“‘Voices of Transition’ is an enthusiastic documentary on farmers- and community-led responses to food insecurity in a scenario of climate change and peak oil. Recorded in Cuba, France and the UK, those ‘voices’ tell us of of a future society where our deserts will once again be living soil, where fields will be introduced into… Continue reading
Date archives "May 2015"
The resurgence of self-managed workers cooperatives 3 #Greece
From Istanbul to Barcelona, the co-operative movement is flourishing as employees revive what the bosses buried Reports from Jon Henley in Marseille and Thessaloniki, Ashifa Kassam in Mataró, Spain, Constanze Letsch in Istanbul and Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires for The Guardian – Original Article – http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/01/may-day-workers-of-the-world-unite-and-take-over-their-factories Greece: ‘This is about equality’ – Jon Henley… Continue reading
The Community Choice Energy Model is taking off in the U.S.
“In California, that radical shift is happening. Marin Clean Energy (MCE) supplies renewable power to 165,000 customers across four northern California counties, and shaved $6m off consumers’ bills last year. More than 20 cities and counties statewide are pushing to establish CCA programmes – from Napa, Alameda and Santa Clara counties in the Bay Area,… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: The Political Economy of the Substrate Network
* Essay: This is not a Bit-Pipe: A Political Economy of the Substrate Network. By Rachel O’Dwyer and Linda Doyle. Fibreculture Journal, Vol. 138, From the Abstract: 1. “Critiquing ‘free culture’ as a utopian gesture that fails to engage with the material circuits of cognitive capitalism, this paper proposes a political economy attendant to the… Continue reading
Video: An explanation by Joonas Pekkanen on the Open Ministry Platform in Finland
The first explanation dates from 2012; the second is an interview from 2014. The Finnish parliament has failed to act on the first six citizen initiatives based on crowdsourced legislation, but the project leaders remain committed. First video: Second Video:
The Care-Centered Economy: A New Theory of Value
I recently encountered a brilliant new essay by German writer Ina Praetorius that revisits the feminist theme of “care work,” re-casting it onto a much larger philosophical canvas. “The Care-Centered Economy: Rediscovering what has been taken for granted” suggests how the idea of “care” could be used to imagine new structural terms for the entire… Continue reading
Video: The True Story of Alternative Currencies
“Draft of a documentary featuring interviews with three experts in alternative currencies: Bernard Lietaer, author of The Future of Money and longtime proponent of complementary currencies, Edgar Cahn, founder of Timebanks USA, and Paul Glover, founder of Ithaca Hours. Produced by the Community Economies Research Group in Western MA.” Watch the video here:
Book of the Day: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up
* Book: Pax Technica: How the Internet of Things May Set Us Free or Lock Us Up. By Philip Howard. From the description by the Open Society Foundation: “Should we fear or welcome the internet’s evolution? The latest smart televisions now watch us, and report on our behavior to their manufacturers. If you don’t pay… Continue reading
5th Edition of the Social and Solidarity Economy Academy 2015
The 5th edition of the ILO Academy on Social and Solidarity Economy will be held in South Africa, from Monday 27th to Friday 31st July 2015. Source – http://socialeconomy.itcilo.org/en The 2015 proposed theme is “Social Innovation in the World of Work”. The theme has been identified through a consultative process following the 2014 Academy in… Continue reading
Despotic Mayors
Xnet has produced this video “Despotic Mayors” with the complaints submitted by citizens to Xnet’s X-Mailbox, built to receive citizen leaks against corruption, in collaboration with the X Party‘s campaign #AlcaldesCaciques. What you will see below is not science fiction, it doesn’t take place in a distant time -say the Middle Ages-, nor it is… Continue reading
The resurgence of self-managed workers cooperatives (2): #Spain
From Istanbul to Barcelona, the co-operative movement is flourishing as employees revive what the bosses buried Reports from Jon Henley in Marseille and Thessaloniki, Ashifa Kassam in Mataró, Spain, Constanze Letsch in Istanbul and Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires for The Guardian – Original Article – http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/01/may-day-workers-of-the-world-unite-and-take-over-their-factories Spain: ‘This was new for us’ – Ashifa… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Open Source 3D Printing as a Means of Learning
* Article: Open source 3D printing as a means of learning: An educational experiment in two high schools in Greece Vasilis Kostakis, Vasilis Niaros and Christos Giotitsas. Telematics and Informatics, Volume 32, Issue 1, February 2015, Pages 118–128 From the abstract: “This research project attempts to examine to what extent the technological capabilities of open… Continue reading
On the Commodification of Human Discovery
Not so long ago, the language of “intellectual property” (IP) was the only serious way of talking about creative works and inventions. Copyright and patents provided the default framework for explaining how someone’s bright idea grew into a marketable product, and how that in turn contributed to economic growth and human progress. It was a… Continue reading
CommonsFest 2015 Press Release
We republish here the CommonsFest 2015 Press Release: For the collective management of common resources Counting two successful festivals in Heraklion, Crete, this year the 3rd CommonsFest moves to Athens and will take place 15-17th of May at the Greek Archaeologists Association, Ermou 134, Thisio. For the past few years a particularly dynamic, global Commons… Continue reading
The resurgence of self-managed workers cooperatives (1): #France
From Istanbul to Barcelona, the co-operative movement is flourishing as employees revive what the bosses buried Reports from Jon Henley in Marseille and Thessaloniki, Ashifa Kassam in Mataró, Spain, Constanze Letsch in Istanbul and Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires for The Guardian – Original Article – http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/01/may-day-workers-of-the-world-unite-and-take-over-their-factories A 19th-century slogan is getting a 21st-century makeover…. Continue reading
After the defeat of Labour in the UK: can the communautarian Blue Labour renew the party ?
“Blue Labour blends a ‘progressive’ commitment to greater economic equality with a more ‘conservative’ disposition emphasising personal loyalty, family, community and locality.” Time perhaps to look into the Blue Labour approach, here’s a summary of their book, which you can find here: “In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, and the worst recession for… Continue reading