Awakening to an Ecology of the Commons

What is the future of The Commons movement​? What are some of the pathways for a commons transition? How do we formulate an alternative political economy and livelihoods out of the ashes of neoliberalism and the covid-19 pandemic? ​And how do we understand ​all of​ this in ​the​ broader​ planetary context of the anthropocene​? ​Our… Continue reading

We Are Not the Virus. We Are the Kamikazes.

I understand why environmentalists have concluded that Covid-19 is nature’s way of repelling human activity. If we’re going to keep mucking around with Earth’s biodiversity, climate, topsoil, oceans, and air, eventually nature’s going to respond. In this view, the virus is nature’s own antibodies, repelling human invasion. I sympathize with the systemic style of this… Continue reading

Double Edge Theatre: Art & Commoning

Matthew Glassman and Carlos Uriona, co-artistic directors of Double Edge Theatre in western Massachusetts, explain how commoning informs the performances and stewardship of their artist-owned ensemble theater company. About Double Edge Theatre Double Edge Theatre, an artist-run organization, was founded in Boston in 1982 by Stacy Klein as a feminist ensemble and laboratory of actors’… Continue reading

Italy, democracy and COVID-19

The crisis triggered by COVID-19 is challenging the very meaning of coexistence and cohabitation and redesigning the boundaries of public space in an absolutely unprecedented way, with unpredictable results. Written by Francesco Martone and originally published by the Transnational Institute. Measures to contain free movement and prohibitions on assembly have led to the temporary limitation,… Continue reading

Open-source medical supplies battle COVID-19

Written by Anders Lisdorf. Originally published in Shareable While health authorities focus on top-down measures to get COVID-19 supplies to hospitals in need, home-grown initiatives are enlisting regular people to create open-source equipment. Rather than wait for the impact of government efforts to persuade manufacturers to move into emergency production of ventilators and protective equipment,… Continue reading

Small and local are not only beautiful; they can be powerful

By Vasilis Kostakis and Chris Giotitsas, Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology.. Originally published in Antipode Online. Introduction E.F. Schumacher’s seminal work Small Is Beautiful (1973) champions the idea of smallness and localism as the way for meaningful interactions amongst humans and the technology they use. Technology is very important after all. As Ursula… Continue reading

Free the Vaccine for Covid-19

Republished from the Center for Artistic Activism. We’re forming a global, advocacy innovation lab to Free the Vaccine for COVID-19 and you can take part. Around the globe we are taking rapid, drastic action to slow the spread of COVID-19. As we come to terms with the daunting path forward, it’s hard to imagine the… Continue reading