Political choice instead of charity:

Involving citizens in solidarity economy

30th January 2014

La Salete Coelho

Main challenges of the world

Globalisation as an hegemonic thinking

Theory of Boaventura de Sousa Santos

Dangers

A very short vision of the present

Short-sightedness in face of the alternatives and which has reinforced the theories and hegemonic models

An extremely widened visualisation of the future

Where nothing is foreseen and happens really fast, for which no-one can be prepared.

Proposals

A sociology of absences

That identifies and recovers experiences and forms of knowledge that are currently neglected

A sociology of emergences

Which expands the field of possible social experiences by investigating the alternatives

Santos, B. S. 2007. Renovar a teoria crítica e reinventar a emancipação social, São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial

Monocultures

Monoculture of Knowledge and

Rigour

Monoculture of linear time

Monoculture of the

naturalisation of differences

Monoculture of the dominant

scale

Monoculture of capitalist

productivity

Ecologies

Ecology of Knowledge

Ecology of Temporality

Ecology of Recognition

Ecology of “trans-scale”

Ecology of productivities

Globalisation as an hegemonic thinking

Santos, B. S. 2007. Renovar a teoria crítica e reinventar a emancipação social, São Paulo: Boitempo Editorial

In view of the consequences of globalisation. Three

positions:

- those who want to maintain a current position,

defending its advantages and privileges;

- those that adhere to the present neoliberal

globalisation, in the name of initiative, efficiency, of

liberty and of competition, etc,

- and a third, that embraces, for example, “the

Antiglobalist movement” (...), that denies at the same

time the actual order and the neoliberal globalisation

and argues that “another world is possible”

(2007:135).

Charlot, B. 2007. Educação e Globalização: uma tentativa de colocar ordem no debate. Texto de conferência proferida na Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Lisboa, a 14 de junho de 2007. Sísifo. Revista de Ciências da Educação, 04: 129-136.

Globalisation as an hegemonic thinking

Solidarity Economy: - South American concept;

- Late XXth century;

- Encompasses all the economic experiences resulting from the initiative of the citizens that represent a rupture, an alternative, to the capitalist system.

Laville, J-L. & Gaiger, L. I. 2009. Economia Social. In Cattani, A.D., Laville, J-L., Gaiger, L.I., Hespanha, P. (orgs), Dicionário internacional da outra economia: 162-168. Coimbra: Almedina/CES.

Social and Solidarity Economy

Conill, J. et alli. 2012. Para além da Crise: Práticas Económicas Alternativas na

Catalunha. In Castells, M., Caraça, J. & Cardoso, G. (org.) Rescaldo e Mudança.

As culturas da crise económica: 239-273. Lisboa: Esfera do Caos.

Examples

Who cares? by Mara Mourão

The voice of the population – Comunity Radios in Guinea-

Bissau

Time banks

Alternative currencies – Banco Palmas,

Brasil

Solidarity Economy - characteristics

1. The foundations: concepts and core values

2. Battles to fight: issues addressed

3. Dilating the present: concept of globalisation

4. An economy intrinsically social: concept of

economy

5. The search for well-being in fair and solidary

relationships: concept of development

Solidarity Economy - characteristics

6. Committed participation: concept of citizenship

7. Emancipatory process: concept of education

8. Participation, questioning and coherence:

methodologies

9. The protagonists: actors involved

Questions for the Debate

. Help excluded members of the system or changing the models?. Does this kind of alternatives arise just in times of crisis?. Do they make sense just in this critical conjuncture?. Which are their main contributions to our political regime, the democracy?. What are the possibilities of these alternatives becoming hegemonic? Becoming systemic?. What should the profile be of a “participative citizen”?. How could we work, what could we do to promote that profile? . What model of education should we be promoting?