Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Alternative Currencies

Rens van der Windt | 11.10.2012 11:15 | Culture | Globalisation | History | World

This article discusses the introduction of another currency system called TEM, in Volos, Greece. Considering the financial instability of the euro, I feel that we should explain this possibility to everyone and, more importantly, it should be of interest to your readers.


Alternative Currencies

In Volos, a small town in Greece, there is a community that no longer pays for items with money. While Greece is in deep economic debt, people in Volos have been able to fall back on a different system. With a network of about 900 people, the inhabitants do not use the euro but exchange items to purchase goods.

After five years of recession and with a 21 percent unemployment rate they introduced an exchange system, called TEM , a few months ago. The system is based online and once people sign up for a TEM network account, they can offer their goods and services. They can also purchase items and services from other people. Food, electronics and clothes: everything can be bought with TEM. Just like with the normal system you will gain credit when providing goods and you will lose credit when purchasing goods. In theory, one TEM is about the equivalent to one euro/dollar.

Inhabitants of Volos enjoy using the system, as it provides them with greater financial stability and purchasing power during the dark days of economic crises and Greece’s worst recession in modern history. Although the community is very happy about the system, it is far from sure if TEM will become the replacement for the Euro in Greece. Mayor Panos Skotiniotis also states that the euro does not have to fear for TEM. He supports the system as a supplement to the euro but not as a replacement because he wants to remain in the single currency. Still the alternative currency users are growing in the community and there are even businesses depending on it.

There are more than a dozen systems like TEM in Greece. The markets in Volos are busy with people who trade and barter without using the euro. Most people think it’s liberating. When the Euro was introduced in 2002 in Germany other means of exchange were also introduced. Nowadays, more than twenty pay systems exist in Germany, one of which is the Chiemgauer. The Chiemgauer is intended to create employment, promote non-profit work, promote the environment and the stimulation of the local economy.

Also in the United States there are a number of alternative currencies like Berk Shares in Western Massachusetts, Cheers in Detroit, the Bay Area Community exchange, Ithaca Hours in New York and Timebank in California. In the American state of Utah they use precious metals like silver and gold coins as legal tender.

Rens van der Windt
- e-mail: rens@searchstarz.com
- Homepage: http://searchstarz.com/

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. Offer and wait. — gavel

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech