‽istis reclaims the Fourth of July and another way? (weekending July 4th 2020)
This Fourth of July ‽stis will not celebrate
Independence Day (of the US variety or the ‘so-called’ Brexit variety) but will
appreciate the apparent irony of the UN International Day of Co-operatives[i] - an annual celebration of
the co-operative movement - falling on July 4th. The first such day,
in 1995, marked the centenary of the setting up of the International Cooperative
Alliance[ii] perhaps one of the few
international organisations to survive both world wars and the 1918 flu
pandemic.
‽ A cooperative is ‘an autonomous association of
persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural
needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled
enterprise.’[iii]
‽ ‘Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.’ (ibid)
‽ Cooperatives employ 280 million people across the globe (10% of the world’s employed population)[iv]
And ‽stis wondered whether this might just
perhaps, possibly, maybe provide another way:
‽ people-centred not capital-centred
‽ community-based, committed to the sustainable development of local
communities
‽ voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use
their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without
gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination
Another model possibly to counter the apparent hegemonic
power of totalitarianism; the apparent ‘winner takes all’ tyranny-of-a-majority
approach to democracy as 50%+1; the apparent imbalances of power and lack of checks
on some world leaders; the extreme/obscene (delete as appropriate) levels of inequality
that mean that apparently ‘the world's richest 1% have more than twice as much
wealth as 6.9 billion people.’[v]
And ‽stis gives thanks that many in the past have imagined and sought to realise how different the world could be - and issues a challenge to Presidents, Prime Ministers and ‘the 1%’ this fourth of July: you might like to consider downloading (or at least requesting a briefing and then reading it) the International Co-operative Alliance’s ‘Guidance Notes to the Co-operative Principles’ 2015 (https://www.ica.coop/sites/default/files/publication-files/ica-guidance-notes-en-310629900.pdf)?
Could we do any worse;?
Go on – what have you
got to lose?
Oh hang on...
Now ‽stis perhaps, possibly, maybe understands any reluctance...
© Pistis
NB: further reflections linked to this week’s theme
and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily
indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders
