Comments on: Localism http://www.beatnic.co.uk/2005/01/25/localism/ Observations and questions from Nic Price Tue, 6 Jan 2009 01:58:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Alex Singleton http://www.beatnic.co.uk/2005/01/25/localism/#comment-27 Alex Singleton Sat, 05 Feb 2005 17:47:34 +0000 http://www.beatnic.co.uk/?p=4#comment-27 Well 'localism' gets advocated in at least a couple of main ways. In a political context, some argue that government power should be decentralized, and that more decisions should be taken on a local level. There's certainly a case for this. When used in an economic concept, it is commonly voiced by some anti-capitalists people should only buy locally. But there is a lot of such localism in sub-saharan Africa, and it traps people in poverty. A British man wanting to build a house himself can buy industrially-produced bricks, screws, glass, cement etc. Localism forces many Africans to get mud and dry it in the sun to make bricks. To put it simply, economic localism makes people worse off. Well ‘localism’ gets advocated in at least a couple of main ways. In a political context, some argue that government power should be decentralized, and that more decisions should be taken on a local level. There’s certainly a case for this.

When used in an economic concept, it is commonly voiced by some anti-capitalists people should only buy locally. But there is a lot of such localism in sub-saharan Africa, and it traps people in poverty. A British man wanting to build a house himself can buy industrially-produced bricks, screws, glass, cement etc. Localism forces many Africans to get mud and dry it in the sun to make bricks. To put it simply, economic localism makes people worse off.

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