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1990 |
A conference on the local economy is held at the Bauhaus, discussion of alternatives
to the global economy and the process of German economic unification) |
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1993 |
The working group Local Economy and Regional Renewal is established |
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1994 |
The international congress »People's Economy« is held at the Bauhaus Dessau - the European
Network of Local Economies is founded Establishment of the Bauhaus Forum on »Sustained Regional Development« (first conference in Brussels) »nursery« magazine is published |
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1995 |
After closure of the film factory (15,000 are laid off), the project »New Work - Wolfen« is
launched |
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1996 |
»Social Economy« congress in Liverpool - presentation of Bauhaus projects |
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1997 |
»New Work« association is founded Preparation begins for an experiment on regional exchange currency |
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1998 |
First phase of the »House for One's Own Work« begins in Wolfen (supported by »anstiftung«,
Munich) |
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1999 |
»ReWir 2000« is launched - to establish a regional exchange currency |
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for an »expansion«
of the economy
Work is the number one problem of modern society - i.e. the lack of gainful employment in
the industrialized countries. Long-term and mass unemployment of more than 20% are indicative
of the radical change in the world's industrial regions that arose in the 19th and early 20th
century. In East Germany the change, which took decades elsewhere,
happened in quick-motion
between 1990 and 1995: with mining, chemi-cal plants and the energy industry, entire sectors
were shut down.
The mass reduction in industrial jobs necessitates radically rethinking the subject of Work.
New approaches to a »mixed economy« must be found. Alongside the private and public sectors
a new, third sector based on local economies seems to be necessary. Cooperatives, systems of
exchange (»second currencies«), mixed models of gainful employment and self-provision,
neighborhood assistance and community work - the spectrum of work addressing local and
regional needs is huge and it cannot be realized through the market alone.
Two examples
The Wolfen Creative-Center/K.I.E.Z. e.V. Dessau
These centers function as workshops for self-provision, and as commun-ity centers and places
for cultural as well as artistic activities: media, carpentry and metal workshops, a café, a
fruit, vegetable and flower garden, a video studio, barter club, amateur theater and
producer-consumer
societies … There are no limits to the imagination when it comes to
satisfying local needs on the basis of local resources. New forms of work arise when the
constraints of former industrial work disappear.
»ReWir 2000«
Experiences in the countless barter clubs show that the introduction
of local and regional units of account - »second currencies« - promote
regional economic performance. Partners exchange members' goods and services using these
units of account for which no interest payments are due. ReWir 2000 is beginning to implement
the basic ideas of the barter club movement (over 200 of these clubs exist throughout Germany)
in a large-scale experiment.
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