1. Strengthening Local Areas
Response and Prevention of
INCREASING POVERTY
Lea Lindič, University in Ljubljana –
Faculty of Social Sciences, Slovenia

2. Increasing poverty
• In the next 10 years, or even sooner, we will be facing an extreme
increase of poverty among people of the “middle class” in
(especially) Eastern Europe and other countries which have
unstable economies and politics. The economic and financial crisis
of 2008 has shown us the fate of many factories that were indebted
and corrupted.
• Labor market is changing. Domestic workers are losing their price
due to enormous immigration of foreign workers who are willing to
work for lower wages in countries with a higher standard of living.
The consequences of that are that domestic workers are losing jobs
and foreign workers are being exploited.
• Other groups of society are dealing with problems as well. Because
of unorganized labor market and social politics young people can
hardly emancipate and create their own future. Also, many of the
seniors are living at the poverty threshold with the pensions that
are too low for them to survive.

3. • The actual problem is that while the majority of people
struggle to survive, the minority (1%) provides only for their
own enrichment. The sense of powerlessness and weakness
among people is growing which has in the history led to, for
example, the era of Great Depression (1929).
• What poverty brings with is the feeling of
hopelessness, desperation, apathy (also political
apathy), unwillingness, etc.

4. • As the number of bankrupt firms raises so does the
number of desperate people. It all depends on the
economic situation, the social system, orientation of the
labor market, and the employment policy in a certain
country. If those aren’t working properly and in the
interest of the people than we are facing a disaster.
• Unemployed people will still need to eat and as a
consequence the level of criminal and other illegal acts
will rise.

5. Strengthening Local Areas
• The solution is autonomous social organizations on a local level which
would be organized as sub-systems of municipalities. Those sub-systems
would unite local self-managed factories and different associations of
people with similar interests and qualifications. It is a response and an
attempt to prevent the increasing poverty.
• There are various marginalized groups of people within societies that we
should take into consideration: homeless people, seniors, young
people, unemployed, etc.
• To demonstrate we can compare those local areas to computer networks.

6. • Local factories which would produce different consumer – material
goods should be governed by their workers and systemically
connected to other factories in other local areas around the country
and around the world – organized as a network. By leaving factories in
the hands of those who work in it, we would prevent the enrichment
of chiefs and corruption. The proposal is thus the self-management of
factories, which would possess total autonomy in their functioning
and allocation of profit by worker’s performance.
• For the homeless people we should establish different associations
which would unite people with various qualifications and interests at
different activities. For example, homeless people know a lot about
the weaknesses of cities and are aware of deficiencies of public
transport, security on streets, possible dangers, etc. These
associations would work like local report services, financed by
municipalities.

7. • Seniors tend to socialize only with each other not with younger ones.
That leads to social stratification within communities and to forming
different stereotypes about seniors on one hand and about young
people on the other. There is a need for activities and events on a local
level where people of different generations would have the chance to
bond and co-operate with each other. Another problem is that seniors
often have very low pensions and are struggling to survive. They
should be able to get extra earnings by working in their communities
as part-time jobs as there are many people who are retired but still
willing to work.
• At the saturated labor market young people cannot get a job for which
they are qualified. Well educated youth don’t get a career chance
which leads to the problem of their emancipation; if they get a job it is
probably non-permanent so it is also impossible to get a credit at the
bank and to buy an accommodation of their own. So they delay the
emancipation from their parents and the starting of their own families.
They are unable to plan or to create their future which creates a very
strong feeling of powerlessness among young people. The sense of
powerlessness and weakness among people is growing which has in
the history led to, for example, the era of Great Depression (1929).

8. The Plan
• Workers are due to their low wages forced to saving
money, not spending any of it on material luxuries or
excesses of food and clothes. There is a paradox in that
because saving money is not going to save the
economies, as workers are also consumers and
because of their lack of money, they are forced to limit
their consuming. The labor-capital-consumerism circle
has been interrupted so it is logical that economies
would collapse. So governments have to raise the
wages of all the workers which would result in bigger
demand in the market and consequently in bigger
supply.

9. • Giving the factories into the hands of workers
would thus strengthen their confidence which
would result also in the quality of work.
• Organizing society as a network is perhaps the
most effective way to create stable
environment for everyone.

10. Effectiveness
• The solution is effective because it relates to
“ordinary” people who are uncertain of their
future. Those people are the majority and also
represent the main part of society’s labor force in
many countries.
• “Strengthening local areas” deals with only the
actions on a local level and can thus concentrate
on every individual’s problems and needs.
Solutions on local level will thus be more
effective and firm.