If my memory serves me right during the Argentinian crisis (not too long ago) there was a lot of cooperative forms support systems at the level of local communities. I don't know if that turned into anything long term. On the other people who live in the shanty towns (which is permanent crisis of a sort) have fairly elaborate mechanisms of mutual aid.
Anthony On Fri, Nov 7, 2008 at 9:50 AM, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Recently, I was talking with a bunch of other parents of teens who > have high-functioning autism.[*] We were talking about the massive > cut-backs in public services that have been happening and loom on the > immediate horizon. But the dark cloud may have a silver lining. Here > in California, it seems, parents spend tremendous amounts of time and > effort on the phone and in meetings (due process, etc.) hassling with > the care-givers and -financers in order to get appropriate services or > something reasonably close to it. In other places (such as Australia > or most of the U.S.), it seems, many fewer publicly-provided services > are available. But this (bad) situation can encourage a positive > response: while in California, the state-sponsored Regional Center > used to provide services such as "respite care" (time away from the > damned kid), in other places, the parents pool resources to provide > respite care to each other. There's less time spent hassling the > care-givers and -financers, because they don't do much if anything. > > This kind of "mutual aid" (a concept central to libertarian socialist > or anarchist thought, according to the Wikipedia) can be immensely > liberating. However, I can imagine that a lot of time and effort can > go into hassling other participants if feelings of solidarity are > weak. If successful, this mutual aid can promote feelings of > solidarity, encouraging a virtuous circle. In the US in the 19th > century, labor unions were much more involved with this type of > activity (in burial societies, providing unemployment insurance) than > they are today (where the Andy Stern business union model of dues > extraction seems the rule). > > If the current recession turns into something more serious, it could > combine with the longer-term trend of public-service cut-backs to > encourage more mutual aid. This might in turn be the basis for broader > "grass roots" political movements, independent of the political > establishments. > > On the other hand, people might look to President Obama as the source > of all solutions, sticking to the atomizing electoral model of > politics. The latter can have the benefit of providing _standardized_ > public services, while decentralized mutual aid tends to produce a > division between groups having different amounts of income and health, > belonging to different ethnic groups, etc. But it does not encourage > mass grass-roots participation, except in short-lived waves. > > [*]It's the kids who have it, not the parents. That ambiguity is a > problem with the "PC" language that prescribes "a person with a > disability" to replace "a disabled person." I'm generally in favor of > that "person first" language, by the way, because in the latter case > the person is _identified_ with the disability instead of having the > disability seen as contingent. > -- > Jim Devine / "Nobody told me there'd be days like these / Strange > days indeed -- most peculiar, mama." -- JL. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa Professor of Indian Studies Asia Research Centre Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 24, 3 DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Ph: +45 3815 2572 Fax: +45 3815 2500 http://uk.cbs.dk/arc www.cbs.dk/india xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
