apologies for cross posting.
A small number of places are available for interested participants for this British Academy funded seminar in Liverpool, UK, 14th and 15th of March. Please apply for a place to the European organisers, Peter North ([log in to unmask]) and Molly Scott Cato ([log in to unmask])
Solidarity Economy North and South: Sharing Latin American and European Visions of a Just Economy
A key issue for the future prosperity of both Global North and South is the challenge of reconciling a right to human development with the need to avoid dangerous climate change and the unsustainable depletion of resources. Key to this is the development of resilient and sustainable livelihoods and economic opportunities in economies in which communities and ecosystems can thrive. Great strides towards this vision have been made by the people of Latin America, but these are largely invisible to academics and policy-makers in the West because of the language barrier.
Meanwhile, the economic crisis that has hit the developed economies has generated creative responses that have created synergies with the grassroots responses to climate change. Communities are building coalitions of change, challenging the existing model of development based on economic growth, and building resilient local economics systems. These models may have something to offer the economies of the South. Together, academics from the North and the South can collaborate to develop a view of sustainable livelihoods and convivial economies that could bring greater well-being at the cost of less energy.
Our broad questions include:
How we can create enjoyable, socially-inclusive, democratically managed jobs, enterprises, co-operatives and other forms of formal and informal economic organisation in a climate and resource constrained world?
How do we define what it means to live the sort of life we want to live, while understanding that climate change and resource constraint issues need to be recognised?
How do we identify what we need and what we should produce?
What is enjoyable, convivial, democratically-controlled work, as opposed to exploitative useless toil?
How do we maintain and enable to flourish that which we hold in common and all depend on: wider ecosystems, social services, civic life, community?
What does it mean to create wealth, to be entrepreneurial? How can we develop new, social and collective understandings of wealth creation?
Are markets always capitalist, always illogical, prone to crisis and unequal rewards or good allocation mechanisms? Can we reconfigure markets so they work to different rhythms?
Can we change the world without taking power? What are the possibilities and limits of grassroots action? Is this a naοve suggestion?
What is the role of the state? Can the state facilitate, rather than co-opt, grassroots action? Should we change the world by taking power? Do social democratic models in Scandinavian countries get the ballence beween civil society and a supportive state, underpin by public spending, right?
Are social democratic governments better or worse at working with civil society, without co-opting them? Paradoxically, are there more opportunities for grassroots change under neoliberal governments where citizens are expected to fend for themselves more? Or in the latter case, is this just a cover for privatisation, with social/solidarity economy organisations being set up to fail?
What are the best conceptual and theoretical tools for thinking these issues through?
TIMETABLE FOR THE SEMINAR
Day One: 14th March 2012, Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool.
1 Brownlow St Liverpool L69 3GL
http://www.foresightcentre.co.uk/
9.00 9.30 Arrival, registration, tea and coffee
9-30-10.00 Introduction and aims of the seminar: Peter North,
10.00-11.00 Jose Luis Coraggio, University of General Sarmiento, Argentina: The Solidarity Economy: Conceptual Overview
11.00-11.15 morning coffee
11.15-12.15 Heloisa Primavera, University of Buenos Aires: The Solidarity Economy: the view from Civil Society
12.15-1.15 Dario Azellini (University of Linz) and Diana Raby (University of Liverpool). Lessons and experiences from Venezuelas solidarity economy. 1.15-1.45 Lunch
1.45-2.15 Paul Chatterton (University of Leeds): Latin American influences on UK academic and activist practise
2.15-3.15 John Barry (University of Ulster): Political Economy of Climate Change.
3.15-3.30 Tea and Coffee
3.30-4.45 Adrian Smith (University of Sussex) and Andy Cumbers (University of Glasgow). Civil Society engagement in renewable energy.
4.45-5.30 Response: Panel of our Latin American Visitors, followed by discussion led by team
5.30pm Close
Day Two: 15th March 2012, Blackburne House, Liverpool.
Blackburne Place, Liverpool, Merseyside L8 7PE
http://www.blackburnehouse.co.uk/
9.00 9.15 Arrival, registration, tea and coffee
9-15-9.30 Welcome: Rosie Jolly, Socail Enterprise Network
Introduction and aims of day two: Molly Scott Cato (Roehampton University)
9.30:9.50 Robbie Davison Can Cook Films
A visual presentation of Merseyside social enterprises
9.50-10.20 Short presentations from social enterprises (2),
10.20-11.30 Andrew Simms, New Economic Foundation
The Big Society, the new mutualism: opportunities and threats in the UK
11.00-11.15 Response from our visitors
11.15-11.30 Tea and coffee
11.30-11.40 Cllr Patrick Hurley Liverpool City Council
Co-operative councils
11.40-12.30 Colin Crooks CEO Green Works UK practice overview
Response (5 mins) from our visitors
12.30-1.30 Lunch and networking
1.30-1.45 Introduction to the afternoon: Pete North, Molly Scott Cato
1.45-3.30 World Cafι Section- tea and coffee available
3.30-4.00 Marcelo, Dario and Heloisa response from Latin America: SEN response: (5-10 min each), what are the issues?
4.00-5.00 participatory process/discussion led by Pete, Molly and Marcelo: where are we going from here?
5.00pm Close
Peter North
Department of Geography
School for Environmental Sciences
University of Liverpool
0151 794 2849
Building the Low Carbon Economy on Merseyside
www.lowcarbonliverpool.com
www.liv.ac.uk/geography/research/lowcarboneconomy/index.htm
Local Money
http://greenbooks.co.uk/store/local-money-p-320.html?osCsid=53cafffb104745d08678d499c824626e
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