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ALTERNATIVE CURRENCY

Have you heard of

social currency?

ould our official currency, the Brazi- in 2001. The goal was to generate micro credit since
lian real, be the only one that circu- almost the entire population had income below two
Wlates in Brazil? If you think so, you’re minimum wages. 260 Establishments receive the
wrong. In Brazil today, around 117 social currencies Palma and those who use it have a 5% discount as
are circulating. But what does this mean? They are incentive.
local, alternative currencies, also called social cur- Cajueiro, Dendê, Bem, Gostoso, Sabiá, Sol,
rencies. They circulate in small communities and aim Tupi, Sururu and Zumbi are some of the 117 alterna-
to warm up the local economy. They complement tive currencies that circulate today throughout Brazil
the official currency but do not replace it. and the Central Bank of Brasil allows the circulation
One of the earliest experiences with alternati- of social currencies issued by community banks, as
ve currency was in Germany in 1930. The owner of long as their circulation is local. Functioning as bo-
a coal mine paid his employees with a bonus called nuses, exchange currency or money backed by the
Wära. Due to the lack of official currency traders be- Brazilian real, the social currency can be a more hu-
gan to accept Wära and a year later, 2000 merchants mane and creative way out to deal with money.
used the bonus. Then the German Central Bank in- The current financial system has created me-
terdicted the system. chanisms that made us increasingly dependent. Un-
The same thing happened in Austria. Two ye- complicated loans, credit cards and bank overdrafts
ars after being implemented, after promoting the tempt us with facilities that turn into exorbitant inte-
economic development and when the alternative rest and fees. Often these debts give us the feeling of
system was becoming a reference, the Austrian Cen- being enslaved by a system that only benefits itself.
tral Bank halted its circulation. On the other hand, the social currency encou-
Experiments with alternative currencies spre- rages autonomy, mutual help and creates a joint
ad across Europe and across the Atlantic inspiring sense of prosperity in the community. Perhaps these
many North American communities to create their currencies are an answer to the level of a new society
own currencies. However, this differentiated eco- which, as at the time of the war in which they arose, a
nomy clashed with President Roosevelt’s policies society so exploited and exhausted, that seeks a way
and was abandoned. out of this inhuman financial system to which it has
The first known social currency created in been subjected.
Brazil was the Palma, linked to the Palmas do Ceará
bank. The bank was created in 1998 and the Palma Lígia Rigo

41 l IMPACTO | 2019
40 l IMPACTO | 2019 41 l IMPACTO | 2019