By John Michael Greer. Original post here. Last week’s discussion of externalities—costs of doing business that get dumped onto the economy, the community, or the environment, so that those doing the dumping can make a bigger profit—is, I’m glad to say, not the first time this issue has been raised recently. The long silence that… Continue reading
Date archives "March 2015"
Peak Meaninglessness
Spanish government attacks Internet in Europe
Xnet – along with other European civil society organisations fighting to ensure the defense of the Net Neutrality in the context of the European Union’s digital policies -condemns the vassal role of many government towards the telcos’ lobbies. In our case, the Spanish government’s role is being played by Pilar del Castillo, Parliament rapporteur on… Continue reading
Is Virtual net metering the future of electricity grids?
Virtual net metering is the ability to ‘tag’ excess electricity produced by your solar panels and to assign that electricity to another entity. It means you don’t have to sell that electricity to the electric utility for a low price, but you can choose and directly sell to another grid connected user. This is relatively… Continue reading
100 Women who are co-creating the P2P Society: Sybille Saint Girons of Wezer, open logistics and accounting project
We continue our regular series featuring the work of pioneering women in the P2P movement with Sybille Saint Girons interviewed by Michel Bauwens – Jan 2015 Michel Bauwens: Dear Sybille, tell us something about your general background and what motivated your engagement in the Valeureux and Wezer projects? Sybille Saint Girons: Why do humans, full… Continue reading
Radical Democracy: Reclaiming the #Commons Part 2 #Turkey
Turkey: Making the city liveable Source: Doc Next Network – http://www.docnextnetwork.org/radical-democracy-reclaiming-commons/ The neoliberal city is the motor of Erdogan’s Turkey. Its booming economy is the result of a massive construction bubble fed by mega-projects operating on a city- and even country-wide scale, and the increasing surveillance and repression of dissent are constant reminders of the… Continue reading
New Report: US force feeds GM crops to African nations
Download the full report here (pdf). Introduction to the report from Friends of the Earth International: “JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, 23 February, 2015 – US agencies, funders such as the Gates Foundation, and agribusiness giant Monsanto are trying to force unwilling African nations to accept expensive and insufficiently tested Genetically Modified (GM) foods and crops, according… Continue reading
Remaking the Economy For the Common Good
Yesterday myself and Kevin Flanagan of the P2P Foundation had the pleasure of attending a presentation on the Economy For the Common Good at an open day hosted by XES, the Xarxa d’Economia Solidària, a Catalan organisation linked with the Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC). A standout item in this presentation by Alberto Manchado of the… Continue reading
‘Fairstarts’: A Network of Incubators for a Collaborative Economy and P2P Production
Start FairStarts! A project that aims to create a network of incubators to help develop transnational, open and cooperative projects in the collaborative P2P economy. This strategic initiative will benefit both new and existing FairCoop projects, enabling locally-based self-governing projects to link in to mutual aid and solidarity support from a global network. We are… Continue reading
In case of illegitimate debts creditors can be contravened #Greece
Professor Eric Toussaint, an expert on debt auditing and on the cancellation of debt, talks about the present situation in Europe, why Greek debt cancellation is a legal necessity and why this would not be anything new. The founder of CADTM – The Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt – and coauthor… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Media, Politics, and the Struggle for Post-Capitalist Democracy
*Book: Blowing the Roof Off the Twenty-First Century: Media, Politics, and the Struggle for Post-Capitalist Democracy. Robert McChesney. Interview Conducted by Mark Carlin: “Your latest book, Blowing the Roof Off the Twenty-First Century: Media, Politics, and the Struggle for Post-Capitalist Democracy, returns – as you almost always do in your writing – to the issue… Continue reading
Radical Democracy: Reclaiming the #Commons Part 1 #Poland
Source: Doc Next Network – http://www.docnextnetwork.org/radical-democracy-reclaiming-commons/ The world seems to be flooded by an unending wave of indignation and political unrest. The media sphere extends beyond the printed press and television news, into our personalised social networks, evoking a constant stream of images: fluctuating markets, stagnating economies, vibrant multitudes, insurgent violence. It is all too… Continue reading
Goteo Spring: Crystal Clear
The spring season, so prone to civic revolutions, has also re-awakened our own ethical, open and collaborative instincts. So this year, building on the support of the growing community of Goteo users, we have launched new features and an enhanced set of core values which we would like to share here. First of all,… Continue reading
Humanizing Technology
Excerpted from a post by Charles Siegel. “This recent history of architecture and urbanism is important because it involves a key issue of our time: How should we use technology for human purposes? Among mid-century modernists, the design centered on the technology. The dogma was that the design must be an “honest expression” of modern… Continue reading
Join the @P2P_Foundation at the World Social Forum #Tunis #fsm2015
In solidarity with the people of Tunis I will be attending this years Forum Social Mundial. Here is a quick run down of some P2P and Commons related events. If you would like to meet and learn more about our work please get in touch. – @flgnk or kevin at p2pfoundation.net CopyFair, Open Cooperativism and… Continue reading
The Revolution will (not) be decentralised: Blockchains
The data centre rules. Decentralised topologies and non-discriminatory protocols have been all but replaced by a recentralisation of infrastructure, as powerful corporations now gatekeep our networks. Everything might be accessible, but this access is mediated by a centralised entity. Whoever controls the data centre exercises political and economic control over communications. It’s difficult to see… Continue reading
TTP and the Corporate Coup d’Etat
Just a reminder, if one is needed, that the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP is still being worked on, even despite the almost-universal opposition from anyone not connected with a multinational corporation (and of course I include governments as being heavily connected with corporations at this late stage of capitalism). This article from Joyce Nelson in… Continue reading