english

This Forum will include speakers from urban initiatives, who are especially focussed on alleviating the current crisis.  Also people from the rural areas who can give a model for resilient economic structures. Due to the current situation there are predominantly projects from Greece, but there will also be speakers from Spain and Portugal. There will be specific examples from the following sectors: agriculture, health, emergency help during crises and educational/culture.  We will endeavor to present the networking situation.

We invite those players involved in the sector, who want to administrate local and regional authorities in the interests of the residents and who promote solidarity, regional and alternative economic cycles.  We want to be inspired by good practice.  The goal of the event is to  show, by means of good practice, how solidarity economy enterprises and the community can profit from collaboration.

Living well and working well, how do we fare with work as the basis of individual socilization in light of disaffection, unemployment, burn out etc on one hand and on the other the constant development of the productive forces and global/digital networking of society’s labour?  How can people, existence and work be reconciled again?  How can work be returned to the self determined, co-operative activity which people actually created in the first place?

This two-session workshop will explore a range of innovative approaches to building urban commons such as community land trusts; co-operative solutions for housing, renewable energy and garden cities; local food systems; and the Bologna Regulation for the Care and Regeneration of Urban Commons, among others.  Presentations will discuss creative initiatives in Barcelona, Spain; Lille, Italy; Seoul, Korea; Bologna, Italy; Madison (Wisconsin, USA), and in Great Britain.  We plan extensive Q&A and discussion, with an accent on action steps for moving forward.

After some opening words by the organisers and a keynote by Paul Mason under the title „Capitalism is dying – What next?“, a panel discussion will engage with the role and strategic relevance of three transformational dimensions:
1.) Practice (concrete alternatives, solidarity economy) – from niched initiatives to widespread recognition
2.) Regime (economic and political structures and institutions): How can the global transformation towards an ecologically and socially just economy and politics be achieved?

How do we strengthen the economic and political networks of people involved in the alternative economies of Berlin and Brandenburg?  How do we foster the development of a viable network for sustainable and solidarity economy, as a tangible alternative for the majority?  The Podium introduces the current networking activities, offers access to the various aspects of regional networks and gives a focussed overview of the regional themes and possibilities for exchange beyond the Congress.