Economie solidali creatrici di comunità ecologiche

Abstract

Contrary to what we are led to believe, there is not just one economy. There is the natural economy (ecosystem reproductive capacity), the economy of gift and mutual exchange, the domestic, or family economy, the informal economy and the solidarity economy. The market economy, which measures the value of things in money, is only the last and most marginal form of human activity that generates goods and services useful for satisfying people’s needs. Solidarity economy does not refer to charitable and welfare activities carried out by volunteer work and financed by philanthropy. There is a strong idea of an eco-solidarity economy as transformative and  post-capitalist alternative. The official word, taken in the international documents is SSE (social and solidarity economics). There is no sector of production, distribution and exchange that cannot be practiced according to the ethical principles and moral modalities of the SSE: sustainability, mutuality, cooperation, democracy. Some case studies: the buildings used as common goods in Naples; the Iris pasta factory in Casteldidone; Arvaia, the community that supports agriculture in Bologna (Community Supported Agriculture); the Social Mediterranean consortium in Somma Vesuviana; the network of the Marche emporiums