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The 125th anniversary of the first assembly of the Catalan cooperative movement, which took place in 1898, begins with a presentation in Badalona (in the same place where the assembly was held). There will be a round table on the past, present, and future of the cooperative movement with the participation of federations and networks. At femProcomuns, as one of the cooperatives in the Ateneu Cooperatiu del Barcelonès Nord (the cooperative atheneum of the northern area of the Barcelonès region), we are collaborating in its organisation.
The event will be held on 9th March at 5 p.m. at the Badalona Conservatory of Music, the former headquarters of the La Bienechora co-operative. The Instrumental Ensemble of the Conservatory (piano, violin and cello) will give the welcome, together with the team of the Ateneu cooperatiu del Barcelonès Nord and the institutional interventions of the first deputy mayor, Àlex Montornès i Torrecillas, and the General Director of Social Economy, the Third Sector and Cooperatives, Josep Vidal i Fàbrega.
The debate will be attended by Marina Reig, for Xarxa d’Economia Solidària (Solidarity Economy Network), Guillem Llorens, for the Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia and the Federation of Worker Cooperatives, Enric Berenguer, for the Federation of Users and Consumers Cooperatives and Antonio Pedrero Utrilla for the Federation of Housing Cooperatives. They will explain how these federations and networks have been set up, what their current situation is and the prospects for the future of the co-operative movement as a whole.
Date: 9 March 2023
Time: 17h
Place: Conservatori de Música de Badalona (former headquarters of the cooperative La Bienechora) c/ Padre Claret, 2, Badalona.
Badalona it is the third-largest city in Catalonia, located on the left bank of the Besòs River, to the immediate north-east of Barcelona. “Barcelonès” is the administrative region of Barcelona and its northern part is composed by the municipalities of Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramanet and Sant Adrià de Besos. The Ateneu cooperatiu operates in these three cities.
125 years, the inspiration of the historic cooperative movement
In 1898, 36 cooperatives met in Badalona. Today the cooperative movement in Catalonia has federations of workers, consumers, housing, school and agricultural cooperatives, grouped together in the Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia, as well as participating in the Xarxa d’Economia Solidària (Solidarity Economy Network). It also has public mechanisms for the promotion of cooperativism such as the Cooperative Athenaeums and the different social economy programmes promoted by the Catalan government (Singulars, Comunalitats, Ocell de foc), town councils (grouped together in the Network of Social Economy Municipalities), county councils and regional councils.
The solidarity economy still has a long way to go to transform a dominant social model focused on extractivism and profit maximisation, we face great ecological and social challenges and an eco-social transition with cooperative and solidarity parameters is becoming more and more urgent. Even so, we already have a good basis for making this change.
At the Ateneu cooperatiu Barcelonès Nord we want this birthday to inspire us to continue building a more cooperative, more supportive, feminist, ecologically sustainable and community-based society.
The 9 March event is the first of a programme of activities that will bring into play knowledge of the past as an inspiration for thinking about the present and the future, and which will be published on the Ateneu’s website and agenda.