Minutes of the Meeting 2004-06-16
Topics for the Economics Agenda:
In attendance were: Dr John Courtneidge (Chair), Janos Abel, Massimo De Angelis, Woody Bronson, Miss Cho, Mary Fee, Matti Kohonen, Pema Jigme Choder, Robin Upton (taking notes), Apologies: Sabine McNeil

A report from ESF Paris
Matti Kohonen explained that support for ESF is greater in Europe than UK, and the most enthusiastic supporters were French and Italians. At the ESF in Paris there was a Solidarity Village which ran in parallel to the official ESF and examined the co-operative sector (see text of introductory flier below). Some co-operative banks in France are in practice almost completely capitalist in outlook and behaviour. http://www.credit-cooperatif.fr/, and other banks, insurance societies are actually more alternative. One of the key concepts was the duality of the ‘Social Economy’ and the ‘Solidarity Economy’.
Social Economy: Broadly democratic institutions for holding money – trusts, commonholds – (building societies used to be like this, but have been demutualised into banks, since, unlike other places, they had no legal protection in UK),
Solidarity Economy: The varied range of new community social movements that started to develop in the 1980’s and 90’s, collaborating locally and globally to build a common and shared, inclusive agenda
.
Further Discussion of Content
Massimo emphasised the topic of The Commons – basic income, shared well-being, as a tool to overcome the debt-slavery of the north. He suggested the phrase “Life Despite Capitalism” to indicate ideas that are rooted in the present, not looking far ahead, to counter-balance traditional political discourse which looks to the future all the time. In fact there are a wealth of actual developing alternatives to capitalism such as LETS, food co-ops etc. which it would be good to highlight, encouraging them in positive steps now and helping them make links with happening projects.

Language Used
It was noted that some so-called ‘alternative’ economic theories, such as Post-Autistic, Heterodox, Marxist and Post-Keynsian Economics may not be so different in practice from mainstream economics. Concerns were voiced that we find a way to gauge the relevance of the different issues/topics so that important issues don’t get sidelined by other parties seeking to hijack the event It was understood that Alan Freeman was considering scheduling a separate academic economics conference on the Monday & Tuesday following the ESF. Key phrases are an important means of focussing attention and providing continuity, so we will try to use similar terminology where possible (e.g. ‘neo-liberalism’ and ‘solidarity economy’). John’s favourite expression is ‘commonweal’ but this is a rather archaic and we don’t know how well it is understood in Europe..

Proposed sub-titles for the event (after LETS Co-operate) (also perhaps suitable as suggestions of plenaries in the ESF?) were:
1. Another Enterprise is Possible
2. Social & Solidarity Economy and Social Movements
3. Democratising the Economy – A Strategy for Sustainable Development

Use of Space
Co-ordinating events run by self-organised of groups would be easier if all the economics discussion topics were localized in the Bloomsbury area. There was already a separate conference on affordable housing scheduled in the main part of Conway Hall on the Friday, and Human rights International was holding an Event on the Saturday night. LETSlink London had originally booked just the Saturday for “LETS Co-operate” (a previous conference of that name had previously been held in November 2002), but in response to a communication from the ESF Coordinating Committee that they were entitled to demand the use of this venue for the ESF had decided it was best to extend the booking back, with access through from Wednesday evening to Sunday lunchtime, in order to provide as much continuity as possible, and to liaise with the other groups who would also be running events in the building. It was further agreed that it would be good to conceptually link Conway Hall and LSE, for example by using Red Lion Square outside Conway Hall to put stalls on, or even putting a couple of marquees on Lincoln’s Inn where we could have meetings (if the authorities were co-operative). If we had council permission we could block Red Lion Square from cars for the weekend. A useful space above Temple Station was also suggested.

Other Groups
But here we needed to liaise carefully with LSE and other groups who might want also to be involved, to establish what the organizational and financial boundaries are around “LETS Co-operate”, and a wider Solidarity Village including the other spaces mentioned enabling other groups to self-organise. It was suggested that without being over-prescriptive we could allow them some sort of easily understood but flexible framework of venues, where we make resources such as spaces, tables, and lightweight displays available to groups that want them. The question was also raised of how we liaise with groups planning events in distant locations also associated with the ESF. We decided the programme should include not just things we organise, but also things done in parallel by other groups, such as the main ESF and all associated groups. Several groups such as London21 may be able to enter into partnership with us if suitably approached by the right people.

Publicity
At this stage we did not know whether we would get exchange publicity from the official ESF, even a weblink. It was suggested we use the Big Issue vendors to sell or distribute the programme, either in parallel with the paper or as a supplement/ story inside it. Whether this could even provide an income stream if sold needed to be negotiated. The idea was proposed of including in our publicity a Green Map, in conjunction with the London21 (which provides the technical back-up for groups to map their borough and also advises on sources of funding). Alan Freeman had mentioned a contact in the Events Unit at GLA of Jude Woodward for advice on whether GLA might provide support. This approach would draw the autonomous activities together including those based on Occupied Spaces and Community Centres in the suburbs as well as those in the Solidarity Village and the main venue and show the transport links. Woody suggested the idea of autonomous groups making stickers so that people can put them a freeform ‘empty spaces‘ map, allow scheduling to be flexible, supporting last minute changes.

Additional Ideas
A model of our organisation method would be helpful to allow outsiders to learn what is going on. With street vendor licences from the London Borough of Camden we could establish a network of information kiosks at points around the venue. If we broadcast what was going on (e.g. by live WiFi link), passers by can see and people could target their topics of interest. Ian Dickson‘s CommKit was mentioned as of possible use to prepare a website for the event (www.commkit.com), but it was noted that other websites relating to the event were already up and running eg (www.esf2004.net)

Finance
Conway Hall and associated rooms have been booked from Wednesday evening to Sunday evening, at an estimated cost of about £7000 - exact amount to be confirmed, by LETSlink London (LLL), which is legally responsible for providing the balance by mid-September – details of exactly which rooms are available will be checked and put up on a visual format on the Letslink London website. Broadband is needed for computer access, which is priced at £1000-£1500. LLL would have to source funding for both of these basic costs, either in the form of grants (Co-operative Action and Phone Co-op were suggested) and/or by creating a set of income streams to recoup this money. Collaboration with the social economy could be a good way of raising funds, for example by finding suitably progressive groups interested in running a stall in Conway Hall or one of the associated spaces, in distributing leaflets, or having advertising space on the programme. Charging an entrance fee should also be given proper consideration.

Conclusion
John noted that once Mary had managed to archive and reference material from the previous conference we could begin using the LETSlink UK website to log progress on new papers and support already being offered for this conference. As time was up and we needed to be out of the building by 8,30pm, and we were all tired, several people needing to travel some distance outside London, we parted company in good heart and resolved to continue the discussion by email

Use of Complementary Currencies
At a follow-up meeting on Friday 18th June, Sabine and Mary prioritised our discussions around the implementation of a complementary currency for the event, eg London Links and other local currencies, which was the essential aim of LETSlink. Through the FSC we had a good prospect of support from a professional barter company which was capable of taking this to a higher financial level, using Trade Pounds. If an entrance fee for LETS Co-operate event was charged – as was being done for the conference on housing – complementary currencies could then be accepted. Translating that into common parlance means that people could pay by volunteering. How this would impinge on the relationship with the ESF could be explored once it had been set up. Much work was needed to organize this, by implementing a range of technologies which were on for computer input and communications, and also designing publicity and hand-held materials such as cheques and passbooks.
MF/RU/040619