<nettime> Towards an alternative economy (was Re: â

[Norbert Bollow <nb@bollow.ch>]

On Mon, 13 Jul 2015 12:02:10 +0200
Felix Stalder <felix@openflows.com> wrote:

> [So, Greece caved, it signed up to what even the German media called
> "A list of cruelties" and "an offer designed to be refused". So why
> didn't they go for an Grexit?
> 
> Basically, because they never prepared for one, and doing an
> unprepared currency switch would have led to the immediate collapse of
> the economy and, and given how dependent the country is on the import
> of food, medicine and energy, to a collapse of society. In order
> words, while Varafoukis talked about being willing to blow things up,
> they did not prepare for it at all, and thus had no choice than
> becoming the warning example of what it means not to toe the German
> line. Form a purely short-term humanitarian view, and given the hand
> they have been dealt (and dealt themselves), it was probably the right
> thing to do. What it's unlikely to solve any problems in the medium or
> long term. But for now, it's a long dark tunnel, not just for the
> Greeks. Felix]

At least in regard to the medium and long term, I think that there's an
alternative to entering that long dark tunnel.

What I think is clear now is that it's not likely for such an
alternative to be produced by any processes of formal politics and/or
state institutions anytime soon. I also don't have any hope for the UN
system or any other supranational institutions to give us anything much
better than action plans without much action, as the Addis Ababa Action
Plan has been characterized ( http://www.socialwatch.org/node/16977 ).

What I think needs to be done is to create, within the existing set of
legal frameworks, an âalternative economyâ which would function
according to its own rules (which would be implemented by means of
contracts and licenses within the legal frameworks of the existing
states -- currently most countries err in the direction of giving way
too much freedom to profit-oriented corporations to do whatever they
want, but this freedom could also be used to create an economic system
that functions according to a different, more restricted set of rules.)

Well-designed Internet-based governance processes including a global
blockchain-based alternative currency tpgether with a system of local
currencies could and IMO should be part of it.

Greetings,
Norbert


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