This is a rather mindblowing and important presentation. I strongly recommend you watch this: “Former career mining professional Simon Michaux gives a public lecture describing the onset of ‘peak mining’ and its various implications for natural resource management. This talk was presented in Adelaide by the environmental group, Sustainable Population Australia. The presentation looks at… Continue reading
Date archives "September 2013"
Technological Disobedience in Cuba
Please do watch this remarkable short documentary on “Cuba’s DIY Inventions from 30 Years of Isolation”. “In 1991, Cuba’s economy began to implode. “The Special Period in the Time of Peace” was the government’s euphemism for what was a culmination of 30 years worth of isolation. It began in the 60s, with engineers leaving Cuba… Continue reading
Seeing Money as part of the Commons
Excerpted from Anthony Migchels: “Perhaps the simplest thing to say is that Money is part of the Commons, like Water, Air and Land. We see how the Transnationals are now attacking Water as part of the Commons. Water is ‘not a human right’. Land has long ago been privatized. But Land and Monetary Reform are… Continue reading
Video: Community Land Trusts in the U.S.
Recommended by Josef Davies-Coates: “Homes and Hands is a great video that illustrates the different ways that community land trusts operate in the U.S.” http://blip.tv/play/gYp3wNocAg.html
How private capital erodes the commons (2): three mechanisms
In the digital world, limiting openness is one way to restrict the encroachment of capital and to maintain digital commons as alternative spaces. Like urban commons, digital commons can be spaces of hope, but only if the contradictory relationship between commons and commerce is acknowledged and addressed, if the destructive influence of capital can be… Continue reading
Proposal: A Cooperative Strategy for Distributed Renewable Energy (2): the barriers
Excerpted from Kevin Carson: * BARRIERS TO COOPERATIVE INNOVATION “Cooperative enterprise in the United States do not have a history of, for lack of a better word, cooperating. Cooperative businesses have for a long time worked together through their national associations to seek changes in public policy, and pool resources for capital investment endeavors. However,… Continue reading
A contrarian viewpoint from Jeff Jarvis: the end of secrecy
The real lesson of the Snowden leaks is not the threat to privacy. It is the NSA’s losing battle against the new agents of openness Republished from Jeff Jarvis: “It has been said that privacy is dead. Not so. It’s secrecy that is dying. Openness will kill it. American and British spies undermined the secrecy… Continue reading
The new age of cooperatives: the “Together” documentary
This documentary comes highly recommended by Josef Davies-Coates of United Diversity: ‘This great new documentary, featuring Mondragon and other co-operative inspirations shows how it is not just financial co-operatives who are more resilient to crisis, but all co-ops.” Watch it here:
The Moseu Matriarchal Society and Their Walking Marriage
Watch the video here, explanations below: The Wikipedia article explains: “Walking Marriage vs. Traditional Marriage Anthropologists believe the premodern Mosuo family system has withstood modern Chinese marriage practices (identical to America’s monogamous marriages) for many reasons. The practice of walking marriage allows two people to pursue intimacy as equals purely for the sake of satisfaction…. Continue reading
On the importance of Convertibility for Mutual Credit currencies
Excerpted from Anthony Migchels: 1. “Modern complementary currencies either allow for interest free credit, or for convertibility to euro or dollar. This explains to a large extent why interest free credit is not the norm and why Banks still exist. To compete with banking currencies in the marketplace, interest free credit (Mutual Credit) must be… Continue reading
Liberating Ourselves Locally: towards federations of DIY Communities
Excerpted from a call for a Federation of Bay Area DIY Communities, by Jenny Ryan: “There is something truly exciting about the interconnections between subcultures and the value of their hybridization in the spirit of creativity. What happens, for instance, when you combine botany buffs and hackers? You might get something like BioBridge, the amorphous… Continue reading
The FLOK Society Project: Ecuador commits itself to a open commons-based knowledge society
This is from the official announcement on my cooperation with this great and important project, which aims to create transition policies for the Ecuadorian people and government: Via Bethany Horne, FLOK Society: “The FLOK Society welcomes Michel Bauwens to Ecuador. Bauwens, a founder of the P2P Foundation, flew into Quito on Sept. 17 to begin… Continue reading
Imagining the real when the real is imaginary/1
About the Authors: Jim Fearnley and Chris Pinchen are miners at the rock-face of the excavation of the Northwest Passage. Jim can be found on twitter and facebook This 2-part piece aims to locate cybernetic systems theory and digital developments within the context of the now-structural economic ‘crisis’ and project of world libertarian communism, or… Continue reading
How private capital erodes the commons, both online and offline (1)
Excerpted from Tom Slee: (in the second installment, Tom Slee looks at 3 mechanisms of appropriation) “Cities have long been sites of commons and commerce: full of trade and private enterprise but shaped by parks and streetscapes, neighborhoods and rhythms of daily life that grow from non-commodified sharing. In his 2012 book Rebel Cities, David… Continue reading
Proposal: A Cooperative Strategy for Distributed Renewable Energy (1)
Excerpted from Kevin Carson and Keith Taylor: “”A public policy geared toward the public good whether it comes from the government, business or local level communities, would seek to mitigate neoliberal development models which act more like leaches than community symbiots. Public policy should not be used to privilege the existent destructive corporate order, but… Continue reading
Why the win-win tactics of the green movement is leading to a Big (strategic) Loss on climate change
Excerpts from a hard-hitting interview with Naomi Klein. Interview conducted by JASON MARK. “* Why do you think that some environmentalists are resistant to grappling with climate change’s implications for the market and for economics? Well, I think there is a very deep denialism in the environmental movement among the Big Green groups. And to… Continue reading