Andrew Whelan has written an interesting critique of interpreting peer to peer as a gift economy: * Leeching Bataille : Peer-to-Peer Potlatch and the Acephalic Response. A few prior reactions based on a first quick reading: – the P2P Foundation, or my own (Michel Bauwens) version of P2P Theory has also critiqued the thesis of… Continue reading
Date archives "June 2011"
Slouching towards Protopia
Excerpted from Kevin Kelly: “I think our destination is neither utopia nor dystopia nor status quo, but protopia. Protopia is a state that is better than today than yesterday, although it might be only a little better. Protopia is much much harder to visualize. Because a protopia contains as many new problems as new benefits,… Continue reading
The Zapatistas after 17 years
Andrew Flood concludes his review of the history of the movement, with conclusions about the current situation: “Today, quite remarkably, the Zapatista’s continue to survive as a movement controlling a large swathe of Chiapas, probably around 150,000 people in around 1,300 communities that continues to build an infrastructure of eduction, health clinics and co-ops independent… Continue reading
P2P Labor Organization
Some time ago, Michel Bauwens asked me to report here on an article I’d written at League of Ordinary Gentlemen on free market labor struggle, and particularly on the P2P angle: “Labor Roundtable: Kevin Carson.” This is my (very) belated attempt to oblige. As Michel pointed out, the article is pretty U.S.-centric insofar as it… Continue reading
Anonymous to governments: Let us explain your delicate situation
Anonymous Spain has posted the following message after yesterday’s announcement by Spanish police informing of the arrest of 3 Anonymous hackers. The official press release remarked they had arrested the leaders of said group in Spain. Yes. This is an Anonymous message from the Spanish revolution to politicians, dictators and plutocrats all over the planet:… Continue reading
The amazing bike-sharing program in Hangzhou, China
Via: Elizabeth Press at Streetfilms writes: “The 50,000-bike system in this southern China city of almost 7 million people (about 1.5 million people fewer than New York City) blows all other bike-shares off the map. As Bradley Schroeder of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy said, “I don’t think there is anywhere you can… Continue reading
Special research issue: Distributed Leadership for Interconnected Worlds
* Special Issue: Distributed Leadership for Interconnected Worlds. Special issue of Human Technology, An Interdisciplinary Journal on Humans in ICT Environments. Guest edited by Niki Lambropoulos and Marianna Vivitsou. The above special issue contains an article from our contributor Vasilis Kostakis, and contains other interesting article related to our concern for ‘peer governance’, i.e. distributed… Continue reading
Generation OS13: new must-see documentary by Anonymous
Jerome Roos introduces this ‘must-see’ documentary: “Anonymous has come forward with an amazing short documentary that happens to be called “Generation OS13: the new culture of resistance.” The film takes you on a rapid-fire tour de force through the madness of our world and the new resistance movement that’s trying to come up with alternatives…. Continue reading
The Ripple mutual credit and payment system: Will It Work?
Should it work, its consequences would be great. A mutual credit system which could scale around the world would put people in control of the money supply. It would create a decentralised source of credit money freely available whenever individuals and institutions were prepared to trust each other, and immune from the monetary abuse and… Continue reading
Towards commons-oriented urban planning
On the Commons is paying sustained attention to the development of urban commons. For example, see the articles on neighborhood commons, and urbanism applications in Portland, Oregon. Most interesting is their interview with urban planner, David Motzenbecker, who is president of the Planning Commission in Minneapolis. Excerpt: “Public process as it exists today is not… Continue reading
Setting the historical record straight: copyright was designed by distributors, to subsidize distributors not creators.
A necessary reminder of the history of copyright as a tool for distributors, not authors and creatives, by Karl Fogel: “The first copyright law was a censorship law. It was not about protecting the rights of authors, or encouraging them to produce new works. Authors’ rights were in little danger in sixteenth-century England, and the… Continue reading
Are the Pirate Parties a serious and important political force?
Last week, the Pirate Parties of Catalonia and Germany picked up municipal seats, adding another trophy to the international movement’s cabinet. Pirates have held office in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and now Spain. In the European Parliament, two Pirates have taken considerable effort to sway opinions on ACTA, winning a vote to… Continue reading
Anonymous demands referendum in Greece
Watch the video and listen to the message: Here some background on the tipping point that is nearing thanks to the Greek mobilization, from Jerome Roos: “Signs are emerging from Greece that the roar of the ‘indignants’, who have taken to Parliament every single day for the past two weeks, attracting hundreds of thousands of… Continue reading
Chris Cook: the Commons as a Corporation
This point of view, ‘the commons must be a corporation’, may come as a shocker and is by no means an easy text, I had to reread it a few times, but, worth pondering. Chris answers the question: what is the optimal solution for combining a community, a commons, and the necessity to make a… Continue reading
Exploring the psycommons
From the article: “A psychological commons, ordinary wisdom – shared power, by Denis Postle: “The kind of aggression which the Health Professions Council (HPC) felt licensed to deploy in their approach to taking control of the psychological therapies, sparked in some of us not only resistance, but active consideration of alternatives (whilst as far as… Continue reading
Anima Mundi documentary on Permaculture, Peak Oil, Climate Change and the Soul of the World
“Anima Mundi is an innovative documentary about the planetary animal called the Earth and the human animal we deny, we deny at our own peril, yet a peril that is perfect in design.” See the trailer with list of participants here: