|
Jose Luis Coraggio: Another Economy is Happening |
|
|
|
|
Page 3 of 27
In these twenty-six apparently somewhat disparate institutions and resources (and in other, somewhat overlapping, lists, he offers elsewhere), Coraggio sees an existing people’s economy. He sees it by viewing the world through theoretical lenses that differ from the lenses of mainstream economics. One way to outline some of the theoretical lens adjustments that Coraggio makes as intellectual contributions to the cause of liberation is to focus on the concept of social structure. Building up the people’s economy is supposed, according to Coraggio, to lead to structural change. (10) In a sense it is structural change. What is structural change?
Let us begin to try to answer this question by considering one Argentine institution that is part of what Coraggio calls the people’s economy, a comedor popular. Let us imagine eight or so women, most of them single moms, and perhaps a few men, organizing to gather up food resources in a neighborhood where almost everyone is unemployed and hungry. (11) They manage to get some donations from aid agencies; from supermarkets; from municipal, provincial, or federal government offices; from political parties; from whoever has food and is willing to give it to them. They also gather pots, pans, and some fuel to cook with, and find a place to serve the food, for example a church hall. They throw a feast and invite the whole neighborhood. Suppose just one person shows up for a free meal at the comedor popular. Is that structural change? No. Suppose there are two, or three, or four … or n. Suppose the comedor popular serves meals every day. Supposes it develops a regular rotation for sharing cooking and other chores. Suppose it develops a network of suppliers who provide the food to be prepared. Suppose it becomes the nucleus of a neighborhood assembly, where the neighbors can speak their minds and make decisions on how to approach common problems together. Suppose that the people in the neighborhood can rely on the comedor popular whenever there is no food in the house or whenever, for whatever reason, they choose not to eat at home. Suppose such comedores populares multiply until they provide food security for ten million people, that is to say, for all the economically insecure people in Greater Buenos Aires. Would that be structural change? I would say yes. To those not inclined to agree with my affirmative answer I would say that, at the very least, a reasonable argument could be made either way. Some of the factors that make it plausible to say “social structure has changed” are present, while others, perhaps, are absent. With Coraggio’s help, let us consider some of those factors.
|