The localism, the only way for the world? In the following we offer some thoughts from various articles (including Wikipedia) on Localism. Good info on the site on the decay.
a time when the world speaks to reestablish the financial system at the time when we search in France a new economic and social model, at a time when French political parties do not know well what doctrine to adopt, this is a real alternative to capitalism and socialism: localism.
Localism is a political doctrine which is to focus on what is local but set limits border, promoting participatory democracy, social cohesion and local production, so local employment and environmental preservation through a smaller footprint related to transport of goods.
1. Operational application
Foundations
Localism open (or neo-localism) - to be cosmopolitan and diverse - is to reorient human life with economic management, social and political proximity. Whole life to be reterritorialisée (Serge Latouche, "Living Locally"), including interpersonal relationships. It offers an alternative to damage globalization that appear gradually: develop a global consumerism that the environment can not sustain, especially in terms of fossil fuel consumption and pollution associated with transporting goods, tend to the destruction of the most elaborate social rules in advantage of competitiveness; dilution of living together through a-personal relationships develop with the global media and abstract forms of communities, etc ...
• Geopolitics
The relocation of both life Economic (towards the tool Production of consumer), social life (enhancing human relations) and political (establishment of a participatory democracy), in particular through a reorganization of territory in urban villages (eg intermunicipal) to meet locally maximum needs. This form of localism is not autarky, because certain decisions and production would be at broader levels based on existing national and international institutions. Moreover localism has no geographical boundaries but the principle of maximum approximation is the rule: for example moving from a production unit of a another continent to a unit in a neighboring country may be a satisfactory local response or ultimate for a particular property.
• Production / Consumption
From a technical standpoint, localism can be based for example on a variable tax according to the origin of finished products and raw materials used. Less coercive: the principle of carbon label, which is closely linked to the Anglo-Saxon notion of food miles, food miles and can guide consumers to environmentally responsible purchasing of local products. In agri-food trade, the AMAP fit perfectly through local initiatives. Localism may also lead to public investment in local production or to promote the social economy. The use of inter-firm mobility as a clearinghouse for positions may also help limit the flow of individual vehicles daily between several urban areas.
To arrive at distances sufficiently limited trade, the doctrine localist induces a structural reorganization of the production system through the implementation of a multitude of production units of appropriate size corresponding to the urban community.
• Financial System
Localism must rely on banks and investment management, without any speculative action which would distort the proximity principle in favor of profitability. Which promotes community involvement in the financial system through public banks, cooperative microfinance even more marginal. In a depth where the notion of localism localism money.
• Philosophy
doctrine localist naturally fits in a humanistic spirit, to the extent that local activity is a means for man to meet his needs and grow with his family, and not only an end to the prosperity of individuals or entities. Trade proximity fosters social interaction and thus human relationships while requiring the involvement of all in the collective effort of production, hence the importance of work value.
2. Political positioning
Localism is not part of a vision "right / left" of the traditional political spectrum. Doctrine localist can appear as both an alternative and as a synthesis of political models from the industrial era, providing a balance between the benefits and the excesses of political models.
• Localism and capitalism: the doctrine is not localist in opposition to capitalism in the sense that it does not limit the creation of wealth, unlike the local economy supports a more direct distribution of wealth produced by relying heavily on the participation of all the production (work value). But localism is not naturally compatible with a globalized market economy and deregulated.
• Localism and socialism: localism does not conflict with socialism in the sense that the community is closely involved in local economic activity while ensuring social cohesion to maintain a reasonable gap of income and minimizing the evaporation of wealth in the international financial system. More localism therefore promotes employment integration through access to a sufficiently remunerative work.
• Localism and nationalism / regionalism as there are no limitations in the concept of border nearest origin of products consumed, localism does not stop at administrative territory. For example, we can not reasonably create an aviation hub in each urban community, in this case the localism leans more on a continental scale. In contrast, the production department of a food must meet largely to the needs of its population. Moreover localism is not based on any assertion of particular identities, although the doctrine is based on a social proximity thereby consolidating the cultural heritage.
• Localism and protectionism: the localist theory can naturally appear as an extreme form of protectionism in the sense that it gives highest priority to the local economy. At the same time it is not protectionism, since the state localism has no defined borders and progressive taxation and not binary (producing internal / external production). Then localism does not dematerialized services (Internet) or the productions at very low footprint (hydroelectric power). Finally the organization in small production units multiplied by many urban communities would very likely result in a global market of IP, that is to say a license trade between companies in the world.
• Localism and ecology: of course, the localism is fundamentally in the preservation of the ecosystem to the extent that the objective is to minimize the environmental footprint of trade in goods, that or in terms of fossil fuel consumption or CO ² in terms of wear of mobile transportation equipment (Cars, trains, ...) and static (roads, bridges, ...). More localist doctrine incorporates energy independence through a proactive policy to save energy (development of passive houses, rationalization of public lighting, ...) and promotion of renewable energy (solar, wind Solo, ...).
• Localism and alterglobalism: localism is more adaptable to a standard political territory rather than any genuine desire for world politics. In this sense, notions such as decay and fair trade are not necessarily related to the doctrine localist. Between localism obviously in opposition to the principle of liberal globalization of trade exchanges of material goods but remains in a logic of global free trade of goods and intangible services (research, culture, etc ...).
3. Limits of localism
Beyond a simple single political tendency, local action comes up against international rules of trade as those of the WTO, for example, which are intended to facilitate the globalization of trade , or as the European Union whose economic policy based on free movement of goods. However, given the environmental threats facing the planet and following the stock market crash of 2008, highlighting the extreme fragility of the international financial system, liberalism total global marketplace is increasingly controversial.
Moreover localism can exist only by a very proactive policy to deal with industrial lobbies with vested interest in their catchment area stretch worldwide and it also implies a very significant overhaul the existing productive apparatus by a burst of small local units, where substantial investments together with a need to adapt on-site labor and engineering.
Insofar as it is opposed to increasing development of international trade, the doctrine appears to some as localist
a "step backwards". Supporters of localism then demonstrate the reliability of this model by the fact that the organization was local companies since the origins of humanity until the industrial revolution. Yet it is precisely since the beginning of the industrial age has been set in motion a process enhanced by the phenomenon of globalization, a phenomenon that emerged only since the second half of the twentieth century and jeopardizing the future of humanity in the face of ecological damage that accompanied global economic damage and social problems affecting the Western countries through various crises increasingly close and increasingly violent.
4. Local Initiatives
• Etiquette The carbon
January 29, 2008, signs of trade and distribution, the CDF and Medad signed an agreement for five years more environmentally responsible. Registered under the Grenelle Environment Forum, including it opens the way for a doubling within three years, the number of products with an ecolabel, a carbon label.
The experimental approach and unique in Europe, environmental labeling products has already begun. Since spring 2008, two stores Leclerc group in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais experimenting with the display of carbon cost - Ie their "carbon footprint" - food. The CO2 balance of the products is indicated next to their price and the total balance of the races shown on your receipt. In addition, products that reduce the balance sheet are reported in radius. The operation is supported by the Regional Council and ADEME.
another example, the Casino Group, drawing on the expertise of the ADEME and the company Bio Intelligence Service specializes in sustainable development, also offers its customers to discover the carbon cost of its products . Its carbon index, expressed in grams of CO2 emitted to 100 g of product, addresses the entire lifecycle of products from the brand. When the package allows, the carbon index is accompanied by a slide showing the environmental impact (low to high) and information on the recycling rate of packaging.
• The AMAP
An association for the maintenance of peasant agriculture (CSA), in France, a close partnership between a consumer group and a local farm, based on a distribution system " baskets "consisting of farm products. It secured a contract based on a financial commitment consumers, who pay in advance all their consumption over a period determined by the type of production and geographic location. The system thus operates on the principle of trust and consumer empowerment.
• The mark "Produit en Bretagne"
Founded in 1993, the combination product in Britain is the first network of economic policymakers in Brittany, the first regional brand collective approach and the first regional mark of solidarity and sustainability France. In 2008, the brand involves 200 member companies in the 5 counties of Brittany (Loire Atlantique included).
This initiative is more akin to regionalism than pure localism to the extent it is good to promote local products, thus travel distance reduced, however, local interest is lower for consumers bordering departments of another region.
• Slow food
Slow food is a movement founded in Italy in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in response to the emergence of fast food consumption pattern. The movement seeks to preserve the eco-regional cuisine as well as plants, seeds, domestic animals and farming techniques associated with it.
. The Locavores
The Locavores appeared in San Francisco in 2005 on a simple idea: eat only foods produced within 100 miles (160 kilometers). United States and Canada, this movement is experiencing a revolution in public, and gradually spreading to Europe.
. The cooperative societies of collective interest
A cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC) is a stock or limited liability company that combines around a salaried players, actors recipients (customers, users, residents, suppliers ...) and contributors (associations, communities, etc..) to produce goods or services of collective interest benefit of a territory (geographic or sectoral).
Issues of the Law of 17 July 2001 and the Decree of 21 February 2002, the SCIC are largely inspired by Italian social cooperatives emerged in the 60s. In France, the 117 Scic licensed since 2002, 103 were in operation at June 30, 2007. Italy has more than 7,000 cooperatives Social employing approximately 250,000 people.
. LETS
a salt or local exchange system is an alternative trading system, built next to the dominant system of market economy. LETS associations are declared or de facto non-profit, locally based, and which allow their members to exchange goods, services and knowledge without resorting to traditional currency.
In France, the transactions made under the SEL are exempt from VAT and income tax that insofar as this is a non-recurring and ad hoc, such as "helping hand" and not within the framework of a profession. The first SALT modern France was created in 1994, Ariege. Ten years later, there are nearly 300 SEL in 96 departments, more or less modest size (two to several hundred members) depending on the region, allowing more than 20 000 people to exchange.
. Beaver
Beavers is a movement of self Cooperative born after the Second World War France. It now operates nationally and has nearly 50,000 members.
. The cohousing
The cohousing or cooperative housing is a concept that refers to groups of people together as an association or cooperative. Sharing materials, skills, arrangements or even household chores is at the heart of the concept but each home has its own private accommodation and retains its full privacy. This type of habitat is widespread in the countries of northern Europe, began to appear in France and adapts to the city and country.
• Microcredit
activity microcredit or microfinance encourages micro-local. This helps to induce mutations "base". These are often more effective and have a greater ripple effect - by creating economic linkages in the country - that certain infrastructures or large industrial projects. This leverage allows us to act effectively to those who take the initiative in engaging personally, that is to say, contractors or craftsmen.
Massy: green and for all.
