Last weekend I attended the first national
gathering of a group formed to promote local living economies, partly as a
personal growth exercise and for writing research. The group�s name, BALLE, stands for
Business Alliances for Local Living Economies (http://www.ballenetwork.org/BALLE/) and includes mostly small local
entrepreneurs trying to remain vital in their communities, centered around
sustainability themes and a strong desire to promote local business
first. Some of these good people
are unabashedly anti-global, anti-multinationals but most of them simply want
to succeed in the places where they live, raise their children and pay their
taxes. These are not provincial
people insisting everyone be of the same color, creed or cloth, otherwise I
would not be interested in what they are trying to promote.
This is a lot more than a new version of
the old Lions clubs or even a New Age Chamber of Commerce, although they are
forming affiliations to promote and market local ownership business first
rather than Big Box retail dominating consumer choice. This is a new group, attracting the
support of community and economic development professionals, government
officials and those interested in sustainability and local, place-based
economies.
This group is trying not to be a political
organization but they do want everyone to know that despite current
perceptions, most small business owners in this country are not all Republican
diehards espousing Reaganism and a monoculture.
What they are suggesting is that if we
spent as much time and money practicing economic development of local talent
and experience instead of wooing foreign and/or out of state corporations
there would not only be a lot of tax revenue saved but fewer jobs
sacrificed.
Studies show that Wal-Mart, the world�s
largest corporation and supplier of most consumer goods in the US, including
food, displaces 3 local jobs for every 1 it creates, and their profits go to
one centralized place in Arkansas.
For many, this behemoth symbolizes the power and corruption of the
current free market system, which deprives people in their communities with
choice and independence, not just threats to regional variety and
culture.
Some of you might be interested to know
about this alliance because of the free market and globalization conversations
we have on FW. Some of you will
be intrigued by the commitment of small businesses asserting themselves under
the growing big foot of giant corporations. Others like me will hear the human
spirit reasserting itself, as it will, because no matter what sociopolitical
and economic theories and institutions do, the human spirit will continually
strive to be heard and felt, to thrive.
There are many websites and groups working
in this arena, locally and regionally, to collect data, promote and support
local entrepreneurship. I am
going to list a few, but if anyone would like more details and links, please
contact me offline. Names that
some might recognize include Judy Wicks, David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World and The
Post-Corporate World: Life after Capitalism and Michael Shuman,
Going Local. Korten uses the phrase �suicide
economy� to describe what we are currently practicing (see
http://www.pcdf.org/living_economies/). - Karen
Institute for Local Self-Reliance @
http://www.ilsr.org
White
Dog Caf� @ http://www.whitedog.com/foundation.html
Positive
Futures Network @ http://www.futurenet.org/aboutPFN.html
Rudolf Steiner Foundation @
http://www.rsfoundation.org/home.asp
Bainbridge Graduate Institute @
http://www.bgiedu.org/BGI-index.html
