The cooperative movement at the service of social medicine
The International Cooperative Alliance has taken a decisive step in protecting its identity through the launch of the Cooperative Cultural Heritage project. This ambitious initiative was created with the mission of locating and safeguarding the foundations of a movement that thrives on a shared heritage of traditions and documents that have shaped its global evolution.
It is a major institutional effort that functions as a platform to rescue material and intangible cultural legacy from oblivion and give visibility to those decisive spaces that allowed the birth of the most human business model. The plan aims to register historical milestones across five continents and ensure that both buildings and archives receive the necessary protection to prevent their deterioration and thus strengthen the sense of belonging of millions of members.
To provide unquestionable rigor to this work the Charter of the Cooperative Cultural Heritage has been drafted to act as an ethical and technical manual for the management of this historical legacy. Under these regulations any site aspiring to be recognized must prove a deep historical significance by having been the setting for key milestones in addition to maintaining an unbreakable link with the values of mutual aid or democracy and equality.
Likewise each space is required to preserve its original integrity so that it can serve as a faithful testimony of its era for future generations. Under these strict premises the project has already begun to distinguish sites of great relevance such as the ILO Cooperative Unit for its role in the legal recognition of the model or the legendary Rochdale Pioneers Museum in the United Kingdom which is globally acclaimed as the birthplace of modern cooperativism.
This recognition network is expanding rapidly across the globe and integrates spaces that honor fundamental figures such as the Naruto City Kagawa Toyohiko Memorial Museum in Japan or the prestigious Otalora Cooperative Development Center of the Mondragon Corporation in the Basque Country.
The latter remains a beacon of the avant-garde in training and in the constant evolution of the cooperative business ecosystem at an international level. Through this active preservation strategy the movement not only protects its memories but also projects its immense social value to the new cooperators who will lead the change in tomorrow's world.
For decades, the figure of the artist has been sold under the myth of the ‘solitary genius’: the creator who, from their studio or stage, fights against the world for their work to be recognised. However, behind the scenes, the reality is often less romantic. Precariousness, lack of social protection and dependence on intermediaries have been the common denominator in the creative industries. Until now.
In so-called “empty Spain”, having a doctor nearby or accessing treatment is not always easy. Villages with few inhabitants and winding roads mean that many elderly people have to travel dozens of kilometres to reach the nearest hospital. In these empty areas, where the public model is overwhelmed and the private model is not profitable, health cooperatives in rural areas have proven that a different way of organising healthcare is possible.