(1) Where were you born, where do you now live, what has been your main schooling, employment, family life, etc.? In short, introduce yourself personally.
My name is Chantal Santerre and I was born in Montreal, Québec in Canada. I am the fourth girls of a working class family. I’m a chartered accountant, which is the equivalent of a CPA in USA. I’m an administration teacher at College level. I have two daughters named Marie et Camille. They are 14 and 11 years old.
(2) What have been your main political involvement in the past? Are you involved with particular movements, projects, or organizations now? If so, which? What features would an International Political Organization have to embody to attract you? What features would repel you? In short, introduce yourself politically.
I published with others a study that proposed other ways of taxation to promote equity and to increase government income. I’m also an accountant for different popular groups.
I organize local and international projects (in South America) with my students to develop their social implication.
(3) Imagine you are giving a public talk The question and answer period arrives. Someone says, "I know you are against capitalism, anti-racist, and anti-sexist. I know you believe in participation, want solidarity, require sustainability, and seek justice. Me too. But in a real world society, what institutions do you seek so as to fulfill those aims? What are your structural goals?" How do you answer? In short, explore a bit in the directions ZSVS seeks to emphasize.
I seek institution that will promote mutual aid. I think that we should have institution, like those proposed in Participatory Economics that would permit to accomplish in conformity with dearly held values the basic of what an economy has to do. And that will give more liberty to everybody to take care of the others spheres of the life.
(4) What do you hope to get out of ZSVS, personally, for your self and for your work? For us all, what do you think will most likely come out of ZSVS? Also, what do you hope, in your most optimistic moment, will come out of it? In short, affect what we all plan and undertake and the tone we do it with.
I will like that we find ways for promoting participatory economics. If we want to change things we must prepare the people. We have to start by educating the people, let them know what is participatory economics is, that is viable and that it reflects what they are for. But to do that we have to find ways to include the people to get their interest and this is what is the more difficult. All the people that are already engage in different popular group will be the easiest part. It is the others, those who a lot of the leftist fail to engage them, because they ask them to change all their lifestyle, it is those who I think if we can teach them what is participatory economics, we will make a big gain. I would like that we find actions that we can do to accomplish this.
