This excellent documentary from 2007, on the confluence of Peak Oil, Climate Change and the end of industrial civilisation, has only been posted on Youtube in January 2011: Tia Carr Williams has the following comments: “Deprived of hope for a future filled with family, fun and an opportunity to personally or professionally thrive, we find… Continue reading
Date archives "April 2011"
The Open Money situation: an updated assessment by Matthew Slater
Nine months ago, Matthew Slater published an overview of the free software available for managing and creating complementary currencies, which you can find here. I asked him for an updated assessment of his findings. Q: Matthew, about 9 months ago you wrote an overview of the state of free software programs dedicated to open money… Continue reading
Alchemergy: alchemy as the underlying glue for revolution
There is a growing movement, combining spiritual work with engagement in social change, that sees alchemy as the underlying process of change, and which calls itself alchemergy. Permaculturalist and self-fashioned alchemist/mythologist Willi Paul expresses it as follows, in an interview with Ross Wolfe: “I am now touting the following types of alchemy to support the… Continue reading
Material vs. immaterial resonance in spreading social change: the issue of speed
1. The current wave of revolutionary insurrections seems to be the fastest in history. Revolutions always come in waves, but insurgent shockwaves that once expanded across continents over years or months are now making states crumble, one after another, in a matter of weeks. As the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt are rapidly followed by… Continue reading
Beyond the market/state dichotomy (2): Andreas Exner on the new Zeitgeist
Reproduced from Andreas Exner, on the emerging ‘gift economy’ and ‘communization’ mentalities: “A new thought lingers through society like a viral mem. It pops up at unfamiliar places and is transmitted fast via different social milieus – the time, it seems, is ripe for it. Who wants a society beyond capitalism has to look for… Continue reading
Sustainable fisheries trusts against overfishing
The dramatic decline of fish in the oceans due to overfishing is one of the most dramatic examples of the “tragedy of the commons”, a case where scant regulation of a shared resource leads to its depletion. Eric J. Siy, former director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council is promoting a commons-based solution to this… Continue reading
Spiritual Machinima as Digital Alchemy for Personal and Social Change
Willi Paul interviews Celestial Elf, an engaged and spiritually inspired maker of progressive Machinina: (below is an example of his work) Excerpts: ” Willi Paul: You seem to be a paradox! You talk about your “modern mythological Machinima mission” but stress your ancient Celtic and Nordic influences? Do I see this right? Celestial Elf: I… Continue reading
Zizek on the awakening of a new authentic left in Europe
This is the most precious lesson: We need to break out of this cycle where our choices are either pro-western liberals or religious fundamentalism Excerpted from an interesting conversation of the Greek Left Review with Slavoj Zizek and prof. Costas Douzinas. The second quote refers to Zizek’s critique of both localist and Negrian optimism as… Continue reading
Free Software cooperatives: the GCoop case
GCoop is an argentine Free Software cooperative, one of the few in the world. A few days ago they celebrated their 4th year of existence. GCoop experience is a real valuable one, a practical and existing example that is possible to build a sustainable business based on shared knowledge and peer production. Pablo Vannini, a GCoop’s… Continue reading
Beyond the market/state dichotomy (1): Douglald Hine on the right and wrong critiques of the “Big Society” project
The deeper truth of the Big Society – I suggest – is that it marks the first step in a process in which British politics has to acknowledge the joint failure of the state and the market. Neither side of the public-private partnership can deliver the goods. The social fabric and economic security of life… Continue reading
Marvin Brown on the civic, the private, and the commercial
Marvin Brown responds to a previous article on “civil society”: “Finding the right terms and relations is not easy here. Perhaps the first choice is how to think about it all. I have tried to think contextually, which means to look at how some things are embedded in others. Property ownership, for example, is only… Continue reading
The history (and future) of humanity’s relationship with nature
The following is from a stimulating four-part series, by Ross Wolfe, on our relationship with the natural world (including the phase of seeing it as something ‘external’ to us), which also contains a ‘radical’ critique of the environmental movement. Our excerpt is from part one, the introduction, giving a historical overview. (from the little I… Continue reading
Open Process: the core of peer production, the core of the new society
Excerpted from a two-part series by Toni Prug: * Toni Prug. Part 1: Series on Commu(o)nism: Open Process, the organizational spirit of the Internet Model, pt 1; part 2: Series on Commu(o)nism: Open Process, the organizational spirit of the Internet Model, pt 2. Engineering the privatization of the common Abstract “The desires and the sources… Continue reading
Maine Town Declares Sovereignty over Food
Written by Chris Dixon: “The Maine town of Sedgwick took an interesting step that brings a new dynamic to the movement to maintain sovereignty: Town-level nullification. Last Friday, the town passed a proposed ordinance that would empower the local level to grow and sell food amongst themselves without interference from unconstitutional State or Federal regulations…. Continue reading
Silke Helfrich: Connecting Commoners Across Continents
I work with Silke within the Commons Strategies Group and have learned to admire her work and dedication to the Commons. Here is a nice profile from On The Commons, reproduced from Jay Walljasper’s book, All That We Share: A Field Guide to the Commons. “If there is one thing that Silke Helfrich has learned… Continue reading
A (Weberian) critique of the consensus view of peer production
Christopher Kelty has read an important essay critiquing a purported ‘peer production consensus’: * Article: Kreiss, D., M. Finn, and F. Turner. 2010. “The Limits of Peer Production: Some Reminders from Max Weber for the Network Society.” New Media & Society 13:243-259. Kelty summarizes these neo-Weberian critics view of the consensus, adding his own comments…. Continue reading