[Challenge:Future] Strengthening Local Areas
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The document proposes strengthening local communities through autonomous social organizations to respond to increasing poverty. It suggests organizing self-managed local factories and associations for marginalized groups like the homeless, seniors, and unemployed youth. These local networks would connect factories and communities could help prevent people from falling into poverty. The plan aims to give workers ownership and autonomy over local factories to reduce inequality and empower people economically. Organizing society in this networked way could create a more stable environment for all.
[Challenge:Future] Strengthening Local Areas
- 1. Strengthening Local Areas Response and Prevention of INCREASING POVERTY Lea Lindič, University in Ljubljana – Faculty of Social Sciences, Slovenia
- 2. Increasing poverty • In the next 10 years, or even sooner, we will be facing an extreme increase of poverty among people of the “middle class” in (especially) Eastern Europe and other countries which have unstable economies and politics. The economic and financial crisis of 2008 has shown us the fate of many factories that were indebted and corrupted. • Labor market is changing. Domestic workers are losing their price due to enormous immigration of foreign workers who are willing to work for lower wages in countries with a higher standard of living. The consequences of that are that domestic workers are losing jobs and foreign workers are being exploited. • Other groups of society are dealing with problems as well. Because of unorganized labor market and social politics young people can hardly emancipate and create their own future. Also, many of the seniors are living at the poverty threshold with the pensions that are too low for them to survive.
- 3. • The actual problem is that while the majority of people struggle to survive, the minority (1%) provides only for their own enrichment. The sense of powerlessness and weakness among people is growing which has in the history led to, for example, the era of Great Depression (1929). • What poverty brings with is the feeling of hopelessness, desperation, apathy (also political apathy), unwillingness, etc.
- 4. • As the number of bankrupt firms raises so does the number of desperate people. It all depends on the economic situation, the social system, orientation of the labor market, and the employment policy in a certain country. If those aren’t working properly and in the interest of the people than we are facing a disaster. • Unemployed people will still need to eat and as a consequence the level of criminal and other illegal acts will rise.
- 5. Strengthening Local Areas • The solution is autonomous social organizations on a local level which would be organized as sub-systems of municipalities. Those sub-systems would unite local self-managed factories and different associations of people with similar interests and qualifications. It is a response and an attempt to prevent the increasing poverty. • There are various marginalized groups of people within societies that we should take into consideration: homeless people, seniors, young people, unemployed, etc. • To demonstrate we can compare those local areas to computer networks.
- 6. • Local factories which would produce different consumer – material goods should be governed by their workers and systemically connected to other factories in other local areas around the country and around the world – organized as a network. By leaving factories in the hands of those who work in it, we would prevent the enrichment of chiefs and corruption. The proposal is thus the self-management of factories, which would possess total autonomy in their functioning and allocation of profit by worker’s performance. • For the homeless people we should establish different associations which would unite people with various qualifications and interests at different activities. For example, homeless people know a lot about the weaknesses of cities and are aware of deficiencies of public transport, security on streets, possible dangers, etc. These associations would work like local report services, financed by municipalities.
- 7. • Seniors tend to socialize only with each other not with younger ones. That leads to social stratification within communities and to forming different stereotypes about seniors on one hand and about young people on the other. There is a need for activities and events on a local level where people of different generations would have the chance to bond and co-operate with each other. Another problem is that seniors often have very low pensions and are struggling to survive. They should be able to get extra earnings by working in their communities as part-time jobs as there are many people who are retired but still willing to work. • At the saturated labor market young people cannot get a job for which they are qualified. Well educated youth don’t get a career chance which leads to the problem of their emancipation; if they get a job it is probably non-permanent so it is also impossible to get a credit at the bank and to buy an accommodation of their own. So they delay the emancipation from their parents and the starting of their own families. They are unable to plan or to create their future which creates a very strong feeling of powerlessness among young people. The sense of powerlessness and weakness among people is growing which has in the history led to, for example, the era of Great Depression (1929).
- 8. The Plan • Workers are due to their low wages forced to saving money, not spending any of it on material luxuries or excesses of food and clothes. There is a paradox in that because saving money is not going to save the economies, as workers are also consumers and because of their lack of money, they are forced to limit their consuming. The labor-capital-consumerism circle has been interrupted so it is logical that economies would collapse. So governments have to raise the wages of all the workers which would result in bigger demand in the market and consequently in bigger supply.
- 9. • Giving the factories into the hands of workers would thus strengthen their confidence which would result also in the quality of work. • Organizing society as a network is perhaps the most effective way to create stable environment for everyone.
- 10. Effectiveness • The solution is effective because it relates to “ordinary” people who are uncertain of their future. Those people are the majority and also represent the main part of society’s labor force in many countries. • “Strengthening local areas” deals with only the actions on a local level and can thus concentrate on every individual’s problems and needs. Solutions on local level will thus be more effective and firm.