Tales of the unexpected
For all their faults, co-ops are more widespread and active than you might imagine. If economic democracy has anything to do with it, argues David Ransom, there will even more of them in future.

Photo: Sebastian Hacher

What is a co-op?
The basic principles.

The pollen and the bees
Economic collapse in Argentina forced thousands of workers to occupy their own places of work. Joseph Huff-Hannon reports on the aftermath.

Not so crazy
Amanda Roll-Pickering tells the story of a disused slate quarry in Wales that is now at the cutting edge of clean energy.

Co-operatives – THE FACTS

Sex workers with attitude
Mari Marcel Thekaekara explains how raw woman power in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, has ruffl ed a few feathers and made a big difference.

I’m a realist get me out of here!
Unreality TV as you’ve never seen it before – a story board by Polyp.

Killing distrust
Cocoa farmers in Ghana, says Kwabena Sarpong Akosah, have every reason to join the Kuapa Kokoo co-op.
PLUS: We, the Kuapa people
Georgina Kwaw and Elizabeth Adjei explain why it goes well with fair trade.

Of caulkers and quilt-makers
African Americans have a long co-operative tradition. Jessica Gordon Nembhard uncovers some of it.

The story so far
A brief history of the international co-operative movement.

Get going
Where to start and who to talk to if you want to set up a co-op of your own.

FROM THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

YOU might have to live in several different places at once in order to do so, but it is Ytheoretically possible to lead your life entirely within the embrace of co-operatives, before going to your grave courtesy of a co-op funeral director.

You can earn a living in a workers' co-op, go home to co-op housing, get your food, clothing, fi nance, transport, clean energy, telephone, even entertainment and creative satisfaction from one sort of co-op or another. More often than not you'll get a fairer, more environmentally friendly deal as a result.

The NI has tended to keep quiet about being a workers' co-op. The fact seemed incidental to our work. We could even be apologetic about it, perhaps because so many other co-ops failed. Recently we've made more of it and it's begun to seem more central to what we do. On the topic of this magazine at least, we know whereof we speak from personal experience.

All the same, I worry. Whenever I come across something positive, and particularly when I write about it, it tends to go wrong. I'm not so superstitious as to believe that our co-op has fl ourished only because we've kept quiet about it. But, just in case, in the picture below you see Anne our accountant in the centre; Jo, our distribution manager, on the left; Alan, one of our designers, next to her; James, who crunches numbers, on the right. If we're spared, that will have more to do with them than with me.

David Ransom
for the New Internationalist
Co-operative
davidr@newint.org

Letters
World Bank/IMF as money-launderers; good news from Lithuania; in defence of teachers; homeopathic dupes.
PLUS: Letter from Lebanon - the power of proverbs, by Reem Haddad.

Southern Exposure
Bangladeshi photographer Abir Abdullah draws inspiration from a disabled badminton player.

View from the South
Muammar al Qadhafi may be the West's new friend, says Ike Oguine, but he should still answer for his crimes.

Currents
An NI special survey of people detained worldwide in The other Guantánamo Bays: reports from Diego Garcia, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Britain, New Zealand/ Aotearoa and Israel.
PLUS: Word Corner – Magazine.
PLUS: Speechmarks and Seriously

Worldbeaters
Latin America's richest man:
Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim.

Big Bad World
Car sticker campaigning by Polyp.
PLUS: NI Prize Crossword

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