I bet you haven't heard of the global movement that's demanding a democratic economy. The one that's unsatisfied with the corporate business model and the way banks dominate the system. The one that's been occupying the social change arena since 1844. They're the Co-Operative Movement.
From national associations, to a United Nations resolution, to a global database of co-ops whose total earnings rival Canada's GDP, the Co-op Movement demonstrates strong leadership and organized support. But despite this ability of co-operators to offer clear solutions and leadership (two areas where critics crap on Occupiers for sucking harder than an airplane toilet), the Co-op Movement admittedly falls short in one area where Occupy thrives: grabbing your attention.
"One of the problems co-ops face is their lack of visibility," says Donna Balkan, Communications Manager for the Canadian Co-operative Association. "The co-op business model is rarely taught in business schools or law faculties, and mainstream media rarely cover co-operatives as a distinct form of business."
That's not to say it's completely out of sight: Social entrepreneurship studies are infiltrating business schools from Simon Fraser University to Acadia University; studies show co-op survival rates far surpass that of conventional businesses; four out of every 10 Canadians are members of at least one co-op; co-op members make up about 70 per cent of the Quebec population; and thousands of people took part in Bank Transfer Day, which supported credit unions a.k.a. financial co-ops. The fact that you may unknowingly be involved in the co-op movement already underscores the visibility issue -- an issue that could be turned around if the Occupy Movement were to lend a hand.
And why would they do that, you ask?
"It's what they're yearning for, out there on the streets of the Occupy Movement," says Dame Pauline Green, president of the International Co-operative Alliance, in an interview with CBC radio, "...to have some active engagement in their community and in their economy. That's what they want."
Balkan agrees. She says Occupy protestors in Ottawa were so interested in the Co-op Movement that a co-worker who went down to distribute pamphlets was asked to give a full workshop on the co-operative business model, right there in the park.
Well, if you missed the impromptu workshop, here's a recap: The co-op model is an alternative to serving that single, profit-driven bottom line, the one that leads to the "centralization of capital in fewer and fewer people's hands," says Marty Frost, co-op developer and founding member with Devco, a co-op development and training firm. And "as a result, we relinquish control of economic, environmental and social issues that affect our communities," says Julie Mihalisin, a graduate of the Sustainable MBA program at Bainbridge who recently wrote a blog post for her alma mater on how innovative business models can offer solutions to the socio-economic imbalances at the root of Occupy Wall Street discontent.
How co-ops help restore that balance is by making every member an equal owner. This democratic 'one member, one vote' system sees profits distributed to members based on how much a member uses the co-op -- not in proportion to how many shares they own. Decisions are made democratically -- not by a minority with the share majority -- forcing the traditional profit-driven bottom-line to share a bed with social and environmental bottom lines (a ménage-a-triple-bottom-line, if you will - -rrraow).
And it's not just co-ops that flaunt a sexy alternative to the status quo. "There are also collectives, land trusts, and community-based enterprises... but what's important is that all these models are based on co-operation," says Dr. Ana Maria Peredo, director of the Centre for Co-operative and Community-Based Economy and a business professor at the University of Victoria. Peredo recently returned from New York City where she was a keynote speaker at the timely 2011 Conference on Social Entrepreneurship. Over the phone, Peredo tells me she was impressed with the degree of organization and democracy within the Occupy Wall Street protests and that she's "very optimistic. I feel that was the real university."
On the other hand, one less optimistic columnist called Occupy protestors a "virtuocracy" -- described as a group who are not just looking, but expecting to find jobs that make a difference in the world (the horror!). Narrow-minded columnists aside, if occupiers are searching for jobs with morals, they'll find them in co-ops. Co-ops adhere to seven governing beliefs (known as the seven co-operative principles) that include such 'virtuous' ideas as open and voluntary membership, education, training and information, and concern for community.
In fact, when the Canadian magazine Adbusters posted the original Occupy Wall Street tongue-twisting call to action "Democracy, not corporatocracy," it could easily have been mistaken for the fundamental co-op principle of democratic member control.
But it wasn't. Alas, the downside to this quietly confident, respected, 167-year-old movement is you won't see Mountain Equipment Co-op employees wielding tent poles as weapons, car-share co-op members being arrested for breaking into an auto dealership, or credit union directors vandalizing banks. And without such made-for-tabloid-TV moments, the Co-op Movement won't be cannon-blasted by the media into the public eye any time soon.
Balkan's hopeful that will change (well, minus the vigilante stuff). With the United Nations proclaiming 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives, she's optimistic that word will spread and the media and public will take notice.
But at the moment, Occupiers hold the media's fleeting attention. So, if you're an Occupy supporter and you feel co-op values align with your own, harness the positive side of all that negative media, grab the mother of all mirrors, and redirect some of the limelight onto a deserving cause that isn't getting any younger: the Co-op Movement.
Follow Emily Kennedy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kennedy_writes
Matthew P. Drennan: Income Inequality Is Bad Economics
http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/
Support Cooperative businesses
http://www.ncba.coop/ncba/home
even start them if you are in a position to....
It would be really amazing if there was a way to reproduce the success of Mondragon in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation
and have an entire region or large community embrace cooperative values.
I think I'd send these protestors home for the winter and ask them to come back in the spring with a plan of some kind. They certainly don't represent 99% of anything as far as most people are concerned.
Occupy is learning fast. I do believe they will come roaring back with many solutions that will turn the tides of the social well-being of all which will fuel a healthier economy.
With a general public disapproval rating around 63%, before Thursday 'shutdowns' surely this disapproval rating will increase...Deny all you want but those are the stats.
All America witnessed yesterday The Occupy NYC 99% Protest.
Cheered on by The President himself, who just weeks ago before, for the first time ever in American History, had publicly called for Class Warfare, and pitting Americans and groups, against other Americans and groups. These protest groups consisting of 20 year old idealistic youths, students, the many average Americans, fueled onward by Socialists, Communists, Powerful Unions such as SEIU, UAW, Teachers and Acorn, under various new names. Backed by George Soros and other special interests groups/affiliations, politically by the Democratic Party, and the Major Media.
All came together in blocking bridges, traffic and subways, impeding the 'Other Rights' of hundreds and thousands of other New Yorkers and others, trying to enter/leaves the city to make a living, seeking to feed their families and maintaining their homes, making medical appointments or simply go shopping. Placing the public in potential harms way for any emergency or medical, fires, or crimes that could arise at any time, and finally, adding enormously to the cost placed upon all the people that reside in New York City.
Regardless of what BHO meant, he did not publicly call for class warfare.
The Occupy movement spans all ages and includes many with greying hair.
Illegal wars, the oil industry, bad pharma, increase in pollution in the environment, the stock exchange casino and the diminishing middle class place the public in harm's way.
As upsidedownzebra has asked, how does this relate to co-op enterpreneurial ventures?
Taxes are already too high & sending more money will not solve anything. It will only give them more projectst to spend it on (turtle crossings, etc..) It's not how much we send, but how they actually spend it. Yeah you can complain about two wars, now three and going to occupy others. But with so much waste/fraud in government (Solindra just to name a current one) and the policies they promote and allow, all of us are suffering to some extent. This administration, by pitting the people against each other in order for political gain, is helping destroy this country. And the Dems have said "No" to more than the Reb's have. So with so much blame to go around, maybe they all should be replaced. "Throw the bums out!" ought to be the push for all Americans.