---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Platform Coop Consortium <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 5:21 AM Subject: Hope in Pandemic Times To: <[email protected]> The crisis opens up opportunities for liberation. View this email in your browser <https://mailchi.mp/platform.coop/organizing-alternatives-4853908?e=8d51b7a80d> August 25, 2020 by Trebor Scholz *Hope in Pandemic Times* The pandemic has hit us hard. We had to move out of our offices and have continued to collaborate remotely. We are glad to reconnect with you after some silence and trust that you are all safe and sane. The crisis opens up opportunities for liberation and we have been hard at work! In the last newsletter, we had announced the *Platform Co-ops Now!* <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=c8a46664f6&e=8d51b7a80d>course, which is the result of a formal collaboration between the PCC and Mondragon University. We were approached by over one thousand people who asked to register. This gave us a reason for hope, grounded in clear trajectories of practice. 418 participants from 49 countries ended up enrolling in this inaugural online class, which was supported by CICOPA <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=3480f63a98&e=8d51b7a80d> and 47 local partner organizations worldwide (acknowledged below). We owe a debt of gratitude to our partner organizations around the world that came together with a few weeks' notice. With gutsiness and insight, they helped to incubate 112 platform co-op initiatives in their local contexts. Our partners translated the lectures into Italian, Spanish, and Korean. Read more about the course from The New School <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=45b301737d&e=8d51b7a80d> and Mondragon <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=0114015435&e=8d51b7a80d> University. *Platform Co-ops Now!* <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=5c8f20077e&e=8d51b7a80d> was a tipping point for our movement. Beyond the significant global engagement, the course was a formidable experience of the international community with participants coming from disparate cultures, religions, and political backgrounds. Course alumni are connecting on the first Friday of each month. *But this online class was just the beginning. If you could not join the inaugural course, please register for the upcoming one now.* Many people have asked us to offer *Platform Co-ops Now! *again. While this first course was supported by the PCC at The New School, the next iteration <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=131989d868&e=8d51b7a80d> will be logistically hosted by Mondragon University. *The dates are October 26, 2020 - January 29, 2021. * The course will again be taught by Trebor Scholz and Jose Mari Luzarraga Monasterio. For pricing and sign up details, see this page <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=891a086a9f&e=8d51b7a80d>. *The Course Is For People Who Are: * - Determined to launch dignified digital platforms that offer decent work, - Members of cooperatives or startups who want to transition their enterprise to a platform cooperative. If you have further questions, please contact [email protected]. Acknowledgment of Our Partner Organizations (from the first iteration of the course): Start.coop <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=30a7285686&e=8d51b7a80d> (USA) Ampled <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=647e5c66ef&e=8d51b7a80d> (USA) Conseil Québécois de la Coopération et de la Mutualité <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=faab48e372&e=8d51b7a80d> (Canada) The Canadian Worker Co-op Federation <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=3f20a4bd1d&e=8d51b7a80d> (Canada) Universidad Fundepos <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=d2fee5eef7&e=8d51b7a80d> (Costa Rica) Centro emprendimiento e incubación de economía social de Universidad IBERO – MTA puebla <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=cd9c059727&e=8d51b7a80d> (Mexico) Legacoop Liguria <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=b51bce45ec&e=8d51b7a80d> (Italy) LegaCoop Bologna <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=4120c22843&e=8d51b7a80d> (Italy) Legacoop Puglia <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=e20ca2c577&e=8d51b7a80d> (Italy) LegaCoop Sicilia <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=a1964753f1&e=8d51b7a80d> (Italy) Legacoop Abitanti Nazionale <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=108fcde5fb&e=8d51b7a80d> (Italy) Genera (Italy) Coopfond <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=11f6446857&e=8d51b7a80d> (Italy) Fondazione Centro Studi Doc <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=a14c2a5ab0&e=8d51b7a80d> (Italy) Unipolis <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=cc76a88136&e=8d51b7a80d> (Italy) National Union of Worker Producers’ Co-operatives <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=cd81762680&e=8d51b7a80d> (Bulgaria) Platform Cooperatives Germany <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=29635fc8cf&e=8d51b7a80d> (Germany) Cooperatives UK <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=c5b4af2199&e=8d51b7a80d> Startinblox <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=47d02f9e94&e=8d51b7a80d> (France) Coceta <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=c77715b75b&e=8d51b7a80d>(Madrid, Spain) Florida Universitaria <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=bc2a5ffcc9&e=8d51b7a80d> – MTA Valencia (Spain) FACTTIC <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=cb19808f87&e=8d51b7a80d> (Argentina) Confecoop Colombia <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=87501f93a2&e=8d51b7a80d> (Colombia) Asociación de cooperativas y empresas solidarias de Huila <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=d2aace9de7&e=8d51b7a80d> (Colombia) BCCM <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=73ec00c1da&e=8d51b7a80d> /Incubator.coop <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=e5c594cb7d&e=8d51b7a80d> (Australia) OCB <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=91374830c9&e=8d51b7a80d> (Brazil) Junior Achievement <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=14a936200d&e=8d51b7a80d> (Uganda) PCC Hong Kong <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=e93369bd33&e=8d51b7a80d> (China) MTA China <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=d095cd22b7&e=8d51b7a80d> (China) MakerLab China <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=b15b357fd6&e=8d51b7a80d> (China) MTA Singapore <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=a60007cb02&e=8d51b7a80d> (Singapore) SEWA Cooperative Federation <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=c29118df19&e=8d51b7a80d> (India) Agricultural Cooperative Staff Training Institute <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=8fb3ddc2c0&e=8d51b7a80d> (Kerala, India) ULCCS <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=72dd5e9e65&e=8d51b7a80d> (India) IndusTree <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=8ad743b82a&e=8d51b7a80d> (India) Co-operative and Small to Medium Enterprise Innovation Hub, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=f00432c67e&e=8d51b7a80d> (Indonesia) LSP2I (Indonesia) Gapatma (Indonesia) CeMade (Morocco) Cooperative House Togo (Togo) Co-op University <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=27a4e08af6&e=8d51b7a80d> (Kenya) Zuhura Innovations Africa <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=624ab2cf72&e=8d51b7a80d> (Kenya) Odua conglomerate <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=84d94d2919&e=8d51b7a80d> (Nigeria) HBM social cooperative – MTA Korea <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=245403961b&e=8d51b7a80d> (South Korea) RedRoot Artists Cooperative <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=be6a049227&e=8d51b7a80d> (Philippines) Mondragon Team Academy Japan <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=8762a68fd9&e=8d51b7a80d> (MTA Japan) *News from Our Community* - *From Simon Pek:* A research team led out of the University of Victoria is working on a research project investigating platform worker cooperatives’ governance, with a particular focus on potential governance challenges and how they can be overcome. This project is expected to help simplify the start-up process for platform cooperatives and help existing ones avoid common governance pitfalls. All leaders and/or founders of platform worker cooperatives (that have workers as one of their core member groups) and that have knowledge of the governance of the cooperative are eligible to participate. Participating in this study will involve an interview that is expected to last about one hour and can be done over the phone or on a program like Skype. The researchers will maintain participants’ confidentiality and not use their names or the names of the platforms they work for in any publications. If you or anybody you know is eligible, please consider participating in this research project or sharing this note with people in your network. Interested participants can contact Dr. Simon Pek, the Principal Investigator, at [email protected] <[email protected]?subject=via%20PCC%20newsletter> anytime to learn more. - Member of our Circle of Advisors Howard Browdsky (yes, the father of Greg Brodsky) has received the Business Leader of the Decade award <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=95ac03f34d&e=8d51b7a80d>. Congrats, Howard!! - *Invitation: *As you are reading this, let us know if you would be interested in a Spanish version of this newsletter. If so, please contact us at [email protected] <[email protected]?subject=via%20PCC%20Newsletter> *Updates from the Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC)* - The next PCC conference <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=4ae9e11f5b&e=8d51b7a80d> planned for Berlin will go into digital exile. We are being supported by these key organizations from Germany: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Weizenbaum Institute, Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW), Humboldt University Berlin, and Platform Cooperatives Germany eG. Which format do you envision for this event? - Over the next few weeks, we will be launching an Index of the Cooperative Digital Economy, which will also include a Tool Library. The site will be available in twenty languages at that time. - We are very happy to report that the Brazilian tech co-op Cooper System will take over the hosting and maintenance of the various projects on our website. - The reports by the current Research Fellows will be published early in September. Our Fellowship will continue with a new cohort starting later in the fall. If you have recommendations, send them our way. [email protected] <[email protected]?subject=via%20PCC%20newsletter> - Aman Bardia, <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=545fb2b191&e=8d51b7a80d> a graduate of the Economics Department at The New School for Social Research, joined us as Assistant Director at the PCC. Please extend a warm welcome to Aman. - Lastly, news from our Director: Trebor Scholz has been appointed a Guest Professor at Mondragon University. He is also the recipient of two new fellowships: one at the USC Berggruen Institute <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=96743f3046&e=8d51b7a80d> and the second at Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=338d528cee&e=8d51b7a80d>. This adds to his ongoing work as an Open Society Foundations Fellow. The Platform Co-op Resource Library The Platform Co-op Development continues to evolve and move forward as a collaboration between the PCC and the Inclusive Design Research Centre. We soft-launched the resource library at http://resources.platform.coop <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=9c0505a7f8&e=8d51b7a80d> with some *1670 resources *for practitioners and researchers. Take the library for a spin, let's say for a search of "platform cooperativism <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=181083689b&e=8d51b7a80d>." We'll add material in languages other than English soon, too. Support Our Work Whether you are reading this edition of our newsletter in France, Italy, or Mexico, write to us <[email protected]?subject=via%20PCC%20Newsletter>with news and updates about your projects *in your language*. Our latest newsletters -- May <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=bbe06292b8&e=8d51b7a80d> , April <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=98e6c41380&e=8d51b7a80d> , March <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=70d16ce402&e=8d51b7a80d> , February <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=295e298d25&e=8d51b7a80d> , January 2020 <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=a60a7df6ab&e=8d51b7a80d> If you enjoy this newsletter, please help your friends to subscribe by pointing them to our sign up page <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=ebdad352b2&e=8d51b7a80d> . We are grateful for your commitment to the movement and the PCC's work at this difficult time. The Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) is a grassroots organization, dependent on the contributions of individuals and organizations who believe in fighting for a democratic, cooperative economy. We identify the shared needs of hundreds of digital cooperative projects worldwide. You can help us in three ways: You can support our work by making a one-time gift <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=4443e8a284&e=8d51b7a80d>. Invite your friends and family to support us too. If you represent an organization, consider joining the PCC Circle of Cooperators <https://platform.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f638bbafd5bc768b7aa06be65&id=84379e27b9&e=8d51b7a80d>. Your contributions make our work possible. Lastly, you can send us an endorsement or testimonial for public use. 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If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/