‘The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that the International Day of Cooperatives [is] to be celebrated annually on the first Saturday of July,’ informed Sandeep Marwah President of World Peace Development And Research Foundation and Ambassador of International Human Rights Organization affiliated to United Nation and International Bar Association….The aim of this International Day is to Increase awareness [about] cooperatives; highlight the complementarity of the goals and objectives of the United Nations and the international cooperative movement; underscore the contribution of the movement to the resolution of the major problems addressed by the United Nations; and strengthen and extend partnerships between the international cooperative movement and other actors, including governments, at local, national and international levels.This year’s theme ‘Cooperatives are making a difference in times of financial, food, and environmental crisis confronting societies around the world.’ Financial cooperatives have demonstrated their strength in a time when many financial institutions are failing. In addition, agricultural cooperatives have demonstrated their importance to achieving food security.
I will forever be grateful I was introduced to the utility and beauty of hand crafted products early in life - from the symbols and motifs sewn onto the coarse linen fabric of Croatian traditional wear to the colorful Kilim carpets that decorated the parquet floors in my grandmother's living room.
I treasure the memories of my grandfather teaching me how to protect myself against the "evil eye," the smell of the flower stalls in the open air market where my grandmother bought produce early every morning for the day’s meals and the summers spent at my great grandmother's where the village wags would come to gossip over thick, black Turkish coffee in her cool stone-floored kitchen.
Someone noted that "For all of us that want to move forward, there are a very few that want to keep the old methods of production, traditions and crafts alive." I am a fellow traveler with those who value the old traditions and folk wisdom. I believe the knowledge they possess can contribute significantly to our efforts to build a more sustainable world - one that values the individual over the corporation, conservation over growth and happiness over wealth.
The Village Market 