Rural Europe on the move English_E_version_all | Page 31

Crisis and the social solidarity economy THE KARDITSA EXPERIENCE I IN A NUTSHELL n Karditsa the social economy and the ecosystem integrate. Couple these issues with the havoc approach have created a real energy of climate breakdown is already causing the country, collaboration and mutual support not only between seen in the wildfire-pillaged Attica region where 102 families and individuals but in the entire local people lost their lives in the summer of 2018. These and regional economy. Karditsa has a creative crises will not diminish in the years ahead, they will municipality, a good bank with strict principles, a intersect and grow. So we must build systems which wide range of specific sector cooperatives which can weather such storms, which are able to tackle share a spirit of sustainable use of resources, social these shocks. cohesion, and entrepreneurial knowledge. There is constructive work between private and public enterprises. Karditsa offers jobs and facilities not only in tourism and business, but now also for asylum seekers and refugees, while helping them acquire language and professional skills so that they can “Karditsa means “little heart”. Perhaps she (heart is feminine in Greek) is beating for true rural sustainability for a country which so badly needs it.” play a role in the social economy. The experience of Karditsa shows how crisis can be generative, can The ecosystem of collaboration is one such be the catalyst for a dynamic transition process: approach. And if you ask me, hope is still here! from a system founded on competitiveness to one It lies in all those small, agroecological pockets thriving on cooperation. It shows us that we can of resistance and sustainability springing up build sustainable, resilient economic systems which like mushrooms everywhere. Perhaps it is no are grounded in cooperation. coincidence that ‘Karditsa’ means ‘little heart’. The struggle does not end here. Greece Perhaps she (for the heart is feminine in Greek) is still battles with a weak economy, an unstable the beating heart of a future that brings true rural government and many refugees to resource and sustainability for a country which so badly needs it. 15. Building sustainable and resilient economic systems in Karditsa 27