Can the ethic and practice of sharing really create fairer, more sustainable and more democratic societies – and if so, how is it going to happen? STWR recently took part in an event called Reclaiming the Alternative held in Brighton, East Sussex, UK (#ReclaimingBrighton). The free event was based on the ethic of the gift… Continue reading
Date archives "November 2014"
The History of Commons-Based Land Reform
Excerpted from a draft paper in which Pat Conaty situates land and money reform in the commons. November 2014. Practical land reform: co-operative and municipal support past and present “As Polanyi highlights in the Great Transformation, land enclosure evolved over centuries and in England was accelerated by thousands of Parliamentary acts of land enclosure in… Continue reading
From Coldwar Communism to the Global Emancipatory Movement
From Coldwar Communism to the Global Emancipatory Movement: Itinerary of a Long-Distance Internationalist By Peter Waterman ‘This is an admirable memoir of an intellectual-activist who has lived most intensely the progressive struggles of the last sixty years of world history. Yes, world history, because despite being born in Europe, Peter, in the best tradition of… Continue reading
With Fair and Open IT towards sustainable manufacturing and supply chains
From a panel at the Elevate 2014 festival in Graz, Austria, in which I participated as well: “New technologies offer tremendous emancipatory opportunities if they are designed to be open and free (free software / open source hardware). However, they also entail new problems. Proprietary software prevents quick detection of programming errors and allows the… Continue reading
Advocacy at the UN for a commons-based vision of sustainable development
This article was originally published at Share the World’s Resources Civil society groups at the United Nations are highlighting a powerful new movement in our midst based on caring, sharing, community and cooperation – and they propose a comprehensive vision for how governments can unleash its full potential. This week, preparations continue at the United… Continue reading
The return of Occupy London: this time it’s truly political
Occupy is back in London, UK, with a renewed focus on politics and an ambitious vision: to galvanise a mass movement for real democracy and establish a huge People’s Assembly to debate a list of specific demands for radical political reform. This week, stalwarts of the Occupy Democracy campaign in Britain are continuing to stand… Continue reading
How to Save the Scientific Method?
I post these quotas in opposite direction, starting with J.M. Greer’s conclusion. Read the post and the comments section here. Tom, exactly — what has to be done, to save the scientific method, is to extract it from its institutional setting and the culture associated with that, and find a new frame for it. Yes,… Continue reading
The Real Trouble with Disruption
At the Powell Street BART station in San Francisco, ads for Oakley sunglasses are everywhere. “Disruptive by design,” they declare—or, rather, #DESRUPTIVEBYDESIGN. Behind those words are gray images of blueprints and lasers and factories with big bolts like in Charlie Chaplin’s spoof Modern Times. Fittingly, the campaign is a collaboration with Wired, the foremost media… Continue reading
The coming financial crisis: a harbinger of world renewal?
As the prospect of global financial crisis beckons once again, will our elected leaders finally accept the need for an entirely new economic approach that breaks away from the primacy of growth and profit – or will their hand be forced by a resurgence of mass public protest? A full six years after the global… Continue reading
James Scott: The Art of Not Being Governed
The author of several books including Seeing Like a State, Professor Scott’s research concerns political economy, comparative agrarian societies, theories of hegemony and resistance, peasant politics, revolution, Southeast Asia, theories of class relations and anarchism. We talk with Professor Scott about his newest book, The Art of Not Being Governed. It is the first-ever examination… Continue reading
Video of the Day: A Relevant Past for a Digital Age?
Fourth of a series of videos from the New School on Digital Labor. You can find the whole series here. A Relevant Past for a Digital Age?
A brief history of contemporary “consumerism” and anti-consumerism
What made us go from the kibutz to the eco-village, from the commune to co-living, and from cooperatives to collaborative consumption? Is it a bottom-up movement or a fashion? Is it enduring or a flash in the pan? History books usually study social movements of the second half of the nineteenth century from the point… Continue reading
Anne Marie Naylor on Reclaiming Community Assets
Community, and specifically the empowering and distribution of assets within communities, has long been the driving force for Anne-Marie Naylor’s work. In 2008, she established the government-funded Asset Transfer Unit, working with over 30 partners to promote and support a nationwide community asset transfer environment. In 2013, this has become a new enterprise. Naylor is… Continue reading
Challenging corporate power in a not-for-profit world
As businesses increasingly embrace a not-for-profit culture, an end to overconsumption on a finite planet could finally be in sight. But given the huge lobbying power of vested interests, it will remain impossible to create a truly sustainable world until the illegitimate power of corporations is held in check. Does changing the way we do… Continue reading
Video: Eden Medina on the first historical experiment with economics based on democratic mutual coordination
Professor Medina presents material from Cybernetic Revolutionaries, her book that tells the history of Chile’s Project Cybersyn. Watch the video here:
The Internet and Social Media at a Crossroads: Capitalism or Commonism?
The 5th ICTs and Society-Conference: The Internet and Social Media at a Crossroads: Capitalism or Commonism? Perspectives for Critical Political Economy and Critical Theory. Part of the ISIS Summit Vienna 2015: Information Society at the Crossroads: Response and Responsibility of the Sciences of Information. Vienna University of Technology. Vienna, Austria June 3-7, 2015. http://summit.is4is.org http://summit.is4is.org/calls/call-for-participation Keynote speakers: http://summit.is4is.org/programme/speakers The information society… Continue reading