Community Organization in Tough Times

Article Summary

John S Veitch
The Network Ambassador

I live in New Zealand. New Zealand is a small social laboratory that has had both successes and failures that are educational.
New Zealand Law and practice recognizes that the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) as a living document and that Maori (first peoples) and Pakeha (new arrivals) have legal and moral obligations to each other that exist today.
This has made a huge difference to race relationships in New Zealand, and opened up new ways of "seeing" ourselves.
New Zealand was an early adopter of the free market ideas promoted in the UK by Margaret Thatcher and in the USA by Ronald Reagan.
Because NZ is a small country the ideas, promoted by Roger Douglas were implemented quickly and strongly here.
Douglas's reforms, abolished subsidies for agriculture and business and reducing social welfare payments. Added value taxes were introduced.
Sadly, for all the pain, the economic growth promised has not been evident. What we do have though, is a very adaptable economy.

I'm a strong advocate of open discussion. When you try to tell other people what you are thinking, you clarify our own thought processes.
We've lost sight of the value of the common in modern cities with well established welfare supports.
The Common has, free library services, unemployment benefits, free access to parks and public spaces, free education, and free or almost free public transport.
Gary L Heckman offers a long list of things people can do to make their own town or city a better place to live. He list some possible work projects.
Essentially he's saying, clean up you own mess, look after your own street, be responsible for your own neighbourhood.

There is strongly documented evidence that LOCAL currencies are very effective in creating LOCAL economic activity.
Local Exchange Trading Systems, (LETS) are now becoming well understood and with the present depression they should flourish at least for the next several years.
Time Banks begin with a slightly different emphasis, how to bring a local community together for social purposes.

If you know there are unemployed people in your area, try to help them organize. Establish a block or street committee. Members can be connected online.
In a depression or a war, most communities find ways to come together to help each other. But societies can also break into waring tribal groups.
Russian born American Dmitry Orlov, made his own observations of what happened in the USSR during the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Dmitry Orlov, says that post collapse the old ways of doing things don't work anymore. Conventional values, goals and methods become irrelevant.
At the same time, immediately, a different set of goals, techniques and measures of success become available.
Orlov makes some suggestions about what might work. A little mental preparation for that possibility, is useful knowledge to have.

If you need the original article it's here.