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microcredit
Nobel Laureate Yunus Accepts Call to Lead Bangladesh's Interim Government
"The courage of this youth is boundless," said the microcredit pioneer known as the banker to the poor. "They have made Bangladesh proud and shown the world our nation's determination against injustice."
Aug 06, 2024
The leader of student protests over jobs and economic injustice in Bangladesh in recent weeks said Tuesday that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus had accepted the students' call for him to take over the country's interim government, following the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
A spokesperson for the country's president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, told the Associated Press that Yunus would lead the interim government and that other political leaders would be decided soon.
Yunus, an economist who won the Nobel prize in 2006 for establishing the microcredit institution Grameen Bank, has been called the "banker to the poor" for helping to lift millions of people in Bangladesh out of poverty through small loans.
Nahid Islam, who led the protest movement last month over quotas in government jobs and unemployment, said Tuesday that the movement would not accept a government led by General Waker-uz-Zaman, the chief of army staff who announced on Monday that Hasina had fled the country and stepped down, and who took temporary control of the country.
"We have given our blood, been martyred, and we have to fulfill our pledge to build a new Bangladesh," Islam said. "No government other than the one proposed by the students will be accepted. As we have said, no military government, or one backed by the military, or a government of fascists, will be accepted."
"No government other than the one proposed by the students will be accepted. As we have said, no military government, or one backed by the military, or a government of fascists, will be accepted."
Yunus said he was "honored by the trust of the protesters who wish for me to lead the interim government."
"If action is needed in Bangladesh, for my country and for the courage of my people, then I will take it. The interim government is only the beginning. Lasting peace will only come with free elections. Without elections, there will be no change," said Yunus.
Shahabuddin announced on Tuesday that Parliament had been dissolved and said new elections would soon be held.
The protests began in July in Dhaka, with students outraged over the reinstatement of a job quota policy that reserved 30% of government jobs for descendants of military veterans of Bangladesh's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan—most of whom had ties to Hasina's Awami League party.
About a quarter of jobs were reserved for women, people with disabilities, and ethic minorities, leaving about 3,000 jobs open for 400,000 graduates to compete over.
Bangladesh has a high unemployment rate, with about a fifth of the population of 170 million people out of work, exacerbating anger over the job scheme and economic distress.
Hasina was elected to her fourth term as prime minister in January, but was accused of rigging the election, clamping down on opposition politicians and dissent, and arranging extrajudicial killings. She denied the accusations.
Student protesters took to the streets, chanting, "One, two, three, four, Sheikh Hasina is a dictator."
Police responded by cracking down violently, with more than 180 people killed and hundreds of people hit in the eyes by pellets that security forces deployed—potentially blinding them permanently.
The country's Supreme Court rescinded the job quota policy on July 21, opening jobs to 93% of applicants, but students continued to rally, demanding that Hasina step down.
Yunus expressed pride in the student protesters who led the movement.
"Youth have voiced their need for change in our country," the 84-year-old banker said. "The prime minister heard them by leaving the country. This was a very important first step taken yesterday. The courage of this youth is boundless. They have made Bangladesh proud and shown the world our nation's determination against injustice."
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'Occupy' Spanish-Style... Big Lessons for Us?
Sep 27, 2015
Back from the first global conference on money in politics in Mexico City, I'm bursting with stories that might carry messages of possibility that Americans need right now. Sure worked for me.
In Spain, with one-fifth of its population jobless, the Indignados movement--that paralleled our Occupy-- erupted with protests in 2011. But instead of fading from sight, by early 2014 the Indignados had set the stage for the birth of a new political party: Podemos, "We Can."
In only a few months, Podemos surprised everyone by winning 8 percent of the Spanish vote for the European Parliament, giving it five of 54 Spanish seats. One year later, in coalition with other grassroots movements, Podemos won mayor's races in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities. Today it is Spain's third largest political party. "Unprecedented" declared the pundits.
The Party's aim has been to "capture a desire for transparency and participation in politics" stirred by the Indignados movement, Miguel Ongil, 35, Podemos' point person on finance and transparency explained to me. During the Mexico City conference, I scribbled furiously as he laid out three ways his new party stands against corruption and for social equity.
"Crowdfunding." Miguel described the Spanish system of public campaign financing in which parties typically take out bank loans to pay their bills that are largely refunded later by the government based on the parties' showing at the polls. "But when the parties don't get the expected results, they cannot pay back their debts," Miguel explained later, so the banks then "get more credits to pay for credits..." In effect, these Spanish banks become "shareholders of political parties," another conference attendee quipped to Miguel.
But not Podemos. It wants no "bank donors" to whom it might feel an obligation, Miguel told conference attendees. His new party relies instead on "microcredit" from citizen supporters who are later repaid with public funds. This is our "innovation," he wrote to me later: "how to make your way around without state funding or bank credits, and our answer is simple: collaborative finances, crowdfunding and fresh ideas."
"Radical transparency." The party publishes all its accounts online in real time, Miguel told his audience which represented several dozen nations. Plus, "we are the only party with three external control mechanisms: the Court of Accounts, a second formal external audit, and citizens' control."
"Citizens' control": What does that mean? I asked.
Podemos' "accounts include so much detail, including the actual tickets, that an external audit wouldn't really be required," Miguel wrote later. "Anyone can do it, and they do. One of our publications of accounts had 138,000 views. Newspapers have been trying to nail us. We have so much citizen supervision it becomes a control mechanism in itself."
Radical equity. Miguel didn't use this term but for me it fits: Podemos requires that none of its elected representatives--from the local to the European level--earn more than three times the minimum wage. Any income above this level goes to the Party, where we "spend 50 percent in the Party and 50 percent goes to a fund to which anyone can apply for social projects. The sympathizers of Podemos decide in a 100 percent-participatory mechanism which projects are to be funded."
Clearly, commitment to participation runs deep in Podemos, and that includes some direct guidance from citizens. Podemos uses, for example, web tools to enable people collectively to develop its key documents, with party "synthesizers" weaving together the final versions.
At their height about a thousand Podemos "circles" connected citizens and their party in regular, horizontally-organized, local meetings. Miguel notes that in growing as a party, Podemos is working to find a new balance between in-person and virtual participation, "including electronic mechanisms of direct democracy." For example, citizens have the "possibility to propose 'legislative citizen initiatives,' which require the support of a minimum number of votes or circles. These give circles some weight."
Aligning action with its philosophy, another Podemos touch boils down to postage stamps. The head of the party is long-term activist Pablo Iglesias whose campaign letters were hand delivered to mailboxes, with this explanation:
This letter did not reach you by post, because mailing a letter like this all over the country costs over 2 million Euros. Ask the parties who sent you an election letter by post where they got the money to do so and in exchange for what. "We don't ask for favours from bankers or corrupt [politicians]... If you are reading this it is because someone who lives near you wants to change things for real.
Podemos policy positions range from strengthening the public health system to halting evictions over mortgage defaults to promoting clean energy. But, "underlining the entire platform is a proposed change in political culture, bringing transparency and participative democracy to all institutions," notes what's called a "Dummies Guide" to Podemos--making it as much about how we do politics as about any specific issue.
Since it's the takeover of our democratic process by big money that makes most Americans angry, Podemos is a story from which Americans could take heart. Saying good-bye to Miguel, I sensed his determination and clarity of purpose. I felt fortified to do everything I can to pick up where Occupy left off and to help build a passionate US democracy movement.
Now I hear Miguel whispering in my ear: The Indignados "created a new social majority that no party was able to represent." And now Podemos is determined "to turn that new social majority into a new political majority." Even three years ago, he could not have foreseen how far Podemos has already come. Hmm. Maybe it's not possible to know what's possible.
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The Other Side of the Coin in Spain
MALAGA, Spain - Wholemeal rye bread, lettuce and chard are some of the products on offer from the El Caminito urban vegetable garden at the small organic produce market in this southern Spanish city, with prices set in "comunes", one of more than 30 social currencies circulating in the country.
Apr 08, 2013
MALAGA, Spain - Wholemeal rye bread, lettuce and chard are some of the products on offer from the El Caminito urban vegetable garden at the small organic produce market in this southern Spanish city, with prices set in "comunes", one of more than 30 social currencies circulating in the country.
"The aim is to find an alternative to the curse of unbridled capitalism and to sow the foundations of a more just and compassionate society," activist David Chapman of the Malaga Comun platform, the network responsible for the market, told IPS.
In the network, more than 700 registered users exchange goods and services using "comunes" as currency and recording transactions on the internet.
In Spain, over 30 local currencies coexist with the euro, and they are "tools empowering communities by means of the exchange of products and services and the creation of parallel markets," economist and writer Julio Gisbert told IPS.
The comun, the lazo and the coin in Malaga, the puma in Seville, the zoquito in Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz), the pita in Almeria and the justa in Granada - all in the south of Spain - are some of the social currencies created with the shared mission of dynamising local economies and moving toward a more sustainable economic and production model all over the country.
The Puma Social Currency Network was launched a year ago in the Old City of Seville as a people-to-people mutual credit system. It seeks to "relaunch and localise the economy of this part of the city, and create community," local resident Natalia Calzadilla, one of its members and a producer of vegetable jams, told IPS.
Puma users keep a hard copy of their transactions in goods and services on cards. They also upload their offers and requests on the Community Exchange System (CES), a platform created in 2002 in Cape Town, South Africa, which can be used in 56 countries for transactions in social currencies or time exchange.
Madrid has the boniato; in the northern city of Bilbao, the local currrency is the bilbodiru; and in the northeastern town of Girona, the euro-RES.
The euro-RES was created in Belgium over 15 years ago, with the same value as the euro. It is used by a network of some 5,000 small and medium businesses, as well as by individuals, as explained on its web page.
Users of these alternative currencies come from all walks of life: "They are masseuses, doctors, electricians, lawyers, professors... and the quality of what is on offer is amazing," said Chapman.
The Puma Network, which brings together students, the unemployed, professionals and tradespeople, promotes creativity, the development of new skills, moral support and self-esteem for its members, said Calzadilla.
She paid another member 25 pumas (equivalent to 25 euros) for a massage. Now that person is credited with that amount to buy another service or goods in the community. The project organises a monthly market, called Mercapuma, where producers display their wares, and on Mondays a food store sells organic and homemade foods.
Carmela San Segundo offers English, French and Esperanto classes to members of Malaga Comun, and told IPS she paid for painting two rooms in her house and repairing her computer in comunes.
Spain's economic and financial crisis is encouraging experiments in social exchange, which may use alternative currencies, barter or time banking, "because people are seeking different ways of life," said Gisbert, the author of "Vivir sin empleo" (Living Without a Job) and the blog of the same name.
According to Gisbert, there are more than 300 time banks in Spain, so called because they do not bank money but hours. When a person performs a service, he or she is credited with the appropriate number of hours in return.
Although complementary currencies are criticised for not solving the problem of poverty, Gisbert argues that their goal "is not to feed people in need, but to seek mutual help to achieve self-sufficiency and a new and more sustainable social model."
The coin, a currency created in the town of Coin in the province of Malaga, is part of the global transition movement and is intended to serve as an instrument of reaction to and change from "the energy, economic and environmental crisis," according to its web site.
Most of these social currencies, launched by organisations or networks, have no official basis, Gisbert said. However, that does not mean this small-scale phenomenon is illegal.
Alternative currencies are not a new invention, but a global phenomenon that has emerged especially in industrialised countries. There are complementary currencies in the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and other countries. For instance, in the multicultural London borough of Brixton, transactions can be made in Brixton Pounds.
The Brixton Pound, which is issued in different bills annually, is one of the most innovative social currencies, Gisbert said.
Meanwhile, groups associated with alternative currencies are becoming interested in providing microcredit. Jose Luis Gamez, the son of the founder of the axarco, which circulates in Axarquia in Malaga province, would like to be able to finance social economy projects in the region with this currency that was created in 1988.
But the silver and copper axarco coins are no longer used because of the cost of minting them. Today, they are collectors' items.
As well as promoting the exchange of goods and services, alternative currencies can be used to put a value on the work of volunteers or those who create learning, according to the philosophy of an international project, tgl ( teaching, giving, learning).
As it makes headway in Spain, tgl is using the social currency L, which is created when people teach or learn skills or knowledge, participate in voluntary projects or carry out social enterprises that generate employment and local wealth.
"L is not a currency to facilitate barter or exchange, but to generate wealth because it injects liquidity into the system. It is created by teaching and learning, volunteer work and social enterprise," Raul Contreras, co-founder of the social change platform Nittua and promoter of the Okonomia popular economics school, where students and tutors are paid in this alternative currency, told IPS.
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