A message from the Young Leaders at the International Summit of Co-operatives:
We, young cooperative leaders and members, believe in the cooperative principles and cooperative values. We believe that the co-operative movement must be at the centre of creating a more sustainable and equal economy. We believe that the co-operative movement must be at the center of creating a more sustainable and equal economy. This economy should be built around principles of democracy, social justice and solidarity.
Our vision and expectation of the global cooperative movement is for it to transform an economy based on the individual accumulation of wealth and power into a system that serves the collective wellbeing of people and our planet through redistribution of resources and common ownership. We believe that there is an alternative to the capitalist economy. The cooperative movement needs to be at the forefront of creating this. This means not emulating its institutions, looking to its leadership and theory for guidance, or staffing the management teams of our cooperatives with subscribers to neoliberal philosophy.
We suggest that we will only be successful in creating a more just and sustainable economy by bringing the perspective and leadership of people most impacted by economic recession, climate change, and political instability to the heart of our decision-making structures. This necessitates a movement that works from the bottom up not the top down, where a diversity of voices are valued and heard, a movement that it is fully participatory and democratic. It is important our conferences and events / bring cooperative values into practice.
Read the full message from young co-op leaders at the International Cooperative Alliance
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