Greeks return to barter and local currencies in the wake of crisis

If you tell people that The System is totally broken and there are no jobs and everybody is in debt and sorry, nothing can be done, they can either revolt or simply walk away. We know what revolt looks like - Tahrir Square, Occupy Wall Street, Tiananmen Square and such. But walking away looks even more interesting.

The New York Times notes that Greek communities are pulling together to exchange goods and services strictly through barter.

Part alternative currency, part barter system, part open-air market, the Volos network has grown exponentially in the past year, from 50 to 400 members. It is one of several such groups cropping up around the country, as Greeks squeezed by large wage cuts, tax increases and growing fears about whether they will continue to use the euro have looked for creative ways to cope with a radically changing economic landscape.

Happily, it sounds like the Greek government is not viewing this as some insidious form of tax revolt.

“Ever since the crisis there’s been a boom in such networks all over Greece,” said George Stathakis, a professor of political economy and vice chancellor of the University of Crete. In spite of the large public sector in Greece, which employs one in five workers, the country’s social services often are not up to the task of helping people in need, he added. “There are so many huge gaps that have to be filled by new kinds of networks,” he said.

Even the government is taking notice. Last week, Parliament passed a law sponsored by the Labor Ministry to encourage the creation of “alternative forms of entrepreneurship and local development,” including networks based on an exchange of goods and services. The law for the first time fills in a regulatory gray area, giving such groups nonprofit status.

As the decline of the international currency-debt matrix seems increasingly inevitable, the best-case-scenario will be a gentle transition to a system - or systems - that encourage economic vitality and interdependence while discouraging upheaval.