From feeding the world’s growing population to keeping local shops alive, co-operatives can provide solutions to problems at all levels. This was the message highlighted at many events at the 2014 International Summit of Cooperatives, alongside discussions on what needs to be done to strengthen the local and global impact of co-ops.
Participants will learn about how to start a farm cooperative through this daylong workshop. They will explore ways that farms and farmers cooperate together to access land, share tools and labor, share responsibilities, and to increase their markets. This workshop will share examples of farm cooperatives including worker and producer models.
Deobuleorak Community, a people-centered cooperative for the elderly in Gwangju’s Gwangsan district, is neither an NGO nor a non-profit. It was formed through the voluntary involvement of elderly people and the assistance of citizens, and the local government also took part in the negotiations.
You might think the bleeding edge is populated with high tech start-ups, but there are folks out there leading their respective packs you may have never thought of. Take grocery stores for instance.
Want to build the new economy in your town? The Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) says we can build it quickly by converting existing businesses into cooperatives.
October is one of my favorite months of the year. In Vermont, where Webskillet is based, it happens to be one of the prettiest times of the year, with fall foliage at its peak. It’s also a time we start packing away the summer clothes, bring out the winter gear and prepare to get cozy for the months ahead.
Though John Curl’s latest novel, The Co-op Conspiracy, is disguised as a work of literary fiction, it cleverly manages to further open the perception of readers on the greater reality behind the booming an
How do commons principles apply in the production of goods and services?
Enclosures of natural and human resources like land or knowledge are the subject of resistance from movements for community land rights, anti copyright and defence of the open internet. But what about the commons at work?
The brave women of Kobani - where Syrian Kurds are desperately fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh - are about to be betrayed by the "international community". These women warriors, apart from Caliph Ibrahim's goons, are also fighting treacherous agendas by the US, Turkey and the administration of Iraqi Kurdistan. So what's the real deal in Kobani?
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Last week, I sat down for a quick chat with the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Ai-jen Poo, and had a great conversation about what a 21st century social-safety net should look like.
And for both of us, it was about how our grandmothers inspired us to explore different ways of bringing people together to create positive change.
Can recent experiments with alternative forms of organizing, such as worker centers and minority strikes, offer a solution to the labor movement’s long half-century of decline?
A gathering of US co-operatives discussed how to address two major strategic issues for the movement at the International Summit of Cooperatives.
Date: Tuesday 11 November 2014
Time: 12.30-14.00
Location: D-19, Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
Speaker: Guy Standing, Professor of Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and former Director of the Socio-Economic Security Programme of the International Labour Organization
2015 is the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta: The first attempt to limit the powers of the King of England by law and protect the rights of his subjects, in a document imposed on him by those very subjects.
For hundreds of years, Coffee was grown “organically,” without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides, and creating a rich and biodiverse ecosystem. A few decades ago, this changed. Synthetic inputs led to booming production, but the cost to the soil, water, and a warming planet have been paid most steeply by the farming communities.
