Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Worker-Run Factories in Argentina Continue to Thrive, Boosting the Economy and Influencing Workers in Other Countries

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Worker-Run Factories in Argentina Continue to Thrive, Boosting the Economy and Influencing Workers in Other Countries

by Marcela Valente from IPS via AlterNet.

You may have wondered about what happened to the Argentine worker cooperatives that was of so much interest to left-thinking people after the economy collapsed in that country in 2001. This report brings you up to date.

After the late 2001 financial and political meltdown in Argentina, thousands of companies were abandoned by their owners in a sea of debt. But some of them were taken over and reopened by their employees. Today, as the economy continues to grow, these worker-run factories are still going strong.