Date/Time
Date(s) - 27/04/2015
10:30 am - 1:30 pm
Location
Locality
Categories
Members of the RIPESS Europe coordination committee will be engaging in a deliberative dialogue on the what Social Solidarity Economy is and it’s development in Europe – and confronting initiatives and experiences from the United Kingdom. The meeting is hosted by Locality, “the national network of ambitious and enterprising community-led organisations, working together to help neighbourhoods thrive”.
A radical change of direction from a world governed by and for the few, who have built their power on financial speculation, deregulation and privatisation, is urgently needed. The social solidarity economy seeks to re-orient and harness the state, policies, trade, production, distribution, consumption, investment, money and finance, and ownership structures towards serving the welfare of people and the environment. What distinguishes the solidarity economy movement from many other social change and revolutionary movements of the past, is that it is pluralist in its approach – eschewing rigid blueprints and the belief in a single, correct path. The solidarity economy also values and builds on concrete practices, many of which have a long history. The solidarity economy, rather than seeking to create utopia out of thin air and theory, recognizes that there currently exists a concrete utopia, a utopia in action. It is rooted in the practices of participatory democracy and promotes a new vision of the economy, an economy that puts people at the center of the system and values the relationships rather than the goods.
Programme of the meeting
10.30 Arrival and refreshments
10.45 Setting out the purpose of the Deliberative Dialogue – Pat Conaty, Co-operatives UK
10.50 What is the Social Solidarity Economy? – Jason Nardi, Solidarius Italia
11.05 How is Social Solidarity Economy developing in Europe? – Eric Lavilluniere, INEES, Luxembourg
11.15 What has been the experience in France in developing a national law? – Josette Combes, MES, France
11.25 The Social Solidarity Economy from Montreal to Athens – John Restakis, P2P Foundation
11.35 Questions and discussion
12.00 Refreshment break
12.15 The Social Economy in the UK and challenges – Steve Clare, Locality
12.30 Synergia: Developing a transnational educational system – Robin Murray, Co-operatives UK
12.45 Questions and discussion
13.10 Developing the Social Solidarity Economy in Europe – the Berlin conference, Jason Nardi
13.20 Closing observations from participants
13.30 Close
