Via FIESS: “Thanks to the decree signed by president Lula da Silva during the plenary meeting of the National Council of Solidarity Economy that took place the 17th November in Brasilia, Brazil now has the first Equitable and Solidarity trade system in the world that is recognized and supported by the state. “Through this system,… Continue reading
Date archives "February 2011"
Social Media and Social Revolution (2): the discussion continues
” How does the Net affect the leap of faith? Not, as the Net Utopians whom Morozov rightly criticises might have it, by making truth and transparency by themselves powerful and indisputable agents. Rather, they make the leap of faith easier and less risky by providing a ground where alternatives can become commonly accepted. The… Continue reading
Science journalism in the age of crowd
In the current issue of the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM), a set of interviews tackles the transformation of the ecosystem of scientific information caused by the emergence of collaborative Web. Science journalism in the age of crowd, edited by Filippo Bonaventura, deals with the new concept of public, the new ways in which citizens… Continue reading
How will OpenLeaks work?
OpenLeaks is online! “OpenLeaks is a project that aims at making whistleblowing safer and more widespread. This will be done by providing dedicated and generally free services to whistleblowers and organizations interested in transparency. We will also create a Knowledge Base aiming to provide a comprehensive reference to all areas surrounding whistleblowing.” Here’s an explanatory… Continue reading
The process of catabolic collapse of our industrial civilisation, phase two
Twenty or thirty or forty years from now, in turn, it’s a fairly safe bet that the years of crisis will come to a close and a newly optimistic America will reassure itself that everything really is all right again. The odds are pretty high that by then it will be, for all practical purposes,… Continue reading
Reportage on the internet activists in Cairo
For three days, the geeks and online activists and D.I.Y. filmmakers protested peacefully here in Tahrir Square. For three nights, they slept in tents with their laptops by their sides and kept their mobile phones charged by hacking into one of Tahrir’s street lights. On the fourth day, Wednesday, the lynch mob came and encircled… Continue reading
Students move towards a mutualistic self-organized peer learning space
Via Alessandro Caiani: Here you find a call, addressed to researchers all over Europe, to support the student movement in Pavia (Italy) that is trying to create a mutualistic self-organized space in their city. On Friday 28th of January, students occupied a structure of the University abandoned since 2003. The aim of this action is… Continue reading
An open letter to a pro-copyright author
From Josef Davies-Coates of United Diversity, who received a threatening letter regarding a book that was posted online. The original article also lists a number of interesting comments. The gist of the response made by Josef: – it is impossible to remove digital copies from the internet, hence it is a waste of energy to… Continue reading
Free Technology Academy: towards a shared master curriculum on Free Technologies
Via Wouter Tebbens: With a network of universities and specialised groups we are working on the development of a shared master curriculum on Free Technologies (FT). We understand FT to include Free Software (OSS / Libre Software), Open Standards, Free Hardware. And with specialised tracks on Free Culture and Peer Production. Our aim is to… Continue reading
P2P Governance Dynamics in the Egyptian Uprising
Excerpted from the New York Times: ” Many protesters suggested that the coming days will test whether a popular uprising outpaces an inchoate opposition that has so far failed to keep up. “This is what worries me,” said Gasser Abdel-Razeq, a human rights activist who joined the ecstatic crowds of men and women, the religious… Continue reading
Social Media and Social Revolutions: what is their relationship?
Every time we are witnessing a massive mobilization of social movements, a social uprising or even a true social revolution, we can be sure to witness a new round of debate between those that insist on the crucial role of social media, sometimes even calling it a Twitter Revolution, and those dismissing this and even… Continue reading
If Your Government Shuts Down The Internet, Shut Down Your Government.
Tunisia, Egypt: Digitally Driven Asymmetric Conflict
self-assembling dynamic networks enabled via digital means are increasingly leaving their indelible mark across the globe. DK Matai writes: “As events are now making it painfully clear, traditional confrontation is being transformed from a closed, state-sponsored affair to one where the means and the know-how to mount an insurrection are readily found on the world… Continue reading
Message from Telecomix internet hacking community to Egypt, and the peoples of North Africa and the Middle East
Telecomix and We Rebuild are probably the most active community in helping to restore access to the internet in countries faced with democratic uprisings. Here is a video message to the people affected by internet shutdowns: For updates on access in Egypt, see also here. Their sites: telecomix.org, werebuild,eu, streisand.me, chat.telecomix.org, cryptoanarchy.org. The text of… Continue reading
The China secret: public, not private, credit
We might take a lesson from the Chinese and put our own banks to work for the people, rather than making the people work for the banks. We need to get our dollars out of Wall Street and back on Main Street, and we can do that only by breaking up Wall Street’s out-of-control private… Continue reading
Three Critiques of the Digital Commons
In Silvia Federici’s latest essay, Feminism and the Politics of the Commons, otherwise a fine essay about the role of gender and women in the political economy as well as the struggle for and leadership of the commons, she also adds an instant critique of Toni Negri and Michael Hard’ts trilogy, i.e. Empire – Multitude… Continue reading