Page 8 - C.A.L.L. #31 - Spring 2009

Could there be a renaissance of the co-operative idea in Israel?

The question of why the idea of co-operative living has earned success and even
admiration in other countries while in Israel it has lost its worth and is considered
anachronistic has occupied us for some time already. Recently we have seen a process of
dismantling the remaining cooperatives – the bus-driver’s co-op “Dan”, “The Co-op”, and
the sale of dairy co-op “Tnuva”. We are familiar with struggles of the kibbutzim and
moshavim. The cooperative organization has fallen from being highly valued in our
capitalist country.

The Center for Co-operative Studies in Yad Tabenkin (the kibbutz movement
headquarters) is part of a “network” of people and organizations who see collective
organizing as an important alternative, particularly in these days when cooperative bodies
are being dismantled or falling apart, particularly in the age of globalization and control
by the wealthy. When we took part in a few group tours of successful cooperatives (at
MCC – the cooperative Basque movement at Mondragon in Spain, and also “Laga Co-op” in
Italy), we saw that even in a free-market and competitive world there is a place for
cooperative organizing that attains economic achievements and is not embarrassed to
talk about social values. The co-operative is a successful “glo-cal” solution, as it is
connected to the community - the local - and also to the International Co-operative
Association (ICA) – a global network. ICA is the largest social-economic movement in the
world having more than 800 million members, members of cooperatives on every
continent. The kibbutz movement, which always saw itself as a part of the communal
world, has lately connected to the world cooperative movement and joined the ICA.

Alongside organizing group tours of world cooperatives, we organize conferences and
seminars on the subject of cooperative organizing. In conjunction with the theoretical
aspect, we have become an address for groups interested in the possibilities of
establishing cooperatives and a “network” that gathers aid. We are connected to groups
who have established (or want to establish) community purchasing co-ops in various areas
of the country. Right now we are busy founding a cooperative of “Women and Delicacies
in the Citadel” – a group of women from the Ofakim area who are accomplished cooks and
have been given a special site to host events. We facilitate a group of Ethiopian
immigrants who have created a gardening cooperative, and arrange weekly meetings with
“Cooperative Entrepreneurs” in various fields. Recently we have formed connections to
the cooperative “A Horizon for Work”, which finds work for people with disabilities. We
work together with the “Cooperative Center”, with the “Fund for Boosting Development”,
with people in the Kibbutz Industrial Union, with the Negev Institute, the Organizational
Consulting Institute and other bodies, in order to aid the cooperative initiatives. The
Cooperative Center supports the creation of each co-op and provides legal advice, checks
its business plan, and prepares a budget for the first year – at no cost. Together we
make every effort to insure that from the initial idea a cooperative will emerge that can
support its members. We meet people in the field and give training courses and
seminars, so that they understand what it means to work in a cooperative framework and
how to deal with collective responsibility.

By Ilana Lapidot, Member of Kibbutz Tzora, Director of the Center of Co-operative Studies, Yad
Tabenkin, The Kibbutz Movement. Translated by Robin Merkel, Kvutsat Yovel.

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