22. Kolozsvári Autonóm Piac (KAP)

The Autonomous Market of Cluj – Manifesto

We live in a world that is richer than ever, still, over 840 million people are starving. We live in a world where 15 countries spend together over 1338 billion € on weapons and wars, while over 100 million people have no roof over their heads. All the wealth generated by our work is being monopolized by the same people that created the global economic crisis, crisis that lead to unemployment, meagerness and real enslavement by the international crediting institutions.

The current system does not fit the majority’s needs, and such a system that works against the foremost/basic need of cooperation between people is a failing system. A world whose ideal is material accumulation and class separation based on the amount in your bank account, can only offer false hopes towards choice and development.

Consumerism is nothing but an illusion; a marketing strategy designed by few to take advantage of the many giving the latter the feeling that they have a choice, that freedom to purchase equals individual liberty. The result is a competitive world, where accumulation of capital is the supreme goal, where people are numbers and the relationships amongst them resume to strategies for taking advantage of each other.

We were thought there were no alternatives and that our destiny is to be consumers and nothing more, that a healthy economy equals a healthy world and that our goal is to sustain an economic and financial infrastructure that doesn’t benefit us, just because maybe one day we might find ourselves reaching the top of the hierarchy. But are there equality of chances for real? What happens when someone is born poor, or without access to education?

Any community should be founded on cooperation, dignity, peace and respect, while choice should mean more than only “What will I be consuming today?” or “Who will I sell my time to?”, choice should mean the liberty of working on whatever makes you feel good and fulfilled. A thriving community free of poverty, free of  hunger and hate, a place where what you own is a synonym  with who you are, where helping each other is not an act of altruism but a common practice.

Because a strong community can only be built through mutual help, solidarity and kindness. Because money doesn’t bring happiness, but human ties, friendship and cooperation do. Because materialism and consumerism are not the answers to our problems. Because of this, we kindly invite you to participate to The Autonomous Market of Cluj (AMC), to take part in a community that says NO to money and excessive consumption of objects we don’t need, while meeting new people and making new friends.

The Autonomous Market of Cluj functions on the „gift economy” principle, which states that goods and services are offered without an explicit agreement or expectations of a reward. Ideally, these exchanges already take place voluntarily in a community and they help on building up social relationships. Not everything is resumed to obtaining a social advantage or profit, the majority of exchanges in a society work outside the market economy, and are based on goodwill and cooperation. Thus, our goal is to meet up every month under the name of the Autonomous Market of Cluj in order to create a money free and social division free SPACE. Here, we will have free workshops, free goods and services and we will be enjoying a warm meal together under the aegis “Food not Bombs”.