Notes from CESOCESOLA conference

CESOCESOLA Conference Notes

The conference opened with a presentation by a professor from a University in Central Mexico. His talk was titled, How to Change the World Without Taking Power?
I have a packet that covers all of the points in the talk, so I am not going to write it up.

Discussion #1

The state should help independent organizations through laws.
Each group has it’s own way, they need to be able to do what they want.

Main Questions
1.) What can be done to defend ourselves while we are growing our crack in capitalism?
2.) What is our relationship to the market?

Discussion 1
The socialization of the economy is through relationships. Emphasizing solidarity. It’s important to expand, multiply, but not having absolute truths. Through concrete actions we change our attitudes.

Discussion 2
The relation between the market and the coop.
We don’t use the market, we use world integration. We help each other, and they (our suppliers) produce for us for years.
With some producers it’s just sale and purchase.
Producers also go through a process of change sometimes, because our interactions provide educational opportunities.
We don’t let the market impose prices. Some times, when there is a plague and ½ the crop is lost, the feria won’t necessarily raise the price for the customers. We decide as a collective how to manage and leave the price as normal.

There is a planning process, with the producers based on communal needs. We try to maintain and explain to the community this relationship and the price.

The important thing is to work based on the needs that arise.

There will always be a relationship/ need with the market, but it should always have respect. It is always important to try to fill the spaces where we feel that this relationship of respect is lacking.

In the past, people have talked about having a market plan for our coop. Selling and promoting what we have here. That sounds like we are trying to sell an idea as the truth, or as preaching. At this point we can’t do that. We are people that had a project that worked, not owners of a project.

However, it is important to show our experience. But it is important not to sell it.

This experience can not be reproduced. It’s not the structure, it’s about personal change. We organized this way and it worked. We worked to change our internal relationships. For others trying to use this structure, maybe the structure wouldn’t change the other coops internal relations.

What’s important: Analysis and reflection
Let’s say we send someone to talk to capitalist producers and someone gets corrupted by that outside pressure. We would then analyze it as a group, not as “what did the person do wrong” but “what did the Feria do wrong?”. We apply it to all of us, and handle it as a group, because each of us could act in the same way. When we do this, we try to understand the behavior of others (that act differently) and even if we can’t, we at least respect the difference. Even if the person does not share the coop way, we’ll see those people within their analysis learn from them or allow them to learn.

How we can try to overcome the laws of the market:
The coop is allowed to do this because of the volume it buys and sells in three days each week, and it is a service to the community.
There are laws of the market we are trying to overcome, some are:
The relationship to providers who exploit their workers, when the pay for the work is not enough.
Government laws are impeding the development of autonomy, for example, the accounting and auditing laws for coops. And when the government tequires a structure, like a board of directors.

The Zapatistas say “if the law does not serve us, we don’t pay attention to it.

If you are just waiting for economic results, the coop model would not make sense.

Day #2
Not having an objective (for growth and sales), allows for freedom to make mistakes and work through them. However, the funeral coop is now the largest in the state.

Traditional cooperative method has not proven efficient.
Capitalism does not address the problems of the environment, labor etc.
CESOCESOLA is a model that is working. Economics are essential for life, everything surrounds the economy. You can’t buy a better world with state money.
Distribution of wealth/money is an illusion we have to leave behind.
Riches can’t be divided like a cake.
To distribute riches we have to distribute knowledge, relationships, creativity, technology. But these things can’t be distributed through money.
What you share is distributed through work and learning relationships.

Talk by a Chilean professor of solidarity economics
We are living in Latin America, the civilization is in crisis.
Our lifestyle is made up of three pillars-
Cultural- scientific, certain conceptions
Economic
Political- the state

Latin America is in crisis because capitalism is not producing solutions, and richness is becoming more concentrated. More people can’t find work. People outside say it is the governments fault. Science has not offered solutions. All the pillars are falling.
What does crisis look like?
There are 3 dynamics.
The dominant sectors in the 3 pillars defend and close themselves off. They resort to barbaric behavior, people get violent.
Seeds of new civilizations come up. New ideas, concepts. People in the marginalized places come up with the new ideas.
It is difficult because we have to develop, but at the same time defend ourselves.
Delinquency is big, violence is everywhere.
At the same time you have to re integrate into these pillars. It is essential that you over come the treats, and that your economic part is strong.
The way to produce, consume, share, has to be defended.
This is solidarity economics.

Can capitalism be humanized?
It is important to know why developed countries are developed and why we are “underdeveloped”.
The most recent aspect of conquest was funding the US and Europe through our debts.
If the capital wasn’t leaving, we would have enough.
The environmental part-
The Kyoto protocal, the US decided not to participate.
Because making money is most important, with capitalism, there is not enough change about the environment.
The roots of radicalism start with recuperating the capacity to think for ourselves.
Revolution-
Change in power relations, production.
We need a revolution of everyday life to build another society, and world.
The utility principle= I do what I am doing because it brings me pleasure.
Giving without getting is a lie.
The relationship of what people are getting out of things to what they are doing, and what they will stick with.
Solidarity vs. competition.
We can relate either way.
The idea of scarcity is that there has to be a price.
Capitalism would not work in a place of abundance. That’s where ther needs to be property rights on ideas.
300 people in the world have more wealth than ½ the people in the world together.

The law of Coops in Venezuela was created in part by the coop movement.
In 2007, 200,00 coops were legalized.
It is an answer to the need to create jobs.