Date archives "October 2017"

Commons Commons Transition Conferences Ethical Economy P2P Action Items P2P Collaboration P2P Cultures and Politics P2P Movements P2P Spirituality P2PF Articles Urban Commons

ECA Madrid: Introducing the Commoners

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ECA Madrid: Introducing the Commoners

On the eve of the European Commons Assembly held in Madrid this week, we asked the participants to introduce themselves and their projects. Click on the titles below to jump to the different sections and join us at the assembly, if possible. Demetra Commons Josaphat Ministry of Space Groupe Chronos MediaLab-UGR Tenants Union Madrid Don’t… Continue reading →

Activism Commons Transition P2P Action Items P2P Collaboration P2P Cultures and Politics P2P Governance P2P Movements P2P Solidarity Politics

Should we fight the system or be the change?

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Should we fight the system or be the change?

Short-term campaigns versus building the beloved community: what are the real costs and benefits of pre-figurative politics? Mark and Paul Engler explore the tensions – and joys – of prefigurative politics. Originally published in Waging Nonviolence. Mark Engler and Paul Engler: It is an old question in social movements: Should we fight the system or “be… Continue reading →

Activism Commons Transition Culture & Ideas Default Featured Video P2P Action Items P2P Cultures and Politics P2P Movements P2P Solidarity

Postcapitalism & Beautiful Alternatives: A brief introduction to The Rules

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Something is deeply wrong with the way the world works. You know it, and I know it. We are told everyday that unfettered economic growth and the accumulation of personal wealth is desirable, yet, though we may not always have the words to challenge it, we know the mantra ‘greed is good’ cannot be true:… Continue reading →

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Podcast: How is policing being used to maintain racial and class inequalities?

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In this Upstream Conversation we spoke with author Alex S. Vitale about his new book, “The End of Policing,” which was published by Verso Books on October 10th, 2017. Alex Vitale’s work is based on a deep examination and structural critique of the fundamental nature of policing. Vitale stresses that it’s not enough to enact… Continue reading →

Collective Intelligence Commons Commons Transition Economy and Business Featured Essay Networks P2P Cultures and Politics P2P Development P2P Infrastructures P2P Theory Peer Production Peer Property

Of Penguins and Power: Yochai Benkler defends Peer Production

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Of Penguins and Power: Yochai Benkler defends Peer Production

In the essay below, Yochai Benkler answers convincingly in our opinion, to some standard critiques such as 1) that peer production did not occur or ‘failed’ and 2) that Yochai Benkler’s writings ignored power and 3) insufficiently predicted the emergence of new market powers. In his response, Prof. Benkler shows that the emergence of peer… Continue reading →

Activism Commons Transition Cooperatives Ethical Economy Featured Interview Open Coops & Sustainable Livelihoods P2P Action Items P2P Business Models P2P Collaboration P2P Labor

This Platform Kills Fascists: Nathan Schneider on Platform Cooperativism

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This Platform Kills Fascists: Nathan Schneider on Platform Cooperativism

Nathan Schneider is interviewed on Platform Cooperativism for the book Tech Against Trump. This excerpt was originally published in Logic Magazine: Over the past few years, journalist Nathan Schneider has become a leading advocate for “platform cooperativism.” Together with the scholar and activist Trebor Scholz, Nathan co-organized the first conference on platform cooperativism at the… Continue reading →

Economy and Business Ethical Economy P2P Action Items P2P Cultures and Politics P2P Labor P2P Money P2P Public Policy P2P Solidarity

How to Fund a Universal Basic Income Without Increasing Taxes or Inflation

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How to Fund a Universal Basic Income Without Increasing Taxes or Inflation

The policy of guaranteeing every citizen a universal basic income is gaining support around the world, as automation increasingly makes jobs obsolete. But can it be funded without raising taxes or triggering hyperinflation? In a panel I was on at the NexusEarth cryptocurrency conference in Aspen September 21-23rd, most participants said no. This is my… Continue reading →

Collective Intelligence Commons Commons Transition Culture & Ideas Ethical Economy Open Coops & Sustainable Livelihoods P2P Action Items P2P Carework P2P Lifestyles P2P Solidarity Patterns of Commoning Sharing

Patterns of Commoning: Helsinki Timebank: Currency as a Commons

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Patterns of Commoning: Helsinki Timebank: Currency as a Commons

Jukka Peltokoski, Niklas Toivakainen, Tero Toivanen and Ruby van der Wekken: In October 2009, while expecting another futile climate summit in nearby Copenhagen, a small group of friends in the Kumpula neighborhood of Helsinki got together to discuss practical alternatives. Surely there was something that could be done by people themselves! The result of that… Continue reading →

Building the Open Source Circular Economy Commons Transition Open Hardware and Design Open Models P2P Collaboration P2P Development P2P Ecology P2P Lab P2P Manufacturing P2P Research P2P Technology P2PF Articles Sharing

Design global, manufacture local: a new industrial revolution?

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Design global, manufacture local: a new industrial revolution?

Vasilis Kostakis and Jose Ramos: What if globally designed products could radically change how we work, produce and consume? Several examples across continents show the way we are producing and consuming goods could be improved by relying on globally shared digital resources, such as design, knowledge and software. Imagine a prosthetic hand designed by geographically… Continue reading →

Activism Collective Intelligence Commons Transition Ethical Economy P2P Cultures and Politics P2P Ecology P2P Energy P2P Lifestyles P2P Solidarity

There’s only one way to avoid climate catastrophe: ‘de-growing’ our economy

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There’s only one way to avoid climate catastrophe: ‘de-growing’ our economy

Jason Hickel: You can almost feel the planet writhing. This summer brought some of the biggest, most destructive storms in recorded history: Harvey laid waste to huge swathes of Texas; Irma left Barbuda virtually uninhabitable; Maria ravaged Dominica and plunged Puerto Rico into darkness. The images we see in the media are almost too violent to… Continue reading →

Commons Commons Transition Cooperatives Ethical Economy Open Coops & Sustainable Livelihoods P2P Business Models P2P Collaboration P2P Development P2P Labor P2P Lifestyles P2P Rights P2P Solidarity P2PF Articles

How the Commons Can Reconcile Digital and Biophysical Labor

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How the Commons Can Reconcile Digital and Biophysical Labor

What we are adept at is digital labor (consider the time and effort we have already put into this posting without recompense), but we have yet to define or form much of an identity around our input or output of information labor. Information may ‘want to be free’, but information labor wants be rewarded in… Continue reading →

Anti-P2P Cognitive Capitalism Commons Transition Copyright/IP Open Models P2P Action Items P2P Collaboration P2P Cultures and Politics P2P Development P2P Rights P2P Theory Peer Property

Is capitalism compatible with free P2P Systems?

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Is capitalism compatible with free P2P Systems?

Traditional anti-capitalism focused on the ownership of the means of production, yet the modern capitalist doesn’t even want to own the means of production, they want to own the very right to produce. To control the ideas required to produce and simply charge rents for these ideas. This short text by Dmytri Kleiner was originally… Continue reading →

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Book of the Day: Artists Re:thinking the Blockchain

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Book of the Day: Artists Re:thinking the Blockchain

Our colleagues at Furtherfield have a new book out on the Blockchain, its social implications and its role as an artistic subject. Check it out here. Description The blockchain is widely heralded as the new internet – another dimension in an ever-faster, ever-more-powerful interlocking of ideas, actions and values. Principally the blockchain is a ledger… Continue reading →

Activism Commons Commons Transition Culture & Ideas Featured Movement P2P Cultures and Politics P2P Development P2P Movements P2P Public Policy Politics Urban Commons

The European Commons Assembly in Madrid for a Renewed Political Force in Europe

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The European Commons Assembly in Madrid for a Renewed Political Force in Europe

The crisis of the European Union begs for new, unifying and constructive narratives – alternatives to the right-wing populist and nationalist wave getting fiercer every day. A commons approach holds the potential for a unified vision towards an alternative economy, a Europe from the bottom up and an ecological economy and way of life. The… Continue reading →

Building the Open Source Circular Economy Commons Culture & Ideas Free Software Networks Open Models P2P Carework P2P Development P2P Gender Issues P2P Governance P2P Infrastructures

Personal Safety in a P2P Social Network

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Personal Safety in a P2P Social Network

Mix Irving: I believe in a free and open web. Over the past 3 years, friends and I have been growing and shaping an ecosystem for that purpose — for many, it’s now our primary way of communicating. It’s built with cryptography and is p2p. The result is a system with fundamentally different behaviours than the old web…. Continue reading →

Empire P2P Ecology P2P Governance P2P Localization P2P Warfare P2PF network articles

It hurts when empires fall

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It hurts when empires fall

There is a genre of landscape painting from the 17th and 18th centuries that ought to give us cause for reflection. They are paintings of Italian landscapes where goatherds and their flocks wander amongst the ruins of Roman aqueducts, bridges and temples. The fascinating thing about them is that they depict a European society which, more than… Continue reading →