hans groen *17 09 1959 - †11 08 2022


posts tagged ‘European Social Week’

the ruminant economy and laudato si’

The first draft of the ‘ruminant economy’ was discussed at a meeting of the committee of the European Social Weeks, as background to our discussion of the theme for the 8th European Social Week. (more…)

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the ruminant economy 6 – some conclusions

A few concluding statements containing the ideas that I would like to be remembered, and a couple of ideas I could not place in the essays.
(more…)

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the ruminant economy 5 – labour and rest

There is labour, which is productive and which takes care of the material well-being of the community. In a healthy society, one where extreme scarcity (hunger, poverty) is not the paramount reality, productive labour produces a surplus (more…)

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the ruminant economy 4 – it is eating us

For about two centuries, the economy has been approached from the frame of labour and capital. The core is ‘productive’ labour: we make something that has more value than the sum of its ‘ingredients’: (more…)

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the ruminant economy 3 – (un)employment

Our image that accompanies unemployment is always about the jobs that have disappeared yesterday and the developments that have led to that situation. It is the employment policy of yesterday that politics and labour unions often are protecting. (more…)

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the ruminant economy 2 – non standard employment

There is a short story by Heinrich Böll called “Anecdote to lower labour morality” (“Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral”, 1963). It is about a tourist who takes a picture of a man dozing on his fishing boat, shabby clothes, the picturesque poverty one sees on holiday in European fishing harbours. (more…)

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the ruminant economy 1 – introduction

At the European Social Week in Milan, Februari 2019, I heard two presentations that shed an interesting light on the current state of labour and employment in Europe. In a number of articles, I would like to discuss some aspects of this situation that I think are important. (more…)

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stem europa

Hoe democratisch is ‘Europa’ en waar eindigt de ‘steeds hechtere unie’? Absolute antwoorden heb ik niet, wel wat overwegingen uit mijn ervaring als zeer betrokken buitenstaander. (more…)

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social dialogue and the limits of labour

Europe has climbed out of the crisis, employment rates are rapidly raising in a lot of European countries. At the same time, there are more ‘working poor’ than unemployed in The Netherlands. (more…)

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creation, alliance, promise

With these three words Elena Lasida characterised a social economy that enhances society. She gave one of the clearer and more intriguing presentations on the 5th European Social Week, held in Ostend, Belgium, from 23-25 January 2014. (more…)

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schepping, verbond, belofte

Met die drie woorden karakteriseerde Elena Lasida een sociale economie die het samenleven bevordert. Zij had daarmee één van de meer intrigerende en heldere bijdragen aan de 5de Europese Sociale Week (more…)

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youth unemployment mismatch of school and work

Youth unemployment is a big issue in Europe. With an average of 20%, and some countries scoring as high as 50%, youth are worse off than the total workforce. Inevitable? Youth unemployment follows the general trend, (more…)

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