Dreaming on with the Co-op vision of changing the world is every co-operator’s mission. Each co-operator is a fellow-weaver of dreams indeed, and each co-operator’s dream moves us closer to the realization of the vision. Hence, the current cliché applies, "fear not, live your dream."
The dream of an equitable society formed by and among equally respected cultures within the community of nations could be the ultimate Co-op dream. By this dream, we believe the Co-op vision shall come to pass. Such an ultimate dream, however, may only be realized as nations are persuaded to give up their individual dreams of power and domination, and to help rectify the errors of colonization.
Two Filipino nationalists clearly point out some of these errors –
We have become a nation of cynics whose highest delight is to bash our cultural dignity by downgrading our traditional values and extolling the virtues of the west. ( Felipe L. Jocano, 1992, p.13)
The Filipino must think and act Filipino, and be proud to be Filipino…They must therefore cast away the myths—itapon ang alamat—of Filipino inferiority, submissiveness and indolence and of American benevolence. For after 100 years of American tutelage—actually hegemony—a great number of Filipinos are still poor, mendicant and subservient. ( Nemesio E. Prudente, 2001, p.i)
For the Filipino nation to join other nations in forming an equitable society among equal nations, another dream—a Filipino dream—to re-establish the finest of the Filipino culture and its capability to harness its own wealth and resources (both lost through years of colonization) becomes an urgent mission.Dreaming on with the Co-op vision of changing the world is every co-operator’s mission. Each co-operator is a fellow-weaver of dreams indeed, and each co-operator’s dream moves us closer to the realization of the vision. Hence, the current cliché applies, fear not, live your dream.
This is what alab ko-op is all about, an invitation to every Filipino to pursue this dream, and help recover our cultural identity and economic self-reliance, the Co-operative way. For as the Pioneers kept their eyes on the prize, calmly developing their co-operative stores and leadership skills while all about them the world was in revolution (Thompson, 1994 pp.xii, 51, 139), they found the more prudent way, in fact – the only way!
The Filipino tradition of Bayanihan in many respects resembles the Co-operative way. This must be what the framers of Republic Act 6938 or the Cooperative Code of the Philippines have in mind when they promulgated the provision requiring that “Every Cooperative shall conduct its affairs in accordance with the Filipino culture and experience and the universally accepted principles of cooperation” (Art.4, R.A.6938, 1991). Thus, we believe with the framers of the Code that we can realize our dream of social, cultural and economic integrity through a right understanding and application of the Filipino culture and experience and the principles of universal cooperation.
We have yet to develop a framework for our task and we admit a pure Co-operative model may not be expected. We choose to be guided by the International Labor Organization’s admonition: Co-operatives no doubt have something to learn from other forms of enterprise (ILO, 1988, p.4). The admonition we believe extends to learning from other social, economic and political thoughts as well. The ideas of casting away the myths (Prudente, 2001, p.i) and value-paradigm shift (Jocano, 1997, p.5) will help define our framework which may be loosely sketched in the essays that follow. It is our hope that the reader may find some patterns of thinking Filipino and re-understanding Filipino values from these essays. These two ideals, we believe, form the basic disciplines towards recovering our social, economic and cultural identity.This is what alab ko-op is all about, an invitation to every Filipino to pursue this dream, and help recover our cultural identity and economic self-reliance, the Co-operative way. For as the Pioneers kept their eyes on the prize, calmly developing their co-operative stores and leadership skills while all about them the world was in revolution (Thompson, 1994 pp.xii, 51, 139), they found the more prudent way, in fact – the only way!