Michel Bauwens on Commoning our Democracy

A few weeks back we announced Michel Bauwens’ intervention at Democracy Day in Belfast. Now, courtesy of our friend and colleague Kevin Flanagan, we present the audio for Michel’s talk.

Presentation resources

This is a recording of the presentation ‘Commoning our Democracy’ by Michel Bauwens of the p2pfoundation.net/ at the Imagine Festival in Belfast 14/03/2018.

imaginebelfast.com/events/commoning-our-democracy/

Slides below description.

“Democratic nation-states are in crisis and hardly able to contain the forces of disruption that are trans-national in scale. We are living in an era of crises when the consequences of the currently dominant economic, social and political paradigms are pressing upon people, fomenting feelings of frustration, helplessness and despair and damaging democracy. Such feelings are all too familiar for those of us living in Northern Ireland.

In recent years, we have seen a re-emergence and fast growth of ‘the commons’ and ‘commoning’, with ‘citizen commoners’ cooperating in the interests of an ecologically sustainable, kinder society. This has been particularly evident in the fields of the field of shared knowledge, and in the mutualisation of provisioning systems through urban commons. There are many who believe that the innovative ways of thinking and doing associated with commoning are vital strands of the ecological and societal transformations that are needed for humanity to survive and thrive in the challenging times ahead.

Drawing from his experience of working in various parts of the world, Michel Bauwens, co-founder of the trans-national P2P Foundation, will offer answers to this question. It is envisaged that Michel’s presentation will inform and inspire some co-creative, civic conversation among participants about the prospects for ‘commoning our democracy’.”