The Co-operatives Fortnight
Secretary-General of Co-Operatives UK, Ed Mayo, on the highlight of the UK's first ever Co-operatives Fortnight
470 people across the co-operative movement gathered in Plymouth over the last few days. With the lighthouse in view, they were treated to a Phillip Blond ResPublica masterclass in civic society.
The rocks for the economy are well known, but there are risks out there too if we don't value and renew society and place economic life within a context of social accountabilities and relationships. When Phillip and ResPublica talk about liberty, it is not the freedom of untrammeled power he refers to, but the renewal of our capacity to shape our surroundings in line with our values.
This was the highlight of the UK's first ever Co-operatives Fortnight - see http://www.thereisanalternative.coop/ - and Phillip's talk, alongside Richard Wilkinson and, later, Will Hutton, was as vital and clear a beacon to act, to co-operate and to organise as I have seen.