The digital commons, cosmolocalism, and open cooperativism: The cases of P2P Lab and Tzoumakers

Abstract

The digital commons support novel organizational models such as cosmolocalism and open cooperativism that seek to challenge the capitalist mode of production. They set out to establish a counter-hegemony vis-à-vis the current hegemony of neoliberalism. The paper engages in the debate between Marinus Ossewaarde, Wessel Reijers and Vasilis Kostakis over the emancipatory potential of the digital commons by reviewing the P2P Lab and Tzoumakers as illustrative cases of cosmolocalism and open cooperativism. The paper shows that the P2P Lab and Tzoumakers exhibit core features of cosmolocalism and prefigure a sketch of open cooperativism. For the digital commons in general and P2P Lab/Tzoumakers in particular to contribute to the counter-hegemony of open cooperativism, it is necessary to link to a chain of equivalence criss-crossing the commons, ethical market entities and a partner state via cross-sectoral value propositions, inclusive governance, and economic models, innovative law policies and open sustainability standards, all aiming to force capitalism adjust to a commons-oriented post-capitalist transition.