EoC: a sign of hope

Written by Antonella Ferrucci Thursday, 04 February 2010 15:17

Today, at the Buddhist-Christian seminar in Chiang Mei, Benedetto Gui and Teresa Ganzon presented the Economy of Communion

EoC: a sign of hope

Bruni: against the crisis, businesses that are more responsible

Written by Antonella Ferrucci Tuesday, 02 February 2010 13:25

The economist: when problems are temporary, businesses cannot socialize losses. Firing workers is the easiest way to cut costs, but it´s not the only way

Bruni: against the crisis, businesses that are more responsible

Today, defending work means "reaffirming the personalistic principle", reaffirming that "at the heart of every economic systems rests the person and work". Even in the crisis in which "technology becomes pervasive and capital always more inmaterial", so much so that it sanctions the domination of techno-finance over the real economy. This is why Luigino Bruni, professor of Political Economy at the University of Bicocca at Milano, finds words to defend the message given by Benedict XVI in the Angeles to be "perfectly in line with the concreteness of his teaching" and "important in the crisis phase which we are now going through".

The Pope gave encouragement to "do everything possible to safeguard and increase employment". Why, as an economist, do you see this appeal as being in line with Benedict XVI´s thought?

The Pope went into details. He cited two concrete cases, "two difficult realities" in Italy: Termini and Portovesme. Are you surprised by this concreteness?

The person in the first place

Written by Antonella Ferrucci Tuesday, 02 February 2010 18:14

The problem of employment has even strongly found it´s way into the Pope´s latest Angelus. What proposals can be made to react to the crisis? Three questions for Alberto Ferrucci, director of EoC Online.

The person in the first place

The question of work continues to be central in the Italian political, economic and social panorama. Names like Eutelia, Fiat and Alcoa have appeared in the first pages of newspapers for some time already, sad testimonies of more vast employment problems. Even the pope, in the Angelus on Sunday, January 31, faced up to the question, making specific references to the workers of the businesses in question who are present at Saint Peter´s Square. Calling everyone back to "a sense of responsibility" in front of the crisis, he associated these examples with the recent recall by the CEI (Central European Initiative) to guarantee work that isadequate to sustain families. It was a call that arrived exactly the day before the publication of the data on unemployment made by Eurostat, the offical statistics of the European Union. Unemployment percentages are rising all over Europe, reaching 22.8% in Lituania and even 19.5 percent in Spain, until recently shown as land of the new economic miracle. How can we interpret these data, and what should be proposed in front of such a dark picture? We speak with Alberto Ferucci, head director of EoC Online - Newsletter of the Economy of Communion.

Thailand - Chiang Mai 1-5/02/2010

Written by Antonella Ferrucci Friday, 22 January 2010 11:18

Interreligious dialogue: Benedetto Gui and Teresa Ganzon participate in the 4th Buddhist-Christian Symposium

February 1-5, 2010

The Buddhist-Christian Symposium, an event that is regularly repeated every two years, was begun in 2004 by foundress of the Focolare Movement, Chiara Lubich. It exists within the area of interreligious dialogue and in the spirit of unity and universal fraternity that Chiara Lubich and the Focolare Movement have brought ahead for decades.

The first and third symposium were held at the International Center of the Focolare Movement in Castelgandolfo (Rome) in 2004 and 2008, while the second was held in 2006 at the Rissho Kosei-Kai Center of Osaka, Japan.

This fouth symposium will take place instead in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, and is organized by the University of Mahachulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya and by Chiang Mai Campus, in collaboration with the Focolare Movement, the Rissho Kosei-Kai and the Mahayan Buddhist Movement from Japan.

Brazil - Belem, 30/01-05/02/2010

Written by Antonella Ferrucci Wednesday, 13 January 2010 13:17

The first formational seminar for all of Brazil, which involves EoC, AMU, AFN, and YFUW, from January 20 to February 5, 2010

In Belem, in North-East Brazil, a formational seminar on the management of projects which collaborate to development

The seminar on the formation in management of projects which collaborate to development will begin January 30 in Belem. It´s a seminar which brings together all of Brazil for the first time and which arose from the collaborationb etween the International EoC Commission, AMU, AFN and YFUW. We ask Leo Andringa of the International EoC COmmission to tell us something about it.

How did this initiative begin?

It arose from a concrete need. Within the collaboration that already exists between the International EoC COmission and AMU over the last few years, to help manage the business profits which are destined to aid activities for those in need in the project, there was always a more clear need to have adequately prepared people on-site to management the development projects that they follow. Various parties showed the need to provide those who are locally appointed with formation in this very important aspect. And so, a formation project with various phases began, already since April of 2009.

Like a tax on air

Written by Alberto Ferrucci Sunday, 24 January 2010 12:33

Investing on work, not on subsidies

Like a tax on air

Published on Cittánuova.it on 23/01/2010

The first article of the constitution reads that "Italy is a Democratic Republic, founded on work". While elaborating the text, the constitutional fathers could have founded it on solidarity, fraternity, liberty or equality. But evidently their cultures encountered a significant unifying moment that remains as a precious inheritance, thinking of how much they gave their life for those results, on the value of "work".

"I don´t want subsidies. I want work". Words that we hear on the lips of fathers, young diplomats and graduates, the self-employeed and entrepreneurs. Before receiving income, then, one of human nature´s fundamental needs is to be in the position to provide for oneself and others through work.

Lesson at the University of St. Tomas

Written by Antonella Ferrucci Tuesday, 19 January 2010 14:28

Teresa Ganzon, President of Bangko Kabayan, was invited to give a lesson at the University of Saint Tomas.

A Lesson on the EoC at the University of Saint Tomas in the Philippines

Last month, Teresa Ganzon, delegated administrator of Bangko Kabayan and member of the International Commission of the EoC, was invited by the Graduate School of Business of the University of St. Tomas, to be a speaker in lecture series they hold for the Masters in Business Administration program.

They usually invite a CEO from a company to speak so that students can learn business practices and deepen any other interests. The professor who contacted Teresa Ganzon had told her that he had heard about the "economics of communion" and Bangko Kabayan, which was why he invited her to speak about it.

L’Economia di Comunione e la Giustizia Globale

Written by Vittorio Pelligra Tuesday, 29 December 2009 11:41

There is no translation available, please select a different language.  

Il progetto di EdC rappresenta una novità in campo economico, ma anche politico e filosofico. Esso infatti affronta temi cruciali che sono al centro della filosofia politica contemporanea

L’Economia di Comunione e la Giustizia Globale

di Vittorio Pelligra
da "Economia di Comunione - una cultura nuova" n.30 - dicembre 2009

L'opera più importante nell’ambito della filosofia politica del 900 è sicuramente Una Teoria della Giustizia (1971), del filosofo americano John Rawls. Costituendo il punto di riferimento per tutti coloro che si occupano, anche indirettamente, di questioni di filosofia politica, la teoria rawlsiana ha naturalmente attirato verso di sé una quantità di critiche e tra queste, due in particolare, mi paiono degne di nota. Vorrei discuterne qui, soprattutto perché pongono in relazione la Teoria della giustizia con problemi di grande rilevanza sia teorica che pratica. Tale discussione ci consentirà anche di iniziare a definire uno sfondo ampio nel quale leggere alcune delle caratteristiche, a mio avviso, più interessanti, del progetto di Economia di Comunione.

Cosa suggeriscono le imprese sociali all’EdC

Written by Luca Crivelli Saturday, 19 December 2009 10:28

There is no translation available, please select a different language.  

Negli ultimi anni è cresciuto l’interesse per il tema della “social entrepreneurship”, che ha trovato nel premio Nobel per la pace 2006 Muhammad Yunus uno dei suoi leader carismatici (nell’ultimo libro Yunus sostituisce il termine “microcredito” con “social business”).

Cosa suggeriscono le imprese sociali all’EdC

di Luca Crivelli
da "Economia di Comunione - una cultura nuova" n.30 - dicembre 2009

Pur coscienti delle differenze tra la visione nordamericana di imprenditorialità sociale e quella europea (incarnata in particolare dal network EMES), quanto sta avvenendo sulle due sponde dell’Atlantico non può non suggerire alcune interessanti piste di riflessione anche a noi che, su vari fronti, siamo impegnati nel realizzare un’economia di comunione (in questo testo non viene considerata esplicitamente l’esperienza dell’America Latina, non perché essa non sia significativa ma per la poca conoscenza delle caratteristiche dell’esperienza da parte dell’autore).

Il punto di partenza è rappresentato, in entrambi i contesti, da una penuria di risorse, che si rende manifesta a partire dagli anni ‘80: negli Stati Uniti sono le donazioni filantropiche a non essere più sufficienti per garantire il funzionamento del settore non profit; in Europa è piuttosto la crisi dello Stato-Provvidenza a portare ad una riduzione dei fondi disponibili per l’erogazione di servizi sociali.

There´s need of people who do business "out of passion"

Written by Maria Silvestrini Tuesday, 19 January 2010 11:34

A January 8 interview in Taranto with Luigino Bruni, the author of the Dictionary of Civil Economy

There´s need of people who do business "out of passion"

Last January 8, with a numerous crowd of attentive readers in the Resta della Cittadella hall of Taranto, Luigino Bruni gave a presentation seminar for his book, the Dictionary of Civil Economy. He was kind enough to let us interview him about the new frontiers in economy.

The research project on civil economy is young, but it has its roots in early economic studies of Medieval Tuscany and in philosophers that stood out and characterized 17th century Naples. The referral to a civil dimension which sees groups of people who put themselves together to reach common goals is ancient, and it is not necessarily a strictly political dimension.

Italy - Incisa Valdarno (FI), 28-29/05/2010

Written by Antonella Ferrucci Thursday, 20 August 2009 16:37

From the 28-29 of May, 2010, the University Institute Sophia is organizing an INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR:

The Charismatic Principle in Economic and Civil Life: History, Theory and Good Practice

January 30 is the last day to send in paper proposals!

In May of 2010, the University Institute Sophia of Loppiano (Florence, Italy) will promote an international seminar titled: "The Charismatic Principle in Economic and Civil Life: History, Theory and Good Practice".

Among the objectives of the meeting is that of finding new paths in the dialogue between the institutional and charismatic dimension applied to the economic and social contexts. The basic consideration is that in the history of economy, of society and of religion, the charismatic dimension is often left in the shadows. To understand social and economic life inside and out, what is proposed is to analyze it not only in its institutional profile, but to also put into evidence the charismatic dynamics.

Call for papers

Working in Communion in Times of Crisis

Written by Silvano Gianti Tuesday, 29 December 2009 12:21

Working in Communion in Times of Crisis

The businesses of the Eastern Riviera haven´t avoided the crisis which haunts the world economy. In the Tigullio district alone, there are almost 700 workshops belonging to fourteen businesses of various sectors, including seamanship, who are receiving the benefits of unemployment insurance.

The recent proposal of a territorial pact has been backed by the President of the Genovese Province and by the Councilor of Economic Development in the course of the “general state of things” with local companies, institutions and equivalent social groups promoted by the very same Province and Economic Society.  During the meeting, the administrators proposed “a concrete method for building a platform of shared initiatives, starting from the analysis of the situation, in order to respond to Tigullio´s crisis. Of course, all this is a consequence of the global crisis, owed to erroneous economical politics which are far from the real economy founded on work.”

Raising Snails

Written by Genevieve Sanze Tuesday, 29 December 2009 14:25

Raising Snails

By Genevieve Sanze

From "Economy of Communion - a new culture" N.30 - December 2009

In Africa, the Economy of Communion isn´t expressed through having many businesses, but the spirit that it has brought about is spreading a new culture, even thanks to youngest of the community.  During the war in the Ivory Coast, an 8-year-old girl at her Gen 4 meeting shared this experience: her uncle had given her a 100-Franc bill (CFA), which is about 20 Euro cents, which she was thinking of using to buy something good to eat. When she arrived home, however, she saw that her mother was very sad: she didn´t have anything to put on the table, which made the whole family very nervous.

She thought to go buy herself something to eat, but remembering how the Gen 4 had learned to "give always" and make our neighbor happy, too, she said to herself, "Why don´t I try?" So she decided to bring her small amount of money to her mother, who immediately ran happily to buy something at the market to make a meal for the whole family. That way, everyone was able to eat something and peace returned.

The Art of Managing Crises in Organizations with Ideal Motives

Written by Alessandra Smerilli Tuesday, 29 December 2009 13:15

The Art of Managing Crises in Organizations with Ideal Motives

By Alessandra Smerilli

From "Economy of Communion - a new culture" N.30 - December 2009

Instrinsic movtivations are very important in civil life and also in economic life and organizations. If there exists, however, a place in which gratuitousness plays a special role, it´s that of “organizations with ideal motives” (OMI), an expression used today to indicate organizations – associations, NGOs, charitable organizations, businesses of the economy of communion, etc. – in which the inspiring motive (or what has inspired their constitutions) is neither primarily profit nor exclusively instrumental elements, but rather an ideal motive, a mission or a “vocation” that, in various ways, arises from the instrinsic motivations of its promoters.

The businesses of the Economy of Communion (EoC) can also be defined as OMIs. In fact, they represent an ideal-type, given the key role ideality plays in their identity.

Ethos of the Market

Written by Luigino Bruni Monday, 28 December 2009 17:03

Luigino Bruni

Bruno Mondadori, Milano, 2010

In the last two centuries, capitalism has reached extraordinary economic, technological and civil results, playing an important role in transforming society. Howver, it has lost on the playing ground of fraternity. That is why, today, capitalism has become obsolete. The crisis at the beginning of the third millenium (from terrorism to the environment, from finance to energy) shows with extraordinary strength that the market economy is using up every force of social and incivilizing change, because we´re paying the consequences in the area of individual freedom with the coins of environment and social relationships.