Indignation and Claims for Economic Sovereignty in Europe and the Americas: Renewing the Project of Control over Production

Abstract

This chapter focuses on contemporary social movements in Europe and Latin America that are taking shape as forms of action that aim not only at defending some achievements of ‘reformed capitalism’ but also at exploring the possibility of forms of social and economic organisation that go beyond purely capitalist logics. More specifically, it examines the efforts of these movements as they try to regain control over production and distribution. The chapter first considers the meaning of the post-World War II ‘social deal’ as well as the actors, historical trajectories and societal self-understandings that contributed to its emergence. It then explains why, both in Europe and North America and in Latin America, the guarantee of degrees of socio-economic security went hand in hand with a decrease of collective economic sovereignty. It also analyses the effects of the neo-liberal turn on the working populations' socio-economic security and on the social deal.

Economic Sovereignty as the Democratization of Work: The Role of Basic Income

“…As mentioned before, some social movements seem to have appreciated such potentiality of basic income in times of distress, where the old Fordist social deal has been unilaterally broken by the elites and an indignation that is deeply rooted on a feeling of betrayal nourishes unprecedented social and political ambitions (Casassas et al, 2015;Casassas and Manjarín, 2014). Marco Revelli (2010) made it crystal clear when he quoted the graffiti he found on a wall at the Politecnico di Torino: "Ci avete tolto troppo, adesso rivogliamo tutto" ("You've taken too much from us, now we want everything").…”

“…In effect, by unconditionally guaranteeing people's social existence, basic income confers upon social actors the capacity to "say no" (Widerquist, 2013) to lives they don't wish to live and to set up work and social arrangements in a way that is really "of their own". At least, this is how the basic income debate has taken shape within social movements in the abovementioned cities: Barcelona, Madrid, Milano and New York (Casassas et al, 2015;Casassas and Manjarín, 2014).…”

“…Needless to say, this constituted a huge defeat for the labour movement, as aiming at controlling the production had always meant aiming at controlling what to do, how to live, what to be. In other words, that social deal meant a huge loss of economic sovereignty (Casassas et al, 2015).…”

“…These "citizen rescue plans" have made appeal to the potentialities social and economic rights have in terms of empowering social actors with adequate tools to erect an interdependence that effectively respects their wishes and promotes their projects and life plans. Interestingly, basic income has played an important role within these "citizen rescue plans" in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Milano and New York, among others (Casassas et al, 2015;Fumagalli & Intelligence Precaria, 2010). Let us put it in historical perspective, as it is only by analysing their context one can understand how and why transformative projects emerge and take a certain conceptual shape.…”

“…And how much of these kinds of work do we want at each period of our lives? These questions need to be answered by individuals and groups, which means that the old Fordist imaginary of one single work for all your life needs to be questioned -and is actually questioned by contemporary social movements who see the (not too likely) return to monolithic lives around one activity as a clear sign of an important lack of economic sovereignty (Casassas et al, 2015;Standing, 2014). Again, an unconditional income stream would help enable people to command flexibility in an effectively secure way that would enhance their effective freedom to choose what work(s) to do, when, how, and in which proportion.…”