During my last visit to Buenos Aires in July, I was able to better get to know our baseros (what we affectionately call our La Base team members in Argentina), who established many of the systems that we continue to use in our innovative finance model. Even better, I had the opportunity to visit many of the recovered businesses and cooperatives that The Working World was founded to help support.

I always find it inspiring to make visits to the recovered businesses. For those who don’t know, the recovered businesses began as bankrupt companies that were occupied and reopened by workers after the Argentine economic crisis in 2001. While their paths have been difficult and fraught with challenges, as a movement these cooperatives have succeeded, going out of business less frequently than their traditional counterparts and serving as important anchors of employment in local communities throughout Argentina.

Today, Argentina’s many worker cooperatives exist as powerful symbols of democracy in the workplace, solidarity in the broader economy and, to put it more simply, a better way of doing business. For example, the FaSinPat factory in Argentina—better known as Zanon—is one of the most successful ceramic factories in South America, with over 400 worker-owners. Deeply rooted in their community, they have built health clinics and regularly support important social and cultural initiatives.

Visiting these cooperatives reminded me of how exciting it is to be working with the many folks in Occupy Wall Street who are trying to build real democratic alternatives. At Alternative Economics and Worker Cooperative Working Group meetings over the last year, we have met lots of people who want to create democratic businesses right here in New York. These include OccuCopy, a messaging and print services business, who we helped buy equipment and raw materials to put their idea into action. It also includes folks interested in taking other movement activities—from screen-printing to tech coordination to cooking—and convert them into longer-term sustainable democratic businesses.

Today is September 17, the anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, a movement that has reminded us of the many ways in which our economy fails to provide opportunities for all. We believe strongly in the movement’s message, and also that worker cooperatives can continue to act as powerful examples of the change we want to see in our economy and our society.