A few years ago I discovered by chance that, in the ’80s, a Mr E. D. Hirsch Jr. published a book titled “Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know” which listed the “5,000 essential concepts and names – 1066, Babbitt, Pickwickian — that educated people should be familiar with”. Mr Hirsch wrote that book… Continue reading
Is the engineering of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) a dangerous technology posing grave risks to human and ecological health? Or are GMOs a potent new tool in the onward march of modern agricultural technology in its race to feed the world? In a recent opinion piece – Avoiding GMOs Isn’t Just Anti-science, It’s Immoral –… Continue reading
A radical change is taking place. Cities around Europe – through platforms, movements and international networks – are creating paths for citizens to participate in and influence politics directly. Joan Subirats, one of the founders of Barcelona’s municipalist platform Barcelona en Comú, discusses how cities can deal with uncertainty and provide a new type of… Continue reading
“Faced with a systemic crisis of the mainstream economy, there is an abundance of initiatives, but a systemic crisis can only be solved by equally systemic alternatives. How to fit them together in a fundamental transformative change, and which elements need to be combined to obtain vital synergies – this is the crucial aspect addressed… Continue reading
Deals between companies and governments working together to automate acceptable content online are too common. Whilst content filtering is being proposed in EU copyright law, in other situations it’s all wrapped up in a closed door agreement. Ruth Coustick-Deal, writing for OpenMedia.org lays out the “shadow regulation” complementing the dubious legal propositions which are being drafted… Continue reading
Ariadna Serra and Ale Fernandez: Catalonia has been the cradle of various movements – the cooperative movement, the movement for independence as well as anarchism and nudism,1 each of which has had important effects on society in the area. Not surprisingly, these movements were influential in the founding of the Cooperativa Integral Catalana (CIC) even though… Continue reading
Larry Taub came to visit me in Chiang Mai more than a decade ago, and I read his book with great interest; I still use it a lot in my private conversations about the state of the world, and while I disagreed with some of his geo-strategic positions and predictions (the polario hypothesis of a… Continue reading
Content filtering, bots scanning for copyrighted content and then blocking what they find, will seriously harm creativity in Europe. That’s why artists are joining together to speak out against it. Continuing our coverage of the European Parliament’s heinous proposition for filtering uploaded content, Ruth Coustick-Deal consults with the artistic community. Republished from OpenMedia.org. Ruth Coustick-Deal: Last… Continue reading
Inspiring video, originally published in Motherboard, about the right to repair – in this case farm equipment. It would be exciting if these communities were more aware of projects like Phygital or initiatives such as Farm Hack and L’Atelier Paysan to decrease their dependence on corporate giants. From the shownotes to the video: When it… Continue reading
The rules of border control will need to be rewritten to make migration an option for those fleeing the consequences of climate destabilization. April Humble: Every minute, twenty-five people are displaced somewhere in the world — a fourfold increase compared to ten years ago. At the same time, international borders are becoming more and more… Continue reading
Julia Reda gives an update – and not a good one – on the forthcoming European Comission “censorship machine” proposal. The following is republished from Reda’s website. Julia Reda: Ever since the European Commission presented its hugely controversial proposal to force internet platforms to employ censorship machines, the copyright world has been eagerly awaiting the… Continue reading
‘Ownership is the ground where the tug-of-war for the next social contracts is being played. Who owns what will determine who really benefits’ After a contentious early meeting of Green Taxi Cooperative’s driver-members, then in the process of forming the largest taxi company in the state of Colorado, I asked the board president, Abdi Buni,… Continue reading
Gabriel Weinberg, the CEO and Founder at DuckDuckGo explains the benefits of the project. Extracted from Quora. Gabriel Wienberg: #1 — Google tracks you. We don’t. You share your most intimate secrets with your search engine without even thinking: medical, financial and personal issues, along with all the day to day things that make you,… Continue reading
An Interview with members of Cecosesola Cecosesola has been making history for almost half a century. It all began in 1967 when a cooperativista in Barquisimeto, a city in Venezuela with a population of more than a million, died, leaving behind a family not only in mourning, but also unable to meet the funeral expenses…. Continue reading
Plenty of events taking place in Belfast this March at the Imagine Festival of Ideas and Politics 2018, including talks and workshops by our co-founder Michel Bauwens and our close associate John Restakis. The following was written by Mairead McCormack and is cross-posted from VoluntaryArts.org: Mairead McCormack: .Join us at the Imagine Festival of Ideas and Politics 2018 in Belfast… Continue reading
This two-part, semi-gothic literary essay seeks a provisional definition of “benevolent capital” and a working description of types of artistic and scholarly work that have no value for Capital as such. The paradox observed is that such works may actually appeal to a certain aspect of Capital, insofar as present-day capitalism has within it forms… Continue reading