Reposted from Cooperatives UK, regarding the EU’s “European Agenda for the collaborative economy“. Over the last year we have curated a series of critical commentaries on the initial resolution. Cooperatives Europe commends the ’s recognition of the growing interest for the cooperative model in the collaborative economy. This positioning sends a positive signal towards actors… Continue reading
This is possibly the most balanced and well argued overview of Universal Basic Income – in all its varieties – we’ve published. Click here to read all our curated stories on UBI. Originally published on Dissent Magazine. Alyssa Battistoni: Five years ago, dropping the abbreviation UBI in conversation would be more likely to earn you… Continue reading
This post by Steven Hill was originally published on steven-hill.com Recently I was having a pleasant conversation in Berlin with a highly-regarded professor and former university president when the conversation turned unexpectedly disagreeable. We hit an impasse as we discussed the impact of new digital technologies on society and the economy, specifically the impact on… Continue reading
By Pål Steigan. (Journal of Urban Culture Research – Chulalongkorn University Bangkok Thailand) The rapid urbanization of the world’s population over the twentieth century is described in the 2005 Revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects report. The global proportion of urban population rose dramatically from 13% (220 million) in 1900, to 29% (732 million)… Continue reading
To our knowledge, this is the first time that a social-democratic thinker tries to think together, both how to deal with capitalism, and how to deal with the commons, so this thought and policy exercise is to be applauded, and makes a lot of sense. The only caveat from the P2P Foundation point of view… Continue reading
The Flint water crisis is back in the national news. Over 8,000 Flint residents now face tax liens on their homes for unpaid water bills after May 19th, and are faced with the possibility of losing their homes if they don’t pay the total amount in arrears. This follows last month’s mass water cutoffs for residences with unpaid bills…. Continue reading
Critiquing problems is far easier than imagining credible alternative futures. That seems to be the biggest problem in our political culture today: a colossal failure of imagination. I was therefore pleased when a new friend introduced me to the writings of David Fleming, an iconoclastic British thinker about economics, the environment, and culture who had… Continue reading
Originally published on americanmagazine.org There was a time when I felt warmly toward the Frick Collection. I was a teenager when I first visited the mansion-turned-art-museum on New York’s Upper East Side. Around every corner was a painting that I had seen before in school or books—Hans Holbein the Younger’s 16th-century portraits of Thomas More… Continue reading
Jerry Michalski provides a concise summary of the major themes of Karl Polanyi’s “The Great Transformation”. Michalski also provides more context for the book here. Photo by Daniel Mennerich
Nithin Coca: In 2014, a digital-driven movement emerged in Taiwan that challenged the former ruling party Kuomintang’s move to fast-track the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement. The members of the movement felt the trade deal between China and Taiwan would impinge on Taiwan’s sovereignty. The Sunflower Movement, a youth-driven, tech-savvy, cross-sectoral coalition, occupied the Taiwanese Parliament for more than three weeks. To the surprise of… Continue reading
Some notes on the European Electronic Communications Code, before the decisive votes take place in European Parliament by the netCommons team. In February, European Community Networks (CNs) and supporting organisations have expressed their concerns about the upcoming “European Electronic Communications Code” in an open letter sent to EU policy-makers. The European Parliament will soon have… Continue reading
A new paper titled: “Blockchain and value systems in the sharing economy: The illustrative case of Backfeed ” has been published in Technological Forecasting & Social Change. The article has been co-authored by Alex Pazaitis, Primavera De Filippi and Vasilis Kostakis. Abstract: This article explores the potential of blockchain technology in enabling a new system… Continue reading
Firstly, it’s important to remember that the public is not always politically centrist. It is just as often politically radical, and this is often precisely what gives a new candidate popular appeal. In fact, many of the most significant elections of the 20th century have been won by candidates who were far from the political… Continue reading
Who are the freelancers of Europe? How do they live and work in the different countries of the European Union? How many of them choose to be freelancers and how many simply have no alternative? What are their needs and expectations? How do they deal with the uncertain, precarious nature of freelance work? These are… Continue reading
Introducing a Global Network of Municipalist Cities This week I had the privilege of joining the Fearless Cities conference, hosted by Barcelona en Comú, a citizen platform founded by 15M and PAH activists in 2014. The conference announced a global municipalist network, featuring delegates from more than 100 cities around the world. Municipalism is a… Continue reading
Originally published on theclimatelemon.com Yay for the Paris Agreement!… Wait. What actually is that? If you’ve read anything much about climate issues, you’ve probably come across the term ‘Paris Agreement’ – aka ‘Paris Accord’, ‘Paris Climate Treaty’, ‘Paris Climate Deal’ or simply the ‘2015 climate deal’. Like a lot of climate lingo, it isn’t immediately… Continue reading