Excerpted from Maya Goodfellow on LabourList: “In Corbyn’s first 100 days he has slowly but surely shifted the conversation, while shunning the vacuous personality politics that has seeped into the Commons in recent times. Beginning with a people-powered leadership campaign that exploded into life in the summer months, the former backbench MP has brought ideas… Continue reading
Date archives "December 2015"
The true meaning of Christmas
At this time of year, it is easy to forget the reality of the critical world situation as we partake in the frantic overconsumption and festivities of Christmas. But what is the true meaning of Christmas in the midst of environmental destruction, growing levels of poverty and escalating global tensions? Mohammed Mesbahi’s discourse on this… Continue reading
Book of the Day: Derek Wall’s Economics After Capitalism
Republished from Bright-Green.org, William Pinkney-Baird gives us an overview of Derek Wall’s Economics After Capitalism. The commons works best by consensus and, unlike capitalism, does not depend on constant growth. It provides shared access to important resources so that human needs can be met with potential equity. Anti-capitalist globalisation could be labelled positively as the… Continue reading
A theory for living amongst the ruins after capitalism
1. “It is clear that capitalism as a civilization is already over, and it knows it. The ruling class of our time knows it can make no claim to rule for anyone but themselves. Hence their instinct to hide from us, to spy on us, to arm and fortify themselves, and to plunder and loot… Continue reading
What comes after the decline of the employment society ?
“The current crisis is accelerating the oligarchical counter-revolution that began in the 1970s. On the other, the crisis of salaried work is not limited to one possible outcome. It contains different possibilities, some of which favor well-being and social or individual autonomy.” * Book: La Fábrica del Emprendedor: Trabajo y política en la empresa-mundo (The… Continue reading
Neither In Nor Out – Towards a socio-economic community of European peoples
One of the pillars of the dominating troika system in the European Union is the threat that, for any country that leaves the euro system, they will find their substitute currency devalued, thus affecting the savings of the middle classes in those counties. Those middle classes typically being the ones who sway the vote… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: An introduction to Shanzai Culture
This is an article in the amazing Pirate Book! Marie Lechner explains: “Liang claims that piracy makes cultural products otherwise inaccessible to most of the population available to the greatest number of users, but also offers the possibility of an “infrastructure for cultural production.” The case of the parallel film industry based in Malegaon is… Continue reading
Proposal for Public Policy Paper: “From Smart Cities to Smart Citizens: City as a Commons”
A call for papers by our colleague Jose Ramos, originally published in his blog. Please share! The smart city discourse has become a ‘used future’. It is spouted by consultants and tech advocates, but it does not seem to have much humanity, nor does it include a critical understanding of sustainability and civic engagement. Inspired… Continue reading
An Update from P2P Plazas: a Southern European Network
We’re finally there. We completed one year of research looking for interesting, challenging and inspiring autonomous experiences in Southern Europe. Among other things, we’ve collaborated greatly with people across several countries and learned, even more, that we’re witnessing impressive process of cooperation and transformation of urban relationships and landscapes. And also, that those process are… Continue reading
Protecting Solar Citizens in South Australia
A guest post by our colleague Sharon Ede. The Total Environment Centre and Solar Citizens are appealing to a Federal Court to defend a decision by the Australian Energy Regulator that prevents South Australian Power Networks, the electricity distribution network provider for SA, from slapping a $100 solar tariff on households with solar panels.South Australian… Continue reading
Essay of the Day: Towards Technologies of Organizational Communion
What we need are Technologies of Organizational Communion (TOCs) to serve as evolutionary guidance systems for the Technologies of Information and Communication (TICs – aka ICTs) that now stand the chance of connecting us not only with each other, but with the planet, with future generations, and most importantly, with ourselves. * Article: Alexander Laszlo,… Continue reading
Debating the strategic insights of Paul Mason on a phase transition towards the commons society
Henry Tam and Pat Conaty, both eminent cooperativist thinkers in the UK, square it out on the value of Paul Mason’s prescriptions in his book on PostCapitalism: I. The questions by Henry Tam: “I listened to the interview with Paul Mason, and it prompted a few thoughts. His book may deal with some of the… Continue reading
Video: The Mapping the Next System Webinar
The Mapping the Next System Webinar, convened by the Real Economy Lab, the Next System Project and the New Economy Coalition took place on December 14 at 5pm GMT with Gus Speth, Jules Peck, Fernanda Ibarra, et al. I have posted my own pre-recorded contribution earlier. Watch the 2-hour record of the conversation here via:
Call for Papers: Decentralizing the Commons
We are witnessing today a steady growth in the impact of user-generated content and peer-production on the so-called sharing or collaborative economy. These emergent practices are an indicator of radical changes in the mode of production in an age of ‘prosumerism’, characterized by two main trends. On the one hand, corporations such as Google, Uber… Continue reading
Book of the Day: The Convergence of Social Economy and Sustainability
In these locally defined and controlled, democratically operated organizations we see possibilities for a more human economy that is capable of transforming the very social and technical systems that make our current way of life unsustainable. * Book: Scaling Up: The Convergence of Social Economy and Sustainability. Co-edited by Mike Gismondi, Mary Beckie et al…. Continue reading
Podemos are winning the institutions — now we must win back democracy
Carlos Delclós shares his overview of last night’s Spanish general election results for ROARmag.org Podemos has won an important victory, but what has emerged is a situation that is all but ungovernable. It’s now up to the movements to enforce change. During campaign season, there are two kinds of political parties in Spain. One has… Continue reading