy (source: http://www.communitypartnering.info/resources3.html)
Economic democracy
As mentioned above, ecological economics as conceptualised by Herman DALY (DALY&FARLEY 2004) clearly states its basic values and goals: an optimal scale of economic activities, equitable distribution of assets and economic efficiency. Another explicit value that contemporary economic politics should be based on, or which it ought to aim for, is, according to JOHANISOVÁ&WOLF (2012), economic democracy. The authors view economic democracy as a parallel to political democracy, applied in the sphere of economics. They define it as a system of checks and balances on economic power and as support for the right of citizens to actively participate in the economy.
Specifically, economic democracy includes (JOHANISOVÁ&WOLF, 2012) the following elements:
- Regulation of market mechanisms and corporate activities: As already mentioned in the section on free trade, the process of neoliberal economic deregulation has increased the economic power of multinational companies and this has a number of implications. The strengthening of regulations that limit the economic power of large investment and multinational corporations promotes economic democracy.
- Moral, political and practical support for social enterprises: Social enterprises (and co-operatives, see below for more on both) are a manifestation of economic democracy as their members or stakeholders (those involved in and impacted by an organization's activities), have the right to participate in the governance of their social enterprise (or co-operative).
- Creation of money by the local community and money as a public good: The privatization and centralization of money creation processes leads to concentration of economic power. Examples of economically democratic alternatives include community currencies (see below) or currencies created via institutions that are democratically governed and accountable to the public (see also NORTH, 2007, MELLOR, 2010).
- Right to use or reclaim the commons: the commons as a form of land stewardship are often managed on the basis of custom, function in a non-monetized economy and do not aim at maximization of production. This is why they are absent from mainstream textbooks. However, they may be understood as a democratic form of ecosystem management, which promotes just redistribution and environmental sustainability. The commons are constantly endangered by encroachment or enclosure by the private or public sector.
- Equitable distribution: To actively participate in the economy as consumers, investors and producers (both in the monetized and non-monetized economy), citizens need access not only to a source of income, but also to capitals (e.g. community land, available premises for entrepreneurial purposes and warehouses, accessible financial services and business credits, community seed banks, professional counselling services etc.). The widest possible distribution of such capitals is a feature of economic democracy.
- Economic freedom: Economic democracy requires economic freedom. Not in the sense of unregulated free trade which favours big corporations and commodified economies, but as support for the variety of production forms: small-scale businesses, craft industry, non-monetized economic networks and subsistence. According to Vandana Shiva we have the right to choose not only what we produce and consume, but also how we produce and consume a given product (JOHANISOVÁ, 1994).
Economic localization
A counterweight to the concept of free trade and the related idea of economic globalization is the recent concept of economic localization or one of its synonyms (bioregional economy, re-localization, etc.). It is both a normative ideal (like economic democracy or the three goals of ecological economics according to Daly, below) and an effort to provide a theoretical base to projects which have been emerging spontaneously, from the bottom-up, or which have existed for some time, and whose important feature is local production for local consumption. Box schemes, farmers' markets, local currencies, allotments, and communal wood-fired heating plants all provide examples of economic localization (see below).
The topic of economic localization (or just localization) is summarized by Eva FRAŇKOVÁ (2012), who suggests the following definition (p. 107): "[Economic localization is] both the process and the result of moral, political and practical support for as great a scale of production and consumption as possible [...] more specifically, a preference for locally owned businesses (including co-operatives, community enterprises etc.), locally based monetary and capital flows, and a primary focus on satisfying local peoples' needs. Localisation emphasises sustainability of production and consumption, development of local communities, democratic decision-making, support for local subsistence and self-reliance, and relationship to place." Localization does not mean cutting off ties with the surrounding world. What exactly is meant by "local" is always a matter of discussion and differs from case to case. The following are often seen as the advantages of localization: the possibility to form a deeper connection with a particular place, protection against the instability of global economic systems, higher employment, efficiency in terms of material and energy use, less negative externalities and resource conflicts in distant places, limiting economic power/strengthening economic democracy (JOHANISOVÁ, 2007: p 48—58).
Discussions of localization may involve the local multiplier, an indicator that measures the circulation of money in a given place: the more people spend locally, the more time it takes before money that had come into the area leaves it again. A local multiplier can be calculated for a household, a business, or another type of organization. The methodology for its calculation was developed by the British alternative economic think tank, the New Economics Foundation, and has been adapted to Czech conditions (KUTÁČEK, 2007, see SACKS 2002 for the original version in English). From a mainstream economics perspective, it might be argued that while localization may be efficient in in the long-term as regards sustainable resource use, in proves inefficient from a short- term perspective, as it cannot produce goods cheap enough for mass consumption and export, and is therefore economically unviable. Contemporary economic trends, it would seem, are aiming towards the very opposite: goods are manufactured within global chains of production, while small, local manufacturers, producing for local markets, tend to vanish. Some localization proponents counter that in reality the current economic trends are the ones that are economically unviable, since they waste scarce resources and depend on expensive infrastructures, which makes them very vulnerable in case such infrastructures fail. This, they argue, is increasingly likely with growing resource depletion (KOROWICZ 2010). In this view, localization is one of the ways to impede or mitigate impending collapse. Richard DOUTHWAITE, who has written extensively on economic localization, (DOUTHWAITE 1996: Chapter 2; see also JOHANISOVÁ, 1999), proposes three ways to support localization within individual regions from the bottom-up:
- Looking at resources in each particular region and how these may be used to satisfy basic needs of its inhabitants directly. We ought to stop thinking in terms of comparative advantage and refrain from further specialization and support for production of goods and services intended for export, working on the assumption that this will provide us with sufficient means to buy whatever we need in other regions. At a time of increasing complexity and instability of world economy, and with the race to the bottom, this path has more and more drawbacks and risks.
- Refusing global prices as a standard determining what is to be produced in a given region. First, global prices may not reflect the true value a given product has for us. E.g. food may be cheap on world markets. But as food is necessary for our survival, its real value is much higher for us than its market value. We should therefore preserve its local production. Second, the value of local businesses is much higher for us than for outside investors. A local business is a source of local employment, strengthens the local multiplier and provides a long-term source of income for the municipality/region. In term of the benefits for the local community/municipality, as opposed to benefits for an outside investor, the long-term stability of a local investment is substantially more important that a fast return on such an investment.
- Strengthening the competitiveness of local products vis à vis products from outside the region, but using other than mainstream paths to achieve this alternative ways to lower product prices include the following: a) short circuiting: if producers can sell their products locally, and to local customers, they save on advertising, transportation, packaging costs etc.; b) obtaining some inputs (factors of production) at cheaper-than-market rates, which again leads to savings on costs.
DOUTHWAITE (1996) suggests some ways to save costs by obtaining inputs at lower-than-market rates:
- lower wages — people are willing to accept lower wages when their work is meaningful for them and brings other-than-monetary benefits. However, this is to be implemented only in the case that the producer sells all his products locally. Only then does the desired local multiplier effect happen, and the race to the bottom is avoided.
- access to cheap credit. If a local producer is granted credit at a lower interest rate than credit offered by regular commercial banks, e.g. from an ethical bank or a local credit cooperative (see below), it will again lower his costs and thus price of the goods.
My own research has shown (JOHANISOVÁ, 2005) that a number of social enterprises employ such lower-cost inputs as part of their survival strategies. Apart from cheaper labour (e.g. volunteers) and advantageous credit from ethical financial institutions, cheap inputs often include lower rent on premises or land. JOHANISOVA et al. (2013) use the term non-market capitals to describe such inputs gained at lower-than-market-rates. There is a link here to the fifth form of economic democracy, which demands as great a distribution of assets throughout the society as possible, as well as to the sixth: it is a wide distribution of assets/capitals and accessibility of non-market capitals (together with the "short circuit" approach) that may contribute to the survival of craft workshops, small producers etc. and thus also contribute to a variety of production forms and to economic freedom in the sense of Vandana Shiva (for her work see also e.g. http://www.navdanya.org/).
Transition towns, the degrowth movement and alternatives to capitalism
Although the discussion on economic localization has only gained momentum over the past few years, its different variations were being suggested as a potential goal of the economy from the 1950s onwards (BOOKCHIN in BIEHL 1997, SCHUMACHER 1973/2000). However, social movements critical of the current economic system (from both social and ecological perspectives), and with a concurrent and strong focus on economic localization, have appeared only recently.
One of them is the Transition Network or Transition Towns movement. Initiated in Great Britain in 2005 by Rob Hopkins, the movement currently (2013) has around a thousand local groups in a number of countries all over the world.11 Transition Town activists are deeply concerned about the fact that burning fossil fuels leads to climate change and at the same time accessible sources of such fuels are getting more scarce (they especially emphasise the issue of peak oil). According to the movement, in order to prevent collapse, industrial societies must move to lower energy consumption levels, to different patterns of production and consumption, and must espouse economic localization. Many Transition Town activists in addition believe that working on these issues can be fun, provided they start in time and work together. Local groups (see map: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/) meet up, often in co-operation with municipalities, create working groups, and organize practical transition activities. For example, they start local currencies, joint building insulation projects, community gardens or community-supported agriculture projects in co-operation with local farmers (see below). The movement has also published several manuals focusing on practical areas of transition to a local economy, resilient to possible sudden changes in the future.12
Another movement focused on alternatives to the present economic and social mainstream is the Décroissance or Degrowth movement, translated into Czech (with inevitable inaccuracy)13 as Non-Growth. The movement is strongest in the South of Europe, namely in France, Spain and Italy. The Degrowth movement is rooted in a more pluralistic and sophisticated intellectual breeding-ground than Transition Towns and pursues broader goals (it puts more emphasis on equitable distribution and solidarity, organizes public events, and sometimes strives for change of policies such as shorter working hours or a basic/citizens' income).14 Similarly to Transition Towns activists, many Degrowth proponents believe that activities aimed at restoration of local cycles, limiting consumption and slowing the pace of life can bring enjoyment rather than deprivation. While Transition Towns stress the energy aspects of the current crisis, Degrowth proponents focus on the broader issue of material and energy throughput in the system (see the section on the steady-state economy) and on related environmental issues. Another strong source of degrowth thinking is criticism of mainstream development models. The Degrowth movement has a strong academic wing which has so far organized several international conferences.15 Its proponents stress that the movement, above all, strives to decrease consumption of resources and energy in society, and although this is closely connected with the reduction of the national aggregate economic product (i.e. reduction of the GDP and thus a - temporary reversal - of economic growth), such an outcome is not their primary goal.
One of these proponents, Giorgos Kallis, defines degrowth thus: "a socially sustainable and equitable reduction (and eventually stabilization) of society´s throughput” (KALLIS 2011:874). If we think back to the conclusion of the section on money creation, the academics within the Degrowth movement actually attempt to answer the key question of the present: How do we degrow without crashing?
Transition Towns and Degrowth are not the only "bottom-up" movements looking for a socially and environmentally more sustainable alternative to the economic mainstream, although they are probably the most visible and organized ones. A number of new studies has emerged recently mapping the alternative or "post-capitalist" economic practices of households or other entities (JEHLIČKA et al. 2013, NORTH 2007, CASTELLS et al. 2012). These studies provide another perspective on the non-monetized economy of Hazel Henderson or the convivial activities of Ivan Illich. The last section summarizes some (mostly organizationally more structured) forms of economic alternatives and touches upon their links to the theory outlined above.
Other economies
The following overview first briefly summarises the fundamentals of the legal form of co-operatives. Co-operatives had been discredited during the Communist era and many people in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia continue to link them to this specific historical period. The following text demonstrates that co-operatives are far from being a predominantly Communist project. Another concept briefly explained below is "social enterprise". The term has emerged in the Czech Republic largely thanks to the European Union and can refer to co-operatives as well as to groups and organisations with other institutional structures. Similarly, community currencies, ethical finance and economic localisation projects may adopt either cooperative or other legal forms. The latter may include associations, limited companies owned by a municipality or by a non-profit organisation, and other legal forms depending on the country in question). They may also operate informally, i.e. not be officially registered in any legal form.
Co-operatives
The first co-operatives began to emerge in Europe in the mid-19th century, and were preceded by worker mutual aid organisations as early as the 18th century. An example of the latter might be the British building societies (a group of workers saving money together for twenty years and gradually helping to build each other´s houses, with those already housed continuing their regular contributions until all members of the group owned their own homes.) Another example would be the mutual-aid societies (pokladny or bratrstva) which served as insurance companies in cases of illness or death of workers in Prague calico factories (MATOUŠEK 1947). The first co-operative in Slovakia was founded in the town of Sobotiště in 1845.16 Only several months before, in 1844, the well-known cooperative Rochdale Equitable Pioneers, inspired by the texts of Robert Owen and William King, was founded in Rochdale (now a suburb of Manchester). Its members (poor local artisans) bought food and other items wholesale and sold them to each other in their own shop for wholesale prices. The Rochdale co-operative grew and was a great success. After its basic principles were published, it inspired the founding of many other co-operatives all over the world. While Great Britain is often referred to as the cradle of consumer co-operatives, other types of co-operatives emerged in other countries around the same period and spread rapidly: credit co- operatives (usually called credit unions) in Germany, producer co-operatives in France and agricultural co-operatives in Denmark (BIRCHALL 1997). In Czechoslovakia, the co-operative tradition was strong since the closing decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and flowered between the world wars with a diverse, numerous and well-networked co-operative movement.17
The co-operative boom of the second half of 19th century led in 1895 to the foundation of the International Co-operative Alliance18 which adapted the Rochdale principles as its own set of principles and has revised them several times (the last revision dates from 1996). These principles, available on the association's website, are generally accepted as constituting the fundamental principles of co-operative functioning, at the same time summarizing some key differences between authentic co-operatives and mainstream business enterprises.
Seven Cooperative Principles (see also HOYT 1996, GLOPOLIS 2012):
- Voluntary and Open Membership
- Democratic Member Control
- Member Economic Participation
- Autonomy and Independence
- Member Training and Education
- Cooperation among Co-operatives
- Concern for Community
The above principles demonstrate the specific character of co-operatives as compared to producer/commercial enterprises. The main goal of a co-operative´s activities is not profit, but rather the provision of services to their members (or another defined stakeholder group). As profit is not their primary goal, co-operatives may decide to utilise any profits e.g. to support the local community, rather than distributing them to members as dividends. The members of a co-operative tend to a large extent to be identical with the investors, with the staff (the latter especially in producer co-operatives) and often with the clients as well (especially in consumer and credit co-operatives). Co-operatives, in addition, are controlled democratically by their members, whose financial share value is usually limited, to prevent order of magnitude discrepancies and to ensure that the balance of power within a co-operative is maintained. We have already mentioned the connection of this particular feature of co-operatives to the principle of economic democracy.
If we are aiming for a steady-state economy and economic localization, co-operatives are better for the following reasons:
- As goal of cooperatives is not profit but providing a service to a target group, there is a better chance that co-operatives will satisfy real and urgent needs. Where real needs are met, the call for economic growth is less.
- Member shares in authentic co-operatives usually maintain their original value even when a co-operative expands, and are not freely tradable (a member cannot sell his/her share directly to somebody else). This means that speculation with shares is not possible and members are not motivated to expand the size of their co-operative solely for the purpose of increasing the value of their financial shares.
- Due to the one member-one vote principle, the impossibility of direct sale of member shares, the basic goal of a co-operative (serving its members) and the fact that a member is often also a co-operative employee and/or client, there is often a stronger and more long-term bond existing between a co-operative and its members when compared with the usual business enterprise. Co-operatives thus also tend to have a deeper bond to a particular place or community.
According to the International Co-operative Alliance, co-operatives today have a total of around one billion members worldwide. Of course we do not know how many of these are members of authentic cooperatives. On the other hand, it is true that many new alternative initiatives often espouse a co-operative organisational structure. In the Czech Republic, one example would be Kulturní noviny, this co-operative publishes an on-line political and cultural weekly and its members hope to graduate to printed form once they find more members and readers (http://www.kulturni-noviny.cz). Another is the car-sharing co-operative Autonapůl. It owns cars that its members (and non-members) can hire as needed (http://www.autonapul.org).
(Eco-)social enterprises
The term social enterprise has come to the Czech Republic from Western and Southern Europe via the EU. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, its meaning is currently often narrowly conceived as referring to what in the United Kingdom has been called "social firm" and is now commonly designated as work-integration social enterprises (WISE). These social enterprises are distinguished by employing people who are disadvantaged in the normal job market.19 This situation is further complicated with the introduction of another term — social economy — which is often perceived as identical to social enterprise. In fact, it is a broader term which, besides social enterprises, encompasses also non-profit organizations which do not have a business dimension.
Although the definition of social enterprise is not rigid, it usually includes the following principles:20
- It explicitly states a social, cultural or environmental goal in its founding documents. This can be employment, community services, education, biodiversity preservation, support for local food links, etc.
- At a least a part of its income comes from its own business activities.
- It is an autonomous organization where major decisions are made by staff, members and other stakeholders.
- At least part of its potential profits are recycled into the social enterprise itself and/or are used for public benefit.
- A social enterprise has a bond to a given region and primarily strives to meet the needs of the local community and to use local resources.
Differences between a social enterprise and a co-operative
First, it is important to note that according to one well-known European definition of the social economy,21 which is based on the legal/organisational structure of the organizations discussed, all co-operatives fall into the category of "social economy" ( and as most also function within the market, they would also implicitly fall into the category of "social enterprise"). Besides, co-operative principles and the principles of social enterprise are clearly similar. On the other hand, it may be argued that not every co-operative functions for the public benefit, and that there is nothing to stop a co-operative from distributing any profits to its members only. If a co-operative is not in reality an authentic co-operative, its ethos and functioning can be very close to that of a normal business enterprise. Alternatively, it can be co-opted by the state, losing its autonomy and bottom-up governance process. We can thus see that a co-operative is arguably not always a social enterprise as the latter is usually defined.
Another difference is that "social enterprise" is a higher category than "co-operative": social enterprises may adopt different legal structures (co-operative, association, company limited by guarantee, public benefit company, etc.): The possibilities are many and depend on the respective legislation of each country. A social enterprise according to some authors may even be an informal group without legal incorporation. Therefore, estimating the number of existing social enterprises and their activities on a European scale is difficult. In 2011, there were around 50 social enterprises registered on the Czech website http://www.ceske-socialni-podnikani.cz. As of 2015, there are over 200 registered in this directory. The majority of these enterprises focus on employing disadvantaged persons (the WISE type of social enterprise mentioned above). There are likely to be many more projects in the Czech Republic that can be seen as a social enterprise, including many with an environmental remit. From the perspective of economic goals and values presented in this text, social (or better: eco-social) enterprise has a great potential. The reasons are similar to those discussed in the passage on co-operatives above.
Community currencies
The beginnings of community (also local, social, green, complementary, alternative) currencies can be traced back to the 1830s in Great Britain where the first co-operative societies started local exchange markets (so-called "labour exchanges") with prices of goods set according to the costs and time demanded for their production.22 Another surge in local currencies came during the economic crisis in the 1930s (for more details see DOUTHWAITE 1996, JOHANISOVÁ 1999), inspired by the work of Silvio Gesell who criticized the institution of interest and suggested that, on the contrary, negative interest should be imposed on money in order to increase its circulation (JOHANISOVÁ 2014). The most recent boom in community currencies dates from the 1970s (time banks in Japan, MILLER 2008) and especially from the mid-1980s, when Michael Linton, a Canadian, created the Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), which spread quickly, particularly in English-speaking countries. Community currencies reached a mass scale (millions of users) in Argentina at the turn of the millennium after its official currency had failed (NORTH 2007: Chapter 8). Community currencies remain widespread in South America to this day.
There are many types of community currencies and a number of transitions between them exist. However, all of them are issued by a local community which they tend to serve exclusively (although exchange systems between individual community currencies can also be found).
Three ideal types of community currencies:
- LETS systems23 mostly operate as virtual currencies (i.e. coins and banknotes are seldom involved), and although today they are usually run by computer programmes, a LETS system may also operate on the basis of cheque-books, with the cheques sent by post to a volunteer co-ordinator/book-keeper. Their advantage lies in their simplicity. A group of people meet, come up with a name for the new currency (e.g. "raisins") and make a list of activities (or products) that each of them is able to supply the others with within the system. These products and services (typically bike repair, garden products, English lessons) are then assigned a price in the new currency by their supplier (this price is often based on what the person would charge for the service/product in the official currency) and a list of the products/services ("supply list)"is created and circulated. The list is then regularly updated and extended. If a computer programme is used, new offers of products/services may continuously be added to the supply list and usually a "demand" section is included together with the "supply" section. A co-ordinator is then appointed who collects the cheques and keeps records on the members´ accounts. A computer programme, however, manages these tasks automatically. At the beginning, all participant accounts are on "zero". When A buys a service or a product from B, he/she gives B a cheque which B then sends by post to the co-ordinator who then credits income to B's account and charges A's account with the expense. In the case of a computer programme, B sends e.g. an electronic invoice which A accepts by clicking on it. The "raisins" are then moved from the account of A to the account of B. If A is in debit, it does not matter, as the system is interest-free. Thus, a member has in fact an unlimited amount of "raisins" at her/his disposal. The only limits for the member are her/his time and possibilities for meaningful spending. The system usually has some form of social control to safeguard it from possible abuse by members. For this reason (easier social control), it has been recommended to limit the number of members to 500 (Douthwaite 1996). An example of a LETS system in the Czech Republic is RozLEŤSe in Brno (http://www.rozletse.cz, researched by Kala et al. (2013).
- German regional currencies have their roots in the thinking of Silvio Gesell and in the Wära currency, which circulated in Germany in 1920s and at the beginning of the 1930s and was inspired by his work (Douthwaite 1996: 94-96, Johanisova 1999). This type of currency (we will describe specifically the "Chiemgauer", which is the most successful German regional currency, operating in the Bavarian Chiemgau region) is not virtual, but printed, and people can buy it at one of the places of issue for Euros at a 1:1 ratio. When buying the Chiemgauers, a buyer is entitled to choose a public interest non-profit organization which will receive 3 percent of the total amount paid by the buyer in Euros. This money (the 3 percent for the non-profit) is then physically paid into the system by a person opting for a transaction in the opposite direction: exchanging the Chiemgauers back to Euros. The Chiemgauers can be exchanged for Euros at any time, but with a 5 percent deduction. The remaining 2 percent of the deducted amount is used to partly cover the costs of running the whole system. A buyer may spend his/her Chiemgauers in one of the shops accepting the currency (in 2009, there were more than 600 such shops in the Chiemgau region). Shopkeepers can try to draw their (local) suppliers into the system. In accord with the teachings of Silvio Gesell on negative interest, the person who has a given banknote at the end of each trimester must buy a stamp priced at 2 percent value of the given banknote and stick it on. Otherwise, the banknote is no longer valid. This measure aims at speeding up circulation of the currency which is thus rendered worthless as a store of value, and functions solely as a medium of exchange (FRAŇKOVÁ 2010).
- Time banks are a community currency in many ways similar to LETS systems. As with LETS, participants register services they demand and offer, and then help each other. One difference is that both supply and demand are limited to services, most often along the lines of shopping, cutting grass, or house cleaning. Another difference lies in the evaluation (price) of the work provided within the time banks system: the currency unit is equal to one hour of work. Thus for one hour of his/her work (any kind of work), a member receives as compensation one "hour" (as material currency/banknote or paid into their time bank account)24. A third difference is in greater centralization: the time banks system has its own co-ordinator linking potential suppliers with those who need the service, e.g. with regard to proximity of place of residence. The reasons for these differences stem from the origin and purpose of time banks. They are most often created as a form of support for the elderly, disabled and ill, and one of their sources of inspiration was the idea of Edgar CAHN (2000) that nobody likes to receive without being able to give back.25 In a time bank system, a person can both receive and provide care, often despite being old or disabled. According to Cahn, everybody is able to do something and has something to give, even though she/he is already retired or her/his skill is not tradable within the often merciless system of paid labour. Time banks, which originated in Japan and later in the USA from where they spread to Europe, have another advantage: If, for example, within an integrated time bank system, a son regularly helps a senior citizen in one part of a region, he earns "hours" which he may use to obtain assistance for his own parents who live in a different part of the given region, and whom he cannot visit so often. In Japan, time banks are widely spread and offer also, among other things, courses for senior citizens etc. Some of them are even a part of the state health insurance system (MILLER 2008).
The above examples indicate that the goals of different community currencies tend to vary. The reasons members give for participating in such a system are even more varied (NORTH 2007). We have mentioned the goals of time banks above. As mentioned by FRAŇKOVÁ (2010), the goals of the Chiemgauer currency include: support for the local economy, for employment and for local non-profit organizations. NORTH (2007:80-100) describes a detailed study on motives for participating in the Manchester LETS system, which functioned from 1992 to 2005. While some members saw LETS as a neutral instrument of exchange and as a way to improve their financial situation, others neared the stance of E. Cahn stating that the LETS system decommodifies labour and sees "people as more important than profit, and satisfying needs as more important than efficiency". Other members emphasized the environmental and local dimension or said that LETS helped them to at least partially free themselves from the power of a system with which they disagreed. Considering the perspective of economic values and goals mentioned in this chapter, community currencies may contribute to reducing the pressure on economic growth, both because they are not formed through debt and are interest-free, and because they (like co-operatives) satisfy real needs. Since they mostly circulate in a small area, community currencies have a localization potential, and, as already mentioned in the chapter on economic democracy, they may be understood as a manifestation of economic democracy (on this see also NORTH 2007). Local currency systems are quite varied when it comes to their form of organization — they may be a co-operative, an association, or remain as an informal group. Considering the principles of social enterprise stated above, community currencies can probably be described as social enterprises.
Economic localization projects
Economic localization projects are as many as they are diverse. As we can mention only a small part here, I have selected those projects which already function in the Czech Republic today. Economic localization projects may, in a number of cases, be understood as a special type of social enterprise.
- Self-provisioning and gardening allotments are a good example of economic localization, even though they are often overlooked, as we tend to take them for granted. Moreover, growing one's own vegetables and fruits, or keeping farm animals, are all activities that take place within the non-monetized economy, and are thus not registered by the GDP. This is in spite of the fact that they satisfy human needs and provide additional benefits in the form of positive externalities (they benefit the environment: they do not require transportation, packaging and often involve organic approaches — see JEHLIČKA 2013). Some gardening allotments even provide social benefits by strengthening social and community bonds. While in the Czech Republic the importance of self-provisioning as an activity tends to be under-rated, Degrowth movement and Transition Towns activists often see local self-provisioning as a keystone of community resilience and food security. Sometimes, they grow their food in community gardens, which are similar to gardening allotments but are owned communally.
- Community supported agriculture (CSA) and box schemes in the Czech Republic have emerged together with other local food projects in the past several years (DVOŘÁKOVÁ, 2013). CSA is a system where a group of people contact a farmer at the beginning of the growing season and pay in advance for a (usually) weekly delivery of agricultural products (often vegetables) for the whole duration of the season. The client/member usually picks up the produce at a pre-arranged distribution place, sometimes he/she picks it up directly at the farm. He/she receives whatever the harvest was during the given week. In a box scheme, the client/member pays for their weekly produce, which they also receive from a farm, each week. They may often also choose its contents in advance via a farm's ordering system. In many cases, the client is not obliged to subscribe to regular deliveries for the whole season. While in the Czech Republic box schemes and CSA are perceived as separate, in the USA, the place where the concept (though not the practice) of CSA originated26, the two are seen more as part of a continuum. On one end of the spectrum we find farms owned by CSA members who hire the farmers, are responsible for the farm, and pack and distribute the produce. On the other end of the spectrum are farmer-owned (or rented) farms where the farmer does all the work and clients/members only buy the produce. There are many transitional stages where members help with farm work (sometimes earning their produce this way), harvest, packaging, and produce distribution, or organize public events at a given farm etc. The CSA systems have a number of advantages from both the perspective of economic localization and the degrowth ethos (such as meeting actual needs, reduction of material and energy flows), but in cases when the clients/members do not actively participate, the CSA system can become too much of a burden for the farmer. (JOHANISOVA 2005, HENDERSON & VAN EN 2007).
- Food banks resemble historical consumer co-operatives (such as the Rochdale Pioneers or some early Slovakian consumer co-operatives called potravní spolky, see e.g. PETRÁŠ et al. 1992), or the contemporary American associations known as food coops. Essentially, a group of people (with or without formal legal structure) procures storage premises and begins buying durable organic foodstuffs in bulk from either farmers or (more often) from larger-scale suppliers. This is then distributed to members at lower-than- regular retail prices. In some cases the main reason for starting a food bank is not so much savings on costs as inadequate access to organic food in the area (JOHANISOVÁ 2005). For more on the Czech terminology, see Suchá 2010: 29-32). In 2001, a food bank was started in the Slovakian town of Revúca, consciously following in the footsteps of the first Slovakian consumer co-operative founded there in 1869. The statute of this historical social enterprise (in Slovak) can be found on the website of the civic association Alter Nativa.
- Farmers' markets have emerged only recently in the Czech Republic, and their numbers have so far (as of 2013) been going up steeply.27 They are most often organized by municipalities and by non-government organisations (DVOŘÁKOVÁ 2013). They differ from traditional food and farm produce markets, which have survived in some areas (but often also sell goods not produced locally) by their explicit localization ethos, expressed e.g. in the Farmers' Markets Statute (Kodex farmářských trhů) issued by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic in 2011. This statute defines the goals of the farmers' markets as "support for small and medium producers, breeders, processors and manufacturers of food; providing citizens with a supply of fresh produce of prevailingly Czech and regional origin; creation of new public spaces that will (...) serve as meeting places; bringing the city population closer to the growing season and natural seasonal cycles." (DVOŘÁKOVÁ 2013). Disadvantages of farmers' markets lie in often high prices of the produce sold, and, in some cases (e.g. some Prague farmers' markets), also in the relatively far distance that the sellers are coming from.
- Local energy production is a way in which communities (and in the Czech Republic small and medium municipalities figure prominently here) can to some extent free themselves from dependency on fossil fuels by utilising local/renewable sources of energy. It can also bring social benefits in the form of lower/more stable prices of energy, cleaner air, local multiplier effect and employment. Communal energy production in the Czech Republic mostly involves biomass-fired heating plants (sing wood chips and straw), of which in 2010 19 were in municipal ownership. As shown by a study conducted by the Economy and Society Trust (NĚMCOVÁ 2010), the social benefits mentioned above really did materialise in surveyed municipalities. At the same time, several were faced by thorny economic issues. For example, the citizens of some towns or villages demanded a price for the heating services that was lower than the municipality could comply with, especially in cases where the municipality did not have its own forests and depended on an outside supply of biomass whose costs were high. Problems also arose in some cases where the municipality had to repay loans taken out to cover the high initial investment. The study shows that municipalities often lack business expertise and know-how needed for the successful start-up and operation of community-owned heating systems. This indicates the need for counselling and other enabling services in this sphere. The citizen's association Priatelia Zeme-CEPA is an example of such an enabling organization, which focuses on building energy autonomy in the Poľana region (41 municipalities, 60 000 inhabitants), in central Slovakia.28
Ethical finance
The category of ethical finance includes a number of formal and informal institutional types, of which we can here mention only a few. An example of the informal type would be ROSCAs (Rotating savings and credit associations), found in many non-Western cultures and communities. Members of a ROSCA meet socially regularly, perhaps once a month. At each meeting, each member contributes an agreed sum of money to a common pool (all members give the same amount). One selected member (often chosen on the basis of drawing lots) then gets the whole sum. Each time (each month) a different member is chosen to receive that month´s sum of money.29 We will also skip mutual insurance companies (mutuals) that exist e.g. in the Netherlands (DOUTHWAITE 1996: 169), American non-profit reinvestment trusts (JOHANISOVÁ 2008), Islamic banking, and new forms of virtual (internet) community financing (crowdsourcing).30 Where ethical finance institutions provide loans to authentic co-operatives, social enterprises or economic localization projects, we may see them as enabling organisations, providing non-market capitals (see the last paragraph in the section on economic localization) and helping the projects mentioned above to survive. On the other hand, the majority of these institutions provide loans with interest and thus contribute to the growth imperative (see above). For contact information of ethical banks, see: http://www.inaise.org/.
Lecturing on economic alternatives with the RWCT methodology
As mentioned already in the introduction, within the whole Czech course the methods of Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (RWCT) were used. The lessons followed the structure of E-R-R (Evocation – Realization of meaning – Reflection) phases which provides a model for understanding teaching processes and serves as a mechanism for organizing the lessons. A brief description of these phases of the learning process may provide a sense of the structure and its impact on the teaching process.
1. Evocation
Every learning process starts when students are able to realize and express verbally the things they already know about the chosen topic or what they think about it; at the same time they should also be able to formulate their questions and those areas of the topic they feel ambiguous about and which they would like to find answers to in the course of the following stage.
This initial stage helps students to:
- evoke prior knowledge, sentiment, or impressions;
- generate individual and/or collective understandings about the tasks to be studied
- create a context for new learning
- speculate, make predictions, and set purposes for exploring newly introduced topics or themes.
2. Realization of meaning
Students are exposed to new information or ideas, to new content, or to new deliberations. Their original concept of the topic is confronted with the source of new information: a discussion, guided lecture, textbook reading, videotape, artistic performance, or other event.
The task of the student during this phase is to remain engaged with the content, actively managing the information:
- make decisions about the relative importance of the information and ideas being presented by filtering out the incidental from the essential
- integrating new knowledge with existing knowledge
- considering the utility and applicability of the information to new settings and opportunities
3. Reflection
Students re-formulate their understanding of the topic with regard to the newly acquired information and the discussions with their colleagues, they begin to express new knowledge and understandings in their own words. This phase provides students the time, structure, and means to actively integrate information with previously held beliefs and ideas so that their learning will be contextualized and, consequently, real and more lasting. It is the time when learning becomes personal. The learner takes ownership of new knowledge.
This phase is characterized by:
- robust discussions, practical applications of knowledge
- the generation of new ideas and concepts
- open speculation about implications, or a call for further investigations
Example of a workshop on economic alternatives
Aims of the lesson
- to get to know some concrete practices of economic alternatives;
- to understand them through the perspective of degrowth.
1. Evocation (15min): criteria of a good degrowth project
- Think about concrete local projects you know which are consonant with degrowth principles and which you consider interesting and working well
- Form groups of 3-4 people, each person introduces shortly to the group one concrete degrowth/local project s/he knows
- In the groups (3-4 people) formulate at least 4 criteria why you consider the projects as examples of a good degrowth practice
- Two joined groups share together their criteria and formulate one common list
- Do one common list of criteria in plenary
- Individually: choose from the list the criteria you consider important and fill them in your own table in the following structure:
CRITERIA OF A GOOD DEGROWTH PROJECT | Examples in local projects (specification of how the criteria are fulfilled in the organisation’s practice) |
e.g. democratic decision-making |
|
e.g. preference of local resources |
|
… |
|
2. Realization of meaning (90min): examples of local degrowth projects in the Czech Republic
- During the course in Valeč, three projects were presented by its practitioners: WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) by Vojta Veselý (Valeč), and two projects of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) by Jan Valeška (Praha)31
- If practitioners are not available in person to present their projects, e.g. the descriptions of alternatives in chapters 2.3.5 – 2.3.10 can be used as learning examples for the students/participants
- For each presented project, fill in the table of criteria with information on how the criteria are fulfilled in practice in particular project
- After the presentations, compare in pairs the citeria and related practices in your tables, discuss the differences. Discuss in pairs what was the most interesting example/practice for you.
3. Reflection (20min)
- Plenary or group discussion based on presentations: Why would you consider these projects/practices as examples of degrowth? Which aspects/criteria of degrowth do you see in these concrete projects as most important?
Conclusions
The Czech course was focused on local economic alternatives in the context of degrowth. Its aims were to provide both deeper understanding of the degrowth theory, and living examples of its practical applications. This chapter provides theoretical introduction to the topic of local economic alternatives (section 2) summarizing the critique of mainstream economics and its obsession with growth, introducing some alternative thinkers who inspired the degrowth movement, and giving many examples of concrete local economic initiatives. Section 3 then explains shortly the method of Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking and gives an exaple of its application in the lesson focused on local economic alternatives which was part of the Czech GROWL course.
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1 See more about the RWCT methods at http://www.criticalthinkinginternational.org/programs?id=13 (2015-06-19).
2 For the full programme, content and methods used within the Czech course please see the organizer’s website http://www.thinktank.cz/growl/kurzy/18-22-june-2014-local-economic-alternatives-valec-czech-republic/ or the project website ???
3 This text was originally published in the chapter “Ekonomické systémy v souvislostech”, p. 35-63, in the textbook: Gallayová, Z. et al., 2013: Súčasná spoločnost: Výzvy a vízie (Contemporary Society — Challenges and Visions), published by the Technical University in Zvolen, Faculty of Ecology and Environmentalism, Centre of Environmental and Ethical Education (CEEV) Živica, Slovakia. It was translated into English and shortened for the purposes of the course “Degrowth and Local Economic Alternatives in the Czech Republic”, organised by the Economy and Society Trust within the GROWL project. Translated by Barbora Palatová, with inputs by Eva Fraňková and Nadia Johanisová, 2014.
4 For the other two beliefs (free trade and the perfect competition model) please see the unshortened version of the chapter available at http://www.thinktank.cz/growl/uzitecne-materialy-a-odkazy/.
5 As opposed to the GNP (gross national product) indicator, which measures the monetary value of the goods and services of all producers whose enterprises are legally resident in the given country, GDP expresses the monetary value of all goods and services produced within the country's territory, regardless of the legal residential status of the producers.
6 Mainstream economists often oppose this objection citing increased effectiveness of production and so-called resource substitutability. For a critical discussion on this, see JOHANISOVÁ&FRAŇKOVÁ (2012).
7 The text of this chapter is partly taken from JOHANISOVÁ (2011). For criticism of the monetary system see also DOUTHWAITE (2002), MELLOR (2010), and VOTRUBA (2013).
8 It is necessary to distinguish between ecological economics on the one hand, which rejects some basic assumptions held by mainstream economics, and which is based on the idea of the economy being a subsystem of the Earth's ecosystem, and environmental economics on the other. The latter forms part of mainstream economics and focuses e.g. on attempts to assign a monetary value to natural systems. Ecological economics is a heterodox economic field.
9 The names of both contemporary and historical authors critical of the mainstream are highlighted in bold when first mentioned in this chapter.
10 Ecological tax reform is a policy aimed at increasing the taxation of resource consumption and waste production and at lowering the taxation of labour, with the total amount of tax payments in a given country remaining constant (ecological tax reform is therefore "fiscally neutral"). For more on Daly, Illich and other heterodox economic thinkers see also JOHANISOVÁ 2014.
12 On Transition Towns see also KLENOVSKÁ (2012).
13 Translation of the word "degrowth" in some languages uses the prefix de- which implies a decrease in or refraining from growth. In Czech this would require the usage of prefix "od-" as in "odrůst" which, however, does not sound good. The word "non-growth", on the other hand, does not render the essence of the whole concept in its complexity.
14 Obligation of a state to provide a certain basic income to all its citizens (whether working or not).
15 See http://www.degrowth.org/conferences. Degrowth movement conferences are characterized by many volunteers employed in their preparation, modest and transparent financing and, wherever possible, an effort to substitute monetary economy with networks of mutual solidarity. The organisers of the degrowth conference in Venice (2012) offered participants free accommodation in flats owned by the movement's supporters.
16 It was a credit co-operative known as Gazdovský spolek (Farmer's Association) and founded by Samuel Jurkovič. The cooperative functioned from 1845 to 1851 and served as a model for a number of similar co-operatives in the region. Slovakia is therefore one of the cradles of the cooperative movement. (See also HOUDEK, 1935; for a less detailed account see the website of Sobotiště, section "Osobnosti").
17 An account of the pre-war (not only agricultural) cooperative system and its violent suppression after 1948 is to be found in the book "Zemědělské družstevnictví v Československu do r. 1952" (Agricultural Cooperative in Czechoslovakia until 1952) written by Ladislav Feierabend, a cooperative functionary and member of the Czechoslovakian exile government in London who in 1948 emigrated to USA. The book he had written in 1952 while in exile was translated into Czech in 2008. Feierabend states that in 1938 there were over 16 thousand cooperatives in Czechoslovakia who together had around 3 million members (FEIERABEND 2007).
18 International Co-operative Alliance, http://ica.coop/en
19 See BEDNÁRIKOVÁ & FRANCOVÁ (2011) and the Czech People Planet Profit website (http://p-p-p.cz) for a discussion of social enterprise and for current news on the topic, respectively, in the Czech Republic. In the United States, the term "social entrepreneur" refers to any type of innovative and publicly beneficial activity (PARKANOVÁ 2011:25). The term "third sector" is sometimes used as a synonym to "social economy".
20 Based on JOHANISOVÁ (2005) and BEDNÁRIKOVÁ & FRANCOVÁ (2011).
21 This is the "institutional definition" of EMES (Emerging Social Enterprise in Europe, a European research network on social enterprise). According to this definition, the "social economy" includes all organizations with the following legal structure: association, co-operative, foundation and mutual (PARKANOVÁ 2011:20).
22 The best-known of these was founded by Robert Owen in 1832 (JOHANISOVÁ 2014). A detailed analysis of the causes of failure of these exchange projects can be found in NORTH (2007:45-50).
23 Local Exchange Trading Systems.
24 Some LETS systems, however, also work this way (put value on a service according to the amount of time it takes to provide it).
25 Cahn became aware of this when, after having lived a very active life, he found himself bound to a hospital bed after a heart attack with others catering to his needs. The unpleasant feelings of helplessness he experienced inspired him to found the American version of time banks ("time dollars") later on (DOUTHWAITE 1996).
26 The roots of CSA can be found in Japan, where the teikei system has been operating since the 1960s. (SUCHÁ 2010). The American (and the fledgling Czech) CSA movement were inspired by French CSA projects (Henderson and Van En 2007:29)
27 The first farmers' market in Brno (Czech Republic) opened in 2010. In 2012, there were already ten farmers´ markets in the city (DVOŘÁKOVÁ 2013).
28 See ZAMKOVSKÝ (2010), also http://www.priateliazeme.sk/cepa/sk/aktivity/k-udr-rozvoju-reg-polana/inteligentna-a-sebestana-regionalna-energetika
29 A similar approach was used by British building societies, mentioned in the chapter on co-operatives. Another example of traditional ethical finance organisations are funeral associations in Ethiopia, where each citizen regularly contributes a small sum to a fund that the municipality in due time uses to pay for and organise that same person´s funeral. All informal financial systems have a significant social dimension (e.g. the ROSCA savings meetings are also social gatherings).
30 In the Czech Republic, one such website facilitates financing of culture-focused projects: https://www.hithit.com/cs/search/category/1. Share issue to raise funds for e.g. purchasing land is another interesting option we will refrain from exploring. A successful example of the latter some years ago was the initiative of the British Fordhall Community Farm, which escaped closure and was able to buy its land thanks to 8000 contributors who bought a share in the farm. See also Brdársky spolok podielnický, a project of the Slovak non-government organisation Alter Nativa (http://www.alter-nativa.sk)
31 Their ppt presentations are available at http://www.thinktank.cz/growl/kurzy/18-22-june-2014-local-economic-alternatives-valec-czech-republic/ or https://co-munity.net/growl/courses/local-economic-alternatives
Contents
Mental Infrastructures: The Culture of Growth
Module 1: Getting to know a concept – What are mental infrastructures of growth?
Module 3: Self-reflective workshop on growth and social acceleration
Module 4: Practical workshop “Experiencing (In-)Efficiency and the Skilled Society”
Mental Infrastructures: The Culture of Growth
The last decades have rendered clear that a set of multiple crisis requires to fundamentally change the lifestyles of the societies in the Global North. Regarding the ecological crisis, it has so far not been possible to attain a sustainable level of resource consumption in the early industrialized countries. Thus, technological measures are insufficient to tackle the problem. They need to be complemented by profound political measures as well as a fundamental cultural change – by a change of our concepts of a good life and consequently by a change of our motives of action, of our desires and striving. This promises to also positively contribute to the solution of other crisis, like the humanitarian, the democratic and the economic crisis, since cultural change necessarily concerns the modalities of interaction – of how we deal with ourselves and others.
So far, cultural change has mostly been debated theoretically. We have gathered a large amount of knowledge about it. However, the main challenge remains its implementation (Hunecke 2013: 104), since we find it tremendously difficult to change our habits only by knowing things. But why? This is the opening question of Harald Welzer's influential paper “Mental Infrastructures – How growth entered the world and our souls“ (Welzer 2011). According to Welzer, a German psychologist and sociologist, mental infrastructures of growth are a persons' psychological, social and cultural settings. At the moment the latter are strongly shaped by a growth-oriented pattern which is linked with central aspects of European and thus globalized “modernity”. It affects our concepts of the good life, of social and individual development, our desires and thus also our daily routines. Moreover, mental infrastructures are mostly unconsciously internalized. By consequence, we don't change our lifestyles towards more sufficiency, since the cultural growth paradigm is so deeply rooted in our mindsets and so “normal” to us that we are mostly unable to question or even perceive it. Indeed, the extension of individual experiences and options, closely connected to material values and status, seems still to be a major aim of personal striving for many people in the Global North (Hunecke 2013: 12).
Welzer claims that mental infrastructures of growth are interdependent with material infrastructures of growth (such as energy systems) and institutional infrastructures of growth (such as the growth dependent design of our social systems) (Welzer 2011: 14). Hence, it is most important to understand that we won't be able to achieve a social-ecological transformation of our societies if we don't find a way to change our mental infrastructures.
Cultural change requires to identify major aspects of our mental infrastructures in a first step. This will be the content of the first part of this introduction. Yet and as already pointed out above, just knowing more won't solve the problem. Although it might be a significant achievement to deconstruct our daily actions and to understand which cultural ideals drive our habits, this still does not change our behavior. It rather seems that we need to practice new habits in order to change. Explaining why an embodiment of knowledge is required and how this can be achieved, will be part of the second subchapter.
Importantly, the chosen focus on cultural and individual change should not inspire the idea that lifestyles may be transformed by the efforts of individuals only. As mental infrastructures are interdependent with material and institutional infrastructures, a social-ecological transformation will fail to meet the challenges of the multiple crisis if we just focus on one of the three dimensions. Thus material and institutional infrastructures need to be reformed as well.
Mental infrastructures of growth
The notion of mental infrastructures as outlined by Harald Welzer remains largely vague. Yet, he alludes to various cultural concepts that can also be be found in publications of other thinkers dealing critically with neoliberal capitalism and its social as well as psychological consequences. This especially applies to Hartmut Rosa's considerations regarding cultural drivers of social acceleration and Ulrich Bröckling's concept of the so called enterprising self. The latter deals with the economization of the social and with aspects of self-optimization. Both phenomenon, social acceleration very clearly and the economization of the social up to a certain degree, depend on the increase of time saving efficiency. Thus, module four of the Leipzig course focused on “Experiencing (In-)Efficiency” from a practical perspective. Another deeply rooted mental infrastructure which is not identified by Welzer, but which must be understood as an indispensable prerequisite for economic growth, is the modern perception of a divide between humans and non-humans allowing the exploitation of nature. As this mental infrastructure was not part of the Leipzig course, we decided not to respect it in this introduction. For details on this mental infrastructure see: Sanders 2014.
The mental infrastructure of acceleration
In his central work “Acceleration - The Change in Temporal Structures in Modernity“ (Rosa 2012), Hartmut Rosa claims that the main processes of modernization (individualization, rationalization, differentiation and domestication of nature) may be interpreted as functions of social acceleration (ibid.: 440-441). Basically, social acceleration refers to the increase of quantity per time unit. According to Rosa, it can be best described by a self-reinforcing circle of acceleration comprising technological acceleration, the acceleration of social change and the acceleration of the pace of life.1 Yet, the speed of social acceleration is further increased by external motors impacting on specific elements of the circle. Although it is generally crucial to understand that technical acceleration is driven by a capitalistic economic motor (time is money)2, in the context of this article the cultural motor is of particular interest:
Rosa states that social acceleration is, among others, driven by cultural ideals of modernity. The wish to change for the sake of change (Friedrich Ancillon) was incrementally institutionalized in our societies since the beginning of the modern era. Although this process was surely influenced by the evolving of industrial and capitalist production the “ideal formulated by Ancillon is the consequence of a conception of life in which the good life is the fulfilled life, a life that is rich in experiences and developed capacities“ (Rosa 2009: 90). The reason for the wish of modern individuals to speed up their lives in order to be able to appreciate as many of the options of the world as possible, lies within the cultural problem that the time of the world dramatically diverges from our individual life time. In the pre-modern era the solution for this problem was provided by religions offering the concept of the endless afterlife. However, with secularization the hope for eternity lost its strength and was replaced by the ideal of the fulfilled life – the idea of living as many lives as possible within one life time.3 The promise of acceleration is complemented by the promise of prosperity, since money allows to fulfill the wish for acceleration and is also able to compensate for those uncertainties that a high-speed society involves for everyone (Rosa 2012: 285). Finally, another complementary cultural driver that motivates us to speed up our lives is fear (ibid.: 284-285). As already mentioned in footnote 2, in an accelerating and competitive capitalist society, standing still is equivalent to falling behind. “Thus, people feel pressed to keep up with the speed of change they experience in their social and technological world in order to avoid the loss of potentially valuable options and connections“ (Rosa 2009: 88).
To sum up, the ideal of the fulfilled life in combination with the fear to fall behind is a deeply rooted cultural concept and can thus be labeled as a mental infrastructure of growth. Speeding up the pace of our lives would not be possible without time saving measures of self-optimization. As it is the case for social acceleration, we will realize in the following that self-optimization in modern times is a result of both, a culturally shaped desire of individuals and a structural necessity.
The mental infrastructure of self-optimization and enterprising
This mental infrastructure of growth can be best understood when briefly referring to the study field of “governmentality”. Here, social scientists largely deal with the work of Michel Foucault. The term of “governmentality” already implies their main interest – the relationship and the coincidence of government and mentality. Foucault analyzed in many of his works how government techniques changed by increasingly including control techniques that allowed to govern modern individuals from within themselves.
In the context of mental infrastructures of growth, this perspective allows us to understand that individuals to some extent govern themselves as they are supposed to do from the ratio of the capitalist system. Why this is the case and how we are asked to increasingly act economically in all spheres of our lives is the main topic of Ulrich Bröckling's work “The Enterprising Self” (Bröckling 2007). At the core of his book lies Foucault's analysis of neoliberal thinking. Importantly, Bröckling states: “If the ratio of neoliberal thinking results in the generalization of the mechanism of competition and in the establishment of the market as the universal model of socialization, the figure of the enterprising self turns into the vanishing point of our subjectivation“ (Bröckling 2007: 107; translated by the authors). To put it more simply: If neoliberal thinking tries to establish the market logic in all spheres of society and not only in the economy, then we will increasingly act economically. This is exactly why the construct of the Homo oeconomicus as a rational agent, who tries to optimize his_her decisions regarding costs and benefits, “is not a random narrative construct in economic theory but a cipher for the function-specific expectations of the economic system, which defines how human beings should understand themselves as agents and how they have to act in order to participate in the market“ (Bröckling 2012: 4). However, “the real-fiction of the Homo oeconomicus in no case merely translates the functional requirements of the economic system into a role script. Rather it is dependent on becoming subjectivated, which means dependent on generating the individual resonances in the form of altered self-interpretations and self-practices“ (ibid.). In order to translate the premises of neoliberal economy into our mentalities, structural incentives and constraints are certainly important. Yet, Bröckling stresses the relevance of what is called interpellation (Bröckling 2007: 27-31). We are invocated to understand ourselves as Homo oeconomicus and/or enterprising selves and to act accordingly. But only if the call resonates in us, it becomes powerful and the process of subjectivation takes place. Often we unconsciously respond to calls that are vastly present in our daily lives (for example in discourses, publicities, party platforms or guidebooks), since we wish to stay connected in communication and because of our fear to be socially excluded, if we resist to adapt to mechanisms of socialization which are shaped by the logic of the market (Bröckling 2007: 47).
To summarize: As the Homo oeconomicus and the enterprising self are neither abstract models, nor are they directly translated into reality. But as they get partially real through interpellations and corresponding processes of subjectivation, they can be labeled real-fictions. Or as Bröckling puts it for the enterprising self: You are not an enterprising self but you are supposed to become one. And you only can turn into one, since you are already addressed as such (Bröckling 2007: 47).
Yet, it is important to distinguish between the real-fiction of the Homo oeconomicus and the real-fiction of the enterprising self. The latter diverges from the former, since the enterprising self passes the threshold of uncertainty. What does this mean? The enterprising self cannot translate uncertainty into calculable risks as the prototype of the manager does, since an enterprising self acts against the background of insecure information and lacking pathways. This is why Joseph Schumpeter identifies the entrepreneur as a modern hero (Bröckling 2007: 116). The entrepreneur is the creator of the new and the defeater of the unknown. The entrepreneur produces for the market and its decisions depend on uncertain demands. Thus, the enterprising self acts to some extent beyond rationality, which is supposed to be compensated by unresting activity (Bröckling 2002: 9-10; Bröckling 2007: 116-123). Not surprisingly, activation is one of the central invocations in guidebooks, which are understood by Bröckling as manuals for neoliberal thinking. He identifies a semantic of total mobilization (Bröckling 2007: 117; Bröckling 2012). Accordingly, he quotes Tom Peters, one of the gurus of personal and business empowerment: “Just throw enough spaghetti against the wall, maybe something will stick to it“ (Bröckling 2002: 10; translated by the authors).
If the enterprising self turns into the vanishing point of our efforts of subjectivation, what everyone is supposed to become is precisely what threatens everyone. Why is that? On the one hand, the logic of comparison and competition produces the feeling of lack, incompleteness and guilt. This is the actual reason for the never ending restlessness of the modern individual. On the other hand, if the market mechanism increasingly shapes socialization, the interpellation to act economically is on the verge to become hegemonic.4 Ultimately, the possible result of the ongoing economization of the social is dystopic: “As there is nothing less at stake than the own life, there is no space for playful easiness and noble fairness. Thus, the enterprising self is not only a general orientation but also a bugbear. What everyone is supposed to become is precisely what threatens everyone“ (Bröckling 2007: 126; translated by the authors). Just as Hartmut Rosa does when describing the consequences of social acceleration for the modern individual, Bröckling refers to Alain Ehrenberg's work “The Weariness of the Self: Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age“ when outlining the flipside of the enterprising self (Bröckling 2007: 289; Rosa 2012: 388-390): exhaustion and depression.
Just as the wish for acceleration can be described as being unquestioned, since it is linked to our cultural ideal of the good life, the economic view on ourselves and our fellow men and women becomes an increasingly dominant and unconscious mentality. It perfectly fits the logic of social acceleration and it is massively enhanced by neoliberal thoughts that have great impact on the governing of the social.
Embodying knowledge and practicing cultural change
So far, we presented two different mental infrastructures of growth that are shaping our actions and routines. They are deeply internalized and largely unquestioned. Knowing them is crucial to deconstruct our behavior – no matter if we talk about most basic daily habits or abstract life visions. However, the cognitive process of deconstruction is insufficient to actually change our lifestyles for several reasons: Firstly, we positively associate them with our understanding of a good life. Secondly, most habits that make up our lifestyle are simply too automated to change them just by knowing about them. Finally, external conditions are of great importance for individual transformation. Currently, they are preserving the logic of growth, increase and acceleration.5 By consequence, Welzer even remarks that “a bigger part of the knowledge assets which currently get effective in discourses, will only be of relevance after the change of practices – not before” (Welzer & Gießmann 2009: 107; translated by the authors). For Welzer only concrete practices allow to transform the existing knowledge into effective one, since practices built the bridges between abstraction and the realities of people (ibid. 106).
Psychic resources for a degrowth society
Against this backdrop, the psychologist Marcel Hunecke stresses that processes of reflection need to be embodied in order to support personal change. Moreover, he also highlights the relevance to connect these processes with positive emotions (Hunecke 2013: 32). People in the Global North will barely change lifestyles that are connected with still dominant cultural concepts of the good life (like the mentioned prevailing attractiveness to extend personal experiences by consuming as many world options as possible), if change is not associated with an improvement of individual well-being.
Yet, the experience of pressure and stress caused by the need of constant innovation, acceleration, activity and efficiency are perceived by large parts of the population in the Global North as a loss of well-being as well as a risk for physical and psychological health (ibid.: 9). These forms of suffering provide possibilities for interventions that Hunecke wants to use to activate and strengthen a set of six psychic resources. These are not postulated from a normative perspective but derived from empirical research. He deems them helpful to cope with the exigencies of highly dynamic societies but likewise crucial for a sustainable lifestyle, an increase of individual well-being and for a social-ecological transformation towards degrowth societies. Basing his work largely on results of positive psychology, but also of environmental psychology, resource based coaching and social-ecological research, he identifies the following resources: The capability to enjoy, self-acceptance, self-efficacy, mindfulness, construction of sense and solidarity. For Hunecke these resources have the potential to mutually strengthen but also enclose each other (for details see: ibid.: 120f.).
In the context of our topic, the development of the six psychic resources allows to identify and to tackle a variety of problematic consequences of the mental infrastructures that have been identified above. 1) According to Hunecke the capability to enjoy facilitates experiencing more intense moments of life instead of just increasing the quantity of consumed world options. Here, wealth of time, regionality and seasonality are important concepts to connect this psychic resource with a possible degrowth lifestyle and altered concepts of the good life. 2) Self-acceptance prevents people from compensating perceived unsatisfactoriness by material consumption to increase their social status. As shown above, the feeling of unworthiness can be perceived as a consequence of the extension of competition and interpellations to act in the sense of the enterprising self. 3) Self-efficacy strengthens the conviction to be able to contribute to the change of personal and societal environment (ibid.: 120f.). 4) Mindfulness allows to get aware of problematic habits by increasing the sensitivity for the needs of oneself and of other beings and is conducive to experience joy. This turns mindfulness into a crucial psychic resource that may help to reduce the gap between nature and humans. 5) By getting aware of ones own needs and those of others, mindfulness also opens the way to more general questions about the sense of individual action and being (ibid.: 69) as well as to the psychic resource of solidarity. 6) The latter one allows cutting through the dominant paradigm of competition which was identified in this article as driving force for acceleration, self-optimization and the mobilization of the self.
Due to the potential of the identified psychic resources to deconstruct mental infrastructures in an integral way and to gradually transform them, the reader will realize that the pedagogical program of the training on mental infrastructure in many ways tried to refer to these resources and to activate them. In that regard the course was also inspired by Harald Welzer's attempt to identify and support alternative and succeeding counter practices with the help of the foundation “FUTURZWEI”. The same applies for Christine Ax's work on the so called “skilled society”. Both may be well interpreted in the context of embodying knowledge and practicing change. Thus, they will be shortly presented in the following as an inspiring end of this introduction.
The skilled society
Christine Ax notices that modernity goes along with an the unlearning of practical skills as more and more processes are machine based (Ax 2009: 25; 28ff.). Yet, the development of skills is most crucial for a happy life: Firstly, skills provide autonomy. If you are skilled, you depend less on money and/or on the skills of other people and/or the decay rates of knowledge. Secondly, skills may activate various of the mentioned psychic resources – e.g. self-efficacy, mindfulness and enjoyment.
Against this backdrop, Ax argues for a skilled society. Her vision of such a society fundamentally differs from the ideologically driven knowledge society (Ax 2009: 254), since in a skilled society people work under the condition of freedom (ibid.: 259). Here people are able to realize their needs by having more personal responsibility for the own work. In the context of cultural change, a combination of differently organized work and an emphasis on skills (without ignoring the importance of knowledge) provide the possibility to change mental infrastructures: As already mentioned, it allows activating and strengthening those psychic resources which may be relevant in a degrowth society. Moreover, working in the skilled society facilitates embodying strategies. As skills cannot be digitized (Ax 2009: 53), skilled people will most likely deal less with computers than workers in a knowledge society, but will interact with a much greater variety of those forms and shapes that the world hosts.
Promoting succeeding counter practices
Besides the problem of the deep internalization of ideals and routines, Welzer remarks that we also don't change our practices, simply because we don't have experienced better ones (Welzer & Gießmann 2009: 108). Of course, this lack also prevents political measures that would greatly facilitate and promote individual transformation. Thus, he seeks to spread and support changed practices in order to link up abstract knowledge to the realities of the people. In his understanding these practices serve the project of a reductive modernity, “a society which keeps its civilizational standard while considerably reducing its material and energy consumption as well as seriously decreasing consume but increasing personal autonomy” (Giesecke, Tremel & Welzer 2015: 6; translated by the authors). For this project, he founded the foundation “FUTURZWEI”6 which gathers examples and stories of succeeding counter practices to publish them regularly and in a prominent way. FUTURZWEI is understood by its members as a public relation agency for a social movement that searches for ways to realize a reductive modernity (ibid.). This may be possible by breaking up patterns of (re-) production in a practical mode of change allowing people to make new experiences with themselves (Welzer 2015: 36).
GROWL and the 4th International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity
The Course "Mental Infrastructures and Degrowth Transformation" adressed the topic of the „Culture of Growth“ from different perspectives. It discusses the mental infrastructures of growth and their historical background theoretically. Moreover, it allows the reflection of our personal mental models and encourages experimenting with their convertibility by offering a variety of experience-based workshops.
The course comprised four main parts:
- Presentation of the concept of „Mental Infrastrutures“ and a plenary discussion
- Performance-Workshop „Strategies of Self-Improvement“
- Self-reflective workshop on „Growth and social acceleration“
- Practical Workshop: Experiencing (In-)Efficiency
A set of methodological modules was developed and experimented during this course.
Module 1: Getting to know a concept – What are mental infrastructures of growth?
Module overview
Time | Content and Methods | |
30' | 1. | Introductory Presentation on the concept of Mental Infrastructures by Harald Welzer |
30' | 2. | Open Plenary Discussion |
60' | 3. | Worldcafé: Link the concept to concrete examples and transfer to personal lives of the participants |
15' | 4. | Coffee break |
30' | 5. | Plenary: Presentation of the Worldcafé results, extraction of a common definition of „Mental infrastructures“ |
30' | 6. | Design a big wall paper: Collective mapping of the concept of mental infrastructures |
15' | 7. | Wrap-up: Discuss the relevance of the concept for the course, look-out to the next modules, address open questions |
Total: 3,5h
General aims of the module
- Participants understand what the term „Mental infrastructures of growth“ means and how it can be filled (here: by Harald Welzer)
- Participants critically discuss and question the concept and its limits
- Participants link the concept to their personal lives
- Participants evaluate the possible impact of mental infrastructures for a social-ecological transformation
Module Description
1. Presentation (30')
The module starts with an introductory input on the concept of mental infrastructures. The presentation aims at explaining what mental infrastructures are and why they are relevant. It then focuses on three mental infrastructures (or „socio-cultural schemes“) that currently sustain the growth oriented society and that are specifically addressed within this course in the following workshops:
a. Bookkeeping and the „Economic Man“ (see Module 2)
b. Acceleration and the Shrinking of the Present (see Module 3)
c. Efficiency and the Knowledge Society (see Module 4)
2. Open Plenary Discussion (30')
This open phase aims at clarifying open questions and expressing doubts and critique concerning the concept.
3. Worldcafé (60')
In this part the participants wrap up the core of the concept, transfer it to concrete examples and make a link to their personal lives. In order to do this, the room is set up with tables (approx. 1 table for every 5-6 participants), where the following questions are discussed seperately in a „Worldcafé“:
a. Find a coherent working definition for „Mental infrastructures of growth“ based on the presentation. What are examples for it according to your definition?
b. How are you affected by „mental infrastructures of growth“ in your personal lives – within your family, friends, work, your own habits...?
c. How do you deal with or react to them?
Each questions is discussed for 20 minutes within groups of 5-6 participants. Then the participants change tables and come together in new combinations. A „host“ stays at each table to introduce the newcomers to the previous debate which is the basis for the discussion of the next question. For further explanation of the worldcafé method see: http://www.theworldcafe.com/method.html.
4. Break (15')
5. Presentation of the World Café results (30')
First, the different working definitions (Question 1) are presented and evaluated in the plenary: What are the differences? Can they be integrated to a common/ coherent definition? Or are there aspects that cannot be harmonized?
In a second step, the hosts are invited to give an overview of the further discussed topics and share especially interesting points with the whole group.
6. Collective mapping (30')
This last step aims at clarifying the concept by mapping existing mental infrastructures of growth, which we see within society and in our personal lives around the newly developed working definition. If needed, it is possible to form another small group that integrates the different definition proposals into a common definition, which then can be placed in the middle of a big wallpaper. All other participants are invited to write down the mental infrastructures they discussed within the worldcafé and illustrate the map with colours, drawings etc. This is supposed to be interactive, creative and fun and serves as a base for further discussions within the seminar.
The wallpaper is put up in the seminar room and can be complemented in the following days.
7. Wrap-up and outlook (15')
At the end, there should be some time to embed the concept into the following parts of the seminar – that this seminar aims at giving the chance to experience our own mental infrastructures and the role they play in our lives as well as to experiment with alternative experiences that may have the potential to change our mental infrastructures.
Module 2: Performance Workshop “Strategies of self-improvement and competition as mental infrastructures of growth”
Module overview
Time | Content and Methods | |
'15 | 1. | Warming-Up, Coming together |
'30 | 2. | Introduction to the workshop and the topic |
'60 | 3. | Theatre Exercises |
'30 | 4. | Gallery of Self-Improvement |
'45 | 5. | Performative Exercise „Mr. Wolf“ |
'90 | 6. | Monologues and Movements |
'90 | 7. | Staging the monologues and choreographies |
'60 | 8. | Presentation of the performances and feedback |
Total: 7 h (+ circa 2h of breaks)
General aims of the module
- Participants know important imperatives and strategies of self-improvement
- Participants relate strategies of self-improvement to (the mental infrastructure of) competition and reflect on problematic dimensions of that relation
- Participants experiment in a playful way with different forms of coping with the imperative of continuous self-improvement
- Participants include cognitive, emotional and physical dimensions in their approach (holistic approach)
- Participants have the possibility to enjoy working and experimenting together in a cooperative way (experience of cooperation)
- Participants develop a joyful and playful attitude towards failure during the workshop (experience of „not improvement/optimization“)
- Participants find artistic-performative forms of expression for their work and show them to others
How this documentation is made
In the workshop a lot of theatre-methods, games, and exercises are used. Usually these methods work like frames and can include a lot of different possible variations and fillings. These can vary from situation to situation and can be filled with other methods that future trainers might bring from their respective backgrounds. Please be aware that it usually makes sense to have experienced a method at least once before you facilitate it yourself.
For those of you who don't know so many exercises or don't remember them, you can have a look here: http://www.keithjohnstone.com/writing/ and here: http://improwiki.com/en or here: http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php?nodeID=52
Although this workshop is explicitly not based on the “Theatre of the opressed” nor within improvisation theatre, you can find exercises in these fields that are applicable and useful for the Performance-Workshop as well.
Module Description
1. Warm-Up (15')
Before you start the workshop, make sure to offer one or two warming-up exercises that you like a lot. They should a) wake people up and b) be fun.
2. Introduction to the workshop (30')
- „We will work with different text-based materials and create own small text components. Later we will also write monologues.“
- Sitting in a circle the facilitator explains what will happen during the workshop and what is his/her personal approach, regarding both the approach to the content as well as to aesthetics. What will happen in the workshop? What was said more or less was the following:
- „We will move a lot and we will develop our own movements with our bodies: We will do a lot of games and exercises that will allow us to have fun and create movements in a simple way. We will work with music. And we will create our own movement vocabulary, we won't dance ballet“
- „We will try to combine brain and body, and have a look at the effects this connection might have if we combine them in different ways.“
3. Let's start! Theatre Exercises (60')
- Exercise in the room to feel comfortable in the room, to come in (physical) contact with the room and with the others: people scatter in the room and go around, find their own rhythm of going, say hello to the others in different ways, etc.... You find some basic „room-exercises“ here: http://improwiki.com/en/wikis
- „The running train“: Exercise with music. Two people come together. One person stands behind the other, looking in the same direction, the person in the front starts to go through the room, inspired by the music. Step 1: The first person turns around and the second person has to react and turn around as fast as possible, too. Now the second person is the first, the roles are changing. Step 2: The second person can stop the first person by giving a pat on the back. Then the second person “draws“ something on the back of the first person with the finger and the first person transforms the drawing into a movement . Step 3: Groups of 2 persons go together and build groups of 4 persons, then groups of 8. The groups start to react to the other groups in their movements in the room. Music used: „Je veux“ by Zaz
- 1,2,3 from Bradford: you find a description of the method here: http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/dbi/content/two-three-bradford
- Exercise on subtext in a circle, e.g. with the words „you“ and „here“. The chosen word is expressed by every person in the circle with a different subtext / imitating different possible situations. In the second round with the second word in addition the next person reacts to it.
4. Gallery of self-improvement (30')
Before the workshop: prepare a wall full of images that have to do with the topic. I chose images from self-management, time-management, diet, yoga, networking, etc. Self-improvement can be described and analyzed in a lot of elements of our lives. (see Material 2)
Participants have time to watch the wall, to relate it with their own lives and thoughts and to get inspired by it. In the 30 minutes they have, each person writes down three imperatives of self-improvement that start with „you“ and put it on the wall. During the exhibition I put music by “Apparat”.
BREAK
5. Performative exercise „What's the time, Mr. Wolf“ (45')
(German name „Ochs am Berg“),You find a description of the game here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_the_time,_Mr_Wolf%3F
If the sun is shining, go outside. After playing it several times (in the variation “low countries”) change the rules of the game step by step:
- If one person is caught by Mr. Wolf, the whole group has to start again.
- Mr. Wolf is invisible. The group has to imagine Mr. Wolf, stop when the imagined Mr. Wolf turns around. You can do that in separated groups already.
- Last step: Divide the group, so that you do not have more than ten people in one group. The small groups repeat the last step, but now they use the texts about self-improvement that they wrote in the gallery-phase and speak them with different subtexts in the freezing phases. The audition-group(s) describe(s) effects (1) and interpretations (2). As this last step is a kind of performance (and people can get nervous), I went inside the main room to use an adequate room with a stage for it.
6. Monologues and Movements (90 minutes)
The following part is a combination of working with creative writing methods and working with methods of new/contemporary dance. I switched between writing and moving parts, so that the participants did not have to write/dance all the time at a stretch. I will describe the two parts separately.
Writing Monologues based on associations
Participants get two papers and a pen each. They sit in a circle and write „self-improvement“ on the first and „failure“ on the second paper. They write the words in the center of the paper and make a circle around them. Then they start to write associations to these words, building chains from the circle to the border of the paper. This can be e.g. like this: self-improvement – healthy food – apples – apple tree – forest – lord of the rings – my first girlfriend Eva – etc...
Always associate to the word you wrote before. Participants do this until their papers are full (6-10 chains should emerge).
Participants do that with both words/papers and then change the papers with their neighbors. On the neighbors papers they underline on each paper three words they find interesting and then give them back.
Now everyone writes a monologue from one of the following perspectives:
- The „I“ is in the mode of self-improvement and describes it's everyday habits or
- The „I“ tries to reflect on it's own strategies of self-improvement, tries perhaps to change them and describes how that works
After writing the monologues two people come together and present their monologues to each other. They decide for one monologue they want to continue working with but they can also try to integrate passages they don't want to lose from the other monologue. At the end they have a text that they want to use for the rest of the workshop.
Creating movements and a first choreography
Before writing the monologues start with the movement/dancing-part: For every word that is underlined, the participants find a movement. Then they find a nice combination of the movements.
The participants start with this exercise in the same groups of two as above. At the beginning one person is the „mover“ and the other is the „reader“, after finishing they change the roles: One person (the reader) reads a word (e.g. „forest“) from his papers the other (the mover) creates spontaneously a small movement. Then the next word is read and the next movement is created. Then the „mover“ links movement 1 and movement 2. After working through all six words from the two papers, the participants change the roles. Now they work in the same way with the papers of the former mover. The result are two choreographies of six linked movements. These choreographies should be precise, so that participants can repeat them exactly and also teach them to other participants.
Exercises that helped us with the preparation of the movement parts
- Room-Exercises with spontaneous statues to terms (I used terms from the lunch-break, some easy to translate in physical like „tired“, some more difficult like „pasta“, some really difficult like „green“). After working with statues you can go to small movements.
- Puzzling: All participants are standing in a circle: One person goes to the center and goes into a free position. Freeze. Now a second person goes to the first and tries to find a position, that „fills“ blanks in the position of the first without touching him or her. Freeze. The first person tries to leave without touching. A third person is coming into the circle and so on.
7. Staging the monologues and choreographies (90')
In the groups of two from 7) the participants start to combine their text and their two choreographies. They start to experiment with different forms of combination. Questions that could support them:
- „Who is speaking which part of the text?“
- „Which parts do we speak together (if any)?“
- „When does which part of which choreography take part?“
- „Which parts do we move together (if any)?“
- „What are you doing, when you don't have anything special to do on the stage? How can you give focus on the main performing person?“
At the end each pair has a small performance.
In the last step the participants go together in groups of three or four pairs and combine their performances, keeping the same questions in mind. As they are six to eight people in each group, they can also work with choirs, speaking choirs as well as moving choirs. Additional tasks are now:
- „Find an order for the three/four performances that makes sense to you“
- „Decide how your performance will start and how it will end“
- „Think about rhythmical questions: when are you loud/quiet, when fast/slow.“
- „Think about subtexts and attitudes of the performers“
8. Presentation of the performances and feedback (60')
Finally the groups can present the results of their work on stage. For non-professional actors the facilitator should explain the difference between a private place and a stage, where every movement is significant and can be interpreted by the audience. I usually mark the border of the stage with a tape and explain, that crossing that border implies that you are not a private person anymore but someone performing. As such, you are performing a role which may differ from your private roles.
After the performances we had a small break and then gave feedback in two different ways:
- In a circle: „What do you want to say concerning the workshop, which experiences do you want to share with us?“
- In anonymous: At the end of the course we put papers for every workshop on the floor and left the room, so participants could write down detailed feedback.
Module 3: Self-reflective workshop on growth and social acceleration
- Harald Welzer and Hartmut Rosa provide the theoretical background to link the concepts of growth and acceleration to our daily lives. Rosa claims that competition and the promise of eternity are the main engines for acceleration. They trigger acceleration in other areas, such as technology, and therefore provide the basis for economic growth. Welzer introduces us to the concept of mental infrastructures.
- The workshop aims at connecting Rosa’s and Welzer’s theory with our own biographies. How has acceleration and growth influenced our lives? What do our mental infrastructures look like? What are barriers that hinder us from thinking, feeling and acting differently? Which ideas help us change?
- The workshop will combine theoretical input and practical exercises, most of which are based on self-reflective elements.
Module overview
Time | Content and Methods |
'35 | Warm-Up, Introduction to the workshop and the topic: Gallery walk, walking through the room (alternatively: Following hands) |
'10 | Explaining the goals of the workshop |
'40 | Experiencing self-constraint on time / internalization of acceleration and how it affects us: I-still-have-to list |
'30-50 | Reflective walk: making the shortage of time visible in our everyday life, get activated and share your experiences with someone |
'45 | Plan analysis: identifying mechanisms underlying acceleration and personal growth (goals and needs) |
'30 | Lecture: getting to know the theory of acceleration by Hartmut Rosa and link individual and societal processes such as personal and economic growth |
'80 | Map of change: identify barriers and bring together ideas on strategies that might be useful for a transformation towards a degrowth society |
'30 | Closing round and feedback |
Total: 5.30 h (plus 1 h of break)
General Aims of the Module:
- make acceleration and growth visible in our own biographies (we talk about degrowth but visit one training after another….)
- some (but little) theoretical background on acceleration (Rosa) and personal growth (humanistic psychology)
- understand some needs and mechanisms underlying acceleration and why it is so hard to change (barriers)
- learn about the value-action gap / attitude-behavior gap
- develop ideas on resources and strategies towards a degrowth society
Module description
Exercise I: Gallery walk
Aims:
- Warm-up and set minds for the topic
- Introduction to the topic: understanding time as a relative perception
Walking through the time gallery:
- Quotes are printed on colorful paper and hung up on a clothesline beforehand.
- Participants move slowly along the clothesline and have time to read and perceive quotes, proverbs and images.
Note: put up music to create a comfortable atmosphere. Participants may talk if they wish to.
Time needed: 15 Minutes
Material: Material 2, pegs, clothesline, pictures (e. g. from a game called „Dixxit“), music, speakers
Exercise II: Walking through the room
Aims:
- Understanding time as a concept shaped by society;
- Feel how different speeds affect us in a metaphorical sense
Procedure:
You should have a present voice and make sure participants use the whole room for this. This includes preparing the room in advance (no tables, chairs etc.)
Read the following script and leave time in between while participants are walking through the room at different speeds.
1) Relaxed
We walk through the room in a very relaxed way, slowly. Give attention to: your breathing........your relaxation..........your look, your posture and the way you walk........feel the ground.........look at the others (you may add: smile)
2) Accelerate – phase I
We walk through the room in a faster pace, almost our normal pace. Give attention to: your breathing........your look, your posture and the way you walk........feel the ground.........look at the others (you may add: smile)
3) Accelerate – phase II
We walk through the room in a fast pace, almost running. Give attention to: your breathing........your look, your posture and the way you walk........look at the others (you may add: smile)
Questions for reflection (shortly):
- How did you feel at the different paces?
- How do these feelings correspond to the quotes you read?
- Did you experience some form of resonance?
Time needed: 20 Minutes
Material: music, speakers
Exercise II (Alternative): Following hands
Aims: warm-up, coming together
Procedure:
Participants come together in pairs. They should take their hands and use it as imagined magnets. One takes the role of the follower and follows the other hand like a magnet through the room; after a while, they can switch roles.Participants should try different positions and play with their partners. You can encourage an active atmosphere with active music.
Questions for reflection (shortly):
How did you feel while following the hand? How did you feel leading the hand?
Are these feelings associated with the quotes that you have just read?
Time needed: 20 Minutes
Material: music, speakers
---INTERLUDE---Explaining goals
Aims: Explaining goals of the workshop and making them transparent (see aims after the chart).
[Note: I prefer to explain the goals of the workshop here instead of doing it, how it is usually done, straight in the beginning - participants should not be primed right away as to what they are supposed to think (e.g., while walking through the time gallery.]
Note also: Before you start, you may introduce the FREEZE idea: whenever you feel like the participants are not focused or wandering off with their minds, you might say FREEZE. Everyone will then immediately take a paper (make sure they are available throughout the whole workshop, as well as pens) and write down their thought. Encourage participants to write down whatever is on their mind in that moment. Collect the sheets and make a break. You will get a better idea on where the group is and what they need. Make sure you can adapt your exercises accordingly if you wish to.
Time needed: 10 Minutes
Material: List of the aims as a reminder for yourself if needed.
Exercise III: "I-still-have-to-list"
Aims: experiencing self-constraint on time / internalization of acceleration and how it affects us
Procedure:
Start with a little imagination and take the participants to their home desks: “You come back after this workshop and arrive at home. The next day, you sit at your desk and realize what needs to be done in the following weeks. All the things that you have to do and still didn't manage to do come to your mind. There are the dirty clothes and the food that you need to prepare, but there is also that issue at work and another unfinished task....”
Participants should take a sheet of paper and list all the things they have to do beginning with the sentence "I still have to....". They have 3 minutes for this, so they need to be quick and note as much as they can think of. It should be things that are currently on their mind and that they need to do in the following weeks.
Possible questions for reflection (collect quick impressions):
- What is on the list? Give some quick examples.
- Do you see a pattern?
- Are to-do-lists an example of an overall feeling and tendency in society?
- Why do you feel you still have to do all those things? Who tells you that you have to?
- Where does the pressure “to have to” come from?
- Do you feel it would be possible to ever “finish the list”?
Time needed: 40 Minutes
Material: Paper, Pens
Exercise IV: Reflective walk
Aims:
- making the shortage of time visible in our everyday life
- get activated and share you experiences with someone
Procedure:
Participants should find a partner that they haven't talked to until now.
They go for a walk with their partner. They should take the note sheet with suggested questions for reflection with them (Material 3).
Note: When participants come back, let them know that they will have time later on to exchange with the others and give input and insights from their walk. They may use their newly gained knowledge for what’s coming next, the plan analysis.
Time needed: 30-50 Minutes
Material: Material 3 (Note sheet)
Exercise V: Plan analysis
Aims:
- identifying mechanisms underlying acceleration: needs as a motor for actions
- work out goals and needs behind personal growth and acceleration
Procedure:
Write down the five points in Material 4 on a board/big sheet of paper and explain the idea behind the plan analysis.
The vertical plan analysis is a diagnostical tool that is used in behavioral psychotherapy to assess the needs of clients in relationships. Plans are seen as an expression of different motivational schemes. Behaviors are seen to be indicators for a need: by acting in a certain way, persons are trying to get something they want and need.
Note: This is a modified and extremely brief version, it differs from the original idea!
Participants should think of a situation in which they had the feeling of being in shortage of time. The I-must-have-list might give them ideas for such situations. They should formulate every behavior in a command form. This might seem strange at first, but it will help participants to not lose the focus (explain this to them).
Participants go into pairs of two and take a sheet (material 4). They perform a plan analysis with their partner. When one is done, switch roles. Note: It is important that participants think of a specific situation.
Questions for reflection:
- Are there other ways to achieve the needs and goals behind an accelerated life?
- What happens when people oppose “capitalistic” mental structures such as self-optimization? What happens if people “drop out” of the system?
Time needed: 45 Minutes
Material: Material 4
Lecture
Aims:
- understand how and why acceleration and the feeling of shortage of time come into being by getting to know the theory of acceleration by Hartmut Rosa (Why do we have less less and less time, although we save time through efficiency and technological progress?)
- link individual and societal processes: understand growth as motor of social acceleration: to remain stable, you have to grow (both in the economy, as well as individually)
- link personal growth (Humanistic Psychology) with social acceleration and provide a critical reflection on the topic How do personal and economic growth interact, and where are differences?
Make sure the lecture is well prepared: this includes your own preparation (get to know the material – of course you might as well create your own content and presentation – and the preparation of the room (presentation software must work on the computer you use as well as the connection with the projector....)
Time needed: 30 Minutes
Material: Material 5: presentation (online or pdf version), projector, speakers
Source: Online presentation: https://prezi.com/0atu2xtiyl86/acceleration-personal-growth/
// TODO: Get copy of Prezi as open format (PDF) and put it on the course page. Link to it (QR-Code)
Map of change
Aims:
- identify barriers and structural constraints that prevent us from acting
- bring together ideas on strategies that might be useful for a transformation towards a degrowth society
- think about individual resources and societal structures that provide the infrastructure for change
Procedure:
Hang up the map of change (see material 7).
Divide group in two halves – individual vs. societal: Hand out questions to reflect upon accordingly (Material 6)
1. First round: Think for yourself (5 minutes). Make notes if you want to.
After the first round:
Present the map of change and explain the different areas and what you want to do with it. The map of change is a visualization of the mental infrastructures in present society and the ones that are needed for a degrowth society (Alternative Island). It also visualizes the “roads” that might lead to such a transformation – the resources and strategies needed to get there (Resourcelandia). It also projects the barriers that might hinder us (Barrier Woods). The sea surrounding the land and islands may give space to further comments, critics etc (see example in the annex: Material 6).
2. Second round: groups with 5-6 persons (30 minutes).
In the group, they should further collect ideas and examples of a possible degrowth society, the society as we perceive it now, barriers and ways to overcome them. The focus should be on obstacles and strategies on how to overcome ”capitalistic mental infrastructures”, especially if there is not much time.
Each example/idea/concept should be written on a separate card. Provide different colors for strategies and resources, barriers, capitalistic infrastructures and degrowth infrastructures and open questions/comments.
The group should pick someone to present the cards in the plenum.
Remember: this is not an easy task, some people work all their lives on this and yet don’t have answers.
Questions for reflection (basically the same as on the sheet):
What are capitalistic/degrowth mental infrastructures?
What are the obstacles/barriers? Why do you have to run along and when do you manage to get out?
What are ways to overcome these mental infrastructures? How can mental infrastructures for a degrowth society be paved, on an individual and on a societal level? What are mechanisms of change?
Criticisms / Open comments
3. Third round: Each group presents in the plenum (20 minutes)
Have one person from each group present the outcomes from their group discussions. The person should put up the cards according to the area/color.
After each group has presented, you should have a nice collection of all the ideas on the map of change.
4. Fourth round: Group discussion (25 minutes)
Discuss about the different ideas you find on the map. Which are realistic, which do you find difficult?
Where do you feel contradictions and ambivalence?
What are pros and cons of different strategies?
Time needed: 80 Minutes (if you have time and energy, you might take more time for this if you wish to)
Material: Material 6, Material 7, moderation cards in 5 different colors (parts of the map of change), crepe tape
Mindfulness-based exercise
Aims: try a mindfulness-based exercise as a tool for inner change
Procedure:
Make sure everyone can put him- or herself in a comfortable position (either lying down or sitting); participants can close their eyes (which makes it easier to visualize). For this exercise it is essential that no disturbances take place, you provide a comfortable room and have enough time. Read the material beforehand so you have a present and clear voice and don't get confused while reading out loud. Try to soften your voice and leave room between the sentences – the more comfortable you feel during the exercise, the more will the participants.
Time needed: 20 Minutes
Material: Material 8: Peaceful place
Closing round/Feedback
Aims:
- get feedback of the group
- closing the workshop together
Procedure:
Sit in a circle. Each participant has about one minute to answer the question: “What do you take along from this workshop?” (make sure you include yourself). After you are finished, invite participants to sit with crossed legs and put their hands on the neighbor’s knees. Take time to look at each other and close the round.
Time needed: 20 Minutes
Material: --
Module 4: Practical workshop “Experiencing (In-)Efficiency and the Skilled Society”
Module overview
Time | Content and Methods | |
10' | 1. | Short Introduction to the workshop and the underlying theoretical concepts: Definition of „Efficiency“, „Division of labor“ and the „Knowledge society“ |
5' | 2. | Introduction to practical workshops: Participants decide on the workshop they want to join and receive a question to reflect upon |
120' | 3. | Different practical workshops are offered: 1. How to bake your own bread, 2. How to produce tasty spreads, 3. Harvesting at the CSA project |
30' | 4. | Reflection about individual experiences in the practical workshops |
45' | 5. | Reflection on experiences and the link to mental infrastructures related to the social organization of work (in the plenary) |
6. | Convivial dinner with fresh bread, a variety of colourful spreads and fresh salad from the CSA field |
Total: 3,5h + Dinner
General aims of the module
- Participants experience themselves in a practical activity which differs from their daily work (usually at a computer) – and the usual seminar setting – and which allows to experience another form of self-efficacy by working with their hands and bodies
- Starting from the practical experience they reflect upon their daily work and from there on how work is socially organized within modern societies and what mental infrastructures are linked to it – the idea of efficiency, a strong division between the categories „practical“ and „theoretical“ and as a result the tendency to depreciate practical skills
- Participants know that practical skills are an important issue in the degrowth debate and why. They discuss how a focus on practical skills can foster a social-ecological degrowth society and where the limits of this approach are.
- Participants have fun preparing a convivial meal for all.
Module description
1. Introduction to the Workshop (10')
As an introduction to the workshop the trainer puts up 3 definitions of central concepts shaping the organization of work in modern societies which are in this workshop understood as mental infrastructures supporting the growth society. They will be questioned later on in the workshop. At this point these concepts are very shortly explained – as well as how they are interrelated:
A. Efficiency describes the extent to which time, effort or cost is well used for an intended task or purpose. It defines the relationship between the effort that has been made (resources & working hours) and the outcome. [cf. Wikipedia]
B. The division of labour is the specialisation of cooperating individuals who perform specific tasks and roles. It is historically associated with the growth of total output and trade and with a rise of complexity in industrialised societies. It is in this context expected to increase both producer and individual worker productivity. [cf. Wikipedia]
C. The term Knowledge society refers to a society formation in highly industrialized countries: individual and colletive theoretical knowledge as well as its organization becomes more and more the social and economic basis of these societies. Aside with the tendency to a rising reputation of theoretical knowledge, practical skills are depreciated. [cf. Wikipedia; Ax 2009]
Then the participants can ask comprehension questions, but the concepts are not discussed yet.
2. Introduction to the practical workshops (5')
In the next step the different workshops are presented and the participants decide on which workshop they would like to attend. Then every person receives a little piece of paper with a question on it. He or she will take this question to the workshop and is invited to reflect upon it while doing the practical work. The questions are randomly distributed among the participants, so several people receive the same question. In Leipzig we used the following questions:
- What does efficiency mean to you personally? In what situations do you experience it's positive/negative aspects?
- What positive/negative aspects of the strong division of labour (within our society) do you experience in your personal life?
- What kind of work has made you happy in the past and why?
- What kind of (theoretical and practical) knowledge and skills would you personally like to develop more? Why?
3. Practical Workshops (120')
In Leipzig we offered the following 3 workshops:
1. How to bake your own bread
2. How to produce tasty spreads
3. Harvesting at the CSA project
They were all related to the collective preparation of a meal, but other workshops are also possible, of course.
4. Reflection in small groups (30')
Within the workshop groups the participants exchange about their experiences within the workshop. The reflection is guided by the questions that the participants had received, but also any other experiences can be shared here.
5. Reflection in Plenary (45')
In the plenary then, there is first the opportunity for all to share whatever they want to share with the whole group: an especially interesting issue that had come up in the small group, an open question that could be relevant for further research or reflection etc.
In a second round, we link the personal experiences to degrowth as a societal concept which focuses strongly on the development on practical skills as well as concepts of self-providing. The following questions can help with this:
- Is a degrowth society a more „practical“ society than the present and what does that mean? In which fields?
- What role does self-sufficiency and the development of practical skills play for the transformation towards a degrowth society?
- What are the limits – and risks? - of the strong focus of the degrowth debate towards practical skills and self-sufficiency?
The results of this debate can be found in the Annex (Material 9).
6. Convivial dinner
At the end, we prepare a common meal for all: with a colourful, fresh salad, bread and spreads. It's the direct „practical“, visible and tasteable outcome of the workshops.
Material
For details on the material, please visit the following website and check the longer version of this documentation online:
https://co-munity.net/mental-infrastructures/materials-0/documentation-course
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Literature
- Ax, Christine (2009): Die Könnensgesellschaft – Mit guter Arbeit aus der Krise; Berlin: Rhombos.
- Bröckling, Ulrich (2002): Jeder könnte, aber nicht alle können – Konturen des unternehmerischen Selbst; Mittelweg 36, in: Eurozine; http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2002-10-02-broeckling-de.html; Last access: 18.06.2015.
- Bröckling, Ulrich (2007): Das unternehmerische Selbst – Soziologie einer Subjektivierungsform; Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp.
- Bröckling, Ulrich (2012): The Subject in the Marketplace, the Subject as Marketplace, Presentation at the Conference „The Marketization of Society: Economizing the Non-Economic“, University of Bremen, 01./02.06.2012; http://www.mpifg.de/projects/marketization/downloads/Broeckling.pdf; Last access: 12.07.2014.
- Bröckling, Ulrich (2012): Totale Mobilmachung. Menschenführung im Qualitäts- und Selbstmanagement; in: Krasmann, Susanne, Lemke, Thomas, Bröckling, Ulrich: Gouvernementalität der Gegenwart – Studien zur Ökonomisierung des Sozialen; 6th edition; Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp
- Descola, Philippe (2013): Jenseits von Natur und Kultur; Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp.
- Gießmann, Sebastian; Welzer Harald (2009): Vom Wissen zum Handeln – vom Handeln zum Wissen: Harald Welzer im Gespräch mit Sebastian Gießmann; in: Gießmann, Sebastian et al.: Politische Ökologie; Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften; 2/2009; Bielefeld: transcript; 103-110.
- Görg, Christoph (2003a): Gesellschaftstheorie und Naturverhältnisse – Von den Grenzen der Regulationstheorie; in: Brand, Ulrich; Raza, Werner (eds.): Fit für den Postfordismus? Theoretisch-politische Perspektiven des Regulationsansatzes; Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot; 175-194.
- Görg, Christoph (2003b): Nichtidentität und Kritik – Zum Problem der Gestaltung der Gesellschaftlichen Naturverhältnisse; in: Böhme, Gernot; Manzei, Alexandra (eds.): Kritische Theorie der Technik und der Natur, Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink Verlag; 113-134.
- Görg, Christoph (2005): Jenseits von Naturalismus und Naturberrschung – Naturverhältnisse in der Kritischen Theorie; in: Asta der FH Münster (ed.): Alle reden vom Wetter. Wir nicht. Beiträge zur Förderunge der kritischen Vernunft; Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
- Hunecke, Marcel (2013): Psychologie der Nachhaltigkeit – Psychische Ressourcen für Postwachstumsgesellschaften; München: oekom.
- Rosa, Hartmut (2009): Social Acceleration: Ethical and Political Consequences of a dysychronized High-Speed Society; in: Rosa, Hartmut; Scheuerman, William E.: High-Speed Society - Social Acceleration, Power, and Modernity; Pennsylvania State University Press; 77-112.
- Rosa, Hartmut (2012): Beschleunigung - Die Veränderung der Zeitstrukturen in der Moderne; 9th edition; Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp.
- Sanders, Christoph (2014): Societal Relations with Nature and Mental Infrastructures – A critical glance from Buen Vivir and Theravāda-Buddhism; Conference paper for the 4th International Conference on Degrowth; https://co-munity.net/conference2014/science/content/societal-relations-nature-and-mental-infrastructures-critical-glance; Last access: 01.07.2015.
- Welzer, Harald (2011): Mental Infrastructures - How Growth Entered the World and Our Souls; http://www.boell.de/sites/co-munity.net/files/endf_mental_infrastructures.pdf; Last access: 18.06.2015.
- Welzer, Harald (2015): Zukunftspolitik; in: Welzer, Harald; Giesecke, Dana; Tremel, Luise: FUTURZWEI Zukunftsalmanach 2015/2016 – Geschichten vom guten Umgang mit der Welt; Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer; 13-38.
- Welzer, Harald; Giesecke, Dana; Tremel, Luise (2015): Vorwort; in: Dies.: FUTURZWEI Zukunftsalmanach 2015/2016 – Geschichten vom guten Umgang mit der Welt; Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer; 5-8.
1 Technological acceleration is defined as the “speeding up of intentional and goal-directed processes of transport, communication, and production“ (Rosa 2009: 82). Moreover, Rosa describes the acceleration of social change as “an increase in the decay rates of the reliability of experiences and expectations and […] the contraction of the time spans definable as the 'present'“ (ibid. 82-83). Finally, the acceleration of the pace of life “refers to the speed and compression of actions and experiences in everyday life“ (ibid.: 85; Rosa 2012: 124-138).
2 According to Rosa, the capitalist economy bases in several ways on the achievement of time advantages in a competitive system (ibid.: 259-262), since “the capitalist cannot pause and rest, stop the race, and secure his position, since he either goes up or down; there is no point of equilibrium because standing still is equivalent to falling behind, as Marx and Weber pointed out“ (Rosa 2009: 88).
3 “Now, by this cultural logic, if we kept increasing the speed of life, we could eventually live a multiplicity of lives within a single lifetime by taking up all the options that would define them. […] The eudaimonistic promise of modern acceleration thus appears to be a functional equivalent to religious ideas of eternity and eternal life, and the acceleration of the pace of life represents the modern answer to the problem of finitude and death“ (Rosa 2009: 91).
4 “There is virtually no area of the social where the market’s effect cannot be felt“ (Bröckling 2012: 5).
5 Thus, Welzer noted that “knowledge is […] not a sufficient condition to change circumstances, since these circumstances base not on knowledge but on material and institutional infrastructures” (Welzer 2013: 66, translation by the authors).
6 The name of the foundation was derived from the grammatical form of future II. Before the creation of the foundation, Welzer found it very inspiriing to ask how we will have been seen in retrospective. Do we really want to will have been seen as part of culture that destroyed the livelihood of future generations? (Welzer & Gießmann 2009: 108f.)
Why „work“?
What is work? In our present society work is very strongly associated with wage labor or employment. Work is what somebody agrees to pay you for. But is this so? What is with all the activities that are essential for the well being of all. Why is are activities sometimes paid for and sometimes not? Care? Education? Cooking? Love? Friendship? Nature? Some activities that are labled as work (and well paid) seem to be meaningless, even socially or environmentally destructive. Why is this so and who decides about this this?
These questions, along our own rather unconventional work-relations (as collective low-input farmers and half-time worker and father) led us to the decision to organize a course about the perspectives and questions around work.
Why is it so important to question the concept?
Work seems to be one of the most important concepts of social and political life. What we work, what we earn money with, became one of the most important characteristic of our identity. The question „What are you doing?“ does not ask for how many children you have, if you are a good listener, wheather you enjoy nature, but what you do for employment. Without work you are nothing, you are redundant. Unemployed people often end up in an identical crises. A whole economy appeared to keep people busy, putting them into courses or badly paid jobs. The meaningfulness of these measures is often questionable.
Work appears to be strongly connected with growth. Growth creates jobs! - Constant growth is needed to outbalance the increase of economic productivity and to keep the „redundant“ laborforce occupied. And people seem to need occupation. In political discourse workplace is one of the strongest agruments to keep dirty economies, such as the coal industry, running. But why keep this wheel of destruction turning?
In a society which is not dedicated to growth also the concept of work has to be reassessed. I we want to stop the massive extraction and use of resources, the production of useless products and the emission of toxics and carbon dioxide we will loose many jobs. On the other hand, there will be tasks in society that have to be taken care of, such as food production, care work, construction work, logistics etc. It will have to be organized who will take care of these tasks and under which conditions. It will have to be discussed which work is needed in society, what should be produced and how, if specialists are wanted or all-rounders or both, which work is seen as important and meaningful and how this is valued... Hence, althought full employment cannot be the goal anymore, there will be full occupation – or full activity.
Alternative concepts from the degrowth movement
As there is this strong connection between work and growth, alternative concepts and practices necessarily appear in the degrowth movement. Many practices, such as sharing, reusing or DIY (do it yourself) make the production of certain goods unnecessary. When we deny growth, many acivities that only serve this goal cannot be seen as meaningful or have to be neglected, such as coal mining, but also others should be seen as unproductive (for the common good and well being) such as hedge fond managing etc.
Work can be organized collectively, such as collective farming and community supported agriculture (see chapter on agriculture). One of the most known concepts, which can be seen as an umbrella term for many forms of alternately organized work, such as for-free-shops, food-coops, bike-repair-shops etc, is that of solidary economy (see chapter solidary economy).
What did we do in the course?
The course took place in the "Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus" (WUK) in Vienna. The former locomotive factory is one of the biggest independent cultural centers in Europe. It is the home of a kindergarden, a primary and a comprehensive school and provides space for 150 selforganized cultural and poltical groups and initiatives. Here people try different forms of learning and working together, so we found here the perfect place for our topic.
We had one big room for the whole duration course, where we could pin flipcharts and postits to the wall, where we could eat, drink coffee and have a short nap on one of the couches. We were able to use a tent in the big yard of the WUK to have our cook Sami to cook our daily meals. As the weather was very summerly most of the days, we could sit outside for the meals and for the coffebreak but also for the group works. We found the WUK a very good place as it enabled us to spend a lot of time outside, althought being in the inner city, and to move a lot between different locations.
In our course we tried to approach work from different perspectives. We therefore divided the time we had in four slots, four workshops, each of which lasted half a day, four hours in the morning or afternoon.
In the first workshop we tried to deconstruct the concept of „regular work“. What does this term mean, does this „regular“ work actually exist and since when and will it remain like this in the near future?
In the second workshop we were looking at work from a social-ecological perspective. We questioned which work is done, by whom and what are the effects on social relationships, society and nature.
In the third workshop approaches from feminist economy were presented, and questioned of how which work is acknowledged and valued.
In the fourth workshop different utopias regarding work were presented and discussed. We where asking ourselves how do we personally want to live and work in a future solidary degrowth society and how it could be organized that way.
In between these slots we had one guided city tour around Vienna, presenting central characteristics of the city regarding work, such as locations of early women labour struggles, social housing for workers in the 1920s etc. Furthermore we showed the movie „Frohes Schaffen“ with a following panel discussion as a public event.
Workshop 1: what is „regular work“?
Introduction
The concept of work as it is often understood - as paid labor - is not a universal one. Only in Europe of the 18th century the concept of work appeared in the connection with productive performance, a factor of production that can be measured by economic means. „Work“ became the source to make added value, to create growth (see Komlosy for an elaborate overview over the history of the concept of work). Before and for a longer period in many indigenous societies there was no general term for „work“ as an abstract category but rather for concrete activities. First with colonialism and „modernization“ and especially with a global neoliberalization also the concept of work became globalized.
Aim of the workshop
In this workshop we tried to deconstruct the term „regular work“ as paid labor and full employment. The workshop aimed to question what actually is „regular work“ as a social relation, if it still exists and wheather it will in the future. It tried to explain the historical circusmstances of its evolving and look at present critical points, such as high unemployment, precarious jobs, the problem of division of labor between genders... It gave an overview about critical perspectives, mainly critisism of neoclassical economy and perspectives from feminist economy (see also next workshop).
What we did
This workshop was a combination of theoretical inputs about the historical development of the relation which is nowadays seen as „regular work“ as well as some critical perspectives on this understanding, e.g. from feminist economy, and group discussion. There was a powerpoint presentation (see material), with only keywords, that allowed for questions to and statement from the audience.
Reflection
The group was with 25 people weigh too big for this kind of method. The presenter had a very quiet voice and there was not enough time for all participants to make their comments.
Also, because of time constraints, many points were touched only very roughly, and could not be discussed sufficiently or to satisfy the participants. There was already a lot of knowledge within the audience that could have completed the theoretical content but could not be heard. Sometimes there was even disagreement that could not be solved adequately.
BOX: Movie „Frohes Schaffen“
The title of this docu-fiction movie can be translated as „happy producing“, which in German is a saying to wish somebody good luck or success, with the subtitle 'film to decrease the work ethic“. The movie by german regisseur Konstantin Faigle shows that modern society is not free from misbelief and mental coercion but that it created its own even religion like constrain – which is work. Work structures the day and gives life a meaning. But what meaning? The movie questions in a very satirical way the promise of happyness the religion capitalism with its mantra work gives us.
The movie addresses a lot of aspects that can be used for discussion. It is originally in German but with many speakers from English-speaking countries, such as the economist Jeremy Rifkin or Benjamin Hunnicutt. The DVD has also English subtitles.
Statement by Michael
Particularly in German language this is a puzzling thing as work is divided from leisure, paid work separated from playing. Consequently, the often negative connoted meaning of work is also in my very personal mindset. Grief work, personal work, energy work, gainful occupation – any kinds of efforts to change the status and to grow, but not everything has value, or does it?
Workshop 2: A social-ecological perspective on work
Introduction
According to Marx there is a differenciation between those who own the means of production (capital, machines, tools etc.) - the capitalists - and those who only own there own labour force. Striving for profit, for the accumulation of capital, capitalists tend to lower the costs for the labour force as low as possible. This leads to lowest possible working standards, e.g. security, but also low participation of workers in the organization of work. The same holds for the environment. Where standards raise the costs, they are likely to be avoided. In our present globalized world workplaces are moved to areas of the world where workforce is cheapest and standards are lowest.
This development means high pressure on society (e.g. because of high enemployment but also a high number of precarious jobs and high unequality), on the human being (because of little right to co determination, high pressure because of competition, overload and burnout vs. Redundancy, exploitation and even slavery) as well as the environment (e.g. massive extraction of ressources, pollution and high CO2 emissions).
Aim of the workshop
The subordinate questions in this workshop were: what is this work that creates growth? What does this mean for working conditions here and in other countries, ecpecially in the global south.
The aim was to understand that there is a strong interlinkage between labor and growth. When we want a world without growth, to divide the labor we have presently is not enough. We have to ask and decide collectively which activities are socially necessary and meaningful and how this could be organized. Most possibly there will be less employment, but (regarding the need for less mechanisation and less input of ressources) more work!
What we did
In this workshop we tried to develop a social-ecolgical perspective on different sectors of the society: agriculture, education, IT, mining, car industry, health sector...
The questions were: who is doing the work? Where does it take place? Under which conditions (how, how much time, why)? What are the social, personal and ecological consequences of the orientation towards profit / growth? What would change if profit was not the primary driving factor? / How could this area look like in a solidary degrowth society?
We split into small groups. every group working on one sector. After 30 minutes every group presented their results to the audience.
Reflection
In the beginning of the session we presented one model imaging the interaction of the social and the natural sphere from the Viennese Social Ecology, to give an idea what a social-ecolgical persoective means. Clear enough there was a lot of argument about this clear simplification of interrelations. Although it was a very interesting debate about what is social and what is natural and if this distinction can be made at all, we lost a lot of time to this discussion which we then missed for the group work. This part should therefore be left out and we do not explain it here further.
There was already a lot of knowledge among the participants. The advantage of the selection of different sectors was that participants could choose the sector they were interested in or even already had work experiences in. However, there was more need for discussion and exchange. This workshop could take one whole day on its own, splitting the workshop into two parts, one for discussing the status quo and one more utopian on possible organization in a solidary degrowth society, eventually having small inputs of content in between.
BOX: Ivan Illich, conviviality and the division of labour
The present high division of labor results in a high division of knowledge and ability of producing tools and other products of use, e.g. between those who design and understand technology and those who buy and use it. Those who have the knowledge and / or own the means of production have the power to either exclude others from their usage (e.g. from certain types of medicine) or reduce the circle of users, e.g. by selling it very expensive. As a counter conception the austrian philosoph Ivan Illich coined the term conviviality as an integrated and shared use of technology by everyone and without the need for experts that control them, the freedom to produce, exchange and use the goods one needs. Conviviality decreases dependency and thus increases autonomy.
To give an example from agriculture: In austria it is obligatory for farmers of greenland to have the soil of their fields analyzed regularly. The complicated analysis is deligated to privat institutes (experts) and is very expensive. Those institutes inform farmers about the quality of their soil and give them recommendation for fertilization and other measures. However, the result is only a number and a mean of the sample and does not really help the farmer to understand what is going on in his field. A convivial tool for farmers would be to know the different species of plants growing in their meadows which give hints about the pH value and other abundances or shortages for every little spot of their field. Everyone could do that, the knowledge is available and it does not cost a cent. It allows for individual and adjusted and thus sustainable measures.
Workshop 3: Critical Perspectives from Feminist Economy
Introduction
This workshop focused on a feminist perspective on work. Feminist economics critizise that working restrictions for women contributed to the economic dependency of women and led to a gender specific division of labour and to a social division of society, into a productive and a reproductive, a public and a private sphere. The biggest part of the work that is done in the latter – what is often described as care work – caring for children, elderlies, ill people – is mainly done by women, in the household and without payment. This work is not considered as work in classical economic theories. It remains invisible, for the public and especially for statistics. For feminist economics reproductive work is not immediately producing surplus but is essential for the preservation of the society. Therefore, they critizise the onesided valuation of work.
Furthermore, care work has a different logic of time. The expenditure of time for another person is an essential aspect of care work. Rationalisation or an increase in efficiency – in the sense of producing more output within the same time or producing more surplus by reducing the expenditure of time per unit – is limited. Commodification of care activities means that care work is redistributed through the market or through the state - for example by establishing childcare facilities. When care work is transformed into a commodity it gets a price which is determined through supply and demand -, and it can be traded. An example here is if well situated families transfer domestic work to other - most often migrant - women. This process very often goes hand in hand with unequal power relations and exploitation. Hence, a central point of the feminist debate around work, especially care work, is how it could be valued differently and how it could be organized or reorganized so that it is shared more equally.
Aim of the workshop
The workshop tried to give an overview over central criticism from the feminist economy of the classical economic understanding of work and to introduce alternative feminist concepts of classifying the different facettes of activities. It aimed to question the apparently obvious differentiation into productive and reproductive work to further questioning the meaningfulness of the current valuation – in terms of money and public recognition - of all these activities.
What we did
The workshop was divided into two blocks, each of them divided further into one part of theoretical input and one of group activity and reflection.
In the first block we provided some basic information on feminist political economy and feminist critique on common economic theories. Also, the main aspects of feminist critique of Marxism was discussed. To reflect the given theoretical input we did a group activity based on the 4-in-1- perspective. The 4-in-1-perspective is a concept by Frigga Haug which aims to redefine work or being active and to understand it not only as wage labour but as a conjunction of four categories: wage labour (or rather overtaking societal necessary activities), reproductive activities, culture / identity formation and political participation. Within the group activity the attendants should discuss their daily activities (paid and unpaid, free time, etc.) in small groups of 3-4 persons and think about the approximate duration of these activities and how they feel about it, whether they like it, find it
awful or just necessary. After this the groups should associate their activities with the four categories of the 4-in-1-perspective which was drawn as a matrix on the floor and discuss the main aspects .
In the second block we dealed with current feminist discourses and alternate models of work. We started by outlining the feminist critique on the GDP, introduced current feminist concepts – e.g. the care economy – and talked about international implications of gender specific division of labour. In a group activity the attendants should write down concepts or topics on degrowth they already knew and reflect on gender aspects by considering questions like: is the household included in the concept?; Are some groups excluded from some activities/work?; Is the concept based on reproductive and productive work, or does it overcome this dichotomy? etc.
Reflection
The mostly positive feedback showed the importance of the topic and to deal with gender specific
aspects within alternative concepts. Especially the group activities were experienced as very positive. Some participants found it very beneficial to have been given the space to connect their own circumstances and activities with the discussed topics and reflect these with others. Others found it difficult to separate their activities in the given categories and said that their activities in many cases overlap, especially concerning wage labour and political and social participation. An interesting outcome was that many perceive their political and social involvement as work, even if not monetarily compensated, and sometimes find this burdening. Consequently many attendants said that it was interesting to separate their own activities into categories under consideration of its time consumption and being confronted with how they feel about it. Many concluded that they do not have enough time to ‘do nothing’ and stated that they were missing the category of ‘idleness’ or ‘doing nothing’ in the 4-in-1-perspective.
While originally the workshop intended to focus on the group activities and by this to work out alternative models of work and being active with consideration of feminist aspects, we spent more time discussing the theories. We extended the discussion to feminist critique of Marxism and the Marxist theory, as a high interest in and need for further information on these topics became apparent. Based on the feminist critique of Marxism, terms such as productive and reproductive work and activities associated with these were discussed, which revealed the differing logic and assumptions that are inherent in the current working conditions respectively the division of labour. Finally we concluded the workshop with an extended discussion of the 4-in-1-concept.
Workshop 4: Visions of work in a degrowth society
Introduction
In this workshop we tried to develop utopias how work could be organized and shared differently in a future degrowth society.
Aim of the workshop
The workshop aimed to give the participants a wider look on how reorganization of work relations would also effect all other parts of life, social relations and society. The presented utopias were thought to give a starting point from which everybody could develop their own utopia how they want to live and work in a future degrowth society.
What we did
The workshop started with a presentation of five different 'utopias', actual and partly well known ideas about the future. The first was a society after transition from oil dependency to local resilience as promoted by Rob Hopkins in his 'Transition Handbook'. The second utopia was a society of open high-tech subsistence, a world in which everybody would be able to fulfill their needs with help of open software and 3-D printing. The third utopia was that of commons, where natural ressources, knowledge but also emotions and personal problems would be commonized. Number four was the idea of cradle2cradle, of everlasting recycling of resources, together with new resources, e.g. proteins from insects and aqua culture, as well as new forms of energy generation. The fifth utopia was that of a world wide basic income for everybody, a world where everybody would give what they can and get what they need.
We then split into small working groups, choosing one of the five utopias and discussing following a number of questions - or rather keywords – (see material) how the world would look like following this imagination and how work, but also relationships and hierarchies, spirituality, nationality and cultural habits etc. would look like and be organized.
Reflection
Again, there was not sufficient time for the group discussions and the following presentation, However, this workshop was a nice exercise to wrap up and include subjects from prior workshops, such as reorganization of care work, the question of limited resources and energy etc. The relatively fix framework of the given utopias however, restricted a bit the creativity of the participants to think about their own utopian world.
Course-Reflection
We are all not experts on the topic. So we missed to have inputs about content or discussions that have been held in the degrowth discourse, such as the conference in Berlin, already. Therefore this course was may be too basic, of very low threshold.
The program was too dense. There was not enough time between the slots to have open discussions about the topics presented or experiences from the participants. Every person already has his or her own experiences with work, working under precary conditions, being unsatisfied with the job, having burnout, doing voluntary unpaid labour or housework and so fourth. There should have been more space for exchange regarding these experiences.
Statement by Constanze
I liked the discussions and group works regarding atmosphere and content always then, when there was a shared input beforehand. Then we had a common basis, where everyone could contribute something from there one experiences.
Statement by Michael
The degrowth perspective helps me for my personal growth, to find my way in between to do what I like but also to accept the current necessity to do something that is valued by society or at least some communities in order to obtain the basic needs of living like food and shelter.
The key is empowerment and to do what you like and to create some value for you or others. Personal growth instead of just economically one to create a world in that you want to live, a good live for all creatures.
Literature
English
Silvia Federici: Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle. Essays from 1975 to 2010. PM Press.
German
Biesecker, Adelheid, Maite Matthes, Susanne Schön und Babette Scurrell (Hg.) (2000): Vorsorgendes Wirtschaften. Auf dem Weg zu einer Ökonomie des guten Lebens. Kleine - Verlag, Bielefeld.
Gorz, André (2007): Arbeit zwischen Misere und Utopie. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt/Main.
Gruber, Sabine/Haug, Frigga/Krull, Stephan (Hg.) (2010): Arbeiten wie noch nie!? Unterwegs zur kollektiven Handlungsfähigkeit. Argument Verlag, Hamburg.
Haug, Frigga (2009): Die Vier-in-einem-Perspektive. Politik von Frauen für eine neue Linke. Argumente Verlag, Hamburg.
Hochleithner, Stephan und Katharina Leitner (2011): Arbeit:ver:handeln. HammockTreeRecords, Wien.
Komlosy, Andrea (2014): Arbeit - Eine globalhistorische Perspektive. 13. bis 21. Jahrhundert. Promedia Verlag, Wien.
online sources:
http://www.krisis.org/diverse_manifest-gegen-die-arbeit_1999html
http://www.vier-in-einem.de/
http://www.frohesschaffen.wfilm.de/Frohes_Schaffen/Film.html
http://www.wuk.at/WUK/Das_WUK
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