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BCBM-Building Our Own Positive Alternative Tired but happy GEO writer Bob Stone (below) on April 16, 2000, peak of the Washington pro-tests, having launched a new movement: BUY CO-OP, BOYCOTT MULTI-NATIONALS (BCBM). After a day publicizing GEO's forthcoming Resource Directory, and of handing out order forms for it, Bob filed this report:
Order forms and sample GEO´s were sucked up in the first 4 hours by the estimated 10,000 protesters demanding the International Monetary Fund and World Bank be shut down. After running out I took down names and addresses. Protesters received BCBM warmly. By imposing austerity on borrowers, the IMF/World Bank eases penetration of their economies by exploitative multi-national corporations. This is great! One marcher said, Boycotters like me can now have a positive alternative. Some folks called out: I´m already in a food co-op. I replied: How about your clothing, books, electricity, telephone, and banking needs -co-ops can get your consumer dollar out of the exploitative economy there too. That stopped many, who took order forms. Of course the shift to the non-exploitative cooperative economy is in its infancy, but hey, so was the anti-chattel slavery movement in 1800. An older gentleman, pondering BCBM, remarked: That would take a moral commitment. True. But if, given real alternatives, conscientious consumers actually do Buy Co-op, they´ll also get lower prices. Fair Trade, a natural BCBM partner, links North American consumers to enterprises in the developing world that protect labor rights and the environment. The Fair Trade Resource Network had a big booth. A board member, enthusiastic about BCBM, referred me to their director. Should we build a BCBM movement? How? The Washington and Seattle demos uncovered pent-up demand for goods produced non-exploitatively. Co-operatives, the alternative, could directly benefit. Are we ready to expand to a cooperative sector, to a cooperative economy? GEO´s resource directory, An Economics of Hope, points out the path. With this start we can make history. Permission not for commercial or for-profit use. ©2001 GEO, P.O. Box 115, Riverdale, MD 20738-0115 http://www.geo.coop
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