Solidarity as Economic System
for Dealing with Social Crisis
In Haiti, sharing communities are proving more shock-proof in the wake of disaster than market-based economies.
By Beverly Bell
posted Mar 26, 2010
“If it weren’t for solidarity, Haiti wouldn’t be alive today,” is an expression commonly heard here since the earthquake of January 12.
Haiti’s history is based on sharing and cooperation—expressed with gifts and solidarity toward those surviving on the margins. These displays usually go unnamed and unnoticed.
Some are formalized systems. One is called konbit—collective work groups in which members of the community labor without any expectation of compensation or even return. Konbit is the equivalent of a barn-raising, an option for those without enough hands to accomplish the task by themselves or enough money to hire labor. The cooperation of konbit has allowed farmers to harvest their fields and engage in other major work projects from time immemorial.
In sòl—revolving loan funds—a group of women puts a certain amount of money into a common pot each week or each month; the total is given to a different member each time. That way, each woman can, at some point, have enough capital to allow her to make a significant expense: hospital care for a sick mother, a carton of soap bars that she can buy on discount and sell for profit, a new cooking pot for a fried dough business on a street corner. She doesn’t return the allotment and there is no interest to pay; no one profits off of anyone else. The exchanges are based on trust and human relationships.
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by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Phillipines
After the May 14 elections, are we any closer to the democratic society that our grade school textbooks proudly proclaim the Philippines to be? Unfortunately, the general picture emerging from the stories and the images that have so far dominated the tri-media and ordinary people’s accounts is that of a nightmarish elections and post-elections situation that has confirmed our worse fears. The farcical nature of the electoral process in this country has been laid bare, much worse than even our most dire predictions.
There was widespread disenfranchisement, vote buying, “flying voters†and innumerable delays, disruption and even failure of elections due to outright grabbing of election paraphernalia, bombing of polling places and terrorizing of poll officials and the voters themselves.
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has been flagrantly pro-administration. This is proven by the 
by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Philippines
It doesn’t take a political scientist to tell us that this mid-term elections for 12 senators, 275 congress persons and scores of local government officials epitomizes what is so rotten and undemocratic in our postcolonial electoral system. The signs and symptoms of a sick and dying traditional political order are everywhere; its inevitable moribund convulsions are threatening to wreak havoc before a new and truly democratic alternative can take its place.
Ever since independence from US colonial rule in 1946, periodic elections in this country have been touted as the single, most visible proof that representative democracy is alive and well: the people of the Philippines could choose their leaders when the time came -- wisely or foolishly, for good or ill. There was the presumed sanctity of the ballot that withstood generally accepted levels of cheating and violence that accompanied any and all electoral exercises; in this country, anyway.
In time it became clear that not much choice was ever given the electorate since the only ones who stood for office or could mount serious campaigns necessary to win were members of the same old socio-economic elite or their favored political 
by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Philippines
There will be massive cheating by the Arroyo administration in the upcoming May elections. The elements of this unfolding crime of monumental proportions are all present. The fact that there is still no hue and cry is a testament to how crime does pay in this country, most especially when the brains as well as the perpetrators, are cloaked with authority and wield the powers of high office.
First of all, there is the motive. Despite the fact that the forthcoming elections is not about choosing a new president, everybody knows that the fate of the incumbent, de facto Chief Executive, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, hinges on its outcome. The gelling of a 
by Cliff DuRand, Center for Global Justice
It is now generally recognized that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is an unmitigated disaster –some say the biggest foreign policy mistake in U.S. history, meaning it even surpasses the U.S. war on Vietnam. At the same time it has helped to lay bare the reality of U.S. imperialism. But lest we think of that as an aberration peculiar to the Neo-cons running the Bush presidency, I want to argue that there are basic continuities between the Non-con view of the role of the U.S. in the world and the Liberal view that has characterized the foreign policy establishment since at least WWII and certainly for the last quarter century. Let me begin by characterizing the Neo-con and Liberal views in the 
by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Philippines
On top of everything else – the lying, stealing, cheating and murdering spree against those her regime has demonized as “enemies of the state†– Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today takes the cake as super toady to the Superpower bully, the United States of America. In the process she has managed to stir up latent nationalist sentiments that have been all but smothered by ubiquitous propaganda about “globalization†and the hype about a borderless “war against terrorism†fought with the mighty US war machine. 
By Kayode Komolafe, Nigeria
by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Philippines
The year is ending and a new one is just around the corner. For those who are able, for the most part, to take control of their lives, having set out with clear-cut goals and being conscious of making progress in the achievement of these goals, the end of the year is usually a time for taking stock. All the better to welcome the new year with renewed hope for a better time to come, with a reinvigorated spirit to address life’s challenges or travails, depending on one’s circumstances and outlook.
What of ordinary folk? What does the unique juncture of an old year, fast fading away, and a new one, to be welcomed with the customary fireworks and cheerful greetings, mean for them?
I asked Lorie, a forty-year-old cook in a middle class family that she has loyally served for the some twenty-odd years, how life was for her and what she looked forward to in the coming year. 
by Carol Araullo, Philippines
It took some effort to sustain enthusiasm for the “prayer rally†originally called by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) last Sunday to protest the brazenly illegal and undemocratic maneuvers of the Arroyo-de Venecia-led House Majority to convene a constituent assembly (con-ass) in order to revise the Philippine Constitution for their dubious political ends. Something had gone terribly awry after the beacon call was first issued and before the actual rally took place. The proof lay in the disappointing turn-out after organizers themselves had projected half a million Metro Manilans would take part in the protest. 
