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Markets predate capitalism. However, in a world where a preponderance of artefacts of consumption are constantly around us, and we are told repeatedly that there is no alternative, this idea does not seem so obvious anymore. The overreliance on market and financial capitalism is an intractable economic problem in many African countries where unemployment and underemployment remains stubbornly high. Cash-based systems and financialisation of essential serivces lock too many people out of the infrastructure that offer healthy, nutritional food and beverages.
Roland Ngam is the Project Manager for Climate Justice at the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – Southern Africa office.
One African city however, Togoville in Togo, offers a different path to managing exchanges between buyers and sellers. Togoville has a barter market that has been operating for over a century. Twice a week, on Saturdays and on Tuesdays, the sprawling market is a hive of activity as people exchange food items, goods and services without money ever changing hands. Barter rules here. The market started in precolonial times when riverine communities started holding barter days to exchange their catch for vegetables and grain produced by land-based gardeners and farmers. The entire process was overseen by the King of Togoville.
Now, as transactions transition more and more from hard currency to digital cash, Togoville’s barter system is still going strong. According to King Mlapa IV, the longevity and success of the barter market is down to the energy, warmth, care and concern that comes with people interacting with each other. He adds that the people love the market because it ensures that nobody goes to bed hungry. This ontology stand in sharp contrast to the cold, capitalist individualism that has taken hold in many societies. Through its barter market, Togoville shows that community-owned and democratically managed processes are viable alternatives to the systems that we have today.
