[SustainableTompkins] The Political Economy of Relocalization

[Margaret McCasland]

Thank you to both Karl and Simon for their very thoughtful posts.

As someone who has been involved with back-to-the-land and local 
economy/local community efforts for many decades, I agree with Simon 
that there is no singular movement. There are several complex 
socio-economic movements intertwining ; people who may seem to be 
working on a common project often are coming from very different 
places with quite different goals--and ways to try and reach those 
goals.

I also agree with Karl that aspects of local self-reliance that have 
been sufficiently "successful" have been severely dealt with by "the 
powers that be." Two examples I know of off the top of my head are a 
local/regional currency in Argentina (the "truc"), and the original 
form of the Ithaca Health Fund (which the NYS insurance regulators 
came down on hard).

I look forward to hearing from more people.    Margaret