Dr Morshed Mannan delivers a keynote address on community-driven approaches to digital sovereignty in Tanzania
Thu 10 September 2026
On 2 September 2026, Dr Morshed Mannan delivered a keynote address on “Digital Sovereignty beyond the State and Silicon Valley: Building Legal Foundations for Platform and Data Co-operatives across the Global South” during the 6th International Conference on Innovative and Sustainable Cooperatives at Moshi Co-operative University, Moshi, Tanzania (2 – 4 September 2026).
In his keynote, Morshed first spoke about the connection between Edinburgh and Tanzania, particularly through Julius Nyerere, the illustrious Edinburgh alumnus who became the first President of the United Republic of Tanzania, and how his Ujamaa philosophy was shaped by the Fabian socialism that he was exposed to during his time in the UK. He then briefly fleshed out what digital and data colonialism is, before showing how digital sovereignty has emerged as a key concept to address the harms generated by these new colonial practices.
He went on to critique existing models of digital sovereignty, instead arguing for a bottom-up, community-driven version of digital sovereignty that is realised, in part, through the creation of platform cooperatives and data cooperatives. The last part of his talk was devoted to the challenges that these new cooperatives face and suggested pathways for creating conducive conditions for such cooperatives.
Learn more about Dr Mannan's work