Purusha consists of a group of researchers, from diverse range of field and disciplinary backgrounds, who are committed to three things: social transformation, scientific endeavors and research-based experimentations. These people also concur on a conclusion that co-operative system provides an alternative to the existing exploitative and crisis-laden economic system. Cooperativism inherits all th
e best that collectivism and solidarity might offer. Not only this, it also enables a collective autonomy of organizing the economy, mainly production. We also see cooperativism not as a static and passive system, but as a live system. It’s alive, and should be, in that in its most effective practice of it, cooperativism will: firstly, to expand possibly to every aspect of life which was not economic and which was organized individualistically (cooperativization); and secondly, to equalize and then synergize every difference into a collective harmony instead of a hierarchy that produces privileges. This sets Purusha a task, which is one aiming at “a global outbreak of cooperativism.”
In Indonesia, Purusha also the first cooperatives which bases itself on research. Purusha does research as its core activity, along with another kind of activities such as: strategic consultancy; book publishing; workshop, private course and training programs; and coffee shop. All these activities have hybrid edges, both commercial and activism. When people or organization using our products have similar purpose with that of Purusha (social transformation based on scientific endeavors) we will have special “pricing” for them. Otherwise, we do professional business. For the time being, in our research unit, we already have two ongoing research-projects that we conduct independently, though still open for fundraiser. The first one is on “The Story of Cooperatives Failure in Indonesia” that tries to map out all co-operative endeavors, state-initiated nor people-initiated, and delve into why these efforts fail, deviate, and, of course success and persist. Second ongoing project is “The Indonesia Doing Research” project that attempt to set up what we call a research-backed village. The project aims to establish a system which enables all the villagers to actively participate in the research process and thus accelerating the autonomous knowledge production. The assumption we’d like to make explicit is that research works are not in the hands of formally educated people monopoly. Purusha also organizes students, provide them with training to conduct what we call a “movement-oriented research” and giving them technical assistance in the course of their research. The platform we use to do this is the JeRK (Jaringan Riset Kolektif, Research Collective Network). JeRK was established in December 2012, long predating Purusha itself, and conducted research on the WTO MC9. After doing the research, it did a self-funded (!) roadshow from Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya and Bali to socialize our research. Some of its member, then, founded today’s Purusha. JeRK continues as a platform to organize students who are concerned with social transformation and who value scientific research. At present, with assistance from Purusha, JeRK is doing a research on ASEAN Economic Community. Drawing a lesson from JeRK and the fact that most Indonesian NGOs do not have adequate research basis. With some endorsement from our fellow in many NGOs throughout Indonesia, Purusha decides to play role in patching the problem. Purusha is committed to provide research or research-related workshop, training and technical assistance for any NGO (members or institution) that struggles toward social transformation. For the time being, some NGO have stated their interest in delegating some of their member to our workshop programs. Beside JeRK, Purusha also has a close-knit partner that is APPI (Aliansi Pemuda Pekerja Indonesia, Indonesian Youth and Worker Alliance). Some members of Purusha are also in APPI. Gearing towards an economic system free from exploitation, APPI, a labor union, experiment on establishing a system of labor measure that is less (if not free) from exploitation. APPI calls it the NAP (Nilai Aktivitas Produksi, productive activity value) that enables workers to have stake on the enterprises’ profit and development. It is this system of labor measure that Purusha is adopting internally and externally through our projected business units. Since June 2015, Purusha runs a coffee shop organized collectively by our co-ops, named Owl House Coffee. The idea of coffee shop comes when we found out and ourselves are experiencing an intense culture of café-ing among activists and students in Jakarta. They conduct discussions, meetings, press conferences, workshops, seminars, FGDs, film screenings, book discussions, or just simply working out their papers, reports, or assignments. Purusha’s coffee shop would be expected to play a role in this culture, that is by assuming the role of a hub or a meeting point for activists and students and hereby might intensifying interaction and collaboration among them. This coffee shop we have in mind would have some cubicles, some meeting rooms, and free high internet access. We would also be able to carry out our own events in the coffee shop. At present, we are still in the stage of fundraising. For a longer run, Purusha envisions itself being the home for every Indonesian researcher-activists, which are those who have commitment to social transformation and value scientific research endeavors. When the time comes, Purusha will serve as a research platform where researches take place, done by researchers around Indonesia. There will be many clusters dealing with many issues, and cross-linking many researcher-activists across NGOs and CSOs. Also we will assume a role in providing high-qualified researcher-activists to be posted in NGOs and CSOs around Indonesia. In the very long run, we would then establish an autonomous research university whereby students might be able to autonomously organize their own curriculum and creating their social engagement program. The university will provide lecturer and facilitate the learning process. As a cooperative, Purusha also committed to spread out the idea of cooperatives and will do our best to help and/or facilitate the establishment of cooperatives. As mentioned above, our conception of cooperatives is one that is aggressive. So, by establishing a cooperatives, we actually mean enforcing a transition from individualistic economic organization to cooperative economic organization based on solidarity. We are committed to facilitate the outbreak of cooperativism.
