Marcos Arruda, Solidarity Economy,& Rio Plus 20

Marcos Arruda has defined for everyone what it is to be a Peaceful Warrior.

In 1970, the young Brazilian student spoke out against the injustice. He knew the dangers; he was arrested, imprisoned and tortured. His mother, Lina Penna Sattamini, managed to locate him and after a year's effort, got him released and got him out of the country, to live a 10-year period of exile until a democratically-elected regime took power in Brazil.

Arruda went on to become an economist and popular educator.  He has worked closely with Brazilian labor, co-operatives and solidarity economy movements for years.  He is active in the Ecovillage and Transition Town movements, also active in the Jubilee South Network -  addressing issues related to the debt crisis and alternatives, economy and ecology.

In this one-hour podcast (originally aired over KBBF-FM 89.1 Calistoga/Santa Rosa California), Marcos Arruda shares with Shift-Shapers co-host Daniel Kerbein his views on the world economy and human development.
He sees the debt crisis as an opportunity to restructure the world economy, so that economic development serves human and social development, not the model of the global economy – which is the reverse.
The global economy, based on the myth of "infinite" growth and resource exploitation, has come up against serious limits. New forms of development which put people at the center, rather than profit, need to be addressed.

"They have the money," he says, "but we have people, and the people are a tremendous source of power."
Underneath a veneer of "prosperity" the majority of the world's population lives in conditions of permanent insecurity or crisis. Community development organizations and micro-financing of Eco Villages, show new models where people thrive. The African country of Senegal has launched a movement, with more than 40,000 Eco Villages.