GEO folks organized demonstration and Teach-in/Speak-out in Mexico.

Permanent link to this article: http://geo.coop/node/585

By Traci Kuratomi, current Fulbright Fellow in Argentina

In 2001, Argentina was devastated by an economic crisis that led to widespread deindustrialization and unemployment levels of 21 percent. As factories closed, thousands of people suddenly found themselves jobless and without the possibility of finding work. Worse, the factory owners who declared bankruptcy often owed their workers months of wages and failed to provide workers severance pay.

Like many of you reading this, I drink Equal Exchange (EE) coffee at home and wherever else I can, and am happily aware that EE is both itself a worker cooperative and draws its coffee supply exclusively from small agricultural cooperatives throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia. But - again, like many of you - until recently I knew next to nothing about these other co-ops, aside from some few sentences and photos on EE coffee bags.

Analyzing & Debating a New Economy from the Perspective of Workers & Self-management

Mexico City, June 9-11, 2011