The Cooperativist Society: Tools for a Cooperative Ecosystem: Circular Economy in Practice

MAR
17–18
Athens School of Fine Arts, Giorgio De Chirico Amphitheater, 256 Pireos Street, Athens

The ideas of a circular economy and a fair ecosystem (economy and ecology) are concerned with building a new type of world, connecting and establishing a network of self-employed people, collectives, and committed individuals, beyond borders and nations through structures like FreedomCoop and digital crypto-currencies like FairCoin. The goal is to replace the present profit-oriented economic system with one centered around fairness, ideas of cooperation, and environmental sustainability. The aim of the event hosted by the Cooperativist Society is to raise awareness, share knowledge, and spread information concerning the use of FairCoin and other aspects of the circular economy’s network structures, as well as to help establish and strengthen local initiatives, incubating new cooperative projects and sharing new potential ideas.

It is, after all, necessary to move past rhetoric and build practical and viable alternatives to today’s financial establishment. In the specific case of Greece and the political issues concerning the threat of a so-called Grexit, any radical movement will have to think very seriously about economic alternatives to the Euro, and, more broadly, to present concrete and coherent choices instead of the austerity-driven, export-dominated, and ecologically unsustainable course of the “official” Greek economy. If leaving the eurozone implies total economic chaos and dislocation, it is clear that, for lack of an alternative, Greece will be trapped in the vicious cycle of further austerity. Ultimately, the brakes will be put on any form of serious social resistance. Solving this difficulty implies thinking about different currencies instead of relying on the Euro, ways of living and thinking that are different from the consumerism of the establishment, and progressing in the social direction advocated by cooperative ecosystems like FairCoop.

The two days of events will focus on practice, on learning to build your cooperative project, on meeting and collaborating with others with the same interests, on learning how to use FairCoin as a digital currency for a fair economy, and on creating a process within which a circular economy in Athens and beyond could become a reality.


Program

Friday March 17, 2017
4–9 pm

4–4:55 pm
Introduction to the concept of circular economies

5–6:55 pm
Open cooperation tools: members of the Open Collaborative Platform (OCP) showcase projects and speak about economic management within an ecosystem
Cooperative incubator: open space to share ideas for cooperative projects (artist cooperatives, Fairbnb, and more)

7:10—9 pm
Cooperative incubator: legal coop framework in Greece
FreedomCoop: general introduction

Circular economy
FairCoin: Wallet Party. Bring your phone or your laptop (the event will be repeated on Saturday)


Saturday March 18, 2017
11 am–8 pm

11 am–12:45 pm
Circular economy mapping: add your project to the map

11 am–3 pm
Cooperative incubator: open development meetings for selected projects

1–3 pm
FairCoin: Wallet Party. Bring your phone or your laptop

4–5:45 pm
Open cooperation tools: OCP (Open Collaborative Platform), learn to configure your project
Circular economy: Fairpay cards and POS workshop

6 pm
Cooperative incubator and circular economy: plenary, conclusions, synergies, and planning of follow up meetings

Posted in Public Programs
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