# /0 Summary ## // What Is a Mycelium? The mycelium is modelled on the root structure of a fungus: a branched network of rotating care relationships for social and political contexts. Each person receives care from two people and gives care to two other people. This results in a circular care mesh in which care work is systematically distributed. *Basic principle of a hypha: two people give care to a third, who in turn passes it on to two others – non-reciprocal, asymmetric, decentralised. A complete mycelium consists of many such hyphae, interconnected into one circular overall network (depicted in the original protocol as a circular diagram with, e.g., 15 nodes and 30 relationships – achievable via the Myzelerator).* ## // Why a Mycelium? The Care Mycelium aims to provide an alternative to traditional forms of relationships and to contribute to the political agency and gender justice of social and political contexts. While the everyday life of wage-dependent and care-providing people is often isolated, crushing and marked by gendered inequality in the distribution of care work, the mycelium enables consciously designed solidary relationships. ## // Goals & Benefits of the Mycelium - Equitable distribution of care work and burdens - Decentralised organisation without hierarchies - Conscious estrangement of organically grown care relationships and establishment of solidary care relationships - Building new structures not marked by gendered inequality - Countering isolation, overwhelm and the reproduction of patriarchal relations # /1 Principles of the Mycelium ## // Basic Rules The basis of the mycelium structure is formed by simple but effective principles: - Each person supports exactly two other people - Each person receives support from exactly two other people - This does not create mutual care responsibility From these rules results a network of non-reciprocal care relationships, which we call **mycelium**, following the root structure and decentralised network character of fungi. Analogous to the fungal structure (= mycelium), we call the "nodes" of the network **hyphae**, as they describe the thread-like basic structure of fungi. Each three-way relationship between two care-giving and one care-receiving person is therefore called a hypha. Each mycelium thus consists of several hyphae. ## // Why Does the Gender Dimension Play Such a Big Role? Care responsibility is gendered: women* do more care work, feel more responsible, carry more mental load. To prevent this from continuing in mycelium structures, it makes sense to establish additional allocation rules. These could include: - No two women* and non-binary persons should be care-responsible for one man. - No two men should be responsible for one non-male person. The goal is not that women* should not take on care obligations, but to test ways of distributing these across genders as fairly and as equally as possible. # /2 Procedure for Establishing a Mycelium ## // Negotiation & Modelling The beginning is always collective negotiation about goals, hopes, obstacles and fears and how to approach establishment. The shared political claim for a solidary and anti-sexist care practice should also be discussed. Several questions arise that each context must negotiate for itself: - What is the political claim of our care organising? - Who should be part of the mycelium? Also friends, family and comrades who are (not yet) part of care organising? - After how many weeks should the allocation rotate? - What additional rules beyond the basic rules should be applied in allocation? - What forms of support do we want to give each other and what are realistic expectations? ## // Concrete Allocation Once the context is ready to move into practice, care responsibilities must be allocated. For this, you can use the **Myzelerator**: it contains an algorithm that implements the basic rules as hard rules and the gender rules as soft rules (= compliance if mathematically possible). The Myzelerator stores data exclusively in the cache of your own device; nevertheless, as always, it is very important to pay attention to data security. This means in the concrete case of the mycelium: - Use pseudonyms only: no real names in the Myzelerator, in documentation or anywhere else! - Digital communication for the mycelium and between hyphae should only take place on secure platforms such as Signal – set disappearing messages! # /3 Ongoing Reflection and Adaptation ## // Regular Check-ins To keep the mycelium structure alive: - Check-ins in everyday life / at Care Plena / at (monthly) reflection meetings - Exchange about experiences - Adaptation to changing needs ## // Dealing with Changes - Discuss possibilities for temporary adjustments if something doesn't work - Enable the integration of new members ## // Tools Coordination can be facilitated by: - The **Myzelerator**, which facilitates the allocation of care responsibilities - For your own hypha, a Signal group is recommended, to which current care people are added --- **Tool for allocating care responsibility:** The Myzelerator is interactively embedded in the website – see the dedicated "Myzelerator" section in the navigation.