Tokens Of Utopia

摘要

A kilo of ripe papaya from Oliva Un-amo's stall at the community market in Rio Chico, a small town in the coastal region of Barlovento, will cost you three cimarrones. For the same price, you could buy six sticks of sugarcane at the stall next door. But your cimarrones won't go far at the shops down the road.rnThe cimarron is one of at least ten alternative currencies in different parts of Venezuela. They have the blessing of Hugo Chavez, the country's left-wing president. They will help do away with capitalism and hence combat poverty, he says. But none of these tokens can be exchanged for the bolivar, the country's legal currency. Their use is limited to "prosumers"-you have to bring something to sell before you can actually buy anything with them. The markets where they circulate are modest affairs: at Rio Chico only a dozen or so products were on sale. But that is not the point.