The program for the first half of 2019 is well underway. Because we’re eager to get started and reach out, we’re doing a pre-launch already: October 11th.

That happens to be during the World Commons Week

World Commons Week

From 4 to 12 October, people from all over the world celebrate the World Commons Week: a week dedicated to the study and practice of the commons. Exactly fifty years ago in October, biologist Garrett Hardin published his infamous Tragedy of the commons article in Science. Since then, many scholars have been very busy disproving Hardin’s pessimistic assessment of commons. Also in October, Waag’s Chamber of Commons will launch to carve out new practices, models and politics for the commons, in partnership with Commons Network, de Meent, Sustainable Finance Lab and OBA.

Chamber of Commons

The Chamber of Commons bolsters the interests of commons and commoners. Commons are shared resources managed by communities with an aim of assuring their sustainability and inclusivity. They foster bottom-up initiative and community self-determination, while keeping a close watch on the needs of the wider public. The mission of the Chamber of Commons is to raise public awareness on the commons, tickle the senses, and demonstrate new models through which the commons can address societal questions.

Politics of Nature

“Politics of Nature” is the first initiative to be invited to the Chamber of Commons to explore new ways of relating between humans and nature. Politics of Nature is a brand new initiative experimenting with democratic methodologies, game design and immersive tech, inspired by the ideas of Bruno Latour, Baruch Spinoza and the concept of the Cratic Platform. “In times of democratic and climatic decline, we will need to experiment with and practice new methods and methodologies for addressing difficult issues and respect the beings we co-exist with,” says Jakob Raffn, co-initiator of Politics of Nature.

The case – Amsterdam Rainproof

While Europe this summer has faced one of the most intense regional droughts in recent memory, for a city like Amsterdam the main problems are with excess water: downpours of rain that put the infrastructure of the city under severe pressure. The city has become more densely populated, more intensively used, and more heavily paved; at the same time, climate change brings more extreme weather.
Overall we need to develop a better relationship with water. “Politics of Nature” is a method, a game with which a stronger democratic legitimacy can be created in which not only people, but also plants, animals and buildings can raise their voices. It’s about increasing the number of affected actors in the networks and find consents for coexistence.

We hope to see you for an event dedicated to abstraction, warmth and multi-perspectives.

This edition will take place on Thursday 11th of October at  Waag, Nieuwmarkt 4, Amsterdam. Admission is € 5,-

Program:
16.00 Doors open
16.30 Welcome by Socrates Schouten (Waag, Chamber of Commons) and introduction to the case
17.00 Game round 1
18.00 Sandwich dinner
18.45  Game round 2
20.00 Plenary synthesis
20.45 Drinks

This edition of Politics of Nature will have a technological afterlife the 25th of October at the VRDAYS.

Photo by Luc Mercelis

The post Pre-launch Chamber of Commons, Amsterdam, 11 October appeared first on P2P Foundation.

This article was originally posted on our Dutch P2P Foundation blog

On Thursday April 13, 2017, the second meeting was held on “De Meent” in Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam. The subtitle of the meeting was: “Designing and building the Dutch platform for commoners”. As a representative of the P2P Foundation I also participated to see what energy is surrounding this important initiative. I did not know what to expect from this gathering and made my way to the Pakhuis defying some fighting football supporters. In this blog I mainly want to point out how I think this initiative could develop, because during the meeting we were clearly still searching for the exact purpose of “De Meent”. Perhaps my insights can help to further develop the process of shaping De Meent.

What is a commoner?

Before we can think about a commoners platform, it’s important to determine what we mean by commoners and commons. During the meeting, I felt some reluctance to define some sort of definition because people tend to let every participant define for himself or herself what they mean by commons and commoners. That is an admirable effort, but if we are working on a platform for commoners, it is important to define the subject. I would like to refer to a description based on the thoughts of Michel Bauwens as described by Rogier de Langhe:

“… commons are not goods, it’s a form of management. It is not about common goods but about their common management. More commons doesn’t mean, therefore, more state intervention by replacing the market, but something else, between market and state; A “third way” between privatization and nationalization. The specific thing about a commons is that it is not managed from the outside, but by its users themselves. Thus, a commons is not just a common encyclopedia, a windmill or a farm, but one of which the users together determine how it comes about, how it looks and what it serves.

A commons is created as soon as you define a piece of the world in collaboration with some others and define new rules for them. That piece can be a farm, for example, a nature reserve or a fish pond. But also a digital encyclopedia such as Wikipedia. The rules of game lay down the rights and duties of the users of the commons. Rights such as who gets access, who, when and how much can be harvested, and who can take up what roles, and duties such as repairing and sanctioning when someone breaches the rules of the game. A commons is, as it were, a kind of island of agreements that you make together and maintain together. ”

Commonify instead of commodify

In this line of reasoning, a commoner would be somebody who retrieves goods from the public or private management sphere to manage it by the users themselves. Commonify as a counterpart of commodify. An example of commonification is a pilot in The Hague where the choices of the design and management of streets is the responsibility of the residents. People who renounce their parking license to use shared cars will commonify a parking space that can be redesigned by the residents of the street. Of course, this can not be done by the residents alone, the city council plays an important role as well.

The partner state

“The government must make it possible for citizens to work together and create value. I call this the partner state. “(Michel Bauwens)

In order to make commonification possible, citizens and government must work together. This is why the role of the state should be reinvented. Michel Bauwens calls a state that facilitates commoning a “partner state”. This new role calls on the government to recognize the value that commoners can create and to trust in these commoners that they will perform the tasks involved with the maintenance of these commons. As we look back, we see that what is often referred to as “bottom up” in politics has a lot of common ground with commoning. An essential difference with the role of a true partner state is that there is indeed an active role of government. When facilitating bottom-up initiatives, the state often withdraws too much.

A platform

So what should a commoners platform do to enable commonification?

• The main role of De Meent could be to facilitate the connection between commoners and the partner states. Collaboration is essential for building a new kind of society where the citizens and the partner state collaborate to work on the quality of life for the inhabitants of this earth, instead of the endlessly searching for profits, rents and economic growth.
• In addition, governments and potential commoners need suggestions to shape this cooperation. Successful projects can be instructive for both parties. Think of LabGov in Bologna. The platform could thus provide examples of successful regulation and successful collaborations between commoners and partner states.
• Facilitating the dialogue between the various commoners and representatives of the partner state could be a third pillar of the platform. In this way, members can develop and bring forward ideas on an online forum for instance.

Meetings

The community that will be created on the platform can also feel the need to connect offline. This community is already in the making judging from the participation at Pakhuis de Zwijger.

Conclusion

It is great that this process has been deployed. All people present were packed with energy to work on new forms of living in a commons-based society. This energy can be combined with a platform to make beautiful initiatives come to life. My feeling is that a good definition of commoners and commons and a defined mission statement can help keep everyone together and indicate a common purpose.

The post De Meent | The Dutch Commons Assembly appeared first on P2P Foundation.