Date archives "February 2010"

Book: Property Outlaws: How Squatters, Pirates and Protesters Improve the Law of Ownership

Book: Property Outlaws: How Squatters, Pirates and Protesters Improve the Law of Ownership. By Sonia Katyal and Eduardo Penalver. Yale University Press, 2010 Author’s Intro by Sonia Katyal: “In a nutshell, the book argues that a degree of civil disobedience is essential to the health of both tangible property and intellectual property law. It explores… Continue reading

Riane Eisler’s Roadmap to a New Economy

Fernando Ibarra and Elifarley Cruz recommended the following article, by Riane Eisler: * Roadmap to a New Economics: Beyond Capitalism and Socialism It’s a call for a Caring Economics. Just a few excerpts to give you an idea of the scope and tonality of her contribution, we recommend reading the whole article. See especially the… Continue reading

Summary theses on the emergence of the peer to peer civilization and a new political economy

I wrote these summary theses about two years ago, but I believe they are still valid, food for thought, and show the specific approach I’m proposing to politics, state and governance issues: 1. Our current world system is marked by a profoundly counterproductive logic of social organization: a) it is based on a false concept… Continue reading

Peak Moment TV: guide to resilient communities

Great online series on local resilience initiatives, strongly recommended. Janaia Donaldson: “Peak Moment TV: Locally-Reliant Living for Challenging Times is an online video series showcasing stories about local self-reliance and perspectives that make sense of rapidly-changing economic, energy, and climate challenges. The half-hour biweekly programs feature host Janaia Donaldson’s conversations and tours with grassroots entrepreneurs… Continue reading

Toward a New Multilateralism of the Global Commons

David Bollier has summarized James Quilligan’s visionary essay, People Sharing Resources: Toward a New Multilateralism of the Global Commons. David Bollier: “Quilligan starts with a critique of the problem: We have begun to see that the benefits of perpetual economic growth are not compensating for the vast damages and risks they create — from energy… Continue reading

The age of panspectric surveillance and its effects on dispersed subjectivity

Excerpts from an article by Karl Palmas in the Swedish magazine Arena: In the emergent “panspectric” order, human society is seen in terms of “information traffic”. It is not the actions of individuals that are observed, as in the Foulcauldian panopticon, rather those of the mass. Degrees of corporate and state surveillance are unprecedented; yet… Continue reading

Copyfarleft and Copyjustright

Challenges to traditional copyright resulting from peer-to-peer applications, free software, filesharing and appropriation art have caused a wide ranging debate on the future of copyright. Dmytri Kleiner brings existing critiques of material property from the left to bear upon the realm of copyleft artistic production and asks how, within the existing copyright regime, can artists… Continue reading

The Makers-again: or the need for keynesian management of abundance

Michel Bauwens asked me to clarify how my analysis differs from Kevin Carson’s wonderful review of Doctorow’s The Makers. Even though we are discussing a fictional example- the New Work boom of, approximately 2015-2020- this is, I think a useful exercise because it allows us to think about what kinds of economic regulation might or… Continue reading

Will big business privatise the monetary commons?

Michel Bauwens asked me to summarize a discussion that started with a question, posted by Richard Douthwaite, a UK-born economist and activist who lives in Ireland. Douthwaite posted on the Feasta forum, asking whether the alternative electronic payment system that is being readied for implementation in Dublin and Kilkenny, Ireland, is in danger of being… Continue reading

Review: Cory Doctorow, The Makers

in this review I try to give a theory that’s different from Kevin Carson´s on how the ´New Work´movement collapsed, or, more generally, what is needed in order to make a Maker Culture sustainable. Cory Doctorow, The Makers, San Francisco; Tor books, 2009, pp. 416, also available at http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=38507 What is a viable business model… Continue reading