If you have grown convinced that our democracy has been bought, it is still no reason to despair. You can choose the lesser of evils on election day, you can still lobby for your favorite causes, but you can also do something that is a little revolutionary by supporting cooperative businesses.

Cooperative business are co-owned either by the customers (consumer cooperatives) or by the workers (worker cooperatives). Either way, such businesses are an important step away from the kind of capitalism that leaves customers at the mercy of the market, and workers at the mercy of their employers.

Austin has some wonderful cooperative businesses:

All Austin Cooperative Nursery Schoolhttp://www.allaustincoop.org

Black Star Co-op Pub and Breweryhttp://www.blackstar.coop

Cooperation Texashttp://cooperationtexas.coop/

Dahlia Green Cleaning Serviceshttp://dahlia.coop/

KOOP 91.7 FMhttp://www.koop.org

Monkey Wrench Bookshttp://www.monkeywrenchbooks.org

Red Rabbit Cooperative Bakeryhttp://redrabbitbakery.com

Treasure City Thrifthttp://www.treasurecitythrift.org

Wheatsville Food Co-ophttp://www.wheatsville.coop

 

In addition to supporting cooperative businesses, it is a bit revolutionary to move your money from a bank to a credit union, which is controlled democratically by it’s members.

For more information here is a directory of Austin cooperatives:

http://www.austincooperatives.coop/