The recent turmoil over a report by the government’s Regulatory Reform Promotion Council on agriculture cooperatives reform, filled with irrational arguments, was settled after some maneuvering by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Radical and extreme phrases were deleted from the report for the time being, but it is highly likely that attacks on cooperatives will continue in the future. In response, cooperatives at home and abroad issued statements of protest against the report, calling for the need to protect the organizations’ core principles of autonomy and independence. The government and the LDP should take them seriously.
Cooperative organizations around the world are furious and are alarmed by the situation. The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the world’s largest nongovernmental organization with 1 billion members from some 100 countries, was quick to issue a protest. The ICA, which has been working to create a sustainable society on a global scale in alliance with the United Nations, regarded the moves in Japan as a threat to the existence of cooperatives themselves along with the rise of neoliberalism.
On Nov. 22, when the debate on the report was at its peak, Japan Joint Committee of Cooperatives (JJC), made up of 15 cooperative organizations nationwide including consumers cooperatives and agricultural cooperatives, expressed a strong concern over the prospect for agricultural reform. “The autonomy and independence of cooperatives should not be restricted under the mask of regulatory reform,” the committee said. It asked the government to “instead encourage development and growth of cooperatives.”
Prior to that, the ICA’s Asia and Pacific Regional Assembly issued a resolution in New Delhi, expressing “deep concern on the Japanese government’s move that may interfere with the autonomy and independence of cooperatives” and expressing strong support for the Japanese cooperative movement. At the same time, ICA Director-General Charles Gould sent a letter of support to Choe Okuno, JJC chairman and the president of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-ZENCHU). “We are concerned that the proposal, as we understand it, would constitute an unwarranted intrusion into the functioning of the co-operatives, which are independent private organizations,” the letter said. “We hope that you will call on us if we can be of any assistance as your country considers these important issues that are of concern to the worldwide cooperative movement.”
In 1995, the ICA adopted seven cooperative principles, which are well-recognized in international law and have been integrated into the United Nations Guidelines on Cooperatives and in the International Labor Organization’s Recommendation 193 on the promotion of cooperatives. Especially important among these principles are Principle 2 on democratic member control and Principle 4, on autonomy and independence, the values which constitute the backbone of cooperative organizations. Such principles should never be infringed.
After the unveiling of a radical agricultural reform plan by the council’s agriculture working group which differ greatly from the real conditions, the Japanese agricultural cooperatives group conducted a big campaign to fight the situation which could endanger the group’s existence. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the council tried to make a change for the worse by attacking the most basic principles of cooperatives under the name of regulatory reform. Such attempts go against the original aim of agricultural reform, which is to boost farmers’ income, and if left as it is, could have led to organizational malfunction of the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (ZEN-NOH) which is engaged in the group’s marketing and supply business.
Such an outrageous argument came out of the working group because it does not have a proper understanding of the roles of cooperatives and has a wrong idea that cooperatives are a factor that hinders economic development as well as posing a negative effect on growth strategy. However, excessive globalization is worsening the problem of income inequality by concentrating wealth in few hands. Now is the time for cooperative sectors, which function differently from competitive sectors, to make a significant contribution to the society.