Cooperatives

Dada Maheshvarananda presents how cooperatives are a strong force of community empowerment that are transforming people's values from being self-centered to actively working for the common good in Venezuela.

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How are cooperatives and cooperativism different? How can they be a part of creating something new? I believe that cooperatives and cooperativism, as exemplified by projects in Venezuela and elsewhere, have the potential to work against oppression, exploitation and general misery by giving real power to people who have been excluded from economic institutions, whether they be part of a market system of distribution or not.

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To get a fuller image of South America's new direction, it is important to examine the economic and democratic experiments within Venezuela. Are real changes occurring in who holds democratic and economic power in the country?

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In this paper, I address the question as to the extent to which the participatory and democratic processes taking place as part of Venezuela's new cooperative movement can be said to be a component for the building of social relations that challenge those of capitalism.

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A discussion by Venezuela's Elvy Monzant, Dean of the School of Communication at the University Cecilio Acosta de Maracaibo and active member of the Gestión Participativa Cooperative. Monzant spoke during the First Global Prout Conference in Venezuela, "Building a Solidarity Economy based on Ethics and Ecology" (July 2011). 

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In this interview, Ciro Ramos de Rodriguez talks about MUDEBAR, a cooperative of 42 women who produce textiles for their local schools, and government officials, as well as other clothing needs within the region. 

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This short video clip offers the first installment of the amazing story of “The Three R’s” Cooperative in the Venezuelan state of Yaracuy. Cooperative spokesperson, Fray Silvera shares with us how six campesino families came together and began their revolutionary journey towards food sovereignty.

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Two Marxist traditions play themselves out in the internal debate in the movement headed by Hugo Chávez. The "realists" favour practical policies to increase production, while the "cultural optimists" are concerned with combating capitalist values. The discussions of wage differentials in worker-run plants and cooperatives recall the Marxist distinction between "to each according to their work" (favored by realists) and "to each according to necessity" (defended by cultural optimists).

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CECOSESOLA is a network of cooperatives in the state of Lara in Venezuela. Their biggest enterprise is a large food cooperative located in the city of Barquisimeto, which has recently been receiving attention from leftist activists and independent media all over the world.

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