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How to Curtail Globalization - By Localization - The Solution IsCooperativesby Garda Ghista (edited by Dieter Dambiec)Economic propaganda in textbooks tells you there are only two forms -capitalism and socialism/communism. However, this is blind thinking.All major political parties have succumbed to this blind thinking aswell and even many progressive parties fail to recognise, as yet, theco-operative economy. This failure merely supports the globalisationtrend. Indeed such a failure falsely confirms that democracy is onlypolitical in nature and ignores the notion of economic democracy as thereal democracy. Political democracy has become a farce - mobocracy.Democracy is defined as "government of the people, by the people andfor the people" But in fact it is the rule of the majority. Today'sdemocracy means "mobocracy" because the government in a democraticstructure is guided by mob psychology. The majority of the society arefooled and succumb to fear tactics and insecurity; wise people are in aminority. There is no self-empowerment. Democracy falls into"foolocracy". In all walks of present-day life, the dark shadows of immorality are hampering human progress. The annals of humancivilization say that the downfall of a particular government becomesinevitable if it goes against the collective interests of themiddle-class people. Globalization goes against the collectiveinterest.Is there any solution to globalisation? Is there any alternative? Isthere any way to stop its growth? The key point is that we need toreplace globalisation with localization . We need to re/build aneconomic system whose hallmark is regional self-sufficiency created byco-operative industries in which people are owners. It will no longer be one employer and under him the employees - kept subordinate andsubservient. Based on localization, on localized economies, newinternational labour laws can be created for the benefit of all people.In co-operatives people will be able to work for living wages, andthey will get their equal and fair share of surplus funds at the end of every year or relevant period. They will no longer be slaves to awealthy man. They will themselves be owners. That is the definition of cooperative. All members are also the owners of the business. Allmembers share in the work and the labour, and all members share in theprofits. They together decide how much of surplus funds to return tothe members and how much to invest in expanding the business.Cooperatives work very simply, and they can help women to escape frompoverty.Cooperatives mean humane democratic production. We need to "encouragethe spontaneous development of democratic coops and create 'productivespace' in which to start to build a democratic economy. The Internetcan be used to help facilitate the democratic market."1While strong management is essential for the success of cooperatives,at the same time members must take care to avoid class-based divisionsin order to have equitable democracy work. This can be done by keeping
 
wages within a reasonable range and an efficient economy would makethis gradually come close together. One has to be very careful thatthe managerial class in a coop does not begin to take it over - thusnullifying it as a democratic economic entity. As far as possible,cooperatives need to interact and do business with other cooperatives,and continually minimize business interactions with capitalistcorporations. The work of starting cooperatives, of starting grassrootseconomies, of unions - it is all related. The three groups should forma coalition and join the global anti-capitalist movement, to realizeegalitarian and participatory values, and to move in the direction of cooperatives, realizing that escaping capitalism is the key to physicaland financial liberation.History of CooperativesIn the book We Own It, the authors tell us on p. 15 that in 1844weavers in Rochdale, England came together and wrote up the "Principlesof Cooperation".2 These principles later became known as the"Principles of the International Cooperative Alliance",3 and they formthe guidelines of cooperatives even today. However, it is sure that'cooperatives' existed long before the weavers of Rochdale, England. Inthe book Race, Gender and Work by Amott and Matthaei, it states clearlythat the native American Indians used a cooperative agricultural systemuntil the white men came and introduced capitalism, factories andsubsistence wages.4 During the last Great Depression of the 1920s and1930s, cooperatives sprang up all over America and Europe. However,after the Second World War was over, cooperatives diminished. It wasrelated to the new economic affluence - the new boom economy.Then came the sixties and the seventies - those were the decades of thefamous American civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.Quietly, behind the scenes, the same people with the same idealism werebuilding alternative institutions: food cooperatives, housingcooperatives, communes, and so forth. The spirit of the sixties livedon through those coops. Volunteers abounded and worked their hearts outto create new cooperatives. In the year 2002, poverty returned and isrising. Today western countries are once again faced with risingunemployment. In 2001 more than one million people in America losttheir jobs. Europe is following fast on American heels. Hence, manygovernments are actively supporting the cooperative venture as a way tolessen unemployment. But unless there is a wholesale change in thenotion of structuring the economy, such support will not be longlasting.Perhaps the most famous cooperative outside of America is Mondragon, inthe Basque area of Spain. It began in the 1940s and by 1990 it employed60% of the area's workforce. It is also fascinating to note that thelarge NGO (non-governmental organization) in the world is theInternational Cooperative Alliance (ICA). It represents 237 nationaland international organizations. Furthermore, the United Nationsrecently passed a resolution making the first Saturday of July as theInternational Day of Cooperatives.Cooperatives Working TodayThe subject of cooperatives is a vast topic. There are hundreds of 
 
thousands in existence worldwide, and each with their own particular structure, as described by their Articles, Constitution or By-Laws.There are presently more than 50,000 cooperatives in America. The mostvisible are food and other retail cooperatives, housing cooperativesand day care centers. In addition there are agricultural cooperatives.Some of the largest businesses in America are cooperatives.Three examples are Sunkist, Ocean Spray and Land O'Lakes. A fourthexample is Yellow Cab Company. Little Professor Book Centers are achain of over 100 bookstores also run as a cooperative. The Solar Center in San Francisco is still another successful cooperative inexistence since the seventies. According to Bruce Dyer of ProutistUniversal in New Zealand, "co-ops control 99% of Sweden's dairyproduction, 95% of Japan's rice harvest, 75% of western Canada's grainand oil seed output and 60% of Italy's wine production. Some of themajor commercial banks in Europe are cooperatively owned or organized,including such giants as Germany's DG Bank, Holland's Rabobank andFrance's Credit Agricole. Almost 100% of Japan' s fishermen areorganized in cooperatives."5 However, these co-operatives mustfunction in a capitalist world. So what we witness is economicallyefficient co-operatives amidst economically inefficient capitalistfirms (many of whom survive under the corporate dole which includessubsidies, etc). This makes it even more difficult for co-operativesto survive.The cooperative spirit is defined in 'We Own It' as "a spirit of cooperation, of sharing, of working with and being open to other people".6 This spirit is very much alive and growing. But, cooperativesare also much more than that. All cooperatives are businesses. They areeconomic enterprises. The coops likely to be the most successful arethose that acknowledge this fact, that set up a formal businessstructure, that put in writing a list of by-laws for thecooperative/company, whose members educate themselves regardingmanagement, economics and laws in relation to different businessset-ups, and follow good business management and marketing proceduresused by all successful businesses. People who start up a cooperative ina very idealistic manner without putting due emphasis on thepracticalities of solid business operations, knowledge of laws, etc aresetting themselves up for difficulties if not failure. These aspectsare just as important for a cooperative as they are for any other business to be financially successful or at least viable.The ways in which cooperatives can be set up are innumerable. Sometimesone person may start up their own businesses. Then, as s/he hiresemployees, they may find that it is preferable to work as a collectiveor with cooperative effort and system. The business changes from a soleproprietorship over to a cooperative. One of the Principles of theInternational Cooperative Alliance states that "the economic resultsarising out of the operations of a society belong to the members of thesociety and should be distributed [such that no one member gains at theexpense of others.] This may be done by:(a) provision for development of the business of a cooperative;(b) provision of common services; or (c) distribution among members in proportion to their transactions withthe society".
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