Composer Gustav Mahler once said (a quote often attributed also to socialist leader Jean Jaurès) that "tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." We are often led to believe that culture is something static, kept in glass cases or consumed in silence. But we know that culture is living, incandescent matter, which only makes sense when it is shared, passed from hand to hand, warming a community.

The projects we present to you today are exactly that: keepers of the fire. A bookstore moving to the city center to spark a love for reading, a safe space keeping its lights on despite bureaucratic storms, and a "fire beast" teaching children that the streets belong to them. Keeping the flame alive takes effort, and that is why they need you to step up today to fuel it.

📚 Ens ajudes a fer créixer la llibreria Isop?

For a bonfire to grow, it needs air. The same applies to Llibreria Isop (Olot). After four years of consolidation, they understand that to create "more and better readers," they cannot stand still. That is why they are launching a bold transition to the city's main commercial street. It is not just a change of venue; it is a statement of intent: bringing books into people's paths, normalizing reading in everyday life, and turning the bookstore into a visible, accessible cultural hub for everyone.

This project is vital because it breaks down the barrier of cultural elitism. By locating itself in the heart of the city, Isop wants to reach those who currently see a bookstore door as an insurmountable wall. They need support to fund this move and design a new action program. Your contribution will ensure culture doesn't stay on the margins but occupies the central place it deserves in our cities.

👉 Help Isop ignite its new chapter here

🚪 Las puertas abiertas de La Marimala de Lavapiés

If there is a place that has kept the warmth alive in the Lavapiés neighborhood (Madrid), it is La Marimala. For five years, this queer cultural laboratory has been a refuge against hostility, offering its space for free for nearly 1,000 events and weaving a network of care against loneliness and gentrification. They have created a home where diversity is not just tolerated, but celebrated.

But keeping this fire burning is proving heroic. La Marimala faces economic suffocation caused by incessant police inspections and administrative sanctions (paradoxical fines for, literally, "keeping the doors open"). These penalties are draining their resistance fund. Supporting them now is crucial to replenish funds and ensure this violence-free space can continue operating and offering its rooms to the neighborhood throughout 2026. Let's not let bureaucracy extinguish one of Madrid's liveliest spaces.

👉 Collaborate here

🐉 La Petita aventura de l'Aegis

Popular culture is the original fire of our neighborhoods. The Bocs de Can Rosés know this well, and to celebrate their 30-year history (and 10 years of their fire beast, Aegis), they are launching a beautiful project to ensure generational renewal: "La petita aventura de l'Aegis". It is an illustrated storybook set in Les Corts (Barcelona) that will serve as a pedagogical tool to explain to children the festivals and traditions that bring their streets to life.

This book is important because it connects play with memory. Through a collectively created and carefully illustrated story, the book teaches the value of weaving community and loving local traditions. It will be ready by April, making it the perfect Sant Jordi (St. George's Day) gift. Your donation doesn't just print a book; it helps the spark of popular culture catch fire in the imagination of the next generation.

👉 Help Aegis tell its story here

🤔 What if democracy wasn't just about voting?

SIf these projects teach us that culture is a fire that must be fed, this course teaches us how to do it. In times of uncertainty, creativity is not a decoration, but an urgent political tool. That is why the Platoniq School and IGOP (UAB) are joining forces to launch the first University Micro-credential in Creative Democracy.

This is a 6-session online itinerary (2 ECTS credits) where we will learn how to use imagination to win rights, design decision-making spaces, and communicate with social impact.

• Format: Online (12h of class + independent work).
• Price: 70% subsidized (Only €54).
• Goal: To move from complaint to proposal, and from idea to institutional impact.

👉 Pre-register here and learn to design the democracy of the future.

What about you? What are you interested in?

😙 At the Platoniq Foundation we are dedicated to disseminating innovative democratic initiatives that add value for citizens, as well as to promoting crowdfunding for projects with social impact through our platform Goteo.org. Join us at our events and continue promoting democratic transition and collective empowerment.

🥰 Join this transformation! Let the social and solidarity energy flow, because in a seemingly devastated world, we can still build change. Donate to our campaign and participate in the new version of Goteo.

See you in the next newsletter! 😜

That's as far as we go. We hope this newsletter has encouraged you to keep walking towards the society of all and for all that we are gradually approaching. See you next time!