Last Monday and Tuesday we were at the center of cooperativism in the world. It was a privilege for Caixa Agrícola de Torres Vedras to host a meeting with people who believe in the value of our business model, which is also a model of life, of conviction that it is through good that we create value, that it is through proximity that we build networks of trust, that it is through effective presence in the places where we can best intervene and influence the world.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed this desire in the message that opened the Global Innovation Coop Summit. A desire reiterated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel and by speakers from more than thirty countries and four continents. It was two days of mutual learning, exchanging information, sharing experiences and preparing for the battle of the future. I leave you with a short excerpt from the speech I wrote to close this global meeting of cooperativists. Next week I plan to write about a meeting and a hug that will hardly leave my memory, one of the most beautiful moments of these two days. But let’s look at the excerpt:
“… Freedom or equality are words that transcend us, they are social, political, economic and cultural constructions, but fraternity is not. It has to be lived, experienced and cultivated. If a community wants we can always be stronger. We can be unbreakable. If a community wants there is no hunger. And if it really wants it, if the effort is joint, it can grow, multiply the results and win by doing Good. With the rules of the game we can reinvent it, make it better.
The digital age is not our enemy, it can be our ally. We have social capital, but also civic capital that allows the humanization of digital. We are trustworthy and understand each other with a glance, especially when our gaze is not distorted by wanting to be something we are not. Perhaps this is the greatest danger of some cooperative projects. The temptation to be like others – not realizing that being like others means a long-term condemnation.
Threats always come from within, especially when there are those who become something they are not, when there are those who take advantage, when there are those who serve themselves instead of serving.
We have to have courage.
Let us not be satisfied with small goals. We can have respect for memory, dream about the future, but so often the difficult thing is to act on the present. The value of trust does not weigh on our family or state budget. It is not part of the planned expenses, it does not cause a risk of impairment or threaten the balance sheets, confidence is the cheapest form of stimulus.
I always see the glass as half full. I am a pragmatic optimist. I believe in the beauty of the beholder. I believe in the diversity of those who insist on seeing.
We cannot be afraid of words that seem to be prohibited. We will earn more if we rescue some of them. The word Love. The word friendship. The word compassion. The word solidarity.
I believe in the market, but the market will be stronger if it allows us to embrace each other, help each other, make each other grow. Interrogating is the opposite of being arrogant. Being on this side is not a limitation, it is an intelligent choice.
And in this time, even smarter. Churchill wrote that dictators love to enter places riding tigers, but there always comes a time when the tigers have a hunger to satisfy. The future belongs more to cooperatives than to dictators. The world needs it to be. Let’s be it.
“We all belong to everyone.”
President of the Torres Vedras Mutual Agricultural Credit Bank
manuel.guerreiro@ccamtv.pt
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