Dear ICANN: History sometimes gives us a glimpse
of the future. The application and support for dot co-op comes for a numbe
of reasons mainly that it will allow co-ops around the world to communicate and assist
each other. Over 800 million people are members of cooperatives and we cover
almost every country in the world. In many cases, the local co-op or credit
union is the only place in the villages of Latin America, Africa and Asia where there
is access to the internet. Our future is strengthened by being able to unite
our economic and social activity. The world will be better for it.Writing
about the British Cooperative Movement in the late 1800's Beatrice Potter stated,
"In truth, it is doubtful whether any single measure passed by the British Parliament
during this century has had a more potent effect in accelerating the democratic control
of our national life than the cheap and uniform postage invented by Rowland Hill..."
The
Penny Black stamp was first issued on May 1, 1840. The worldwide cooperative
movement began on December 21, 1844. That stamp provided the poor working cooperators
with the ability to communicate their ideas and plans together. It allowed
them to notify each other of meetings and conferences. It facilitiated the
provision of information about starting their own wholesale society, their own bank
their own insurance company and a host of other economic alliances. These secondary
level cooperatives could not have been achieved were it not for cheap and easy access
to communication for all of the small co-ops needing help.
Ten years later,
in 1854 the post office handled 684,047 letters many of them between the hundreds
of co-ops now established and working together to help each other rather than being
isolated because there was no way to communicate. The bible of the day for
cooperators was the extensive Cooperative Directory published by the Cooperative
Union which showed the street address in the kingdom of every co-op store, co-op
butchers shop, co-op drapery, co-op coal depot, co-op farm and co-op funeral parlor.
The Penny Black Stamp made the future possible.
An ICANN adoption of dot co-op
would be the Penny Black of the New Millenium. It would be used to identify
partners, to establish unity, to foster economic development. to speed communication,
to send out fresh ideas and remove old myths.
Please adopt dot co-op and help 800
million people help themselves. You will provide an internet gateway to a stronger
future for those presently left out. Thank you for your consideration.
David
J. Thompson, Author of Weavers of Dreams: Founders of the Modern Cooperative Movement,
President of Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation and Chair of the Policy Advisory Board
at the Center for Cooperatives at the University of California (identification only).