‘Parallel economy’ in this context does not imply any illegal activity – it is not a ‘black market’. It is rather South Islanders with a penchant for freedom choosing to spend their money in ways consistent with such a mindset. In a word, it is South Islanders choosing to vote with their wallets.

While we are continually urged to spend our money with giant predatory corporations, who promise us ‘ease and convenience’ in the short term — though, as we’ve seen since the ’80s, with long-term consequences to our societies and values which are anything but easy and convenient to deal with — many South Islanders are starting to see the merit in shopping with locally-owned, small-and-medium-sized businesses whose proprietors share their values and outlook. In this way, our economic activity serves to build up our communities and promote things we care about, such as personal freedoms, self-reliance and rugged individualism, rather than surreptitiously undermine them.

A simple idea, yet it sounds far-out by today’s standards, that it is possible to buy and sell and in general to run our economy in a way that supports local interests and the South Island way of life, rather than putting it in jeopardy through short-term obsession with ‘ease and convenience’ — this is the concept behind the South Island parallel economy. It is putting this idea into action.