In this thesis I am going to study the ideas of the Arts and Crafts Movement. More specifically I will study its ideas of the democratization of art, and attempt to point out similarities and differences that are apparent in the newly emerging 3D printing scene. Really well written research thesis that gives a historical… Continue reading
Date archives "February 2015"
Community and abundance
To gain ground against scarcity, build abundance and therefore continuously enlarge the material base of personal decision-space is the objective of the economic activity of an egalitarian community that works. The big lesson of the twentieth century for commonards was to discover that collective decision-making is a “lesser evil,” a response to scarcity that must… Continue reading
Whodunit? The foragers.
By Vera Bradova. Original post here. Dogs diverged genetically from wolves more than 100,000 years ago, during the previous warm interglacial. Did humans have anything to do with it? The oldest known dog skeletons are from 36 and 33,000 years ago, found in Belgium and Siberia. A child was exploring the Chauvet cave, using a… Continue reading
Yochai Benkler in Barcelona: Can we gain an economy, politics and society of the commons?
Yochai Benkler will be presenting the Spanish translation of his book “The Wealth Of Networks” in Barcelona on February 25th. Full details below in English, Catalan & Spanish: Can we gain an economy, politics and society of the commons? Emerging model of production, political innovation and the geopolitics of Internet from the Spanish context of… Continue reading
In defense of pragmatic ‘real utopias’
We badly need more utopian speculation. The consensus future we read about in the media and that we’re driving towards is a roiling, turbulent fogbank beset by half-glimpsed demons: climate change, resource depletion, peak oil, mass extinction, collapse of the oceanic food chain, overpopulation, terrorism, foreigners who want to come here and steal our women… Continue reading
The Soaring Use of Creative Commons Licenses
Creative Commons has just issued a report documenting usage patterns of its licenses. It’s great to learn that the number of works using CC licenses has soared since this vital (and voluntary) workaround to copyright law was introduced twelve years ago, in 2003. According to a new report, the State of the Commons, recently released… Continue reading
The FT Coin, a complementary government currency proposed by Yanis Varoufakis
” Bitcoin is too deflationary by nature to act as a widespread currency alternative to the dollar or the euro, its design can be used profitably in order to help the Eurozone’s member-states create euro-denominated electronic payment systems that help them, at least in the medium term, overcome the asphyxiating deflationary pressures imposed upon them… Continue reading
P2P Summer School : The Art of Commoning
P2P Summer School: The Art of Commoning How can a commons-based collaborative economy strengthen the resilience of our communities 3 Days August 25th – 27th, 2015 – WeCreate, Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Tipperary, Ireland The Sharing Economy, Crowdfunding, Maker Spaces, Coworking, FabLabs, Creative Commons and using social media to organise are all examples of new ways of… Continue reading
Primitivism without the Anarcho- (Part II)
By John F. Jacobi. Original essay here. This is the second part of a two-part essay on the possibility of a capital-P Primitivism. Read Part I. FC so far sees the future as one where energy problems, ecological problems, war, population problems, etc. are going to result in our global world breaking down into smaller… Continue reading
The New Global Militant
Yesterday I watched a PBS documentary about the rise of ISIS. Around minute 43, a phrase caught my attention. Explaining how ISIS arrived to a tipping point in recruitment, the script noted that the group itself had been surprised at the massive response of a generation who wants to be part of something special, they… Continue reading
Seed Libraries Fight for the Right to Share
By Christopher D. Cook for Shareable.net Amid government crackdown, seed libraries expand biodiversity and food access. Photo: Betsy Goodman of the Common Soil Seed Library. Credit: Associated Press It’s easy to take seeds for granted. Tiny dry pods hidden in packets and sacks, they make a brief appearance as gardeners and farmers collect them for future… Continue reading
FLOSS4P2P Workshop: Call for Participation
A 2-day London workshop in March, gathering FLOSS projects that are building software for peer production and organization, with a focus on distributed platforms. *Scholarships* to attend are offered to grassroots communities. ** Context ** We know that the Internet was originally decentralized, with protocols and services built by hackers. However, with the arrival of… Continue reading
Spanish evictees tackle Blackstone corporation, strongly recommended video
Wonderfully militant video, from the Spanish housing rights movement PAH, which tackles the evictions spearhead by the U.S.-based Blackstone corporation:
The Greek Elections, the State and the Social Economy
The recent election results in Greece could be a significant turning point in the fight against neoliberal austerity politics and an opportunity to inaugurate commons-based alternatives – from peer production to co-operatives to social economy innovations – with the support of the state. Needless to say, it is a complicated situation, not just the political… Continue reading
Kicking off a year of ‘P2P Plazas’ research and cartography
2014 ended on a good note. Last October, I had the opportunity to participate, together with 49 other project initiators, in the Idea Camp event in Marseille. The European Cultural Foundation promoted this event, geared towards shaking up our views on public space. After the three-day gathering, all fifty participants were invited to present a… Continue reading
Primitivism without the Anarcho- (Part I)
By John F. Jacobi. Original essay here. A few weeks ago I had a discussion about what “primitivism” was and how it was different from “anarcho-primitivism.” Ultimately it was decided that the word “primitivism” has traditionally indicated a general outlook that sees value in some past era. On the other hand, “anarcho-primitivism” is that same… Continue reading