“The more powerful model, more sustainable — and certainly more in line with where tech, and I think society in general, is moving — is more of a distributed model where power and wealth are pushed out more to the edges of the network. We can set it up such that we have, kind of… Continue reading
A series of 3 excerpts on commonifying the fictitious commodities identified by Karl Polany, i.e. land, money and labor, from an essay by Gary Flomenhoft: Labor as a false commodity in the financial crisis The third of Polanyi’s false commodities, labor, is a special case. Without unionization or government intervention, labor is generally at a… Continue reading
I just watched an excellent talk from SXSW, titled Distributed: a New OS for the Digital Economy, on the “vacuum cleaner” effect corporations have on industries, communities, countries, and ultimately themselves, and what we might be able to do about it. Given by Doug Rushkoff, the talk riffed off themes from his new book Throwing… Continue reading
Just a year or so ago, Bitcoin was weird. The digital ‘crypto-currency’ had become fairly notorious as a preferred medium of exchange for hackers, outlaws, and the most strenuous libertarians. The underlying blockchain technology—a secure, distributed database requiring no central server or owner—was earning the curiosity of radicals and visionaries who saw in it the… Continue reading
Last year SYRIZA, the left coalition party elected to lead the Greek government and face down its creditors and European overlords, lost its high-stakes confrontation with neoliberalism. Greece has plunged into an even-deeper, demoralizing and perilous social and economic crisis, exacerbated by the flood of Syrian refugees. So what does the SYRIZA experience have to… Continue reading
On March 9, 2016, Heather Menzies spoke to the Canadian Association of Clubs of Rome in Ottawa, Canada, on the theme “Living the Limits to Growth.” Originally published on Heather Menzies’ blog.
A series of 3 excerpts on commonifying the fictitious commodities identified by Karl Polanyi, i.e. land, money and labor, from an essay by Gary Flomenhoft: Money as a false commodity The administration of purchasing power, in other words creation of the money supply, is currently regulated by quasi-private central banks such as the US Federal… Continue reading
As we learned through the Panama Papers, establishing a corporation is not difficult. Especially, when you have occasion to dodge your tax obligation or launder illegal profits. In contrast, when you want to raise money for community development incorporating draws more scrutiny, at least in the U.S. The U.S. government allows tax deductible donations to socially… Continue reading
I see Creative Commons licensing as a smart way to distribute local or national content when the goal is maximum impact, or an audience spreading word that your content exists. I also see CC licensing as an important survival tool for smaller and regional newsrooms. When material is published under the license, smaller newsrooms can… Continue reading
I arrived in Barcelona on March 10 in order to study on behalf of the P2P Foundation* one of the most interesting cooperative projects in recent years in Europe: the Cooperativa Integral Catalana (CIC), the Catalan network of collaborative and self-managed projects animated by the principles of the integral revolution. I spent the next three… Continue reading
Where rights are at stake, immediate action is required. Those who continue to uphold the existing, highly skewed international economic and financial order delay the realization of human rights by many decades, thereby becoming responsible for hundreds of millions of poverty-related deaths in the meantime. Skewed Economics The collective net worth of the richest 1%… Continue reading
A series of 3 excerpts on commonifying the fictitious commodities identified by Karl Polany, i.e. land, money and labor, from an essay by Gary Flomenhoft: Land as a false commodity “When looking at real estate prices it is important to remember that rising house prices reflect rising land values, not buildings. Buildings depreciate as they… Continue reading
A scholarly paper titled “Commons Movements & ‘Progressive’ Governments as Dual Power: The Potential for Social Transformation in Europe” and authored by Antonis Broumas will appear soon at Capital & Class. The abstract is following: “In the neoliberal era, social counter-power emerges as the main resurgent force to contend the capital-state complex, whether in the… Continue reading
John Jacobi from The Wildist Network sent me his latest essay for Easter Holiday readings: “The Question of Revolution“. He urged me to distribute it around, and I chose to publish chapter three about our obligation to rewild. The wilderness should be our most precious commons, and although the wildist strategy is different than of… Continue reading
Here in southeast Portland, our local food co-operative draws a dedicated pool of volunteers who keep it in operation. Perhaps because it is only the size of an average 7-11, our cooperative feels like a little community. Its difficult to imagine something so democratic and personable developing on a large scale. Which is why The Co-Opertative Group… Continue reading
“A new economy is coming into play. No longer wielded as a weapon to legitimise austerity, this is an economy where the community and the environment, not the corporate shareholder, benefits. Beneath its ruthless, business-as-usual veneer, Britain hosts a colourful array of grassroots enterprises. Some of these are sparked into action by artists or dynamic… Continue reading