Just back from her fourth trip to Cuba in 12 months, Wendy Holm will kick off SKY's 2012 weekly speaker series with a fascinating account of her work in Cuba and why it's important to Bowen Islanders.
In her own words, "For me as an agrologist, it's all about public policy and respect for community. As Fidel said, 'Humanity has a yearning for justice.' How can we deliver the communities to sustain our grandchildren's grandchildren?
For over a decade, the world has watched and marveled at Cuba's success in converting a mono-culture, chemical-dependent agriculture sector to one that is cooperative, diversified, ecologically strong and sustainable.As people came to understand factory farms damage communities and their ecosystems, Cuba was there to show us there is a better way to produce safe, nutritious food in a sustainable manner without the use of chemicals and pesticides.
In the midst of global economic crisis, the lesson we must now all learn is there are alternatives to capitalism that produce far more robust economic benefits while building social capital in a sustainable manner that respects the dignity of the community and its people. Again, Cuba is poised to show us the way.
In its Sixth Congress last April, the Cuban Communist Party committed to a evolution from state socialism to co-operative control in many sectors of Cuba's economy. Cuba could be the first nation to get this right. Without mountainous foreign debt to the World Bank and IMF that has constrained the sovereign choice of others, Cuba is relatively free to walk her own path."
Returning from an October study tour of co-op economics in the Basque Region of Spain as part of her second masters - a co-op MBA - at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Holm convened a group of co-op thought leaders from Canada, the United States and Scotland in Havana in December to meet with their Cuban counterparts. They were wowed.
Come to SKY on Monday and learn why 2012 - United Nations International Year of Cooperatives - is the perfect time to examine better paths to social justice and democracy.
Holm speaks at 11 a.m. at Bowen Court.The title of her talk is Building better paths: co-operation and community.
Holm is an agrologist, journalist, public speaker and graduate student. She is an elected director of Vancity Credit Union.
