by Dada Maheshvarananda
Solidarity, cooperation, and community empowerment are positive values promoted in Venezuela in contrast to the individualism and selfishness promoted by the corporate-owned mass media. Cooperatives are quietly transforming people's values in Venezuela, and the rest of the world, though they have been mostly ignored by the mass media and by many political leaders, too.
Solidarity, cooperation, and community empowerment are positive values promoted in Venezuela in contrast to the individualism and selfishness promoted by the corporate-owned mass media. Cooperatives are quietly transforming people's values in Venezuela, and the rest of the world, though they have been mostly ignored by the mass media and by many political leaders, too.The International Cooperative Alliance defines a cooperative as "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.” Worker cooperatives develop trust, solidarity, and teamwork.
Because cooperatives promote socialist values, it is natural that the Bolivarian government once promoted cooperatives in Venezuela; what is surprising is that now it does not.
I enthusiastically and without any reservations whatsoever recommend the Prout house, Quinta Prout, as a place to stay in Caracas for an individual, small group or family, or a delegation. The staff and Prout, more generally, are committed to economic and social justice not just for the larger society, but they also demonstrate this in ways big and small every day by the way they treat all who visit and stay there.
