Accountants, Kwanzaa & Cooperative Economics

by Think Tanq

December 29, 2018 / 6318 AFK

Habari gani? On behalf of the accountants and bookkeepers of Ujamaa Works, I wish you a joyous Kwanzaa and happy holidays!

Today is the fourth day of Kwanzaa when we recognize the principle of ujamaa, which is Swahili for "cooperative economics". The members of Ujamaa Works strive to embody this principle all year. As accountants, bookkeepers and finance professionals implementing pro-black, pro-indigenous, cooperative economics, we believe that most black people, most indigenous people, most people and most ecological systems can be best-served by cooperation and collective interest. For millennia, people in the Americas and around the world have lived these values and done so in concert with the natural world.

Unfortunately, we live in a time when greed, domination and hubristic attempts to elevate humanity above nature rule the day. We reject this unsustainable paradigm and instead, choose to build cooperative solutions. We take inspiration from historical and current endeavors to build this new economy, like the people of newly-independent Tanzania, under anti-colonial President Julius Nyerere who made ujamaa and self-determination their national cause in the 1960s.

As business service providers, we also accept the concrete evidence which tells us that cooperative economics makes the most business sense. Cooperative businesses have a much higher success rate than do the typical, capital-centric, class-based enterprises. And as you might imagine, working with others instead of working "over" or "under" others, just feels better. #CooperationIsNatural.

Ujamaa is about cooperation among workers, cooperation with nature, more stable businesses and feeling good at work!