The United Nations has designated 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives. From Argentina to Zambia, the 1.4 million co-operatives across the globe will be celebrating and showing how they build a better world.  

 Argentinian wine co-operative 

Co-ordinated by the International Co-operative Alliance, the global voice of co-operatives, the year aims to boost understanding of co-operatives throughout the world. 

For supporters of co-operatives, it is a unique opportunity to come together as a global movement to promote how co-operative enterprises build a better world.

Co-operatives UK has launched the UK website for the United Nations’ International Year of Co-operatives 2012 - www.uk.coop/2012. The website provides information on what is happening across the country and features a range of useful resources about co-operatives and the International Year for businesses, individuals, journalists and all those interested in learning more.     

Roger Iredale:  the Friend, 21 October 2011

I have never had any difficulty with remembering United Nations Day, 24 October, since it coincides with my mother’s birthday! This huge organisation rambles like a rose bush over the globe, with its many offshoots involved in almost every aspect of human life in every corner of the world.

Some, like UNICEF, do outstanding work with children and mothers in slums and deserts, while others come to the aid of the beleaguered Gazans, or struggle to keep peace in the vast recesses of Central Africa. Friends have been able to make their influence felt through our offices in Geneva and New York.

The organisation was born of the idealism of the eccentric pacifist Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson and his Bloomsbury circle, who began to create the League of Nations even before the First World War ended. While that organisation failed to prevent the next war, it created many agencies later inherited by the UN and provided a template for the present structure of seventeen elements, including UNESCO, the International Monetary Fund and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

It is a pacifist concept born of a profound objection to war as a means of resolving disputes. That it is empowered to sanction military action in response to emergencies is a constant source of tension and contradiction.

A political organisation with an intergovernmental dimension, the UN inevitably attracts the power struggles and egotism that characterise politics. I have talked with a chief statistician whose job was threatened because of her unwillingness to distort the sensitive literacy statistics of an influential member state. I have unknowingly worked with an official who was secretly employed to follow the Cold War rivalries within one of the agencies. And I have seen the scrawled, defiant file notes of an autocratic director-general, written in pursuit of some private agenda, countermanding the considered judgments of a senior colleague.

In such a vast enterprise, aberrations are inevitable.The UN represents governments, and governments come in all shapes and sizes. Some agencies are more effective than others. All aim to help the poorest and most vulnerable.

The General Assembly and the Security Council are central to the UN. The latter is an absurd historical anomaly, with France and Britain occupying permanent seats – while India and Brazil have to take their turn with the rest of the world.

Does this jealously guarded status quo contribute to the belief of the British political classes that they have a right to fight other people’s wars? Did Tony Blair’s military adventures arise from Britain’s self-importance because it sits beside China, the USA and the Russian Federation at the top table? Is it fair that this small island can wield such influence over global decision making? Indeed, is it right that any country, particularly the USA after it misled the General Assembly on Iraq, can veto crucially important world events? Everyone agrees that there is a need for change, but then the Tower of Babel takes over.

So, we have this valued, ubiquitous entity embracing the globe and trying to spread flowers of peace in dangerous places, tackling poverty, refugees, health, agricultural, economic, cultural, scientific, financial and social issues.

Though it works from a script that was written some sixty years ago, in a very different world, it was conceived by people of peace and it remains the only sane barrier to the opposite.

Roger Iredale is a member of Mid-Somerset Area Meeting.  His work has involved close collaboration with UN agencies across the globe. He is emeritus professor of international education at the University of Manchester and former chief education adviser to the Minister for Overseas Development.

Palestine applies for UNESCO membership

The Inter Press Service reports that the 193-member General Conference, UNESCO’s policy-making body, is expected to ratify Palestine’s membership during the session beginning Oct. 25. The application was approved by the agency’s 58-member executive board earlier in the week. 

However the administration of President Barack Obama, under lobbying pressure from Israel and pro-Israeli members of Congress and senators, is threatening to cut off funds to the U.N. agency if it recognises the political legitimacy of Palestine. 

On October 6^th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States may cut off funding to UNESCO if it moves forward on its recommendation to admit the Palestinian Authority as a full member. The U.N. culture and science agency stands to lose $87 million a year, or 22 percent of the total budget, without U.S. funding. 

Palestinian membership of the International Criminal Court could lead to restrictions on the movements of Israeli leaders 

Israel has accused the Palestinians of trying to “politicise Unesco”. It fears that recognition by affiliate UN bodies could lead to Palestinian membership of the International Criminal Court. If Palestinians were to lodge cases there against Israel, it could restrict the movements of Israeli leaders, at a time when even Washington has warned the Jewish state about its increasingly diplomatic isolation. 

Israeli officials expressed concern that Palestinian membership of Unesco, which recognises historically or culturally important places as World Heritage Sites, could be used to drag disputes over the cultural ownership of disputed holy sites in the region into the international arena. 

The question of historical sites is particularly sensitive in the area, since many of them are sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians and have at times served as mosques, churches or synagogues. 

Yesterday, President Abbas flew to Strasbourg and asked Europe for its backing: “You supported the Arab Spring which was seeking democracy and freedom,” he said. “Now the Palestinian Spring has arrived, asking for freedom and an end to the occupation.  We deserve your support.”

The Luxemburger Wort adds that vote has not been scheduled, but will take place at UNESCO’s General Conference, which runs from Oct. 25 to Nov. 10. 

The Palestinians are also seeking a foothold in the World Trade Organization and won partnership status recently in the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights body.

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                  Guest Speaker  Heather Blake:  

UK chair of Reporters without Borders

Elizabeth Way summarises this Birmingham UNA meeting, held on September 17^th: 

On the 17th of September Heather Blake UK Director of Reporters Without Borders (RWB) spoke to the Birmingham Branch AGM about Press Freedom and Human Rights. 

 RWB was founded in 1985 to support journalists and uphold their rights and to report freely. It helps financially by supporting the families of journalists imprisoned or murdered. She spoke about the increased deliberate attacks on journalists and the increasing violation of human rights.  I pressed for the establishment of laws to facilitate free reporting and for the UN to get the right to report firmly established as one of UN human rights. 

RWB will send one of their panel of experts to areas that have been reported to look at the evidence.  They can send protest letters to governments responsible.  They can then work to raise the international profile of events in that country.

Heather Blake spoke of the problems arising from the cutting of financial support for the World Service by the BBC; it may be impossible for some countries to hear a more truthful alternative to the state media, making human rights violations more probable.  She praised the balanced reporting of Al-Jazeera.  She also spoke about the need to balance detailed reporting in some situations in order to safeguard people who are opposing their own government and giving vital information to the reporter.  Heather praised the Birmingham branch for their informed interest and searching questions.

“Elites consolidate more money & power, further driving disparity and eroding governance. What results is an interstitial vacuum where corporate intervention fails to see any profit motive and where state intervention lacks the funds or will to govern effectively. 

“In effect, the combination of super-empowered non-state actors, failures of state governance, and widespread economic disparity undermines the Rule of Law by releasing elites from accountability . . . “

Another damaging feature of globalisation is the mass movement – legal or illegal - of the poorest peoples, to serve the corporate desire for the cheapest labour, antagonising the economically weakest, largely unemployed 10% of the host nation.

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The only convincing prescription? 

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The only convincing prescription seen by the writer, which addresses this uneasy dependent fragility, appears in a book by the convenor of the Green New Deal Group,Colin Hines: LOCALIZATION: A GLOBAL MANIFESTO, Earthscan.

Rianne ten Veen sent a link to the message from the United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban ki Moon on the International Day of Cooperatives.

The theme for this year’s International Day of Cooperatives, “Youth, the Future of Cooperatives”, highlights the enormous value of engaging the energy and drive of young people.

In the wake of the global financial and economic crisis, youth unemployment is at an all-time high. Expanding opportunity through youth entrepreneurship is one way to address this challenge. The cooperative model enables young people to create and manage sustainable enterprises. Cooperatives are underpinned by the pooling of financial and human resources, technical knowledge and business skills. Furthermore, their member-driven structure roots them in communities, encouraging socially responsible businesses that meet local needs.

Through their distinctive focus on values, cooperatives have proven themselves a resilient and viable business model that can prosper even during difficult times. This success has helped prevent many families and communities from sliding into poverty. Cooperatives have also continuously provided reliable access to credit and other financial services for many small business holders. Moreover, cooperatives have done so while promoting self-reliance and creating stability in the markets in which they operate.

Throughout this year’s observance of the International Year of Youth, decision makers around the world have stressed the importance of including young people at all levels of the development process. The active inclusion of young women and men in social and economic development helps reduce social exclusion, improve productive capacity, break cycles of poverty, promote gender equality and raise environmental responsibility.

As we move into the International Year of Cooperatives, which will be officially launched this October, I invite young people to explore the benefits of pursuing cooperative enterprise and other forms of social entrepreneurship. At the same time, I encourage the cooperative movement to engage with youth, in a spirit of dialogue and mutual understanding. Let us recognize young women and men as valuable partners in strengthening the cooperative movement and in sustaining the role of cooperatives in social and economic development.

New York, 2 July 2011

Another reference to the Millennium Development Goals came from a Bangladeshi contact today.  

A conference in Bangladesh on Social Business Day [28th June] had many participants from around the world. Social business is not yet in the mainstream of United Nations thinking but at this event there were good examples showing that social business works.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star in Dhaka Thomas Stelzer, the assistant secretary-general of the United Nations for policy coordination and inter-agency affairs, who works closely with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on millennium development goals, talked about what he learnt from the Social Business Day celebrations.

He focused on the challenges that lie ahead for achieving MDGs and how social business can complement other efforts in reaching the goals. He said:

”Social business is one of the economic theories, which is achieving a breakthrough — acceptability. People will invest in social business more and more — with a clear purpose. People will know why they are investing in it, which is a departure from the usual way of investment.

”In conventional investment, you have a shareholding value, returns and income, whereas in social business you don’t have all of that and you have to conceptualise why you are investing. In social business, the vital question will be about qualitative, not quantitative growth.

”People do things they are satisfied with and invest for different reasons. For many, it is a game and sport and they always think how they can maximise the outcome of their investments. What is the reason for putting $15-20 billion in your account?

”But in social business, things change. A social business investor looks for satisfaction, but you draw your satisfaction differently, not by accumulating wealth, but by investing the energy of your life in a way that makes you feel good. It is an altruistic, socially-oriented understanding of how you can contribute to today’s economy.

”I think social business decisively contribute to advancing MDGs. Achieving MDGs through social business alone will be a bit narrow. But I am convinced that social business very strongly influences the acceleration of implementation.

“We at the United Nations look at what works. MDGs are at the core of our work. So we look into every possibility of implementing MDGs. Social business seems to be a good option to complement many other efforts. This is how I look at it. So we are not in the business of choosing one over the other. Social business seems to work in this context. ”

To read the Daily Star article click here.

After the Deputy Lord Mayor’s welcome, an introduction to the Millennium Development Goals, was read by Bert Gedin. All speakers agreed that progress had been made, but the process has been slowing down and efforts should be renewed. Some points made at this meeting, facilitated by Ravi Kumar, chairman of B’ham UNA, follow.

Former DFID Secretary, Clare Short, listed major conferences which preceded the MDG agreement, including the Beijing event focussing on the empowerment of women, Cairo on reproductive health, Rio on the environment and several major political events, including the overthrow of apartheid and release of Nelson Mandela and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Clare pointed out that the MDGs are related, for example education will be adversely affected if a child has no access to potable drinking water. To release resources, she suggested that some military spending could be transferred to education.

 She described a ‘high point’, when in 2000, 189 world leaders unanimously adopted the “United Nations Millennium Declaration” at the conclusion of their Millennium Summit on 8 September 2000, and concluded that the ‘Arab Spring’ and other changes of mood offer hope that more progress will be made towards achieving the MDGs.

Malcolm Harper, now an independent international consultant after long and distinguished service as director of the United Nations Association, looked back over improvements made since the ‘60s and focussed on the factors inhibiting the achievement of the MDGs: 

• the rich-poor divide – some multinational companies are far wealthier than some developing countries;
• poor rural infrastructure – for example, many needy people have to walk many miles to reach medical facilities;
• aid which is not focussed on quality – for example, increasing the number of children attending school, regardless of equipment provided and staffing levels;
• corruption – both corruptors and corruptees must be tackled. 

Malcolm believed that less progress has been made towards the goal of gender equality and that this should be urgently addressed. 

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John Cooper, Christian Aid’s Regional Co-ordinator for the West Midlands, spoke next. Christian Aid thinks that the Declaration’s emphasis on empowering people living in poverty was translated into telling poor counties what their priorities should be. Its emphasis on powerful countries and companies meeting their responsibilities to others was translated into a system which fails to hold them accountable for their part in fuelling global poverty. 

Progress has been made with providing clean water but the other MDGs are significantly behind target level in areas, including maternal and child mortality, hunger and access to sanitation.

Christian Aid’s new report on progress towards the MDGs says that the fundamental reason for the failure of the MDGs to achieve more is that they are based on a flawed understanding of poverty – which ignores the root causes of the problem. They are blind to inequality, unsustainability and the importance of input by ordinary people to decision-making. The report argues that a successor to the MDGs after 2015, which truly reflects the ambition of the Declaration, is vital. 

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Rianne ten Veen, of Green Creation, examined assertions made about the MDGs: 

Too ambitious?

In 1996, the Rome Declaration on World Food Security aimed to halve the number of hungry people by 2015, but MDG 1 merely aims to halve the proportion of people in developing countries who suffer from hunger and has a baseline of 1990 instead of what would be a more ambitious 1996.

Too expensive?

The estimated cost of achieving the MDGs is $189bn but:

• Annual fossil fuel subsidies: $312bn
• Iraq War: $648bn
• Wall Street bailout: $8.5trn 

Lagging because of lack of effort from poor countries? 

No; because of the lack of a level playing field in terms of debt, trade and investment.The amount of debt relief is often deducted from the aid budget. Only 1% of foreign direct investment benefits the poorest and 82% FDI goes into the extractive industries.

The role of the WTO was questioned by Malcolm Harper – is it really acting in the interest of poor countries? Rianne points out that the Millennium Declaration had fair trade as its ambition, but MDG8 offers more obvious advantages for foreign multinationals, and trade liberalisation. 

A brief case study of Argentina was given to illustrate the uneven playing field.The ICSID Convention is a multilateral treaty formulated by the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank). ICSID’s website reveals that, in all but one of the first fifty pending cases, wealthy corporations are bringing charges against small developing countries – 24 against Argentina.  The MNCs usually ‘win’. 

MDG7 on environmental sustainability appears to relate only to poor countries, though the rich countries are responsible for the high greenhouse gas emissions and the poor suffer most of the consequences. Rianne concluded that Millennium Consumption Goals (MCG) could help make our development path more sustainable, by focusing on the 1.4 billion people in the richest 20 percentile of the world’s population. They consume over 80% of global output, or 60 times more than the poorest 20 percentile. Instead of viewing the rich as a problem, they should be persuaded to contribute to the solution.  

A vote of thanks was given by Gill Briggs.#

NOTE: The Millennium Consumption Goals proposal was made by Prof. Munasinghe in January 2011 at the United Nations in New York. The background paper for the original proposal “MCG: How the Rich Can Make the Planet More Sustainable” is available at: http://www.mohanmunasinghe.com/pdf/Island-MCG-1Feb20112.pdf. 

The official logo for the International Year of Co-operatives in 2012 has been released by the United Nations.

Anthony Murray, Assistant Editor of the Co-operative News, writes:

Based on the slogan of the year, ‘Cooperative enterprises build a better world’, the logo is published in six languages and the UN said it conveys the message that co-operatives are “autonomous associations of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations, through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise”.

According to the UN’s design department, based in New York, the cube represents the various projects, goals and aspirations upon which co-operative enterprises are built, and the achievements that can be attained.

The cube, which is being lifted and supported by seven people, mirrors the seven principles of the co-operative movement; voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, training, and information, co-operation among co-operatives, and concern for community. Said the UN: “These seven principles work together to allow co-operative members to achieve the goals and desires that they would not have been able to attain through their individual efforts.”

The International Year of Co-operatives, which will be officially launched at the United Nations in New York in October, aims to increase public awareness of co-operatives and how they benefit their members.

The year will be planned by the UN in close collaboration with the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives, which includes the International Co-operative Alliance, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Labour Organization.

At the ICA’s Beijing board meeting in September it agreed the one focus of the year should be to raise public awareness and visibility of co-operatives. A campaign to sum up the benefit of co-operatives with a simple message is also set to be launched by the ICA in the coming months.

To download the logo along with guidelines for its use, visit: http://social.un.org/coopsyear/iyclogo.shtml

Birmingham UNA Group

Meeting Phil Mulligan 

In November Phil Mulligan, who became UNA-UK Executive Director in September 2010, visited the branch. He was touring the country to meet members, introduce himself and speak about his ideas. 

At another meeting Ravi Kumar, chair of Birmingham UNA, showed two videos about children in Nigeria, some as young as a few months old, blamed for misfortune, branded as “witches” and rejected by their families or treated with extreme cruelty in order to extract “confessions” of sorcery. 

According to a recent report by UNICEF, “Children Accused of Witchcraft,” accusations in witchcraft are on the rise in general in Nigeria, in particular against children and adolescents.

Earlier this year, the Nigerian government formally condemned the practice of abusing children as witches and wizards. Nigeria’s permanent secretary at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development, Alhaji Idris Kuta called the practice “unacceptable and should receive outright condemnation.” It was decided that a letter be written to the Nigerian High Commissioner. 

The UNICEF report may be downloaded here: 

www.unicef.org/wcaro/wcaro_children-accused-of-witchcraft-in-Africa.pdf