solidarity economy partnership between asia and latin america
DESCRIPTION
Description on key differences between Asia and Latin America in terms of solidarity, on top of my humble proposal to strengthen the intercontinenta collaboration.TRANSCRIPT
Colonised by Spain / Portugal and after independence (19th century) politically and economically subjugated to US
Close touch with: Europe (especially Spain and France) and North America
Linguistic, religious and cultural similarity to help create LA identity on top of respective national ones
Colonised by Western superpowers and Japan (except Thailand) and after the World War II incorporated into Asian-Pacific Rim
Close touch with: Anglo-Saxon countries while losing its historic ties with France (Indochina) and Spain (Philippines) > difficult for LA-born SE to get into Asia
Linguistic, religious and cultural diversity: hurdle to create Asian common identity
Languages: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Mongolian, Thai, Vietnamese
Religion: Bhuddism (Maharaya / Theravada), Christianity (Catholic / Protestant), Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam…
Started as a bottom-up grass-root alternative to neoliberal globalisation imposed by the North and huge corporations = Capital
Mainly consists of people’s coops and different support organisations without including social enterprises: the middle class helps the poor set up their own coops
Ex: Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN, Chiapas, Mexico), Landless Peasants’ Movement (MST, Brazil), University Incubators for People’s Coop (Brazil)
Growth together with World Social Forum, Supports from left-wing gov’ts (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela etc.)
Evolved from top-down charity organisations when they faced with financial hardship
Mainly consists of social enterprises: the middle class becomes consciencious entrepreneurs to create decent jobs for the poor
Usually doesn’t defy capitalism but tries to coexist with it: HSBC supports Social Enterprise Summit in Hong Kong
More info: Quiñones
LA: Spanish/Portuguese spoken by most people: little barrier in int’l (but intra-LA) communication, English rather as neoliberal élite’s language
US and Europe: Increasing number of Spanish speakers/learners, close relationship with LA
Asia: Asian languages are the mother tongue for most people: English as int’l communication tool but not in daily life (except Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore), very few (if any) Spanish/Portuguese speakers and little interest in learning them
The best way to promote mutual understanding: Both case studies and theoretical researches help Asian and LA grasp what their counterpart thinks
Asian Univ. with LA studies and/or vice versa Acceptance of visiting professors: to share their
experiences to their counterpart Student exchange programmes: Asian and LA
post-graduate students go to another continent to study and share (bidirectional)
Japan with LA (Brazil / Peru / Argentina etc.): Japanese immigrants and their descendants live, some of them working in Japan
Brazil: Agência Brasileira de Cooperação (ABC) provides South-South cooperations to Asia, especially (but not limited) to Timor Leste
The Philippines with Mexico: both belonged to the Viceroyalty of New Spain (capital: Mexico City) during the colonial rule and some agreements still exist between both countries
Taiwan with Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Paraguay: Taiwan still keeps its diplomatic relationship with some LA countries and is eager to keep in touch: What can be done?
