Registration for Collective REMAKE’s next Co-operative Education and Development series is now open to people who are directly impacted by incarceration and are navigating reentry. Family and loved ones are welcome.
Registration for Collective REMAKE’s next Co-operative Education and Development series is now open to people who are directly impacted by incarceration and are navigating reentry. Family and loved ones are welcome.
Collective REMAKE is supporting this campaign sponsored by Health Services, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership LARRP, and Christ Centered Ministries , CCM
It is critical to get the word out on Covid Safety at this time, as cases grow in numbers by thousands. Poor communities and communities of color will continue to suffer the most. This holiday we must agree to do things differently for the good of the whole.
Please share out to your community.
by Mary Sutton
GEO- Grassroots Economic Organization
In this exploratory case study, interviewed Tim Huet, co- founder of the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives ( modeled by the Mondragon cooperative from Basque, Spain), and Dr. Carol Prejeaon Zippert, co-foounder of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives.
The article presents an in-depth analysis of two successful cases, two inspirational leaders in the emerging world of cooperative development, and a beautiful poem written by Dr. Carol Zippert.
Thank you GEO for publishing it!
By Anca Voinea Co-op News 4 July 2020
Also See:The Association of Cooperative Educators, ACE, links researchers, trainers, developers and communicators interested in cooperatives and credit unions, primarily in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It operates in English, French and Spanish. Featured as part of the ACE Webinar Series Marginalized populations and crises: how to get out of reinforced marginalization through cooperation? “If the global Covid-19 pandemic puts society at risk, it nevertheless affects the most vulnerable, such as women, refugees, migrants or racialized people, much more violently, due to economic and social inequalities. How can cooperatives help marginalized individuals and groups and ensure their long-term empowerment?” (ACE)
With Jessica Gordon-Nembhard and Claudia Arroyo
A Time of Crisis: W. E. B. Dubois calls for a Co-operative Economy
In the September 1917 issue of The Crisis, W.E.B. Dubois, the founding editor, makes a call to the African American community to build a co-operative economy.* Dubois supported and promoted Cooperative Education and Development throughout his career. He often felt alone is his quest. His call was a response to a chain of events that took place the summer of 1917, and are recorded in the same issue.
On July 2, 1917, over 500 white people attacked the African American community in East Saint Louis, Illinois. They maimed, tortured, and killed men, women and children. They burned down the entire infrastructure of the community. W.E.B. Dubois and Martha Gruening went to East Saint Louis to cover the story in the aftermath of the devastation. The photographs and testimonials also published in The Crisis record the horrific violence, torture and total destruction wielded upon the African American community. The August 1917 issue, documents more details.
On July 28, 1917, over 1500 African American people held a silent march in New York City to stand up against the recent “race riots” in East Saint Louis, as well as other violent uprisings by white people in Waco, and Memphis. Dubois, was a participant in the march and was in awe at the numbers of people that came out to the peaceful protest. In his editorial he writes:
“Ten thousand of us marched the other day in New York City. Everbody said it could not be done. The ways were lined with rabbits, afraid even to walk for freedom, and yet, solemnly and simply, the Negroes of New York told the other citizens of New York their grief and resentment. That is but a little thing. We can do infinitely more. We can organize for industrial co-operation and we can begin with co-operation in distribution. In every large city where 10,000 or more Negroes live, the business of buying groceries, food, clothing and fuel can by a single determined effort, be put into the hands of colored people. This kind of distribution has been successful all over the world. Little is said about it because the leeches that have fattened on retail trade are too powerful with the newspapers. Distribution of the necessities of life, can be easily done with a tremendous saving to the people and the employment of colored men and women. The only thing necessary is for us to start; and to start we simply require that the same spirit of devotion and sacrifice, coupled with brains and training, that has sent young men and women to the ministry and the Y.M.C.A and Y.W.C.A work should be turned now among us Negroes and be put into business.
White people are not in business for their health. We should be in business for our health and for the health of the world”. W.E.B. Dubois, 1917
The topics in our cooperative education and development workshops include: Intro to cooperatives, worker-ownership, cooperative principles and values: democracy, equality, equity, self-reliance, and solidarity; “A Just Transition” moving from extractive economy to a caring economy (Movement Generation) ; practicing democracy; business modeling; business planning; legal aspects of starting a cooperative; finances for start-ups; & time banking.
We work with dozens of community partners who support our work and/or help to implement the cooperative education workshops including: Antioch University, Los Angeles; Arroyo S.E.C.O Network of Time Banks; Black Equity Initiative/JIB Fund; LA Coop LAB; Los Angeles Union Cooperative Initiative (LUCI); Brett Heeger, Attorney at Law; LA Eco Village; Niki Okuk, MBA; RideON! bike shop; Solidarity Research Center; Mariana Mendoza, MA Urban Sustainability; Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI); LA County Health Department; Timelist; Southern California Library; Five Points Youth Foundation; R. Jackson Bradford, Change Consultant, Social Innovator; RESIST Foundation; and more.
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Collective REMAKE’s goal is to build cooperatives from the ground up. Our strategy is based on successful models that prioritize cooperative education and development programming. Research on cooperative history demonstrates that ongoing cooperative education is the key to the success of democratic businesses and cooperatives enterprises. We are following the tradition of multiple cooperative leaders: Father Arizmendiarreti, founder of the Mondragon cooperatives in Spain; Fr. A. J. McKnight and Carol Prejean Zippert, founders of the Southern Consumers Cooperative, now the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF); and Tim Huet, founder of the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives. These are some of the most successful examples of contemporary cooperative movements built from the ground up. In each case, they started with the educational programming. McKnight created adult education classes in Lafayette Louisiana. The FSC/LAF now has a cooperative academy and development center that supports the expansion of cooperatives in multiple states. Arizmendiarreta opened a school that still exists today and is attended by people from around the world. Huet and partners built consistent education programs in the association for all members. Ongoing education on cooperative history, the practice of democracy, business structure, and the economy is a priority to create sustainable practices. |
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