Ifda dossier 47, May/June 1985

LAS ORGANIZACIONES ECONOMICAS
La experiencia de las nuevas orgmizaciones econdmicas populates en
Chile. Situaciihi y perspecti-vas por L. Razeto, A. Klenner, A. Rmirez y
R. Urmeneta (Santiago: Academia de Humanismo Cristiano, Progrma de
Economia del Traba jo Populares, 1983), 159pp.
A review by Mariana Schkolnik
Academia de Humanismo Cristiano
Catedral 1063, 5' piso
Santiago, Chile
This book constitutes a systematical essay about one of the forms of
social response to the economic situation resulting from the authorita-
rian regime in Chile. It analyses the constitution of new forms of popu-
lar associations whose principal purpose is to overcome the constraints
of unemployment, the decrease of salaries and increase of the cost of
social services, in short, the problems of subsistence and basic needs
satisfaction of the poorest, affected as they are by the neo-liberal
economical model.
These organizations - Organizaciones econ6micas populares (OEP) or popu-
lar social organisations - bring together men, women and young people,
unemployed or retired, most of them living in the poorest areas of San-
tiago (the slums or poblaciones). Five types of organizations are dis-
tinguished:
. tallares laborales or workshops established by workers having a
certain technical specialisation, producing goods and services sold
by themselves;
organizations for the unemployed, whose goal is collective job
seeking, they include committees of unemployed, informal agencies
of job surveys, etc.
. consumers organizations, bringing together poor families, facil-
itating access to food or improving and increasing consumption of
food; These organizations have taken the form of comedores infan-
tiles (children' S soups), comedores populares (popular soups),
huertos familiares (kitchen gardens) or purchase committees;
. organizations dealing with housing problems, electricity and drink-
able water, they are more revendicative, but there are also some
pre-cooperative organizations for the purchase and self-construc-
tion of dwellings;
. organizations delivering community services (health, education and
culture) ;
The OEP constitute a rather heterogeneous, experimental and precarious
reality. Still, they have progressively spread out in Santiago and other
areas, widening their social basis and taking new proportions and char-
acteristics. Some are obviously more stable than others, or have become
more autonomous from the institutions that gave them initial support,
the Catholic Church and some international aid organizations.