Permaculture Ste Anne de Bellevue

SPECIAL EVENT, Thursday January 23rd, 2014, 7pm

The New Coop du Grande Orme, 153 rue Ste Anne, Ste Anne de Bellevue, Qc.

Attendance: APROX 16

MINUTES

Philippe Derruder's presentation entitled "Une monnaie locale complémentaire, pourquoi et comment?" was a wonderful introduction to the different type of systems communities around the world have developed in response to a variety of factors, mainly, short money supplies and unforgiving credit systems.

Pointing out that we all need money, Derruder explained that we actually don't pay the real price of what things actually costs, since through globalization and extended manufacturing networks, environmental and social degradation are not calculated.

Real greatness is all around us, he said, life can be a wonderful experience. But we need to slow down and reinvent financial structures to work for people and give back to the communities around the world, transforming poverty and need into abundance and plenty.

Historically, it has been citizens who create money, starting with bone fragments or pieces of marked pottery which acted as currency in Egypt. The value was placed by the citizens to measure the values of their exchanges and transactions.

One of the first instances of a spontaneous, grass-roots trading system in Europe (since governments took control of currencies) was the town of Schwanenkirshen, Germany, in the post-WWII era. After a local mine was closed down in 1929, the people began to suffer greatly from poverty and lack. When the mine was reopened without the support of the banks, the owner offered workers a different kind of payment. The "Wära" was quickly accepted by individuals and businesses alike. It was a great succes and the village came to life again.

In Wörgl, Austria, 1932, another alternative currency developed for much the same reasons and with similar results: employment, economic vitality, and a flourishing community.

Unbelieveably, in both places, the authorities deemed the experiments unlawful and put a stop to them with predictable outcomes: the return of impoverishment and destitution.

One alternative currency from that period in history which has managed to survive is called the Wir, created in Switzerland in 1934 and is still being used today by more than 70 000 people. According to economist Bernard Lietaer, the Wir is one of the main reasons the Swiss economy is in good condition.

Local currencies respond to different needs and are not managed with a profit motive as a goal as are currencies issued by normal banks, who make loans and charge interest in a complex network where they are only required to hold a fraction of the amount loaned.

Instead, helping others and a spirit of local connectivity is the motivating force of many alternative currencies. For example, the Fureai kippu is a Japanese currency created in 1995 by a certain welfare foundation so that people could earn credits helping seniors in their community.

The basic unit of account is an hour of service to an elderly person. Sometimes seniors help each other and earn the credits, other times family members in other communities earn credits and transfer them to their parents who live elsewhere. These credits accumulate- users may keep them for when they become sick or elderly themselves, then use the credits in exchange for services. Alternatively, the users may transfer credits to someone else.

The elderly tend to prefer the services provided by people paid in Fureai Kippu over those paid in yen due to the personal connection. They preferred the people who worked for Fureai kippu over the people who worked for yen because of the nature of the relationship. To convert this community service to yen would seem to dilute the community ethic.

Derruder discussed the difference between "les monnais franches" and "les monnais fondant" (TBC) as well as the advantages to the conventional money system that complimentary systems offer. Far from threatening official currencies, alternative currencies take the pressure off national economies to accurately respond to specific conditions in localized areas, for example.

Local complimentary currencies offer numerous advantages: the anchor economic activity to a given area, and the money circulating stays within that territory creating enjoyable an effective social links and a more dynamic local exchange network. This augments money enchange in a community and enhances connectivity within the network of users. It essentially reappropriates the powerful tool of money from the vapid world of speculation and returns it to its primary function of nourrishing quality of human life and facilitating trade.

In all cases, complimentary money systems require networks, of individuals at the very least and sometimes business' too.  Trade networks can sometimes be based on peoples tradeable skills (not including their actual professional abilities). Derruder talked about the three types of complimentary currencies - which he cautioned against calling "alternative", since they do not replace official money, but are used simultaneously.

• Commercial currencies (or barter systems), such as the Wir, which circulate within a network of businesses which allows them to lighten their debt / credit load and enhances exchange within that network before going outside, which of course is possible and at times neccesary;
• Social currencies, which permit citizens to exchange goods & services on the basis of time spent, for example, LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems), le Jardin d'échange universel, les Accorderies, les Fureai Kippu (Japon)... ;
• Eco-citizen currencies, initiated and managed by citizens, used in commercial exchanges in a local network. Examples are the Chiemgauer (Germany), the Banco Palmas (Brazil), le SOL, la Ficelle, la Mesure & l'Abeille (France), and the Calgary Dollar, the Toronto Dollar and the Salt Spring Dollar here in Canada.

A stong associaation is needed in all cases to coordinate and manage the system. Dedication and commitment are required. It can only happen in a place between people who are settled, know each other and have a degree of familiarity and trust.

Part of this is practicality and part is legality. Not only would it be beside the point and less effective to trade with business or individuals too far away to meet face to face from time to time, local complimentary currencies are restricted to cetain legal limits. For example, in France, any such currencies must be kept strickly between the members of an assciation and also must be indexed on the Euro, which means that by law, they must be purchased in Euros at the equivalent value and cannot be considered 'free' money, so to speak.

All in all, Derruder's message was very inspiring, one of exchange and cooperation, community vitality, neighborliness, and deep, humanist values, where people have enough and are valued for whatever they can do, where everyone finds a place and is useful,  and where money takes its propoer place, not on an alter, enshrined as a sacred thing in itself that we must try to acquire as much of as possible as all personal cost, but as a means of exchange to validate and facilitate the human experience.

END OF MINUTES

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ABOUT PHILIPPE DERUDDER

BORN IN 1948, Philippe Derudder had 10 years of training in the business world. In 1980, he took up his family business and after 5 years, the business had grown to international proportions, with 12 agencies in Europe and Asia.  Despite his success, he withdrew from these activities in 1992, having realized he no longer believed in the economic model in which he was participating. He henceforth dedicated himself to researching solutions to the world's financial problems, as he sees themm, and in 2012, published 7 videos (French) entitled La monnaie, du pouvoir d'achat au pouvoir d'être.

Dedicated to teaching others about the true nature and purpose of money and exposing the corruption that has occured in its use: originally used to trade objects, money is now perceived as an object itself, the acquisition of which has become a dominant force in our society and figures in the personal goals of may individuals.

Derudder is now retired but often gives talks and workshops on the benefits of local complimentary money networks and the reform of our monetary system. He chairs an association called AISES (Association Internationale pour le Soutien aux Economies Sociétales), the mission of which is to promote research and initiatives working towards economic developmet in the service of humanity and the restoration of ecological balance.