A tale of two transitional towns

The goal of this blog is to bring the reader inspiring stories of communities and leaders from around the world that are putting people first ahead of profit or power.
In this offering, we present two stories of two disparate towns with similar policies that emphasize economic self-sufficiency and promote a culture of empowered citizens making democracy work for them.
The following two stories were taken and condensed from yes!Magazine.
Burlington, Vermont: policies of inclusiveness and fairness
For 20 years, Burlington, Vermont, has been pursuing policies that are counter to the growth-at-any-cost trend followed by so many other medium-sized cities.
Here are some of these policies in different areas:
Groceries: When the city's last downtown grocery closed several years ago, residents realized that, as in many other communities, essential services were leaving the city center for the suburbs. The city decided to lease a city parking lot on attractive terms to a grocery store, through a competitive bid process.
The local food co-op won the bid, and opened its new 17,000-square-foot energy-efficient facility a year ago. The store now serves 1,800 customers a day and has met its sales projections from the day it opened. The co-op offers a full range of natural, organic, and traditional supermarket items at competitive prices, all with a bias toward locally grown food.
Housing and Land: With a housing shortage and a community-wide aversion to suburban sprawl, maintaining affordable housing is a challenge. The centerpiece of the city's response is the Burlington Community Land Trust (BCLT), the largest land trust in the country and the first to be created and funded by a municipality. With over 250 units—mostly single-family homes and condominiums—BCLT insulates affordable housing from market forces and land speculation, assures access to land and housing for low-income people, and preserves and improves neighborhoods.
Banking: The Burlington Ecumenical Action Ministry founded the Vermont Development Credit Union in 1990. The member-owned cooperative, which serves low-income and other underserved populations, is now self-sustaining. In the 10 years since it was founded, the credit union has provided banking services to 6,600 low-income Vermonters, made 4,900 loans with less than a 1 percent default rate, made available $35 million in capital, and provided financing for 250 new homeowners.
Democracy: In the early 1980s, then Mayor (now US Representative) Bernie Saunders, established seven Neighborhood Planning Assemblies to give citizens a vehicle for solving neighborhood problems, allocating funds for neighborhood projects, and choosing citizens to represent their neighborhoods on a variety of task forces and advisory boards. Since then, they've provided a platform for such citizen-led neighborhood improvement projects as clean-up days, home and business improvement awards, and tree plantings.
The Future: In 1992, Burlington purchased a 45-acre parcel of prime undeveloped land located along the shore of Lake Champlain and created a Waterfront Urban Reserve. According to the city's urban renewal plan, this will “reserve the right for future generations to determine what level of development should occur at this site.” For now, the reserve is open to the public for walking, fishing, biking, quiet contemplation, and periodic art events.
Belo Horizonte, Brazil: The City that Ended Hunger
To begin to conceive of the possibility of a culture of empowered citizens making democracy work for them, real-life stories help. The story of Brazil’s fourth largest city, Belo Horizonte, is a rich trove of such lessons. Belo, a city of 2.5 million people, once had 11 percent of its population living in absolute poverty, and almost 20 percent of its children going hungry.
Then in 1993, a newly elected administration declared food a right of citizenship. The new mayor, Patrus Ananias—now leader of the federal anti-hunger effort—began by creating a city agency, which included assembling a 20-member council of citizen, labor, business, and church representatives to advise in the design and implementation of a new food system.
• It offered local family farmers dozens of choice spots of public space on which to sell to urban consumers, essentially redistributing retailer mark-ups on produce—which often reached 100 percent—to consumers and the farmers. Farmers’ profits grew, since there was no wholesaler taking a cut. And poor people got access to fresh, healthy food.
• In addition to the farmer-run stands, the city makes good food available by offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to bid on the right to use well-trafficked plots of city land for “ABC” markets, from the Portuguese acronym for “food at low prices.” Today there are 34 such markets where the city determines a set price. There’s another obligation attached to being able to use the city land. Every weekend they have to drive produce-laden trucks to the poor neighborhoods outside of the city center, so everyone can get good produce.
• Another product of food-as-a-right thinking is three large, airy “People’s Restaurants” (Restaurante Popular), plus a few smaller venues, that daily serve 12,000 or more people using mostly locally grown food for the equivalent of less than 50 cents a meal.
• Belo’s food security initiatives also include extensive community and school gardens as well as nutrition classes. Plus, money the federal government contributes toward school lunches, once spent on processed, corporate food, now buys whole food mostly from local growers.
• The city, in partnership with a local university, is working to keep the market honest in part simply by providing information. They survey the price of 45 basic foods and household items at dozens of supermarkets and then post the results at bus stops, online, on television and radio, and in newspapers so people know where the cheapest prices are.
The result of these and other related innovations? In just a decade Belo Horizonte cut its infant death rate—widely used as evidence of hunger—by more than half, and today these initiatives benefit almost 40 percent of the city’s 2.5 million population.
The Belo experience shows that a right to food does not necessarily mean more public handouts (although in emergencies, of course, it does.) It can mean redefining the “free” in “free market” as the freedom of all to participate. It can mean, as in Belo, building citizen-government partnerships driven by values of inclusion and mutual respect.
Conclusion
Our nation, Kenya, is currently beleaguered by inept rulers who are besotted with the trappings of office. Devoid of any development ideas but quick to conjure up schemes to siphon off public funds, our rulers have clearly shown us that they are not agents of progression or enlightenment. The situation is exacerbated by an uninformed subservient populace mired in an endless cycle of poverty who are only too glad to do the bidding of the ruling political class in exchange for a false hope of a better tomorrow.
So how do we proceed? In the short term we hope to implement some of the ideas we have been presenting in this blog and tweak them for the local economies where our members reside. Our programs will be people led and decisions will be made by a consensus of member votes.
We are in the process of finalizing a manifesto of our socially, politically and economically inclusive party to be known as The African Economic Democracy Movement.
Economic revolutionaries wanted, apply within.
Reader responses welcome.

Solidarity Economics: Relegating profits, promoting people. Part 2of 2

In our previous offering, we introduced Solidarity Economics as an alternative to the exploitative, capitalist system that is worker unfriendly and funnels profits to headquarters far away from where they are made.
In this article, we shall give more examples of Solidarity Economics at the community level and provide a summation of those that may be adapted to the Kenyan rural situation.
Mali: The Gift Economy
Gift economies, in which human beings are worth more than the market, are fundamental to most traditional and indigenous peoples. In its purest form, a gift economy is about the collective, allocation based on need, and abundance. Behind gifting is human relationship, generation of goodwill, and attention to the nurturance of the whole society and not just one’s immediate self and family.
One of these gift systems is alive and well in Mali, West Africa. It is known as Dama. The value of the gift is immaterial because its purpose is to maintain social connections by creating and strengthening friendships, family, regional community, religious grouping, and other social networks.
A second purpose of dama is to sustain and celebrate the values of sharing and humanity—what is known as maaya or ‘being human.’ Dama as a gift or service links neighbors, parents and relatives. An example would be if parent’s children are at a neighbor’s house at mealtime, they will be fed. If it is bath time, the neighbors will bathe them as well.
Thirdly, dama is an essential strategy for keeping the community well. Malians’ understanding of community is that it is only as strong as its parts. Only by all providing for each other will all survive and thrive.
In addition to trying to prevent anyone from being too poor, yet another purpose of dama is to prevent most everyone from becoming too rich. In Mali the cultural norm is to give away as much of your accumulation as possible, with generosity and the generous being most respected. Being rich in Mali means that the person has abandoned his or her values, that he or she is not giving enough to the needs around.
Services are also offered as Dama too. Examples include girls sweeping or washing dishes, running to the corner to buy sugar, tending a market stall, braiding hair and women caring for the children of a neighbor who has to leave home to work.
Gifts encircle each life cycle. When a woman gives birth, neighbors care for all her material needs for the first forty days, organizing themselves to share in providing meals, milk, and the like.
Malians today face the challenge of keeping dama alive despite the expansion of cash transactions. Dama and other non-market economies will remain strong and viable only if organized movements vigorously defend them.
Gifting in other parts of the world
Freecycle are Web-based gift networks where individuals can post or request free items from others in their community. Freecycle facilitates sharing and re-use and it claims to keep 55 tons of stuff out of the landfill each day.
More than 3,000 groups with more than 1.3 members have self-organized in more than 50 countries, with especially large concentrations in U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, and Australia.
Really Really Free Market is face to face version of Freecycle. These non-commercial markets take place once a week or once a month, in a park or a roving location. To them people can bring things they no longer want and take things they now want. No cash is ever accepted, and bartering rarely is. Beyond goods, Really Really Free Markets give services like hair cutting, plus food and entertainment. Developing community, keeping items out of the waste stream, and having fun are all part of it.
Baby clothing exchanges are another form of gifting. In Queens, NY, parents leave too-small clothing for younger ones and pick up the next size for free.
Gift of Kindness is a group actively promoting gifting and compassion in all spheres of life. Among other ideas, they promote committing random acts of kindness such as paying for a neighbor or co-workers food at the local diner.
Community Land Trusts: Preserving land for posterity
A community land trust (CLT) is a non-profit, regionally based organization that takes land out of the speculative market and holds it for farmland or conservation, or as sites for housing or businesses. The long-term lease provides lessees with private ownership of buildings and improvements to the land. The resale formula excludes the land value from any future sale, keeping housing and farming permanently affordable.
Community land trusts are also used to support farm homesteads, the re-gathering of tribal lands, and the development of scattered sites for affordable housing.
Housing Trust Basics in the U.S.A
Buying land through a housing trust starts when the trust acquires a parcel through purchase, foreclosure, tax abatements, or donation. The trust arranges for a housing unit to be built on the parcel if one does not yet exist, then sells the building but retains ownership of the land beneath. The new homeowner leases the land for a nominal sum (for example, $25 per month), generally for 99 years or until the house is resold.
This model supports affordable housing in several ways. First, homebuyers have to meet low-income requirements. Second, the buying price of the home is reduced because it does not include the price of the land. Third, the trust works with lenders to reduce mortgage costs by using the equity of the land as part of the mortgage calculation. This reduces the size of the down payment and other closing costs, and eliminates the need for private mortgage insurance. In all, the trust can cut the cost of home ownership by 25 percent or more.
Informal revolving loan funds
Usually found in various forms throughout Africa and embraced by Africans in the Diaspora. It involves a group of people, most of the time women, who know each other either as friends or co-workers, contributing a set sum from every member per determined period. This money is kept in trust by one member and every period, one member will get the entire kitty. This then revolves until every member is paid then it starts all over again. The logic behind this participatory savings is that as an individual it is hard to save the required sum on your own. Once one is required to give their share in a timely manner as a condition of remaining a participant, it instills discipline and forced budgeting. Also the money is like a welcome surprise although in actuality it was your own periodic contributions that you were given at the end.
Pertinent lessons
• From House holding economies, we learn that we need to teach our children basic life skills (previous article).
• From Scavenging Economies, we learn that recycling could be economically beneficial if embraced (previous article).
• From the cooperative model, we learn that workers can buy out their factories or other workplace and be joint owners. They may even be able to open up credit unions to benefit their members. In a downturn they may work fewer shifts without any of them being laid off.
• From the Community Land Trusts example, we may set aside land in rural or urban areas for affordable housing or for farmland. We may even set aside land in urban areas for parks and recreational activities.

Conclusion
It is our opinion that government development policy as it is in Kenya will not move the nation forward. A few days ago the Nation newspaper reported that:
“Taxpayers had lost Sh445 million through theft and mismanagement of constituency funds. According to a report released by the lobby group, National Taxpayers Association, the cash that could not be accounted for, is feared to have either been pocketed by individuals or mismanaged by various Constituency Development Funds (CDF) boards in the financial years 2006/07 and 2007/08”.
This is dire news indeed. Coupled with all the other recent scandals, the one option we have is to embrace Solidarity Economics as a non exploitative people- first system of social and economic advancement.
The ideas housed in this blog will form the basis of a new people-power movement to be known as the African Economic Democracy Movement whose manifesto we are working on. Economic revolutionaries are needed. Apply within.
Reader responses welcome.

Solidarity Economics: Relegating profits, promoting people. Part 1 of 2

Previously we addressed the topic of economic disparity in our nation. We painted a rather bleak picture of the present situation but a propitious future awaits us. It is our opinion that if we were to implement a policy of localized economics, where consensus and uniform participation were the foundation, we would move towards a more socially just and responsible nation.
What are Solidarity Economies?
Economy: The many different ways in which we human beings collectively generate livelihoods in relation to each other and to the rest of the Earth.
Solidarity: The process of taking active responsibility for our relationships in ways that promote diversity, autonomy, cooperation, communication, and shared-power (direct democracy).
Solidarity Economies are enterprises which rely on humane principles instead of the competition and greed often underlying the corporate market. They focus on getting everyone's needs met without exploitation, and they expand the possibilities for those who don’t have the funds to participate in standard cash markets. The values of respect, cooperation, and democracy are embedded into every step of the economic chain: creation, production, exchange, consumption, and surplus distribution.
Solidarity economies function through networks, associations, social movements, the non-profit sector, and worker coops. They emphasize women initiatives, ecological agriculture, ethical financing, and democratized technology.
Here are some forms they may take:
House holding economies—meeting basic needs with our own skills and work at home and on or with the land: raising children, offering advice or comfort, resolving relational conflicts, mentorship, teaching basic life skills, cooking, sewing, cleaning the house, building the house, balancing the checkbook, fixing the car, gardening, farming, raising animals. These are the types of work that have often been rendered invisible or devalued but they will be the focus for our social programs for the rural school going population of Kenya.
Collective economies—in their simple form these economies are about pooling our resources together (sharing): bringing food to a potluck supper, carpooling, lending and borrowing, consumer co-ops such as food buying organizations that buy food in bulk at a discount and share among members. Those based on common ownership and/or control of resources: such as health care collectives, community land trusts, and more.
Scavenging Economies—living on the abundance of Earth’s own gift economy: hunting, fishing, and foraging. Also living on the abundance of human wastefulness—salvaging from demolition sites, using old car parts and recycling instead of sending to the landfill
Gift economies—giving some of our resources to other people and to our communities: volunteer fire companies or neighborhood watch groups, community food banks, having neighbors over for dinner or throwing a neighborhood block or village party.
Worker-controlled economies—workers deciding the terms and conditions of their own work: self-employment, family farms, worker-owned companies and cooperatives.
The cooperative model
The cooperative model presents a stark contrast with conventional capitalist corporations. Co-ops offer shared ownership and democratic control. Those who benefit from the enterprise own it, and own it as equals: one member, one vote. The purpose of the enterprise is to benefit its members, not to use their economic activity as the basis for someone else’s returns.
Brazil: The Harmony Agricultural Company
The Harmony Agricultural Company has become Brazil's largest worker-managed business in the solidarity economy. It provides employment for 4,300 families who work 26,000 hectares of land, and its main activity is producing sugar at 48 mills.
When the company was in crisis in 1993, the workers applied for the owners of the company to be forced to declare bankruptcy, and took over the firm's administration, under the supervision of the justice system. Since then, they have resumed sugar production and diversified into other agricultural and industrial activities. They are also growing cassava, fruit, maize, potatoes and even raising livestock, in a family farming system based on agricultural cooperatives.
Benefits:
• The use of manual labor thereby creating more jobs.
• Social inclusion for area residents thereby less idlers and dependents on government welfare.
• More taxes for the municipalities thereby more public services offered.
• The local economy is boosted by the greater spending power of the residents.
• Rural-urban migration is reversed due to the availability of local employment.
Spain: Mondragón cooperatives
The Mondragón cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain form the best-known coop system anywhere, and have inspired emulators the world over. Launched in 1956, the Mondragón complex has grown from a single, five-member coop manufacturing kitchen appliances into a massive enterprise with over 30,000 workers and annual sales of $5 billion
History of Mondragón
When a priest named Jos‚ Mar¡a Arizmendiarrieta first arrived at the Mondragón parish in 1941, he found a town devastated by the Spanish Civil War. His aim was to confront high levels of unemployment that kept the region in poverty and isolation. His working philosophy was to put the rights and well-being of workers first, with growth mainly aimed at providing additional jobs and job security to employees. He set about rebuilding, establishing a vocational school for Mondragón's many working-class children who had no chance at education. Eventually, under his tutelage, five of the school's graduates went on to win engineering degrees and then, in 1956, start their own factory in Mondragón. Their domestic appliance company quickly generated strong profits. They reinvested these profits back into the business, reserving only a small portion for workers' own "capital accounts" which individuals could draw upon only when they left the co-op.
Challenges and solutions
When one of the Mondragón cooperatives fell on hard times, the worker/owners and the managers met to review their options. After three days of meetings, the worker/owners agreed that 20 percent of the workforce would leave their jobs for a year, during which they would continue to receive 80 percent of their pay and, if they wished, free training for other work. This group would be chosen by lottery, and if the company was still in trouble a year later, the first group would return to work and a second would take a year off. The solution worked and the company thrives to this day.
The central importance of workers permeates every aspect of the Mondragón Cooperatives. Even though the MCC businesses are affected by the global financial crisis, there is no unemployment within the MCC businesses. People are moved around to other jobs, or hours are cut without cutting pay. The wages for un-worked hours are to be repaid through extra hours worked later in the year.
Conclusions
We have stated our opinions, disdain actually, on globalization and the international trade pacts that are skewed in favor of industrialized nations. The Ministry of Local Government has undertaken some projects with its ‘development partner’, the European Union. We oppose this idea on the basis that it is non inclusive and non participatory for the people most be affected by the projects.
Solidarity Economics in its various forms, tweaked for the Kenyan situation, may provide the impetus to bring development to our nation. In the next article we shall give further examples and provide an adaptable summation of implementable ideas.
The ideas housed in this blog will form the basis of a new people-power movement to be known as the African Economic Democracy Movement which will later morph into a political party.
Reader responses welcome.

Story of Esau and Jacob Unfolds at James Gichuru Road

We welcome guest writer, Mwarang'ethe, who authored this article.
From the Sunday school story of Esau and Jacob, we know that, Esau contemptuously surrendered his birthright for he was hungry after long days of hunting. All he wanted was rest and food, i.e. the stew of meat and vegetables which Jacob had in his possession. Simply said, Esau sold his birthright for miserable messes of pottage.

With this story in mind, let us take a walk along James Gichuru road which runs from Westland, cutting through Lavington, near Kawangware slums which then ends up at Dagoretti corner. This walk more than anything else, reveals that, we are a nation of Esau and Jacob. Now, as you walk along this road, if you are a keen observer of man and society, you will notice two very interesting things.

On the paved road, you will see very well dressed and well fed or over fed Kenyans/foreigners seated on their big fuel guzzlers as they cruise to and fro. Also, on both sides of this road, which are dusty or muddy depending on the season, you will see a lot of shabbily poor men and women walking in very hurried manner. These poor Kenyans, are either going to work, or coming from work. But, where do most of these poor Kenyans work? They work for the Kenyans/foreigners in the big cars. The walking masses represent Esau and those in big cars represent Jacob.

Now, the reason you will see a lot of poor Kenyans walking as we describe above is because we have chaotic, inefficient, dangerous and expensive transport system made of matatus. We know Michuki tried to improve it, but, we ask, how do you improve a perversion? The question then is why is it so difficult for Kenya to develop a well integrated transport system? We are told it is very expensive. But, is it so? We deny these falsehoods which Kenyans have swallowed for 50 years.

However, before we do so, let us say this. Whenever the development of Asian nations like Singapore is discussed by our politicians and scholars, including Professor Ali Mazrui, we are told that, it is because a nation like Singapore has been led by malevolent dictator. Is it so? Mazrui is an eminent thinker, but, we deny his answers as utter rubbish. So, how does Singapore provide its citizens with world class integrated transport system? It boils down to bidding for land/space. Sample this genius in integrated transport policy and compare it with the stupidity and madness of the Kenyan transport system.

Due to lack of space in Singapore, they have developed a unique market mechanism that equalize everyone's ability to share in the benefits of that scarcity. In this scheme, motorists are free to determine the road rents they are willing to pay. They do this in auctions where they compete to secure the right to drive on the highways. Those who fail in their bids or those who do not wish to own a car, share in the benefits of the road rents which are spent on providing first class public transport.

Given the land scarcity, Singapore has a sophisticated way of controlling car growth (in Kenya, we use scarcity of oil). The government constrains the growth of vehicles to 3% a year. To do so, it uses a range of tools which include the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), the Vehicle Quota System (VQS), road taxes and Electronic Road Pricing (ERP). Each month, a certain number of COE's are released. The vehicle entitlement is valid for ten years from the date of registration of the vehicle. Bidding is done electronically whereby, people determine how much they will pay in competition with other would be motorists.

The electronic road pricing is based on the pay - per - use principle that reflects the true cost of motoring. Singapore has extended this to points of congestion on major highways and it has been credited with having reduced the volume of traffic during peak periods. The consequence of this is that, the cost of motoring in Singapore is staggering.

In Singaporean dollars, in 2006, an Audi A 41.8 is $ 182, 000, for a BMW 328 (2.8 cc) $ 238, 000, for a Mercedes 200E: $ 201, 902, for a Volvo Estate 2.0: $ 160, 753. The alternative is you take the bus or train. Interestingly, the demand for the COE’s continues to rise and their prices in auctions that are open. This means that bidders can see what others are bidding for before they submit their offers. This reduces massive speculation.

What is the verdict of the World Bank on Singaporean transport system? It has concluded that:
(a) This system has helped attract foreign investment and there are no major negative side effects on economic growth or on the welfare of people on the lowest incomes.
(b) In addition, by rationing scarce physical space by price mechanism, Singapore has generated funds for investment in improvements much beyond transport and enabled reductions of other, less desirable taxes.

Thus, using a scheme that equalizes all citizens’ access to road/land, Singapore has been able to come up with a truly integrated transport policy. Those who cannot afford to run a car benefit from higher - quality public transport and lower taxes. In this scheme, there are no losers because road rents facilitate a sophisticated approach to sharing scarce space.
The collateral gains of this system include a dynamic economy at the frontier of technological progress and wage levels that employees of the West can only envy. No wonder, the OECD is always complaining of Singapore as an offshore since they want to hide the link between road rents and Singapore's low tax rate. However, the Singapore government is keenly aware that its success in the global economy depends on recycling rents back into its infrastructure so that equity is associated with efficiency. This policy has placed Singapore at the forefront of global commerce. Yes, fortunes are made in Singapore, but, they are not made in land speculation. That’s why in building highways, they do not reward landowners at the expense of the taxpayer as the African nations are doing.

Something to ponder about
(a) When Singapore gained independence which was at the same time as Kenya, some areas looked like Kawangware. Today, this tiny island is among the largest sovereign investors with over $ 247 billion as sovereign fund/assets. Mark you, this fortunes have not been made from commodities as in the case of Botswana.( one of the few post independence success stories) How much do we have as Kenyans in 2010? We answer mounting debts, poverty and senseless tribal conflict over land.
(b) In Kenya, if anyone wants to import a Hammer (remember the battle of Hammers in Kibera) or a Range Rover, we just allow them to import without questions and then allow them to blow dust on the poor Kenyans who fund these roads as they walk on the dusty pavements. Is this the way to build a just and peaceful nation?
(c) Does this sound like malevolent dictatorship, or a sound land policy as the foundation just like the one we have been advocating at work?

In a nutshell, if we had institutionalized this kind of land policy, we would be able to provide safe, efficient, affordable and accessible transport system for women who constitute the majority of those who walk to and from Kawangware slums along Gichuru road so as to go and clean the houses of bwana kubwa, i.e. bwana jinga.

Instead of such a simple policy, we come up with weird ideas of affirmative action to “uplift the welfare of our women.” How do you separate the welfare of men from that of women? These are mere delusions which will ironically, cost these poor women even more in terms of tax to pay these so called “women leaders.” Kenyans may go ahead with these schemes, but, we shall keep on shouting, yes, we know you are tired and desperate having waited for 20 years for the new constitution, but, just as Esau was tired and hungry, you have opted to denounce your birthright for miserable messes of pottage for we know he asked, behold, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright be to me? And, Jacob said, swear to me this day; and he swore unto him and thereby, he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Bwana Mwarang'ethe among other things, is an eminent scholar in areas pertaining to: land redistribution, a new money system, International trade and others. He is currently preparing the national and international portion of the manifesto that will form the operating principles of this new inclusive economic- political movement.