Brazil: "Solidarity economy" based on co-operatives
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BRAZIL: Solidarity Economy Thriving
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 15, 2010 (IPS) - The initiatives were already
there, in the form of cooperatives and a variety of related
activities. But they have a new connectedness thanks to the growing
solidarity economy, which has opened up new horizons for alternative
forms of production and social relations.
The Fio Nobre Cooperative, founded 15 years ago by Idalina Boni,
evolved from craftsmaking to textiles, and now produces shirts,
blouses, t-shirts, skirts, pants, shorts, dresses and handbags, as
well as accessories like necklaces, in Itajaí, a port city in the
southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina.
Once Fio Nobre reached a certain quality level, thanks in part to a
fashion designer, it began to export its products. The cooperative
already has contacts in Italy and France, and in February Boni will
travel to Spain to market its goods.
Before setting up Fio Nobre, Boni was active for years in rural,
community health and human rights movements, based on her belief in
liberation theology, a progressive current in the Catholic Church that
works to empower the poor.
"When you're young, you think you can change the world," she told IPS.
But unemployment forced her to come up with a project that could bring
in an income on which to survive while she continued her efforts "to
at least improve the world," she said.
That gave rise to Fio Nobre and the organisation of an organic
clothing production chain stretching from cotton farming to the final
sale, under the Justa Trama brand name.
A number of other collective initiatives based on cooperation and self-
management, and free of the employer-employee relationship, have
networked at the World Social Forum, whose annual editions were held
in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 in the southern Brazilian city of Porto
Alegre, where it first emerged.
The Brazilian Solidarity Economy Forum (FBES) emerged at the 2003 WSF,
which coincided with the start of the government of leftwing President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who established a National Secretary of the
Solidarity Economy (SENAES) under the Labour Ministry.
The movement in Brazil differs from those of other countries, because
it combines three dimensions, said FBES executive secretary Daniel
Tygel. Besides the economic aspect, which comprises self-management
and the creation of cooperatives and networks, it includes a cultural
dimension, related to consumption, gender relations and areas like
free software, as well as a policy of social transformation.
In the long term, "we want to change the model of production and the
direction of development, towards a model that is not harmful to
life," said Tygel.
Brazil's solidarity economy ranges from agricultural production, which
accounts for 60 percent of the groups linked by the FBES, to crafts,
apparel, microcredit cooperatives, bankrupt companies that have been
salvaged by workers' cooperatives, community church projects and
university incubators of solidarity businesses.
Although the solidarity economy currently represents a "paltry" share
of the national economy, as Tygel acknowledged, it is growing fast,
despite the scant government resources dedicated to supporting its
development.
But although SENAES has a tiny budget, cooperatives and related
initiatives also receive financial support from the ministries of
Agricultural Development, Social Development and others.
Forging connections between the numerous and varied small local
initiatives and making headway in terms of marketing and sales are the
big challenges facing the solidarity economy.
But there are successful examples of integrated production chains and
networks, like Justa Trama, in which the need to secure raw materials
produced under the same shared principles - of horizontal labour
relations and environmental sustainability - brought together several
textile cooperatives and an association of more than 700 cotton
farmers.
Justa Trama and the solidarity economy movement fuelled "the quantity
and especially the quality of Fio Nobre's production," said Idalina
Boni. The cooperative's output climbed from 1.5 tons in 2005 to eight
tons in 2008.
The production chain runs from the "ecological cotton" grown by family
farmers in nine municipalities in the northeastern state of Ceará
through a textile cooperative that makes yarn and fabrics in the
southeastern state of Minas Gerais to three garment-making
cooperatives in the south.
Buttons, collars and other components, meanwhile, are made from seeds
gathered by members of another cooperative in the Amazon jungle state
of Rondonia.
The biggest hurdles faced by organic farming cooperatives are
marketing and selling their products.
In the northeast, Brazil's poorest and driest region, the Xique Xique
network of community-focused and solidarity-based marketing, which
takes its name from a local cactus, facilitates the marketing of
products by family farmers in the state of Rio Grande do Norte,
organised in hundreds of groups, which make up nine larger
cooperatives.
Agroecology, women's rights and empowerment, and the solidarity
economy are the "three main focuses" of the fast-growing network,
which links production and trade, said Viviana Mesquita, a local
technical assistant with SENAES.
"Women have a greater vocation for the solidarity economy," but their
strong presence in Xique Xique is also due to the local activity of
the World March of Women, said the activist, a sociologist who has
been active in the community organising and environmental movements.
(END)