Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
What we should seek to understand about co-operatives,
Co-operation and peace
byIan MacPherson
Emeritus Professor of HistoryUniversity of Victoria
2
A challenge…. As you listen, perhaps you can think of a co-operative (co-operative
movement, co-operator) making a significant contribution to peace
In a sense, most co-operatives do to some extent whenever they are inclusive and responsive to their communities
Particularly looking for examples of co-ops that bring together groups seriously divided by history, ethnicity, politics, religion, etc.
Consider how contributing to more peaceful societies is an important aspect of the broad impact co-operatives can have
What are we talking about?
The primary focus is not war, though co-ops can play an important role in war situations: mobilizing consumer goods fairly, distributing them more equitably, avoiding hoarding, mobilizing after conflicts (CARE), bridging differences after conflicts
Mostly considering co-ops that deal with social tensions and pressure that often become the underlying causes of war: found in many communities to varying degrees
Rarely, though, the most obvious reason why a given co-op is formed
Co-ops emerge for two broad reasons1. Search for economic opportunity (production and consumption)
or better services…co-operative entrepreneurship2. Responses to tensions/problems derived from class, ethnic, religious, gender,
economic, and ideological differences
The general patternsCo-operatives have developed primarily within the following contexts
the industrialisation of the world within a market economy stretching back over two centuries;
co-operatives within imperial frameworks
co-operatives amid the grand ideological struggles
co-operatives and independence/development
the restructuring of the global economy currently underway.
Co-operatives have been affected by these major shifts and to a significant extent can only be understood by recognizing that fact. They are integral parts of the major shifts in the human experience, not just isolated responses. They are participants and they are survivors. However, one should not conclude that the highlighted developments constitute a full explanation for co-operative development.
Some co-operative contributions Focus on specific deeply-felt needs: healing through practice
Bridging differences
Encouraging social inclusion
Offering democratic ways to surmount tensions
Encouraging new leadership
Mobilizing social capital
Empowering more people to contribute (e.g., women, youth, weak)
Co-operatives in their everyday activities, by what they do and how they operate, contribute to the creation of more peaceful communities and societies.
This capacity to contribute to a more peaceful world has never been more important than today. Perhaps at no other time have co-operative movements had a greater opportunity to help create a more peaceful world.
In the past, wars generally began at the nation state level; today they are as likely to emerge from communities. Co-operatives are basic instruments for community wellness and identity.
Industrialisation
Co-operatives and industrialisationClassic way to understand rise of many movements
Responses to turmoil caused by industrialism: industrialisation seldom a benign or peaceful process
Class warfare
Civil discord, even revolution
Workplace issues
Urban stress: food, housing, financial security
Rural change: growing market economy, technological change, rural social issues
Complexities of migrations and mingling of peoples
These disruptive circumstances were the sources for much co-operative activity. They still are. Co-ops have often emerged because of much social unrest. We should not sanitize our history.
Co-operative responses to the discord of industrialisation
Application of democracy to economy
Different ways to distribute economic benefits
Community benefits
Unleashing of community-based entrepreneurial activity
Strengthening the weaker
Addressing particularly consumer, financial, rural and workplace issues
All of these contributions help create more peaceful societies. To what extent did they bridge differences? How were they actualized? How did people who traditionally were divided by differences learn to work together? We need specific case studies and examinations of process and structure.
13
One may debate where industrialisation ends, or even if it has, but the similarities between the underlying conditions of industrialism in the past and the major changes of today are striking:
multifaceted transitions within manufacturing systems
global movement of finance
new sources and applications of energy
the changing face of work
changing geographic distribution of economic power, and
changing attitudes of the state
We are not just engaging in an historical exercise.
Co-operatives and ideological struggles The titanic struggle for many decades from the later nineteenth century onward:
Liberal democratic, social democratic, anarchist, Marxist and fascist struggles
Co-operatives always had to live beneath those struggles, even though it might be argued that the movement offered an alternative to all of them
Inadequately elaborated and divided co-operative intellectual heritage
Existed within all the countries shaped by the great ideologies, although significantly less so under fascist regimes
Sustained connections across ideological barriers
Tendencies towards pacifism
Demonstrated need for autonomy: key to effectiveness in bridging differences
Survival and connections, however tenuous, however strained: what price?
Ideologies
16
ProudhonGramsci
Marx
Kropotkin
Mill
Paris, 1848The Paris Commune, 1871
Co-operatives within imperial frameworks By its nature, the development of empires creates social, economic and
political dislocation
Often punctuated by wars and coercion
Co-operatives often developed as part of economic programmes of imperial powers –but there were also altruistic motives
Way of stimulating market based global activities, especially in staples and capital accumulation
Complex issue of relations with traditional patterns of co-operation
Impact, tensions and contributions of settler co-operatives
Coming to terms with imperial/colonial diversity
Examining the imperial legacies1. Helped overcome some traditional differences
2. Linkages between producer and consumer groups
3. Provided a measure of stable incomes
4. Helped develop institutional democracy
But, what in retrospect was the imperial record? One can look at several countries (e.g., India, Ghana, South Africa) and see quite different results. Why the difference? How do we come to terms with the motivation of colonial administrators and the will to survive? To what extent were they able to be inclusive? What programmes made them more inclusive? Continuation of work to be found in Patrick Develtere, Igance Pollett and Frederick Wnayama Cooperating out of Poverty: The Renaissance of the African Cooperative Movement (Geneva: International Labour Organisation, 2008) and work being done by College et al in Africa today.
Co-operatives and independence movements
Independence was seldom achieved without considerable social dislocation and violence, sometimes war
Many co-operative had grown up within colonial frameworks, tied to the imperial centre but also significantly separated: managerial cadres and substantial employee groups drawn from colonial societies
Some (but highly variable) member involvement
Importance for such leaders as Nehru, Ghandi, Nyerere, Nkrumah, Burnham, Sukarno
But each leader, each country, had its own view as to what kinds of co-ops were necessary and how they should be developed
Each country dealing with shortages of infrastructure and resources
Many countries dealing with intense internal divisions – where and how did co-ops fit in?
Nkrumah NyerereNyerereBurnham
Nehru + Gandhi Sukarno
Development co-ops Independence-era co-ops tended to merge with co-ops developed through
development processes, starting in the 1960s: aid programmes, ngos, interest groups
Not easy to generalize because the countries, types of co-ops, and the purposes for which they were created varied so much
What is the record of development agencies in creating co-ops across differences?
What were the results of efforts at more complete inclusion?
How disinterested were the development NGOs?
How effective are co-ops in dealing with the deep social issues that they try to address: HIV/AIDS, detention camps, rural transition
The complexities of the postindustrial world
Inequalities of incomes
Workplace insecurities
Power of capital and financial control
Community disruptions
Migrations of people
Food issues
Internationalisation and its economic/political dimensions
Weakness of community/personal control = democratic deficit
Current restructuringSome selected trends:
the search for better food at reasonable prices
the search for better environmental practice;
the search for a more complete democracy;
The establishment of fairer financial rewards;
the quest for more employment opportunities for young people;
the deepening of religious and cultural differences;
the search for a new and better ethical basis for economic and social activities; and
the debates over the appropriate roles of the state.
Each of these, or combinations of them, can create extensive social unrest. There are co-operative responses to each of these potential (and already intensifying) trends
The needs to know…. How have specific co-operatives functioned effectively amid different kinds
of societal unrest and war?
What are the best examples of co-ops that have drawn together people otherwise seriously divided? What, if anything, did they do to bridge the differences? What were the implications for governance? Which kinds of engagement activities worked best?
What kinds of co-operatives seem to be the most useful?
How can people involved in the most obvious violent or disrupted societies learn about co-operatives so they can develop them practically and without impossible expectations?
How can the development of co-operatives become part of the peace-making process?
What can we learn from the ICA’s historic general commitments to peace?
How to bridge established and new co-ops
How to proceed? Sustained focus
Development of resource base
Points of contacts with development community and governments interested in encouraging co-operatives within seriously divided communities?
Consider systematically the best dispute resolution techniques
Organize funding applications
Prepare sessions at various conferences on the theme of “co-operatives and peace”
Prepare teaching/training packages on the theme
Document examples of efforts within co-operatives to ensure the inclusion of groups not previously well represented
THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY asserts its support for the
establishment and development of the
Cooperative Institute for the Promotion of
Peace and Social Cohesion at a location or
locations to be determined. The Institute
would be advised by a committee chosen in
consultation with the ICA Director General or
designate. It would be developed on a three-year trial basis with the support
of US$60,000 from interested co-operative
organisations for each of the three years. The Institute would be
expected to raise funds from foundations,
research councils, and co-operative organisations on a project-by-project basis.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY looks to the Institute to serve both as
a framework for the development of programs of cooperative activity in
these areas and as a focal point for thinking, analysis and research about them.
The Institute will operate within the framework of
the policies, principles and decisions of the ICA and will report periodically to the ICA Board and to the
General Assembly.THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY calls on the institutions of the ICA and
on the cooperative movements, organizations
and institutions throughout the world to
work closely with the Institute in developing its frame of activity and to
give it all possible support in its undertakings.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY emphasizes
the importance of cooperative peace-building and social
cohesion strengthening activities in building a better world. It urges
national and international institutions working
towards these goals to do so in partnership with the
ICA, the cooperative movement and the
Cooperative Institute for Peace and Social
Cohesion.
The Co-operative Institute for the Promotion of Peace and Social Cohesion.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY asserts its support for the establishment and development of the Cooperative Institute for the Promotion of Peace and Social Cohesion.
Location to be decided.
Three year trial basis. The Institute will operate within the framework of the policies, principles and decisions of the ICA and will report periodically to the ICA Board and to the General Assembly.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY emphasizes the importance of cooperative peace-building and social cohesion strengthening activities in building a better world. It urges national and international institutions working towards these goals to do so in partnership with the ICA, the cooperative movement and the Cooperative Institute for Peace and Social Cohesion.
The institute Sustained focus
Development of resource base
Points of contacts with development community and governments interested in encouraging co-operatives within seriously divided communities?
Consider systematically the best dispute resolution techniques
Organize funding applications
Prepare sessions at various conferences on the theme of “co-operatives and peace”
Prepare teaching/training packages on the theme
Document examples of efforts within co-operatives to ensure the inclusion of groups not previously well represented
What would it look like? Small secretarial and administrative structure, not an empire: help for computing
andtranslation; secretarial services on demand
Chief roles: catalyst for activities; seeker of funds (foundations, research organisations, co-ops.
Advisory board developed with ICA involvement; meetings arranged to coincide with other gatherings and (primarily) electronically
Regional engagement
Emphasis on involving people interested in the theme on a volunteer basis
Emphasis on distributed activities: network of interested persons and organisations
Importance of electronic communications: essentially a virtual research/engagement project
Please help show a key difference
Be in touch if the idea interests you and you can help
Thank you!!!!
