In this rapidly changing world, existing systems are being weakened, resulting in risks as well as opportunities. The global economic crisis has degraded people’s working and living conditions but has also raised questions about the legitimacy of financialized capitalism. The development of digital technology has produced new types of precarious jobs, but it has also… Continue reading
During the summer of 2017, I travelled throughout France. Now I am sharing the stories of the commons I met along the way, never knowing what I would find in advance. These articles were originally published in French here: Commons Tour 2017. The English translations are also compiled in this Commons Transition article. The Assembly of… Continue reading
Cross-posted from Shareable. Ruby Irene Pratka: An intriguing blueprint for a post-capitalist world is gradually being built in a converted spa in Barcelona, Spain. Founded by the Catalan dissenter Enric Duran, who made headlines in 2008 after “borrowing” thousands of Euros from Spanish banks and donating it to social causes, the Catalan Integral Cooperative is a… Continue reading
During the summer of 2017, I travelled throughout France. Now I am sharing the stories of the commons I met along the way, never knowing what I would find in advance. These articles were originally published in French here: Commons Tour 2017. The English translations are also compiled in this Commons Transition article. Mainstenant and the… Continue reading
Cross-posted from Shareable. The oceans were the original global commons, fished and navigated for ages. But new technologies have added numerous challenges to sustaining our oceans: offshore oil drilling, deep-sea mining, and overfishing. However, it’s crucial that water, both freshwater and saltwater, remains a commons and held in the public trust, because access to clean water… Continue reading
Ellen Friedman: If a picture is worth a thousand words, a map is likely worth a thousand pictures. Since 2010, hundreds of commons and “new economy” mapping projects have sprung to life. By depicting thousands of innovative social, environmental and economic initiatives, these maps reveal the complex stories of new systems emerging through the cracks… Continue reading
Cross-posted from Shareable. Platforms enabled by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), like Uber and Airbnb, are increasingly being seen as looters by cities. They are like Death Stars, extracting great swaths of value from local communities only to transfer that wealth elsewhere. Indeed, it would seem that the original ideas of sharing and peer-to-peer collaboration… Continue reading
Third of a three part series, Niko Georgiades takes on a journey through Greece’s post-capitalist alt. economy, this time by analysing the latest developments around FairCoop. Originally published in Unicorn Riot Ninja. Niko Georgiades: Athens, Greece – Tools born from the internet, applied across autonomous networks and movements seeking alternatives to capitalism, are providing the infrastructure… Continue reading
The moral and practical case for implementing a basic income guarantee is well made—but what are the prospects for finally achieving this inspiring idea of ‘freedom from want’ for every person on Earth? In a unique investigation of the subject, Share The World’s Resources (STWR) founder Mohammed Mesbahi has set out a strategic vision for how… Continue reading
During the summer of 2017, I travelled throughout France. Now I am sharing the stories of the commons I met along the way, never knowing what I would find in advance. These articles were originally published in French here: Commons Tour 2017. The English translations are also compiled in this Commons Transition article. When I left… Continue reading
Driver Co-op is an online co-operative platform app owned by private hire drivers and supported by The New Economics Foundation. The following article was written by Alice Martin, Work & Housing Lead, New Economics Foundation and originally published in Nesta’s Blog. The New Economics Foundation plans to conduct research to support the development of an online co-operative platform app owned… Continue reading
Second of a three part series, Niko Georgiades takes on a journey through Greece’s post-capitalist alt. economy, this time by way of Kenya. Originally published in Unicorn Riot Ninja. Niko Georgiades: Athens, Greece – Experimenting with alternatives to capitalism has continued to become more popular as huge wealth divides devour chances of relieving poverty across the… Continue reading
Hazel Henderson alerted us to this worthy campaign coming out of Puerto Rico. Reposted from the Barrio Solar Crowdfund page. On the subject of Puerto Rico’s energy grid, also don’t miss this reaction to Elon Musk’s white-saviour bro-capitalist solutions. BARRIO SOLAR was created on September 21st, the day after Hurricane Maria devastated the island nation of… Continue reading
I was invited to write the Preface to Rethinking The Modular: Adaptable Systems in Architecture and Design edited by Burkhard Meltzer and Tido von Oppeln. As the book has just been published, here follows my text: Back to the Present Trumpeted as ‘the most significant innovation in beekeeping since 1852’, the Flow Hive was pitched to a crowd-funding… Continue reading
The latest blog post from the FairCoop project – of which [disclaimer] I am an active member – shows the adoption by the project of the Open Collaborative Platform software, itself a fork of the Open Value Network software originally developed by Bob Haugen and Lynn Foster in collaboration with the Sensorica open hardware enterprise…. Continue reading
One of the quirks of people on the leftish end of the political spectrum is that we pay a lot of attention to language, especially to the words we use when we’re talking about a group of people. It’s a quirk that folks on the right know how to exploit. Let me explain… A couple… Continue reading