2012 Declared International Year of the Co-op
by the United Nations!
Events and celebrations planned by Co-ops here in the Bay Area and around the world!
- Kathy Labriola
The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution declaring 2012 the International Year of Cooperatives. The resolution urges governments to collaborate with the cooperative movement in order to promote housing co-ops, worker-owned businesses, consumer co-ops, and agricultural co-ops. The UN Declaration identifies cooperatives as a key strategy to help eradicate poverty, provide affordable housing, increase food production, provide other urgently needed products and services, and create good jobs with benefits.
What is a co-op? A cooperative is a member-owned and democratically controlled enterprise or business that operates for the benefit of its members. Housing co-ops are owned by the residents, providing affordable home ownership and resident control. Worker co-ops are owned and run by their workers, with no boss or shareholders to make profits off workers' labor. Consumer co-ops, such as natural food stores and credit unions, are owned by the members, who often elect a Board to manage the business. Agricultural co-ops, such as fruit or dairy cooperatives, are made up of farmers who work together and use the power of their numbers to get a fair price for their product through economies of scale for joint purchasing, marketing, etc.
Cooperatives present a direct challenge to traditional market capitalism. How? They are living proof that workers don't need a boss in order to have a successful business and provide good jobs; residents don't need a landlord to create housing; farmers don't need corporate agribusiness and the “free market” to produce and distribute food efficiently, and consumers don't need mega-conglomerates or big banks in order to manufacture products, provide services, and manage their money. Co-ops demonstrate every day that cooperation works, and that competition is not necessary or natural. Cooperatives are a strong model for both self-help and societal transformation. Cooperatives empower working people and lower-income people, by giving workers control of the means of production, residents control over their housing, farmers control over food production, and consumers control of needed products and services. Cooperatives take the leftist slogans, “Another world is possible” and “Be the change you want to see in the world,” to the next level by creating decentralized democracy here and now.
Most Americans are not aware that cooperatives exist, because they have kept a low profile and because we are brainwashed to believe that competition, rather than working together, is the only way to run an economy. However, in recent years co-ops have grown dramatically at the same time that so many traditional businesses are going under due to the failure of the capitalist economic system. Over 30,000 cooperatives are currently flourishing in the US, with over 73,000 places of business, as some cooperatives have more than one branch, restaurant, bank, store, etc. These co-ops have over 130 million members, generating $653 million in revenue, creating more than two million jobs.
For instance, there are now 800 electricity cooperatives in the US, organized into the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, producing electricity and promoting renewable energy sources. There are over 300 food co-ops, and most are members of the National Cooperative Grocers Association. Ninety-two million American consumers are member-owners of the nation’s 7,790 credit unions. In 2011 alone, over 650,000 people closed their accounts in big banks and moved their money to credit unions. New York City has over one million people who belong to a co-op.
The state of Washington has over 700 co-ops, from health-care co-ops to food co-ops to cleaning co-ops and farmer co-ops. Seattle launched the International Year of the Co-op early by hosting “Coopalooza” in October 2011, with over 2000 co-op members attending!
Lots of exciting projects and events are planned for the International Year of the Co-op. The sheer volume of events can be overwhelming, but the best places to find the most comprehensive information is at the websites of the International Cooperative Alliance. The International Cooperative Alliance is taking the lead in organizing and coordinating many activities around the world. On their new website, they have a new story every day of this year featuring a different co-op, called Cooperatives from every sector and every nation are being encouraged to submit their stories, to show the diversity, the depth and breadth of the cooperative movement and its world-wide impact.
A particularly ambitious project is a cross-country bicycle tour promoting co-ops, called Co-Cycle. This tour of bicycling co-op members will stop in many cities across the USA, with events highlighting the co-ops in each area it passes through. “My Co-op Rocks” is another innovative IRC project, a contest where co-op members enter their home-made videos about why they believe in co-ops and what is unique about their co-op ( And Celebrity chef Kevin Gillepsie, a Top Chef contender on The Bravo Network, is starring in 13 video programs using cooking lessons to educate the public about the benefits of cooperatives, called “Lights! Cameras! Co-ops!”( more info).
Australia is taking the IYC very seriously, actually minting a special co-op coin and producing a co-op stamp. England is believed to be the birthplace of co-ops with the Rochedale Weavers' Co-op being the first know cooperative business founded in 1844. A feature film about the weavers and their “invention” of the co-op is about to be released this year to coincide with IYC (produced by the Cooperative Group, see
The San Francisco Bay Area is a stronghold of cooperatives of all types, especially housing cooperatives and worker-owned businesses.
Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NOBAWC, pronounced “No Boss”) represents thriving worker-owned cooperatives ranging from Nabolom Bakery to Pedal Express bike delivery service to Rainbow Grocery Co-op to Inkworks printing collective to wood-working co-ops to the Lusty Lady strip club (yes, the dancers are unionized and are all owners of the business). In fact, some of NOBAWC businesses have been so successful that they have recruited additional workers and “cloned” themselves by creating spin-off businesses, such as the ever-growing number of Arizmendi bakeries on all sides of the Bay.
The California Center for Cooperative Development (CCCD) will be holding a two-day co-op conference in Oakland May 4 to 5th, primarily focused on worker co-ops. CCCD is also organizing a lobby day at the State Capitol in Sacramento to educate lawmakers and encourage the development of new co-ops.
Housing cooperatives have flourished in the Bay Area for over 40 years, from small independent co-ops of 5 units to huge co-ops with over 400 units. The East Bay Cooperative Housing Coalition is planning a series of events to bring more attention to housing co-ops as an important component of affordable housing. The current economic meltdown has caused many people to lose their homes and even apartment buildings through foreclosures, housing co-ops are stable and thriving. The current real estate crisis was created by predatory lending, and by the big banks and the derivatives scam. Since housing co-ops are by definition removed from the speculative real estate market, their value has not been inflated, so they are not vulnerable to market fluctuations.
International Year of the Co-op provides an opportunity to demonstrate how co-ops provide affordable home ownership for working people who otherwise could not afford to buy homes, particularly in the grossly overpriced Bay Area. The coalition is planning a Housing Co-op Tour in Berkeley in May, which will showcase several successful housing co-ops as part of Affordable Housing Week. And members of housing co-ops are currently developing a co-op flag, with the intention of having each housing co-op in the Bay Area fly the co-op flag throughout IYC. There are 10 housing co-ops in Berkeley alone, but most neighbors are not even aware of the existence of these co-ops right down the street from them. Flying the co-op flags can educate the public about co-ops. In addition, there are plans to ask the City of Berkeley to fly banners on public streets and at City Hall announcing International Year of the Cooperative, and to lobby for the development of more co-ops. A new website connecting residents of different housing co-ops has been developed to educate people and to strengthen the power of co-ops (coopnetwork.net or bayareaclt.org for more info).
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