By Yifat Solel
The summer of 2011 was the summer of social protest in Israel. Tent encampments emerged all over the country and one call was heard from every corner – "the people demand social justice". But the summer ended, the court allowed to dismantle the tents and the only governmental response was in the form of an economists' committee that wrote a frail report. The protesters needed a concrete alternative – something that they can create on their own. One of the prominent initiatives that started and is flourishing is group organizing and starting cooperative enterprises – creating civic economic power.
The 2011 summer's protest made people realize they have only themselves to rely upon. In the tent encampments people used their time to learn - each evening there were lectures and discussions about social justice, economy and democracy: no longer accepting government' policies with no conscious criticism. No more leaving economic decisions only to the economists.
As the current Israeli government promotes a neo-liberal agenda, – it was clear there should be no expectation for a rescue from that end, the public must find the ways to take things in its own hands, to create economic civic power.
As the public was looking for economic and social alternatives that have dominant democratic features, it was only natural cooperatives became widely discussed. Cooperatives, being a peoples' based organization, which goal is to promote members economic, social and cultural interests, serves as an economic power building mechanism at the same time as it enhances democratic involvement and civic responsibility.
The discussions led to action. Consumers' cooperatives, workers' cooperatives – are emerging all around the country and creating the social and economic change that none of us can afford waiting for someone else to bring upon us.
This development was a surprising one. It is not the first time the cooperative notion emerged in Israel. Israel was founded on the basis of a cooperative economy and society. In its early days Israel was a cooperative empire – much of its industry was cooperative, most of its Super-Markets and department stores, a part of its cultural life – publishing houses and theatres – almost everything was cooperative.
Until the 1970's Israel's cooperatives took a major role in its economy. It might be argued why the cooperative economy diminished, I would suggest the major reasons were the erosion of cooperative values within the cooperatives, and the too close s dependence on government and established powers added by a poor legislation that held no values' and principles' obligations. While technically there are many registered cooperative societies – these do not represent an actual cooperative alternative, but mostly a registration form and nothing else. For many years, the general atmosphere suggested cooperatives are a thing of the past, and all people could remember were the over-sized and over-privileged cooperative companies that faded into the capitalist market.
The new generation, the people in the tents encampments, those who started the protest, were free of the old notions. They were again ready to listen and learn and act.
The results are already to be seen. In the year passed, there were more than 40 groups that started to organize. As the major issue of the protest had been the unbearable costs of living, the Consumers' cooperatives led the way, and are emerging in small towns as well as in the major cities, some starting small, others organizing in order to open a full supermarket from day one.
Workers cooperatives started to organize as well. A workers' cooperative of sound and lights technicians started just before the social protest, and was followed by a group of social workers that organized in order to create an alternative to the privatized system; a group of Yoga teachers decided to cooperate, and a web based journalists owned newspaper was published.
A cooperative Pub-Restaurant opened its doors and had become a centre for cooperative and protest activities.
Although the government is not likely to change its economic course, the awareness to the cooperative solution did not skip the public authorities all together. One of the major complaints brought by protesters was towards the banking system, and its centralized nature that enables it to exploit the Israeli citizens by charging unjustified fees and commissions while paying huge salaries to few managers and distribute obscene dividends. Surprisingly the governmental committee that checked these issues, decided to recommend the establishment of Credit Unions. The surprise derives not only from the ideological nature of this recommendation but also from the fact that since 1981 it is prohibited by law to start a cooperative bank or credit union. What was supposed to be a legal struggle in order to start a financial cooperative institution became all of a sudden joint target of the new cooperative initiatives and the official authorities. By now there are two cooperatives that are developing financial alternatives - a cooperative Credit Union, Bank and a Pension Fund.
Another major initiative, that preceded the protest, is the Cooperative for Renewable Energy, which, in the spirit of similar organizations around the world, tries to promote both social and environmental goals. The strong connection between social and environmental justice surfaces more and more in demands for the right to clean air, public transportation, renewable energy, public parks and many others. The cooperative way of creating a community in order to promote public interests is the most suited way to handle environmental solutions, and has been proven to be most effective in Europe and in the U.S. The cooperative tries to import those successes and adapt them to the Israeli arena. The administrative atmosphere is not favorable towards cooperatives and prefers privet enterprises that create profits for the few. The current challenge is to overcome those obstacles and start a cooperative environmental alternative that could make an actual change.
Beyond everything else, the new cooperatives create an active democratic arena. One of the greatest misfortunes of the Israeli democracy in the last decade was the notion adopted by many, that they have no influence: that there is no difference between the different political leaders, that the economy is owned by the rich, that the system is too strong to be changed. Loosing the belief in citizens' power is the greatest strength of a corrupt and alienated regime. The social protest gave people back the belief in their strength, but its weakening had an ominous potential.
The cooperatives started became an actual answer to the need for change. Each cooperative has its founders, members and activists that are creating the alternative that affect their daily lives. Thus, embracing the spirit of the protest, the cooperatives manage to actually promote social, economic and environmental goals, and maintain active democratic communities.
The writer is a social rights lawyer and a promoter of cooperatives.