Economy
How do we change the Economy toward Sustainability?
watch learning from Ladakh on youtube (part 1 of 4)
a thought:
most communities have lived on the land for generations ~ rich in their knowledge with all their needs being abundantly met. they have everything, know how to build their home, farm their food, make their own clothes etc. then money comes in, and suddenly the community is poor. they don’t have money to build their home. they lose their knowledge and skills.
intelligent communities think about how their decision might affect their children’s children
many intentional communities are born from a society of separation, trying to find their connection, and yet not having the skills.
Poverty
what is poverty?
- poverty of the mind
- poverty of the spirit ~ ie in some “wealthy” suburbs, nobody even greets each other
- poverty of the stomach ~ food/shelter
the cycle of poverty
oppressor <–> oppressed
and then the oppressed becomes the oppressor
“the oppressed, by freeing themselves, frees their oppressor.” – Paulo Freire
the oppressor is usually ignorant of the damage they cause.
therefore the oppressed needs to take that step and free themself because they know the pain.
Asset-based Community Development (ABCD)
is a 4 day workshop run by Ninette where she empowers communities by stepping out of the poverty paradigm and bringing their attention back to their strengths, abilities and talents.
freeing ourselves from a poverty paradigm offers abundance and freedom.
the steps she uses are as follows
- motivating villagers ~ shifting the poverty paradigm. let’s not talk about our needs, let’s talk about our success stories
- forming a core group
- asset inventory ~ mapping out what we do have ~ skills, tools, material, environment, land assets etc
- visioning and planning
- mobilising assets ~ get the assets moving
- leveraging (partners) ~ getting partners involved in the project by sharing with them what you have to begin with.. we have land, R100 000 worth of labour, etc)
ASSETS
- material assets ~ home, car, tools etc
- human assets ~ knowledge, skills, energy
- natural assets ~ land, water, sunlight, soil, plants, wind
- financial assets ~ money, savings etc
- social assets ~ organisations, ngo’s, social movements, markets, unity, a website etc
“start with what we have, build with what we know”
in the jewish community, $1 gets circulated 1000 times! therefore the community gets the benefit of the dollar 1000 times.
in the muslim community R1 gets circulated 500 times
in khayalitsha, R1 maybe goes straight into paying off a joshua doore account for example.
“The power of capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world on whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert by secret agreement arriced at infrequent private meetings and conferences.”
from caroll quigley’s “Tragedy and Hope”
Sustainable Community Economies ~ 9 tools
- awakening consciousness ~ awareness raising
- enhancing learning communities ~ teaching kids what’s relevent to their community
- household bookkeeping & a community master plan ~ what community wisdom do we want to keep?
- sustainable farming
- community banking / micro finance -> keeping money within the community
- community enterprise ~ enterprises serve the community rather than aiming to make a profit
- community currency ~ need trust to reach this point
- take the poorest seriously ~ what do we need to address?
- community networking
brainstorm
- consume less
- policy change
- awareness raising
- boycott that which has a negative impact
- use the skills and talents within the community
- get needs met without money ~ be creative – re-use, make etc
- identify local solutions in forums with neighbours
- transition town / ecovillage
- change harmful habbits
- asset catalogue (personal and community)
- goods exchange, rehabilitate old buildings
- car exchange / car pool / sharing
- bicycles
- seed bank
- think global, act local
- empowered “no” to what media says, inequality etc. no to things that rob us of our personal growth time, time with family, developing relationships etc.
some Local Economy Systems
- LETS ~ local economic (energy) trading scheme ~ talent exchange ~ CES ~ see www.ces.org.za
- saving schemes ~ similar to insurance. members pay R100 each month, registering your family members. if a family member dies, this covers the funural costs.
- revolving loans ~ ten people put in R100. first person gets R1000 to start up their little business. they have 6 months to pay it off. then the R1000 gets leant to the next person.
- co-operatives ~ in one community, the members all paid in R20 per month. the money was used to employ a farmer (who happened to be white!) who farmed the land. whatever veg came in was shared equally.
- in zimbabwe, there was no money in the banks. An NGO said, “ok, we’ll give you $25 for working 40 hours per week for a month, working on a community-based project and rebuilding the community. so the people started fixing the roads, rebuilding the schools, whatever they could find to do. the local businesses started growing and planting food.
- another example ~ the community invested in fruit and nut trees in every household. each household looked after their own trees, and ate from them. surplus was taken to the co-op and distributed amongst the families. - ubuntu contribution system (Freeman Charter system) based on the tribal system. land owned by people. money-less structure and society. sharing of resources and talents (look up new freeman charter)
- bulk purchasing ~ use consumer demand ~ get 20 people together and go to spar order in bulk. buy 200 kg of flour for the whole community.
- basic income / communal pot ~ Asoke community ~ Buddhism based ~ everyone works from dawn til dusk, without payment. working in service as a spiritual practise. all income goes to the community, supporting the people.
- local LETS system ~ can have a list (ie a poster) of offerings and wants. with someone recording the credits and debits.
Right Livelihood
Watch Jon Jandai from Thailand
brainstorm
- choose a career based on your values
- living in harmony
- basic needs are met
- free time, time for family, art, creativity, creating beauty
- learning and working -> healing not harming
- life and nature are our teachers
- abundance thinking ~ everything we need is here
- use embedded knowledge / intuition / higher consciousness
Buddhism ~ 4 noble truths
1. Life means suffering.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
Eightfold path:
ponder over ~ what would be a right livelihood basket of skills and talents for me?
follow your bliss, follow your heart. any work we do with love is spiritual work.
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