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ASIA: Civil Society Steps Up Efforts Towards Alternative Economy

TOKYO, Nov 23 2009 (IPS) - Amid worsening poverty, income inequality and a host of environmental hazards that are afflicting many countries, what does the world need today?

An economic model that encourages local initiatives for social entrepreneurship, builds smaller-scale and independent economy, and expands social networks and promotes grassroots-based initiatives towards sustainable development, say advocates of this economic model, which gathered together for the second time in a span of two years in this capital.

These ideas, they say, are best summed up in the concept of solidarity economy (SE).

Yoko Kitazawa, an independent scholar and one of the chief organisers of a forum held early this month in the Japanese capital, said the idea places priority on the welfare of people, not on profit of corporations or organizational prosperity.

She added that SE is now a reality for a growing number of people—the answer to the market-driven, profit-greedy economy that has been largely blamed for the massive financial crisis that hit the world last year and which placed the most disadvantaged sectors of society to increased suffering.

The term was first coined at the World Social Forum, originally a Brazil-based civil society’s answer to the World Economic Forum held also annually in Davos, Switzerland. The call of SE for a more democratic and equitable world has rapidly spread since the early part of 2000 in Latin America and European Union as well as in Asia.

Local or grassroots development, social cohesion and equity, responsible stewardship of natural resources, sustainable growth were just some of the major themes that resonated with hundreds of Asia’s civil society activists, who called for a more socially responsible and compassionate economy during the Second Asian Forum for Solidarity Economy, held from Nov. 7 to 10 in this capital and attended by some 500 participants from different countries. It was one of the largest international gatherings advocating an alternative, or solidarity, economy.

The forum was attended not only by scholars or researchers but also by numerous grassroots practitioners and representatives from fair trade, social business or non-profit organisations from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, India, the Philippines and Japan. South Korea joined for the first time alongside participants from leading SE organisations in France, Canada, Luxemburg and Australia.

In Japan, local initiatives founded on the principles of solidarity economy appear to be growing in number, noted some of the foreign participants at the forum. An example of this is an income-generating activity initiated by a group of elderly womenfolk in a Kamikatsu town in southern Tokushima Prefecture, using red and green ‘nandina’ leaves and bright red berries, which they fashion into decorative items used in fancy restaurants in major cities. By 2005, their project, which has provided employment to some 200 villagers, mostly women, had generated a total of 220 million yen (2.47 million U.S. dollars)—the latest available data—in sales.

Still another community-based initiative in Japan that proved to be an inspiration and even an eye opener to the participants was an organic farming scheme of Yoshinori Kaneko, whose advocacy as well as leadership has helped create local industries using products from his farm produce— certainly a big boost to the communities involved.

“The case of Mr. Kaneko deepened the participants’ understanding of SE and the fact that any individual initiative can be an entry point for building SE at the local level,” said Benjamin Quinones Jr., chairman of the Asian Coalition for Socially Responsible Small Medium Enterprises (CSR-SME), which organised the first Asian forum on SE in the Philippines in 2007.

Kawaguchi said civil society should actively engage with existing mainstream economic sectors to create a greater social wave. “That way, the mainstream sectors can help CSOs (civil society organisations) create business while the latter can offer its knowledge and networks,” she said at the panel discussion on “Alternative Development Approaches and Solidarity Economy.”

“It is very encouraging to meet people from other countries aspiring to make a difference and sharing the same goals across borders,” said Setsuko Arima, who described herself as a housewife from rural Nagano Prefecture and attended the forum in her individual capacity.

Inspired by what she learned during the event, including the examples set by the Kamikatsu women and Kaneko as well as other activities outside Japan, she said she hoped to set up a non-profit organisation that would recycle used consumer items. “We would like to go hand in hand with our counterparts outside Japan and form a community of a new kind.”

“The experience at Tokyo was very enriching,” said Professor Denison Jayasooria of the Institute of Ethnic Studies, National University of Malaysia. “The forum provided tremendous opportunities for sharing, fellowship and networking among a diverse group of people, among whom were academics, grassroots leaders, civil society activists development workers policy makers, organizational leads and international representatives.”

“We learned a lot at this forum,” said Ila Shah, manager of the Self-Employed Women’s Association in India, a 37-year-old pioneering microfinance organisation that counts one million beneficiaries. In her speech during the plenary session on “Solidarity Economy from the Asian Perspective,” she said her organisation had gone beyond financing to include social security and health care, among others.

At the first Asian forum for SE in 2007, socially responsible investment, enterprise and fair trade micro financing were among the main themes for discussion. This year the themes were expanded to include more relevant topics.

“The thematic discussion at (this year’s Asian forum) had a much broader coverage with the inclusion of new topics such as solidarity tax levy and social welfare for the elderly, handicapped and unemployed,” said CSR-SME’s Quinones.

And as though in keeping with the call of the times for more prudent and socially responsible economic policies, discussions on solidarity tax levy were in the context of regulation of finance and re-distribution of wealth. Takehiko Uemura, an associate professor at Yokohama City University as well as an expert and advocate of such a scheme, said it could be “a more feasible and effective instrument for promoting SE.”

The concept of solidarity levy was based on the original proposal of American economist James Tobin on currency transaction tax, which later prompted the United Nations Development Programme to propose the use of revenue from such a tax for the eradication of poverty in developing countries.

“I found it fascinating that (the idea of solidarity tax) is steadily gaining ground,” said Mariko Kawaguchi, an expert on socially responsible investment at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo, a leading think tank in Japan.

In their statement of commitment defined conclusively during the Forum, the organisers pledged to establish the Asian alliance for solidarity economy, which will become the regional hub for policy advocacy, theoretical and organization development work and solidarity economic initiatives.

The alliance is expected to pave the way for a “more organised process of coordinating the promotion of SE in various Asian countries,” said. Quinones.

At the next biennial forum, to be held in Malaysia in 2011, more participants are expected to come, including those from China.