We understand our value added compared to other environmental or social initiatives (see a non-exhaustive list at the bottom of this post) as follows.
The CosmoPolitical Cooperative is unique in that it proposes a unified, coherent and democratic framework for action, at all scales, and in all areas of social, economic or political activity, that none of these organisations provide. We don't just want to "change the system". We lay out the alternative system, the Society of Agreement, with which we want to replace the present one, and we lay out how we want to get there.
The CosmoPolitical Cooperative:
- has a clear and explicit long-term vision for the future of the European Union and of the world, the Society of Agreement, that provides a common goal for all our actions. This vision is comprehensive, concrete and realistic, based on existing technologies, and yet a social contract that differs from the current one radically enough to ensure the long-term survival of human civilisation. This is a major asset. Most recent revolutions or successful social movements were based on very simple and visible goals: equal rights (civic rights, anti-apartheid), freedom from foreign domination (decolonisation, Central and Eastern European revolutions of 1990). The society to be created already existed and was visible. In our case, the just, sustainable, democratic and happy society that we propose to overcome the global challenges of the 21st century does not exist, yet. It must be created and imagined. We did it. Nobody else, to our knowledge, has done anything comparable;
- has a coherent strategy, with staggered objectives, to reach that long-term goal, the 30-40-50 Strategy, which pursues all three pillars of (1) social justice, (2) environmental sustainability and (3) pan-European democracy, in parallel;
- proposes to start immediately with small, concrete measures, but yet effective and meaningful, susceptible to be performed at individual level;
- builds a supportive community of people sharing values of mutual respect, caring and encouragement;
- supports those personal projects of its Cooperators that contribute to its strategic goals, with the competencies of other Cooperators and with a dedicated share of its budget;
- thanks to the flexibility of its cooperative statute, offers a complete and continuous range of collective actions, at all scales, and in all areas of social and economic activity, that converge towards the Society of Agreement, from small, local activism, to entrepreneurial activities or support to corporate sustainability, and to EU-wide policy-making and decision-taking, with no gap between them (in particular: no gap between NGO-like, economic and political modes of action);
- operates as a European Cooperative Society (SCE), and hence as a single, unitary organisation at the level of the European Union. It thereby leverages the unified power of the EU institutions, probably one of the only three governments on Earth (together with those of China and of the United States of America) that multinational corporations and financial powers really fear;
- operates with deeply democratic statutes that empower every Cooperator, independently from his/her native language, place of residence or lifestyle, with the capacity to take initiatives, to improve and amend those of others, and to make final decisions;
- relies on a complete IT platform and on a world-class deliberative democracy software.
Thereby, we heed the indispensable links between:
- the long term of visions and values that provide the overall meaning of our action; and
- the short term of concrete results that bring encouragement and gratification;
as well as between:
- the small scale of human support and relationships; and
- the large scale of macroscopic action able to cope with global issues.
| Features | CosmoPolitical Cooperative | Environmental NGOs | Green political parties | Social NGOs | Trade unions | Left political parties | Pan-European NGOs | Pan-European political parties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comprehensive long-term vision | Y | - | (p) | - | - | - | - | - |
| Goal: sustainability | Y | Y | Y | (p) | (p) | (p) | - | (p) |
| Goal: social justice | Y | (p) | (p) | Y | Y | Y | - | (p) |
| Goal: pan-European democracy | Y | - | (p) | - | - | (p) | Y | Y |
| Short-term, concrete actions | Y | Y | - | (p) | Y | - | - | - |
| Support to members' projects | Y | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Entrepreneurship | Y | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Corporate sustainability | Y | - | - | - | Y | - | - | - |
| Political responsibilities | Y | - | Y | - | - | Y | - | Y |
| Unitary organisation at EU scale | Y | (p) | - | (p) | - | - | (p) | (p) |
| Internal democracy | Y | - | Y | - | Y | (p) | - | (p) |
Legend:
- "Y" = the feature is present
- "(p)" = the feature is partially present
- "-" = the feature is absent
Existing organisations in the fields of social justice, environmental sustainaibility or pan-European democracy (non-exhaustive list):
- For the environment or climate: Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion, the A22 network, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF, the green political parties;
- For social justice and international solidarity: Oxfam, the Clean Clothes Campaign, Caritas, Electronics Watch, the Tax Justice Network, the left and far-left political parties, the trade unions;
- For pan-European democracy: the European Movement, the Union of European Federalists, political parties like Volt or DiEM25.