[act-ma] 2012-12-21, Co-op by Candlelight

Wed Dec 12 09:24:09 PST 2012

Friends,  Please circulate the attached message as widely as you can, on any
media that you can.  Let's see if we can send it around the world in the
next 9 days.  I have copied the message below.  It's also in the attached
rtf file, along with the co-op principles.  Co-operatively, Wayne.

PS:  Maybe you should add a short endorsement before you send it.  And,
maybe CC me, so that I will know where it goes.  Thanks, WC.

  _____  

Co-op by Candlelight: 2012-12-21

A modest proposal for the world co-op movement

The Legend of Rochdale:

In the dark days of continuing crises in mid-nineteenth century England,
legend has that a small group of unemployed, locked-out weavers from nearby
mills gathered in a small shop on Toad Lane, in Rochdale, on the 21st of
December in 1844 to begin a new venture to save their community and
themselves by opening a co-operative (that's "coooperative" for non-native
speakers).  During the last year, the 28 member-owners had saved their money
to form the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers.  They had a plan; they
had principles; they had a vision; but what they did not have was oil for
the lamps.  So, they had to make do with candles, which they sold in the
store.

For over a year, the Society had signed up the new members, collected all of
the necessary information, received the member investment of one pound, and
oriented 28 member-owners on the meaning of membership in a co-operative.
The Society had learned from other attempts at forming co-ops in the area
towns going back more than 20 years.  But, all previous efforts had failed
to establish lasting co-ops.  The Equitable Society had established their
co-op principles to guide the way to the co-operative commonwealth in their
future.  What they called "socialism", at that time.

The co-op opened its new venture on the longest night of the year by
candlelight.  They had products to sell and members to buy the products and
a store to sell the products in.  What they did not have was light to
facilitate the buying and selling.  Now, the light of the candles -- candles
that many families had to rely upon in this day of economic hardship -- lit
the path to the store and their future.

Thus, began a co-operative movement to build a co-operative commonwealth in
the future to save humanity from total destruction.  A movement that has
spread across time and history and the world to include millions of co-ops
with billions of members and millions of workers doing trillions of dollars
in business -- all guided by the co-op principles.  These co-ops are doing
significant economic activity across all markets, occupations, and types of
business.  This is a movement which relies upon co-operation and community
as well as co-operatives and members.  These first co-op candles have become
beacons to our future.

Again, humanity finds itself in dark days worldwide.  The economic /
financial / energy / environmental / climate / sexual / health / family /
individual / community / social / spiritual crises continue unabated and
worsening.  But, the co-op movement brings hope and a way to end these
continuing crises thru working together and co-operating.  Let the light of
our co-op candles shine on the path way to crises solutions.

The Legend from the Mayan Calendar

The 21st of December in 2012 will be the 168th anniversary of the formation
of the worldwide co-operative movement.  Legend also has it that the world
will end on the 21-Dec-2012.  Well, actually, the Mayan calendar, which has
tracked celestial history for millennia, begins its 5,000 year cycle again.
But, numerous legends, traditions, visions, prophecies, analyses, and
beliefs point to 2012-Dec-21 as a day of significant change.

The prophecies of Nostradamus and others predict a period of tribulation
followed by a 1,000 years of peace. Let's take a step into our thousand
years of peace and prosperity by lighting a candle for co-operation on
2012-Dec-21.  Our days were never darker than now, as we enter a period of
deep uncertainly. But, co-op candles can light the way forward.  If every
co-operative in the world; no matter how large or small, rich or poor, urban
or rural, old or young, forming or established; no matter the market
segment, whether housing or agriculture or food or energy or credit or
health or insurance or technology; no matter the legal structure, whether
co-op or non-profit or not-for-profit or "for-profit" or credit union or
government agency or partnership or corporation; no matter the type of
co-op, whether consumer or worker or farmer or producer or artisan or artist
or business co-ops; if ALL co-ops were to light candles for co-operation on
2012-12-21, the future would look much brighter.

Start this new phase of human history with a beacon of co-operation

So, just light a candle for our co-operative future -- this is one way to
save the human race; taking a conscious step toward co-operation.  We need
to shine a beacon of hope for those who have lost their community and
welcome them into ours.

If you are an organization or just a person; a co-op supporter and a
believer in co-operation in your home and business; where you bring the
products and services that you obtain from your participation in the growing
co-operative economy worldwide, you can light a candle for co-ops.  If you
are a supporter of the co-op principles (see attached) of open membership,
democratic control, economic participation, continuing education, autonomy,
co-operation among co-ops, and community involvement, then you can light a
candle for the co-operative principles.  You can light a candle and show the
world where you stand.  Shine a beacon of hope for your co-operative future,
by the principles you uphold.  This is a co-operative future that you CAN
build with a little hope and the right principles.

So, what to do next

If we spread the word to every co-op and co-operator and supporter of co-ops
of any sort, we can all light a candle for co-operation on 2012-Dec-21.  We
all can, by one small act of lighting a candle at any time on 2012-12-21,
shows us all how well we can co-operate to accomplish this simple thing of
lighting a candle for co-operation.  If you can't have an open flame in your
house or organization or business, use the small battery-powered lights that
look like candles.  If every person and every organization that believes in
building a co-operative future, lights a candle for co-operation, we can
show the world and history how powerful co-operation can be -- for once, on
one little thing, we can all work together.

Spread the word far and wide, on every electronic network.  Translate this
message into every language and transmit it on every medium; use radio, TV,
film, video, vinyl, DVD, telephone, word of mouth, magazine, newspaper,
newsletter, bulletin, social media, the Internet, carrier pigeon, telepathy,
and beyond.  Whisper it and shout it, sing it and rhyme it, pluck it and
plink it, show it and tell it, call it and respond to it, speak it and
preach it, sign it and signal it -- co-op by candlelight on 2012-12-21, the
longest night of the new millennium.

Bring 2012, the International Year of the Co-operative, to a close with a
flower of light, a beacon showing the path to our future.  Begin our
thousand years of peace and co-operation now.

Will you light a candle for co-operation on 2012-12-21?

submitted by R. Wayne Clark, rwayneclark at igc.org, 2012-12-12

R. Wayne Clark

Info_Co-op Associates

P. O. Box 66085

Auburndale, MA 02462

 <mailto:rwayneclark at igc.org> rwayneclark at igc.org

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