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The participants in the Assembly of Convergence “Another World already exists here and now” declare that social solidarity economy in its various forms throughout the world represents the alternative to the global capitalist system. It is an economy conceived by citizens for citizens; the objective is to democratically ensure a decent life and food sovereignty for all people, and to preserve the natural resources that are currently being destroyed and wasted.
Social solidarity economy emancipates all people, but especially women who are the key actors. It allows them to gain control over their lives by eradicating poverty and re-establishing the right to a dignified life for all.
Here and now citizens around the world are organising to structure possibilities and networks for exchanging tools, ideas and goods in short circuits and alliances between producers and consumers as well as supporting solidarity between all peoples of the world. This wealth is not merely material, it is based on that of relationships built between people, a key value to protecting the future of humankind. The assembly calls for all people to organise collectively and bring pressure to bear on public authorities from local to international level, to shifting their economic policy to a people- rather than capital-centred economy.
Specifically this should aim to:
- Jointly work with civil society and SSE organisations to build policies that enable SSE to develop from local to national level Guarantee decent income for all people as well as universal access to basic services such as healthcare and education;
- Encourage participatory, cooperative teaching methods from an early age and throughout the learning process as well as in production processes in order to promote solidarity and cooperation in all activities;
- Develop the activities of social and solidarity economy through procurement practice and use of services that include transparent criteria, good governance and the ecological criteria of SSE;
- Encourage young people in solidarity entrepreneurship and useful economic activities, particularly in the sector of essential goods and services (organic agriculture, renewable energies, equitable sharing of water, forestry and other natural resources). SSE provides an efficient means of fighting unemployment in countries such as Tunisia and of creating jobs for young graduates;
- Establish a legal framework, particularly at international level that will support solidarity finance, citizens’ investment cooperatives, and local solidarity currencies;
- Provide active support for research and development, international and national exchange of good practice and advocacy in the United Nations’ agencies as well as all other international institutions to meet the urgent transition to an economy that respects both humankind and the planet.
The Assembly calls upon all civil society actors to network their actions at global level in order to enable people all over the world to assert their rights, and to replace the current system that is based on individual selfishness, over-consumption of resources, competition, male hegemony and war, by a peaceful, fraternal sober economy of cooperation and peace between all humankind.
Tunis, 29 March 2013
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