International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development

Newsletter #99

June 1^st 2013

Summary

Editorial message

Solidarity economy strengthens peasant agriculture and food sovereignty: a workshop at the WSF 2013, jointly organised by the Via Campesina and URGENCI with the support of RIPESS

First meeting of the Francophone Social and Solidarity Economy Network of the Americas (Haiti)

Message from the editorial team

During the WSF 2013, both Judith and Yvon were in Tunis and jointly spoke in a workshop dedicated to food sovereignty. This is a resume of the workshop. It was written by Morgane Iserte of Urgenci.

Yvon also represented the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNET) at a meeting that took place in Haiti. It was aimed at discussing how to network Social and Solidarity Economy in the Americas. As an American minority group, initiatives of this kind are often powerful tools for improving day-to-day living conditions.

Judith Hitchman

Yvon Poirier

Martine Theveniaut

Solidarity economy strengthens peasant agriculture and food sovereignty Workshop at the WSF 2013.

Co-organised by the Via Campesina and URGENCI, with the support of RIPESS.

Speakers: Yvon Poirier, RIPESS North America and Canadian Community Economic Development Network) CCEDNET), Quebec; Josie Riffaud, Via Campesina, Confédération Paysanne, France; Judith Hitchman, URGENCI, France-Ireland; N’Diakaté Fall, Via Campesina, Conseil National de Concertation et de coopération des Ruraux (CNCR), Senegal; Jean-Michel Dupont, MIRAMAP, France.

JR: The Via Campesina is active among other things in establishing new ways to provide food. But in France, small-scale peasant agriculture only represents 4% of the active population; they therefore need support to lobby and help implement food sovereignty now!

There are two ways of defining food sovereignty: 1) it is an international right, fighting against the WTO’s policies, and aimed at protecting local peasant agriculture against unfair competition of big agribusiness and factory farming. 2) It is also a vision of local agriculture that is part of local solidarity networks, and that supports exchange with the Earth and all living things.

JH: URGENCI is an international network of local solidarity partnerships between producers and consumers that brings together Community Supported Agriculture initiatives everywhere in the world, with conscious consumers supporting local producer to jointly share the risks and benefits of peasant agriculture and support farming through fair prices for their produce; the money is paid up-front to producers.

URGENCI’s activities are at the crossroads between food sovereignty and solidarity economy. The network builds alliances with the world of peasant agriculture and the organisations that promote other parts of the local solidarity jigsaw (complementary currencies, energy, Community Land Trusts…).

NF: The Conseil National de Concertation et de Coopération des Ruraux (CNCR) brings together various Senegalese organisations that work for the protection of small-scale family farming in a country where 70% of the population are still small-scale farmers. Farming is the single biggest employer! Since 2000, CNCR has been running consultations to support the development of short food circuits and encourage both producers and consumers to eliminate the middlemen who are the main hurdle to determining fair prices. Since the 2008 food crisis, this process has accelerated. An example of this is bread, with a round table discussion that was organised with bakers and peasant farmers who mill the millet flour themselves as well as consumers. They jointly determined the price that they all found satisfactory. People living in cities are finding it increasingly difficult to source local products. Almost everything is imported, as these imported foods are subsidised, and therefore cheaper, so distribution networks for local produce is a major issue. This is being met be introducing many local neighbourhood shops, that are run by womens’ groups.

J-MD: MIRAMAP is the inter-regional movement of Associations to Maintain Peasant Agriculture in France. It includes 8000 families and 2000 producers. AMAPS were first created in 2001, and have three objectives: rebuild social relationships between rural and urban dwellers; producers and consumers; promote sustainable small-scale family farming, popular education (for example, to determine the price of the box, producers and consumers in a CSA openly discuss the farmer’s needs, what would constitute a fair price, the investments that the farmer needs to make etc.). Solidarity, transparency, proximity and the respect for nature are the core values of each CSA. AMAPs have had to cope with two problems as the model has spread: that of access to land (they work with Terre de Liens), and that of how young farmers can establish themselves (cope with the costs, training etc.). There is an incubator for agricultural activities in the Paris region called Les Champs du Possible (Fields of Possibilities). (http://www.amap-idf.org/champs-possibles-couveuse-activites-agricoles_28.php). Recurrent issues are certification, availability for all and solidarity baskets.

YP  Yvon spoke about a Japanese consumers cooperative that was established in 1965 by some pioneers whose objective was to improve the quality of life, following the Minamata scandal. The objective was to provide fresh, uncontaminated food. This cooperative, called the Seikatsu Club, now includes some 350,000 members, who invest between 1-2000 USD each.

The full presentation is available at: http://www.socioeco.org/bdf/fr/corpus_document/fiche-document-1664.html). 

It is based on a vision of overall social and political change. Out of the 21 consumer cooperatives in Japan, only 3 are involved in direct buying and selling. The Seikatsu Club continues to encourage short distribution circuits in Japan. Seikatsu Club buys directly all from partner producers. The challenges are important in Japan. For example, 200,000 tons of the 240 000 tons of organic produce that are consumed are imported products.

 

 

During the discussion phase of the work-shop, various themes were brought up:

-          The ethics of sharing

-          Traditional user’s rights

-          Farm seeds and the fight against GMOs

-          How to avoid deviation from or recuperation of SSE initiatives? (The example of the Biocoop was mentioned. C.f. the excellent article in French La bio. Entre business et projet de société, by Philippe Baqué (dir.) Collection Contre-feux, Agone, 2012)

-          The development of canteens using short circuits (in Brazil 30% of all food served in school canteens must be sourced from SSE)

-          How to ensure small mixed farms are viable

 

But the underlying question of the 500,000 unemployed of Tunisia was the key issue in the discussion: what is their future, if not through social and solidarity economy? It could be said that it already exists, as traditional economy is based on local relationships and products. In Tunisia, 75% of farms are family market gardens of less than 2 hectares.

What mechanisms are concrete forms of organisation such as cooperatives etc. can help it to develop most effectively? And help establish productive activities that will provide employment for young people? The role of local authorities in building SSE in a way that meets each territory’s need is crucial to meet the needs expressed by local inhabitants and to relocalise jobs and ensure local food sovereignty.

 

 

First meeting of the Francophone Social and Solidarity Economy Network of the Americas (Haiti)

The Centre de la francophonie des Amériques organized a meeting in Cap Haitien, from April 30 to May 2.

The objective of this meeting was to promote the discovery of approaches and practices of social and solidarity economy (SSE). For the Centre, solidarity and social economy draws its strength from the heart of collective sustainable development practice and contributes to building a more just and equitable world.

French is the 4^th most widely spoken language in the Americas, coming respectively after Spanish, English and Portuguese. As a minority group in the Americas, it turns out that the SSE could be an indispensable tool in many communities.

In addition to representatives from Quebec and Canada, there were participants from Louisiana, Guadeloupe and Haiti.

Photo by Wesley Benjamin, May 2, 2013

The idea of setting up a network for the exchange of information on SSE in the Francophone areas of the Americas is seen by participants as very relevant.

We, from the Chantier de l’économie sociale and the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNET), both members of RIPESS North America, were partners of the Centre in holding the meeting.

Éric Lefebvre

Chantier de l’économie sociale

Éthel Côté and Yvon Poirier

Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNET)

 

 

 

About the Newsletter

This Newsletter is published in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia and in Japanese. It has been produced on a voluntary basis since the first issue in 2003.

The Editorial team wishes to thank the following volunteers for their support in translation and revision:

Michel Colin (Brazil)

Paula Garuz Naval (Ireland)

Évéline Poirier (Canada)

Brunilda Rafael (France)

We also wish to thank the Civil Policy Research Institute (CPRI) of Seikatsu Club in Japan for the Japanese translation and AKSI UI for the translation to Bahasa Indonesia.

Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:

http://local-development.blogspot.com/

To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):

Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca

 

 

International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development

Newsletter #98

May 1^st 2013

Summary

WSF 2013, Declaration of the Assembly of Convergence for Social and Solidarity Economy

 

Social and Solidarity Economy at the WSF 2013 in Tunisia.

 

Editorial message

Message from the editorial team

All three of us participated to varying degress in the WSF that took place in Tunis from March 26^th – 31^st. Yvon represented the Canadian Community Economic Devlopment Netword (CCEDNET), as well as the RIPESS North America (Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social and Solidarity Economy). Judith was there to represent Urgneci, and RIPESS Europe (of which Urgenci is a member). Judith had also particpated in thee preparatory meetings of the WSF as member of the Babels coordination team (Babels is the the network of volunteer interpreters who have been invovled in the WSF for many years). Finally, the European P’actes that Martine coordinates, were represented by the President, France Joubert.

The fact that the WSF took place in Tunisia was of great interest, because the country is going thrugh a democratic revolution that began on January 14^th 2011, as well as echoing the many developments in the Arab world. The fact that both Tunisians and people from the other Maghreb-Mashrek region as well as Sub-Saharan Africa participated in great numbers was highly significant, as was the massive presence of youth, who can to express their hopes for a better future and decent work.

Rather than write any new articles, we are publishing you two documents that were written and shared by RIPESS, following the WSF. They mention some of the contributions to the general programme made by the members involved in the RIPESS.

Judith Hitchman

Yvon Poirier

Martine Theveniaut

WSF 2013, Declaration of the Assembly of Convergence for Social and Solidarity Economy

 

The participants in the Assembly of Convergence Another World already exists here and now declare that social solidarity economy in its various forms throughout the world represents the alternative to the global capitalist system. It is an economy conceived by citizens for citizens; the objective is to democratically ensure a decent life and food sovereignty for all people, and to preserve the natural resources that are currently being destroyed and wasted.

Social solidarity economy emancipates all people, but especially women who are the key actors. It allows them to gain control over their lives by eradicating poverty and re-establishing the right to a dignified life for all.

Here and now citizens around the world are organising to structure possibilities and networks for exchanging tools, ideas and goods in short circuits and alliances between producers and consumers as well as supporting solidarity between all peoples of the world. This wealth is not merely material, it is based on that of relationships built between people, a key value to protecting the future of humankind. The assembly calls for all people to organise collectively and bring pressure to bear on public authorities from local to international level, to shifting their economic policy to a people- rather than capital-centred economy.

Specifically this should aim to:

·         Jointly work with civil society and SSE organisations to build policies that enable SSE to develop from local to national level

·         Guarantee decent income for all people as well as universal access to basic services such as healthcare and education

·         Encourage participatory, cooperative teaching methods from an early age and throughout the learning process as well as in production processes in order to promote solidarity and cooperation in all activities

·         Develop the activities of social and solidarity economy through procurement practice and use of services that include transparent criteria, good governance and the ecological criteria of SSE.

·         Encourage young people in solidarity entrepreneurship and useful economic activities, particularly in the sector of essential goods and services (organic agriculture, renewable energies, equitable sharing of water, forestry and other natural resources). SSE provides an efficient means of fighting unemployment in countries such as Tunisia and of creating jobs for young graduates 

·         Establish a legal framework, particularly at international level that will support solidarity finance, citizens’ investment cooperatives, and local solidarity currencies.

·         Provide active support for research and development, international and national exchange of good practice and advocacy in the United Nations’ agencies as well as all other international institutions to meet the urgent transition to an economy that respects both humankind and the planet.

 

The Assembly calls upon all civil society actors to network their actions at global level in order to enable people all over the world to assert their rights, and to replace the current system that is based on individual selfishness, over-consumption of resources, competition, male hegemony and war, by a peaceful, fraternal sober economy of cooperation and peace between all humankind.

 

Social solidarity economy at the 2013 WSF in Tunisia.

Press release

The 12th edition of the World Social Forum (WSF), held in Tunis from March 26 to 30, presents itself as a true consecration of struggles by social movements and civil society in Tunisia, who identify themselves as the main actors of the Arab Spring, and a broad representation of global social movements in support of the Tunisian people. Tens of thousands of people attended the opening march on the 26^th, after morning meeting of women in a crowded auditorium. Subsequently, a series of workshops and conferences, 1200 in total, were in the program. The WSF ended on March 30 with a march in support of the Palestinian people.

The social solidarity economy had a good place in the programming. The initiative presented in the printed program is the case of a cooperative, the cooperative NOMAD 08. This coop brings together a group of eight young unemployed graduates from Redeyef City in southern Tunisia that is specialized in manufacturing electronics interpretation, which served in the WSF. While Tunisia has tens of thousands of unemployed youth, the NOMAD cooperative appears as a great example and explains the choice of the organizers of presenting in the forefront NOMAD to participants to implement the historic Forum motto: another world is possible.

RIPESS, including RIPESS Europe, RIPESS North America and the African Network of Social Solidarity Economy (RAESS) organized seven workshops, attended by nearly 300 people. Several regional organizations joined our efforts to facilitate the workshops and discussed the role of SSE in Africa, food sovereignty, the informal economy, and economic democracy as an alternative to capitalism and neoliberal globalization. We heard many testimonies of participants from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa or South America, by organizations that develop activities with women, youth, fighting against land grabbing or unemployment. We also insisted that the SSE is not an economy of repair but the construction of a new worldview and applicable alternatives to neoliberal economic devastation.

The RIPESS member organizations at the WSF were able to converge their efforts and work together to promote the SSE as an alternative, and in collaboration with Tunisian organizations interested in the SSE.

In our workshops, and outside, we found strong support for the idea that the SSE can be a suitable approach for the Tunisian people, and especially young people, to organize in different regions of the country, in order to develop activities for a better life.

We wish to testify to the warm welcome from the Tunisians. We also want to share our feeling that the SSE is already alive and well in Tunisia.

 

Josette Combes

Mouvement d’économie solidaire (MES) France

Member RIPESS Europe

 

Maude Brossard

Chantier de l’économie sociale du Québec

Member RIPESS North America

 

Yvon Poirier

Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNET)

Member RIPESS North America

 

Noureddine EL HARRAK

Morocco SSE network (REMESS)

Member of Africa SSE network (RAESS)

 

April 2013

 

 

About the Newsletter

This Newsletter is published in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia and in Japanese. It has been produced on a voluntary basis since the first issue in 2003.

The Editorial team wishes to thank the following volunteers for their support in translation and revision:

Michel Colin (Brazil)

Paula Garuz Naval (Ireland)

Évéline Poirier (Canada)

Brunilda Rafael (France)

We also wish to thank the Civil Policy Research Institute (CPRI) of Seikatsu Club in Japan for the Japanese translation and AKSI UI for the translation to Bahasa Indonesia.

Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:

http://local-development.blogspot.com/

To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):

Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca

 

 

International Newsletter on Sustainable Local Development

Newsletter #97

April 1^st 2013

Summary

Cooperatives and Inuit communities in Canada

5^th Meeting for the Globalisation of Solidarity

Editorial message

The link between indigenous peoples and the cooperative approach is most striking. Group spirit and the Commons are something all these communities share. In addition, the fundamental spirit of cooperatives, that of collective enterprise and collectiveness is perfectly suited to indigenous communities’ mentality. In this issue, we illustrate, albeit in simplified form, the way in which cooperatives have provided the natural model that correspond to the values of the Inuit populations of Canada.

As most of our readers are aware, we are involved in various ways with the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social and Solidarity Economy (RIPESS). All three of us actively participated in the 3^rd third meeting for the Globalisation of Solidarity in Dakar in 2005, as well as the 4^th that took place in Luxemburg in 2009. The programme for the next meeting, scheduled to be held in the Philippines next October, is now on-line.

Judith Hitchman

Yvon Poirier

Martine Theveniaut

Cooperatives and Inuit Communities in Canada

By Yvon Poirier

The Canadian Arctic is a vast polar territory that stretches from the Atlantic right across to Alaska; it is the home of the Inuit. The Inuit are a “people” who have lived a nomadic existence for many thousands of years, living essentially from their fishing and hunting activities. Their community differs from other indigenous peoples of the Americas. They arrived later, and are related to the Inuit of Greenland, the Lapps of Finland and the native people of Siberia.

Since the 1950s, the development of health and educational services provided by the Canadian government, the development of trade and the military presence during the Cold War all accentuated and accelerated change within these communities. This has led to the creation of villages, built so that people could live closer to services.

The need was born to create businesses to trade Inuit art, particularly the internationally renowned stone sculptures. These spontaneously were built as cooperatives as “the principles of cooperative structure were well adapted to our culture of sharing”. In another document, we can read that “The main aim of all cooperatives was to unite the community and to act as the spokesperson for their interests”.

Two important federations of cooperatives currently exist: the Arctic Cooperative is present in the North and West of Canada, and the Fédération des Coopératives du Nouveau Québec (Nunavik) in 14 Inuit villages in the northern part of the province of Quebec.

The Fédération des coopératives du Nouveau–Québec (FCNQ)

 

This Federation was founded in 1967, and includes the cooperatives of 14 Inuit villages with a total population of 13,000. The cooperative movement is the main non-governmental employer in the region, with approximately 350 mainly Inuit employees.

 

This cooperative movement is far more than just commercial outlets. To illustrate, here is an overview of their activities (excerpt from the website):

 

·         Operating retail stores with a wide selection of merchandise at competitive prices, often paying back savings in cash and shares to members at the end of the year.

·         Banking, post offices, cable TV and Internet services.

·         Management training, staff development and auditing service.

·         Marketing Inuit art across Canada and around the world.

·         Operating hotels, a travel agency, and hunting and fishing camps.

·         Bulk storage and distribution of crucial oil & fuel supplies.

·         Construction projects in Nunavik for housing, schools, etc.

The annual revenue of the Coop for 2012 was $230 million.

Artic Cooperatives Limited

The 31 cooperatives in the Canadian North operate similarly to those in Quebec.

The Arctic Co-Operatives Ltd was founded in 1972 (under a different name), and is the result of a merger between regional groups. It also extended its services to meet the needs of the population of local villages, including food, cable TV and Internet services. The annual revenue for 2012 was $196 million. Similarly to Nunavik, it is the main private employer with 800 employees.

 

Launch of the International Year of Cooperatives in June 2012

Conclusion

We can see through this article that these cooperatives are genuine community tools, and that there is a close link with the ancestral community spirit of the people.

There are however huge challenges. It is in these regions of the Far North that the impacts of climate change are the most visible. The melting of the polar icecap that covers lakes and rivers is faster every spring. This is leading to huge change in the hunting and fishing patterns that are still the subsistence activities of these people. The infrastructure, including buildings, will be affected, as the permafrost area recedes. For example, the landing strips for planes will no longer be usable. Polar bear populations are increasingly threatened.

Not to mention global “modernity” with TV, Internet, social media etc. How is it possible to preserve a traditional culture as well as the Inuit language? This is a genuine challenge.

Other major challenges are facing these communities. For example, the mining industry is important. Yet for the last decade, the communities as well as territorial governments have been consulted in environmental impact studies, in negotiations on royalties and job-creation for the local Inuit population.

It is also important to state that the community spirit that is also expressed through the cooperative movement, has progressively led them to achieve a high level of governmental autonomy, more so than other indigenous peoples of the Americas. In the West, these autonomous governments have their own parliaments, Prime Ministers, etc. Their status is almost equivalent to that of the Canadian provinces. The fact that they are the majority in this region facilitated acquiring this status.

A similar process is underway in Quebec.  Plans are going well for of implementing an autonomous government.  It is even more complex as their territory is itself within that of Quebec; and even though it covers a vast area, there is no road infrastructure etc. It is interesting to note that the meeting to constitute the Federation of Cooperatives of Nouveau-Québec was the first time that the 14 communities met together. They state that working as a Federation led them to the idea of autonomous governance.

We sincerely hope that the community spirit as well as the collective tools such as cooperatives will enable them to resist and build a better world that respects the ecosystems of which they have a greater than average awareness than most inhabitants of our planet.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuits

http://www.fcnq.ca/webconcepteur/web/fcnq/

http://www.facebook.com/FcnqIlagiisaq

http://www.arcticco-op.com/

 

5^th Meeting for the Globalisation of Solidarity

The 5^th RIPESS Meeting for the Globalisation of Solidarity will be held in Manila in the Philippines from October 14^th – 18^th 2013. The theme will be “SEE as an alternative development model”

The programme is online in English, French and Spanish at: http://www.ripess.org/programme-manila-2013/

 

About the Newsletter

This Newsletter is published in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesia and in Japanese. It has been produced on a voluntary basis since the first issue in 2003.

The Editorial team wishes to thank the following volunteers for their support in translation and revision:

Michel Colin (Brazil)

Paula Garuz Naval (Ireland)

Évéline Poirier (Canada)

Brunilda Rafael (France)

We also wish to thank the Civil Policy Research Institute (CPRI) of Seikatsu Club in Japan for the Japanese translation and AKSI UI for the translation to Bahasa Indonesia.

Our Newsletters are available on the WEB:

http://local-development.blogspot.com/

To contact us (for information, feedback, to subscribe or unsubscribe):

Yvon Poirier ypoirier@videotron.ca