“The interruption of the dominant narrative to create our own is the sort of politics we’re interested in” Members and collaborators of Enmedio, taking part on the “Paro Monumental” (Monumental Unemployment” action. The text on the balloon reads: “Spain, champions in unemployment” Amador Fernández-Savater interviews Colectivo Enmedio Translated by Stacco Troncoso, edited by Jane Loes… Continue reading
Date archives "August 2013"
The fate of the internet after Snowden: Balkanisation is a fact
Republished from John Naughton in The Observer (July 28 2013): “Repeat after me: Edward Snowden is not the story. The story is what he has revealed about the hidden wiring of our networked world. This insight seems to have escaped most of the world’s mainstream media, for reasons that escape me but would not have… Continue reading
Project of the Day: Open Food Facts
a free, open collaborative database of food facts from around the world, which aims to help consumers make better choices about what they put in their body, as well as motivating industry to take more care over the production of food. Interesting project: “Food is becoming an increasingly political issue. Food security has risen up… Continue reading
Report: Governance Structures for Social Movements
* Report: Governance Structures for Social Movements. A Strategy Brief for Harnessing Grassroots Capacity. Cognitive Policy Works, November 9, 2012 Excerpted from Joe Brewer: * Introduction to Organizational Frames “Social movements throughout history have achieved lasting success by altering institutional structures and cultural norms to reflect their core values and beliefs. Their achievements can be… Continue reading
Movement of the Day: International Movement for Monetary Reform
We are a coalition of organisations and people from across the world, campaigning to change the way money is created. “The IMMR is * IMMR is a collaboration of not-for-profit organisations set up to campaign to reform the money system, both nationally, and internationally. * IMMR believes that private banks should not be able to… Continue reading
Four Futures Scenarios for Power in the Network Era (3): p2p patriots or google republic?
with respect to the value of the fullest expression of human empowerment, scenario four is clearly the most desirable. In this fourth scenario, a federation of the commons, citizens and communities are actively engaged in shaping the fabric of their lives and societies through a process of ‘deep democracy’ We continue and conclude our serializing… Continue reading
Australian Government Pioneers Support for Coworking
Excerpted from Darren Sharp: “The Australian Government has recognised that flexible work practices create benefits that flow to employers through cost savings and productivity gains while workers enjoy less commute time and more work-life balance. Yet there is room for improvement with Australia recently falling to ninth place behind the United States in the latest… Continue reading
A profile of Chaihuo, Shenzhen’s first “maker space”.
Excerpted from Celeste LeCompte: ‘Chaihuo, Shenzhen’s first “maker space.” It’s a sort of community center where members get together not to play basketball but to build robots, learn programming skills and dream up do-it-yourself (DIY) technology projects. Chaihuo is one of about a dozen such places in China. The first, XinCheJian, appeared in Shanghai in… Continue reading
Post-Gezi, sharing and gift economies are blooming in Turkey
Excerpted by EMRAH GÜLER: (the original also presents the Zumbara Time Bank in Istanbul, of which I am an adviser) “Turkey’s very own Gezi Protests, are defining the new decade. On the purest and most simple level, these civil uprisings and mass gatherings are revitalizing forgotten communities, creating new ones, and reclaiming public spaces as,… Continue reading
Event: The Pirate Bay 10 Year Anniversary 2003 – 2013
This August 10th to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Pirate Bay the Swedish Pirate Party are throwing a party. The organisers are crowdfunding the event and with only a few days to go they could do with all the support you can give. If your in Stockholm Sweden get yourself a ticket. http://www.tpb10.com/
A call for a Dissenting Academy and a Social Imaginary of Co-operative Accumulation
Republished from Pat Conaty: “History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. I fear tragic farce due to deep ignorance on practical things that is a widespread problem currently, at least in my view. Let me explain. In brief, Co-operative Commonwealth has been a sound vision since it was… Continue reading
Some thoughts and leads on distributed (p2p) property
Republished from an email discussion by Pat Conaty: “I think the issue of property rights is complex. I don’t think we can drop this and imagining some free space commons. History shows this leads toward authoritarian outcomes. The Commons require repair, renewal and stewarding and this all requires labour of diverse sorts. This value added… Continue reading
Four Futures Scenarios for Power in the Network Era (2): Analysis of the current situation
“This article asks questions about the futures of power in the network era. Two critical emerging issues are at work with uncertain outcomes. The first is the emergence of the collaborative economy, while the second is the emergence of surveillance capabilities from both civic, state and commercial sources. While both of these emerging issues are… Continue reading