The Luddite’s Guide to defending Cash – Why the cashless society endangers our Freedom

Social-Ecological Transformation through Local Money, Non-Profit Banking, and Commons Governance

📅 May 22–23, 2025
📍 Freie Gemeinschaftsbank, Basel

Over the past 25 years, local currency initiatives have been a pillar of grassroots monetary reform. While these projects have achieved important outcomes — most notably by expanding public understanding of what money is and how it could be designed differently to better serve people and the planet — they have largely fallen short of generating systemic impact for social-ecological transformation.

In today’s rapidly shifting political and economic landscape — marked by increasing interest in economic localization and the search for resilient, place-based solutions — the question is more urgent than ever:
Can local money play a more prominent and strategic role in driving meaningful transformation?
What institutional innovations, particularly the involvement of area municipalities and non-profit and public-interest banks, are needed to enhance their effectiveness?
And what governance frameworks are required to ensure that such monetary designs are both accountable and scalable?

The Remaking Money Symposium offers a forum for critical dialogue and collaboration among local currency activists, local stakeholders, financial innovators, and researchers. Together, we will examine the current status of local monetary experiments, assess their transformative potential, and explore what it means to truly remake money to enhance and serve a sustainable and just future – locally, socially and environmentally.

Programme Overview

📌 May 22 | Part 1: The Challenges of Local Money
Showcasing Local Currencies and Their Structural Challenges

Morning presentations will highlight local currency projects, focusing on their context, governance, and scaling challenges:

• Contextual Frames

• Management and Resilience of Local Currencies

• Scaling Dynamics: Limits and Levers

Afternoon workshops will explore shared insights and dilemmas:

• WS 1: Mapping Conditions of Emergence

• WS 2: Mapping Managerial and Maintenance Challenges

• WS 3: Mapping Growth Potentials and Growth Barriers

🕙 10:00–17:00 | Symposium Part 1
🕗 20:00–22:00 | Public Evening Panel

The evening session will feature a reflective dialogue with key contributors and open the floor to public discussion and questions.

📌 May 23 | Part 2: The Future of Local Money
From Innovation to Implementation: Designing Local Monetary Architectures

This day focuses on the design and implementation of future-ready monetary systems that align with institutional realities and systemic goals:

• Multi-stakeholder design and governance frameworks

• Monetary architecture for regional financial self-sufficiency

• Implementation pathways and local embeddedness

Sessions include contributions from practitioners, public officials, and financial innovators.

🕘 09:00–17:00 | Symposium Part 2

How to Submit Your Contribution

Please send an email to: mail@ecoloc.org
Subject: Submission – Local Money Symposium 2025

Your submission should include:

• Title of your contribution

• Abstract (max. 300 words) outlining your topic, approach, and relevance

• Your name, affiliation, and role

• Short bio (2–4 sentences)

🗓 Deadline for submissions: Thursday, April 24, 2025
📬 Final programme will be shared: Monday, April 28, 2025

Language

The symposium will be conducted in English to support international participation.
Presenters from German- or Swiss-based initiatives are kindly asked to prepare their presentations in English. Selective translations will be available.

Confirmed Speakers (in presence):

• Ester Barinaga, University of Lund

• Paolo Dini, Informal Systems

• Tomaz Fleischman, Informal Systems

• Giuseppe Littera, Informal Systems (Sardex)

• Goran Jeras, European Ethical Bank Initiative (EEB)

• Jakub Lanc, South Moravia Development Agency (JINAG), University of Brno

• Isidor Wallimann, Social Economy Basel

• Stephan Dilschneider, Ecoloc

Can we create a sustainable financial system that works for the people and the planet? Hockett, professor at Cornell University in the U.S., has an optimistic but realistic answer: Yes, we can! And it has never been easier to make the transition than today. 

We are pleased to share an invitation to a thought-provoking online event featuring U.S. economist Prof. Robert C. Hockett from Cornell University.

The organizers invite you to explore a bold yet realistic vision for transforming money, banking, and financial markets to serve society rather than the financial sector. According to Hockett, our current financial system has become a “money-pump that encourages, aids, and abets destructive and wealth-concentrating speculation.” But there is hope — and the opportunity for change has never been greater.

🔗 More information and registration here:
https://monreform.org/webinar-hockett

📅 Date: Wednesday, 23 April 2025

🕖 Time:

Lecture & Panel Discussion: 19:00–20:30 CEST (1:00–2:30 PM EDT)

Q&A & Post-Event Talk: 20:30–21:00 CEST (2:30–3:00 PM EDT)

🌍 Language: English

💻 Where: Online (Zoom)

📝 Registration required – Zoom link will be emailed 1–2 hours before the event

In his new book Will Ruddick describes different forms of resource coordination.

His Field Guide begins by looking at how fungal networks and social systems naturally coordinate resources in ways that are symbiotic and resilient. Will Ruddick explored e.g. in Kenya how “pools of commitments” can replace or complement money, uniting people around shared purpose. He recognized that each of us holds seeds of abundance that only bloom when placed in a common-pool—an open space that thrives on reciprocity and trust. He wants his book to be not an answer, but an invitation – an invitation to explore new (and old) ways of coordinating resources, restoring trust, and creating economies that serve the well-being of all.

We would like to discuss questions with him like:

• How has his thinking evolved since launching the community currency Bangla Pesa to now implementing commitment pooling?
• Which role play protocols? And can they be shared trough digital ledger systems?
• What are the learnings for communities from grassroots economics?

The event will take place on Zoom. To participate, please register in advance by entering your name and email address in this form. The link to the event will then be sent to you automatically.

GOOD MONEY LAB 14

• Speaker: Michal Linton (The original designer of LETS. He initiated LETSytem in Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, Canada in 1983.)
• MC: Makoto Nishibe (Representative Director, Good Money Lab)
• Moderator: Kenta otani (Researcher, Good Money Lab)
• Date and time：11:00-13:00 on March 8th (Sat) 2025 (JST) / 18:00-20:00 on March 7th (Fri) 2025 (PST)

Mehr Informationen und der Link zur Anmeldung finden Sie hier.

The interdisciplinary summer university (5 ECTS) focuses on alternatives to the economic status quo: International participants deal with limits of growth, as well as the instabilities of our financial system and learn why a drastic system change is necessary to stabilize the world climate. The program offers a holistic approach, with the participants learning about many possible alternatives and reform proposals: heterodox economics, ethical banking, degrowth, sovereign money and more!

Flyer 2025

AEMS is an academic summer university program with a global following and held in English.

Since 2014, the program counts more than 490 alumni of 81 nationalities.

The program will take place again in Vienna from 14 July to 01 August 2025!

Applications are open! – More information and application form can be found here.

Target group

The program is open to students and professionals from all fields who strive to create a more just and green future. Are you looking for a unique educational program with a holistic approach to the topic?

There is also a limited number of scholarship spots available – application deadline for scholarships: 30 April 2025