Les monnaies complémentaires comme point d'entrée d'une réflexion large sur l'économie de proximité.
Il s'agit de regarder les monnaies complémentaires comme :

• support de démocratie participative,
• outils de remaillage et de dynamisation de l’Économie relocalisée (+/- orientée solidaire et durable grâce à leur traçabilitée),
• supports de politiques publiques, les aides sont clonées en monnaie locale et restent captives du circuit d'acceptation qui a été prédéfini (puisqu'elle n'a pas de valeur en dehors)

“Les secrets de la monnaie” sont très bien gardés…
… Pourquoi ?

Parce que la monnaie donne un pouvoir colossal à ceux qui la contrôlent, et que si les citoyens reprenaient ce pouvoir, ils pourraient tout changer…

Allemand de l'Economie Professeur Eckhard Behrens soutient que la «Chiemgauer» pourrait aider à surmonter la crise en Grèce pour stimuler l'économie locale. Dans un article paru dans l'hebdomadaire germanique «Das Goetheanum», cet expert a souligné que la Grèce a "besoin" d'une pièce «régional» à «stimuler son économie, sans encourir plus de dettes à l'étranger." "Plus les revenus d'une monnaie régionale pourrait conduire à davantage d'emplois, moins de dépenses sociales et plus de recettes fiscales», a déclaré Behrens.

The mayor of Volos, Panos Skotiniotis, insists the euro is not in danger from TEM.

A few months ago, an alternative currency was introduced in the Greek port city of Volos. It was a grass-roots initiative that has since grown into a network of more than 800 members

·         Oui, pour tout ce qu'elle peut produire localement (biens et services) mais ça ne résoudra pas ses problèmes
d'approvisionnement énergétique ou autres importations,  mais le fait d'avoir des monnaies locales donneraient
 une bouffée d'oxygène aux populations et aux pouvoirs publics locaux. Dans le cas de la Grèce, il faudrait des circuits monétaires complémentaires
étanches par rapport à l'euros (non convertibles d'emblée).
Une collectivité locale pourrait être à l'initiative, en obtenant  que quelques producteurs/distributeurs du territoire acceptent
cette monnaie; Philippe Derruder, un spécialiste du sujet, souhaitait rentrer en contact avec des grecs pour une formation
aux monnaies complémentaires car il faut un peu de méthodo pour installer ça et créer le cercle d'acceptation (plus important et plus difficile à créer
que la monnaie elle-même). Les outils disponibles open source pour créer le cercle d'échanges Community forge

Starting with a LETS architecture coded into the Drupal platform, CommunityForge aims to deliver its web solution as many LETS communities with transaction-enabled social networking web sites. With a membership base, it will seek to devolve power and skills while providing more and better tools to more local communities seeking to strengthen and build resilence. http://communityforge.net/

·         Cyclos

Cyclos est un logiciel open-source de gestion des échanges en monnaies complémentaires et des échanges commerciaux. Il est porté par l’ONG hollandaise STRO. Il est utilisé par exemple par le projet de monnaie complémentaire C3, en Uruguay. http://project.cyclos.org/

http://translate.google.fr

Greece bartering system popular in Volos

By Mark LowenBBC News, Volos

A few months ago, an alternative currency was introduced in the Greek port city of Volos. It was a grass-roots initiative that has since grown into a network of more than 800 members, in a community struggling to afford items in euros during a deepening financial crisis.

The handicrafts stall at Volos central market lies at the end, just past the homemade jams. After perusing what there is on offer, Hara Soldatou picks out a set of decorated candles, delighted with her purchase. "They cost me 24 TEM, which I built up by offering yoga classes," she says.

Wherever you wander through the market area, one thing you won't need in your pocket is money.

From jewellery to food, electrical parts to clothes, everything here is on sale through a local alternative currency called TEM.

It works as an exchange system. If you have goods or services to offer, you gain credit, with one euro equivalent to one TEM.

You can then use your "savings" to buy whatever else is being offered through the network, leading to some rather original exchanges of goods.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

It's a big solution against this crisis - life goes on, we have to fight”

Charalampos Bardas

It's all reminiscent of an ancient bartering system returning to today's Greece.

"I can get language classes or computer lessons in return", says Stavros Ntentos from his stall where he sells children's underwear.

"It's a very good idea because we need to make people realise we can all buy and sell something; we don't only need euros."

"We have reached the bottom of our lives and we now have to think in a different way," says Tasos, a vegetable-seller.

Co-existing currencies

The whole system is organised online, with members holding TEM accounts, which are debited with each virtual transaction.

Yiannis Grigoriou, a member of the group that founded the system, stands next to the computer bank at the market, surveying proceedings.

"It's attractive because people find hope here. They find things to give and take," he says.

So could the TEM become the dominant currency in Volos?

"I don't know", he says, chuckling. "We'll see about that."

Exiting the eurozone has been a frequently-discussed scenario over recent months, as Greece has sunk deeper into its worst recession in modern history.

And while some in the country see TEM as an alternative - "the euro is a thing of the past," explained one shopper - it seems more like a back-up than a viable replacement.

The mayor of Volos, Panos Skotiniotis, insists the euro is not in danger from TEM.

He stands by the project, but says the two currencies can co-exist.

"We support the initiative because it's a very good way out of the deep economic and social crisis," he says.

"It's an initiative that supplements the euro but doesn't replace the euro. Greece is in the eurozone, we want to remain in the eurozone, we think we must remain in the euro."

Fresh start?

But the alternative currency network is spreading throughout the community, with more and more businesses now depending on it.

At a local flower-growing co-operative staffed by people with learning disabilities, the workers use TEM to sell their plants for other services that they would otherwise struggle to afford.

And members of the public come to help out at the business, cutting the grass or mending a fence in return for the plants offered.

"We can buy bread or meat in exchange for our products, or the girls can go to the hairdresser," says Peri Mantzafleri, who runs the co-operative.

"I grew up in a village - this was how it used to work in the old days, before money became involved. So this could be a chance to start again."

And the next generation is benefiting too.

In the local town hall, children take part in lively activity workshops - a mixture of games, songs and drawing.

Parents who are now struggling to afford the sessions can pay in part through TEM, with the two currencies working side-by-side.

See things 'differently'

Charalampos Bardas, the co-ordinator of the workshops, says the local currency is invaluable.

"It's a big solution against this crisis. Life goes on, we have to fight," he says.

"We have to see things differently now. It's not the end of the world if we have this crisis. We want to succeed and move on."

And so this small community has developed a new tool to fight against the worst financial crisis that many have ever known.

The euro may not be forced out here, but Volos has found a way of coping through alternative means.

A simple bartering system, exchanging despair for hope.