El Cambalache: Bringing Ways Beyond Capitalism Into Being

Source: Voices in Movement

Capitalistic, profit-driven economies seldom figure in feminist visions for the future. There is often talk of transforming the present or opening space up for different ways of doing things, but seldom is there an attempt to set those feminist dreams in action. El Cambalache, a collective of six women from Latin America and one woman in New York, however, set their ideas in motion.

Bringing visions to reality

Located in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, El Cambalache is an initiative dedicated to going moneyless in trade. The group recognizes that resources aside from money have and hold value, and that each person has a great deal to “exchange, teach, and share.” While most women and non-binary people have very low access to money, their talents, wisdom, knowledge, experience, and skills are equally valuable resources that can be exchanged.

The collective thus set up a space for people to exchange everything from clothing and cell phones to jewellery and items for health and care. They also open space for people to exchange their skills and services – think of everything from classes and herbal medicine preparation skills to games and exercise.

El Camabalche runs a library, drawing on the books collected from their community. Their efforts also extend to crisis relief, where they support individuals and communities in crises – be that forced displacement, natural disasters like earthquakes, domestic violence, and even COVID, by making available supplies and medicines, shelter, other resources, human power, and relief efforts. In 2019, they set up the Department of Decolonial Economics, where they teach online and offline courses on both decolonial economics and collective thought.

Dismantling capitalism

Grounded in the local, the group is dedicated to bringing women and non-binary folks together to support each other without feeling the constraints of having to engage with money. Given the patriarchal roots of capitalistic economies, women and non-binary people are, by design, excluded from the system. As a result, access to money remains low. Combined with racism and oppression, many women and non-binary people are in desperate situations on a daily basis.

The shift away from money offers an avenue for people to depend less on money, and instead move toward raising the quality of their lives through collective engagement. The reduction in the dependency on money also means that people are not constrained to reduce their lives or to tie their “worth” to productivity. This also eases space up for mindful consumption, meaning that the emphasis is on community connections, collective work and growth, and strengthening networks.

Over time, they have also sowed the seeds for building similar projects across every continent. The grounding knowledge for these efforts goes back to times before the European invasion of the Americas – where non-capitalist, autonomous economies operated without restraint. They were informed by traditional philosophies and practices including the likes of minka (collective work), ayni (reciprocity, justice), faena (donating work), and trueque (barter). These practices are inherently distinct from commercialization, extractivism, slavery, settler colonialism and occupation, and militarism. They do not make people projects or tools to make profits – but rather, celebrate the full humanity of every individual within the collective. In the process, the collective has enabled indigenous economic practices to survive in the face of genocide and epistemicide.

Lessons for Feminist Foreign Policy

State adopted feminist foreign policies have focused on the ideas of rights, representation, and resources. The focus on resources has often been restricted to continuing the institution of aid without introspecting on the coloniality of the institution in itself, and on the growing injustice resulting from the widening economic gaps resulting from wealth accumulation by a small percentage of billionaires. These policies have, instead of interrogating the container, remained comfortable operating within its scope.

However, El Cambalache demonstrates that money can be decentralized and shifted to the peripheries while paying close attention to care, collective work, and community work. They shine a spotlight on the limitations that come with a hyperfocus on money and profits, and instead, invite introspection on how human life and collective work bring about greater collective wellness and progress.

References:

Cambalache (2024). https://cambalache.noblogs.org/post/2024/08/19/taller-workshop-online-liberatory-methods-metodos-liberatorios/

Community Economies (2024). Two online workshops on methods and histories by El Cambalache. https://www.communityeconomies.org/news/two-online-workshops-methods-and-histories-el-cambalache

CURA (2020). El Cambalache – connecting decolonialism, diverse economies and intersectional feminism in Chiapas, Mexico. https://cura.our.dmu.ac.uk/2020/02/12/el-cambalache-connecting-decolonialism-diverse-economies-and-intersectional-feminism-in-chiapas-mexico/

Degrowth (2024). El Cambalache - An Anti-Colonial People’s Economic History of the Americas. https://degrowth.info/en/blog/el-cambalache-an-anti-colonial-people-s-economic-history-of-the-americas