Resistance to Corporate Power - Radical Consumerism in Action
New Developments in Municipalism:- Bristol Local Currency
Six years after his death New York City based theorist Murray Bookchin would have been
gratified by the launch this week of the first city-wide local currency
in England, the Bristol Pound.
As his Wikipedia entry sates:-
Bookchin was an
anti-capitalist and vocal advocate of the decentralisation of society along ecological and democratic lines. His writings on libertarian municipalism, a theory of face-to-face, assembly democracy, had an influence on the Green movement and anti-capitalist direct action groups such as Reclaim the Streets.
What we have seen in Bristol is municpalism in action an attempt to generate what has come to be called
sticky money .....a
local economy that is self generating and is not part of corporate
capitalism, indeed is not capitalist at all. Its structure is closer to
the anarchist notion of mutual aid in which goods and services are
exchanged without the value being syphoned off into wealth held in
London, Franfurt, New York or Tokyo....or anywhere other than Bristol.
The £B is a significant gesture of resistance to the oligopolic (lovely word) corporate dominated UK High Street.
If you feel overwhelmed by the sheer economic magnitude of the corporate
giants, the personality disordered 'corporate persons' that stride about our
communities like they own the place....because in a large measure of
course, they do....this is an example of the Big Society showing its
Bigness to the supermarkets and corporate chains and putting them in their place.
The Bristol local currency experiment is very important. It represents a
triumph of localism over globalism and communities over corporations.
Even if it is still at a very early stage (at the time of writing just 5
days old) the very fact it exists at all is a tribute to mutual aid,
collective problem solving and in the context of Austerity Britain a new economic perspective.
The protests are still important of course (there is still a whole lot wrong that needs to be put right) but the
progress
is much more important now and what we see here in Bristol is a building
block in creating a transitional economy and ecology, a new localised focus and a
changing concept of wealth, one in which 'sustainabilty' creates
the 'confidence' rather than dreams of never ending 'growth'.
Eco-politics comes in from the idyllic rural commune and opens a café opposite the town hall, or somewhere in the inner-city...so now we're getting somewhere I think.
Anything that brings major institutions back to human scale has to be a move in a good direction, AA. The Bristol Pound keeps money in an urban locality (the core of any real city) and not shoved into accounts headed God knows where. More power to the community organizers there for giving people an alternative currency.
ReplyDeleteIn America it's been the main street (high street) that continually takes a hit from the Wal-Marts and Trader Joe's stores that suck away money out of the local economy, providing economies of scale through rock-bottom minimum wage labor rates, part-time jobs with shaky or no health benefits layoffs and the closing and dislocation of small businesses that make a community.
Always good to hear Pink Floyd, too.
I'm sure there's something wrong with what is going on in Bristol--I just can't think what it is. ;-)
Thanks for your responses here Doug. I take your point about main street taking hits from the big players who destroy local diversity as well as decent employment opportunities in the locality....it's one in the eye for Wal-Mart (Asda as it is known here) when they find themselves on the outside of an exchange loop that they can never dominate.
ReplyDeleteThis move toward localism is growing ever stronger across the UK.
There are of course similar schemes in the US, although interestingly I understand that the Constitution prohibits individual states from printing and issuing paper money as legal tender, but they are allowed to use coins as currency...
I'm not sure how this plays our exactly, but the former 'Liberty Dollar' was I think a coin or token based system.
I believe the main thing in Bristol is the scale of the project with a city population of approaching half a million souls, this is a serious example of a dual power or the concept of gradual revolution through the creation of alternative institutions and counter institutions in place of and in opposition to state and corporate power.
Horizontalism in action Doug...it is very much redolent of the Communalism of Murray Bookchin, hence the connections made here.
The Bristol Pound represents a move I think in the right direction Doug. This is the alternative banking sector based upon such things as Credit Unions and Time Banking as opposed to traditional financial institutions, its job is to make finances stick in communities far better than in the past, in short to recycle wealth.
A worthy cause I think Doug.
UPDATE On .... "I'm not sure how this plays our exactly, but the former 'Liberty Dollar' was I think a coin or token based system."
DeleteHaving now checked I realise the statement above is incorrect and there were also a range of Liberty Dollar bills(notes)...so it seems that federal strictures on individual states with regard to currency production do not apply to private enterprises.
That's the only sense I can make of it anyway.
Yes, a very worthy cause and on a scale that I think could be copied in a place like San Francisco or Portland over here, AA. It mat be even more popular eventually than that song "The Bristol Hop". ;-)
DeleteCorporate America has been selling "gift cards" over here for years; that is a bastardized version of the Bristol Experiment where you get a $25 or $50 plastic card for Christmas or a birthday. The thing they don't tell you is that these cards have a expiration date on them.
I found this on an older version of this post, not sure how it happened Doug, but I've reposted your comment here before deleting the other version...thanks.
ReplyDeleteDoug Noakes25 September 2012 03:43
Good for the organizers at Bristol, AA. It's clear that "buying local" must include a localized approach and these fellows seem to be on to a good way for educated consumers to navigate around all the Tescos and Wal-Marts that want to send our hard-earned cash to the far ends of the earth, in the name of cheaper wages, generally shoddier goods and a lack of positive community impact.
Plus, it's always good to see a video featuring a great song by Pink Floyd. :-) Thanks !
Its gotta be local...its the future. Interestngly the soundtrack to the second video isn't actually Pink Floyd it's apparently a band that goes by the odd name of 'Easy Star All Stars'...but the arrangement is convincingly Floydish.....the All Stars must live more local to Bristol than Pink Floyd do Doug, perhaps that's it?
DeleteUPDATE
DeleteFropm Wikipedia
Originally formed as a studio band for the label's earliest recordings, Easy Star All-Stars is a reggae collective with a rotating roster of musicians and singers founded by the co-founders (Michael Goldwasser, Eric Smith, Lem Oppenheimer & Remy Gerstein) of New York City-based Easy Star Records in 1997. Although they have backed many artists and produced several original releases, they are best known for covering popular albums in a reggae and dub style and have released three cover albums to date. The first, released in 2003, was an interpretation of Pink Floyd's classic The Dark Side of the Moon entitled Dub Side of the Moon; the second was 2006's Radiodread, a song-by-song cover of Radiohead's OK Computer. In March 2008 they released an EP consisting mostly of non-cover material.
In April 2009, they released a cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band entitled Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band.
On 5 April 2011, they released their first original album entitled First Light.....
So more local?.... Perhaps not :-(
No problem, AA. I think I did leave two messages of roughly the same content on this blog. I thought the first had vanished but I probably forgot to update the page. Since I switched to Google Chrome, I've had no trouble on Blogger so there's another minor crisis averted by the underfed staff at "D. Noakes Trial and Error Systems, Ltd."
DeleteThanks for the information run-down on the Easy Star All-Stars. Given the costs of the original, perhaps using the "Dub" version saves on royalty payments. It certainly fooled me.
DeleteI thought it was Floyd, and if its not, its pretty convincing.
ReplyDeleteAnything that keeps things local and stops the multinationals bleeding the rest of us dry has got to be a good thing. Although,I have to admit, I'm still not sure how it works. But how ever they do it, it has to be a good thing and I hope it works long term and maybe even catches on in other cities
Well are we sure how any of it works Loretta... including the failing capitalist economy?....It works on trust, on 'confidence' there is no other reason really why money of any kind means anything.....if you think your currency has value it does just so long as others agree with you :-)
DeleteI understand that, I know it encourages local people to deal with local people.I like the idea of mini economies working in local communities: but how ever you look at it, what ever is brought into a local community from outside, has to be paid for and that payment.............just goes right back outside.
DeleteBut undoubtedly a good social experiment.
Its also an interesting economic experiment, not so long ago we were all told that the way to make things work and increase efficiency was to use 'economies of scale'. Now maybe we are going to see the advantages of the opposite..........
It is true of course that things bought in the 'outside' economy have to be purchased in a currency acceptable to the provider, but there is less dependence on 'outside' suppliers unless they become part of the 'virtuous economic cycle' and thereby subscribers to the alternative currency. The aim is to reduce dependency on 'outside' transactions - but of course you are right that some of these cannot be easily replaced locally.
DeleteInterestingly though the Bristol Pound is based upon an 'economy of scale' also and unlike already existing local currencies - such as the 'Totnes Pound' or the 'Lewes Pound' - the Bristol Pound is a citywide project much bigger in scale than anything tried in the UK before.
The reason for these monetary initiatives is what they are now calling 'sticky money' or money that remains in local circulation. A lot is happening through the Transition Movement and other initiatives to expand not only local money, but localised cashless economies too like Timebanking or Incredible Edible for example (the latter would be right up your street I think Loretta)
http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_banking
In my own area we are currently held back by the fact that there is no Credit Union, which is the interface organisation between local and national currencies...setting one up is a very formidable task.
I was at a conference last week in which localities were exploring local energy (wind and solar) production on a collective scale which could be bought with local currencies and which would give energy independence to communities using such technologies.
When it comes to 'visioning' (another fashionable buzz word) the sky is the limit.
we have a credit union here, i didn't know about it until recently and I don't think its very well publicised but now that I do know..........I'm going to see about joining
ReplyDeleteGetting the message out has historically been a problem for Credit Unions, but they are becoming more important on the back of the localism agenda
ReplyDelete