Unfortunately, I haven’t blogged much on my experience at the US Social Forum. in short, it was great and I recommend attending any one you can get to. Hopefully Iĺl follow up on that statement. I have multiple social interests, so my time was divided. I also attended as part of a family vacation, so my attention was divided.

I took part in a workshop on Solidarity Economy. There were representatives from the US, Canada and Peru speaking about very active programs. Canada and Peru
have very developed programs worth learning about.

PRI’s “The World” ran a great story on a Time Bank experience in Barcelona.

The World’s Gerry Hadden reports that a barter system is catching on in Barcelona, Spain. People register with what’s called a time bank to trade services. They might teach a language or do home repairs. The hours they work become time bank credits they can spend. Time banking saves people cash. And for many, it provides a sense of community.

Economia Solidária

I have trouble blogging frequently because I use to write fully researched articles and was called a journalist before bloggers came along.

Instead of infrequency, I think I’ll settle for short bursts like others do. This time, I’ll point out the remembrance that I understand Spanish and Portuguese. I often enjoy story that aren’t all over Slashdot, because they are all over barrapunto.com (the Spanish Slashdot). At some point a week ago, I ran into a Brazilian page, which led to Spanish pages. Outside of Venezuela, where Hugo Chavez is personally promoting community currencies, there is a very large community of people dealing in various kinds of social currencies. Some of them from banks dealing in national money as well.