We’re delighted to be able to distribute the free-to-view copy (embed above) of The People’s Spring, a 2018 documentary made by Ryslaine Boumahdi and her team of supporters. (This post is an update of an earlier post.)

Here’s the blurb from Ryslaine:

In the 20th century, public life revolved around government; in the 21st century, it will center on citizens.

— Matt Leighninger, The Next Form of democracy  

“The People’s Spring” explores a world where Democracy is being transformed to be a better fit with our times.  New ideas and new capabilities have collided with a public that has begun to reject traditional political representation of the people.

Argentina, Iceland, Spain, France, the USA… throughout the world we enter the heart of democratic innovation. Seeing the different solutions that are being experimented with, and listening to the young innovators who suddenly found themselves at the center of a major shift in politics. The documentary explores the many ways to improve our democracies, currently undermined by a disengaged public, lack of transparency, and new modes of discourse.

“The People’s Spring” provides an accessible, wide-ranging view of the different solutions that are emerging. The film investigates the concrete projects, new technologies, and people that are reshaping our democratic systems.

The protagonists: simple citizens, activists, elected officials, technologists, academics – all of whom are using the sparks of innovation to re-boot our concepts of the relationship between citizens and power. 

“The People’s Spring” is above all a message of hope and action. It shows that many people out there agree that it is possible to do politics differently, and that we can build a system in which we want to live. We are more than just a ballot paper.

Speaking in the documentary:

Armel Le Coz, Designer & cofounder of the organization Démocratie Ouverte, France

Loïc Blondiaux, professor of political sciences, Sorbonne, France

Ada Colau, Barcelona’s Mayor, Spain

Águeda Bañón, head of the Communication Department at Barcelona’s City Council, Spain

Pablo Soto, councilor for Citizen Participation, Transparency and Open Government of the City of Madrid, Spain

Miguel Arana Catania, Director of the Madrid City council participation project, Spain

Arnau Monterde, Doctor in Information Society and Knowledge by the Open University of Catalunya, Spain

Pere Valles, CEO Scytl, Spain

Lawrence Lessig, activist, professor of law at Harvard, United States

Ásta Guðrún Helgadóttir, MP Piratar, Iceland

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, MP Piratar, Iceland

Katrín Oddsdóttir, Assembly member of the Constitutional Council, Iceland

Gunnar Grímsson, co-founder of Citizens Foundation, Iceland

Róbert Bjarnason, founder Citizens Foundation, Iceland

First Þórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir, Laywer in charge of the International Relationships at the Piratar Party, Iceland

Bergþór Heimir Þórðarsson, member of Piratar, Iceland

Kristín Elfa Guðnadóttir, member of Piratar, Iceland

Hrannar Jónsson, member of Piratar, Iceland

Santiago Siri, founder of Democraty Earth, Argentina

Ana Lis Rodríguez Nardelli, member of the Network Party, Argentina

Stephania Xydia, co-funder Place Identity, Greece. 

More here.

The post The People’s Spring – how civic tech movements affect modern politics appeared first on P2P Foundation.

The 21st century has seen an explosion in interest around Worker Cooperatives—particularly since capitalism’s 2008 crisis. In Part 1 of this 2-part series, Upstream explores how worker coops present a radically different kind of ownership and management structure—one that has the power to transform not only the workplace—but perhaps the economy as a whole.

The episode tells the story of Rich City Rides, a cooperatively owned and run bike & skate shop in Richmond, California. Through candid conversations with one of the founders, and drawing from the wisdom of community organizers and thought-leaders, Upstream explores how worker cooperatives can transform workplaces into commons that strengthen cooperative values and begin to bring social and racial justice to marginalized communities.

Upstream also take a brief trip to the Basque Country of northern Spain to explore how the rich cooperative environment there compares to that of the United States and the San Francisco Bay Area specifically. What challenges do co-ops in the United States face as they continue to bump up against the dominant, capitalist economic system? What can the movement learn from the successes and challenges of the Basque model?

Join Della Z Duncan and Robert R. Raymond, Upstream’s producers, as they take you on an informative and inspiring exploration through one of the most important movements that is challenging the extractive and exploitative economy: the Worker Cooperative movement.

Featuring​

• Richard Wolff – Economics professor emeritus at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, founder of Democracy at Work, and host of the weekly radio show Economic Update
• Gopal Dayaneni– Co-founder of Cooperation Richmond & Staff Member at Movement Generation
• Doria Robinson – Founder of Urban Tilth and Co-Founder of Cooperation Richmond
• Esteban Kelly – Executive Director of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
• Gorka Espiau – Senior Fellow at the Agirre Lehendakaria Center at the University of the Basque Country
• Najari Smith – Worker/member of Rich City Rides bike & skate shop
• Roxanne Villaluz – Worker/member of a cooperative bakery & pizzeria
• Sofa Gradin – Political Organizer and Lecturer in Politics at King’s College in London

Music By:

• Jerry Folk
• Antwon
• The Roots of Orchis

Header Artwork by Phil Wrigglesworth

Part 2 of this 2-part series will be out in May, 2018, and will take a much deeper dive into the Basque Country and the Mondragon Cooperatives.

Upstream is an interview and documentary series that invites you to unlearn everything you thought you knew about economics. Weaving together interviews, field-recordings, rich sound-design, and great music, each episode of Upstream will take you on a journey exploring a theme or story within the broad world of economics. So tune in, because the revolution will be podcasted. 

The post Podcast: Worker Cooperatives – Widening Spheres of Democracy appeared first on P2P Foundation.

The post Video of the day: Sustainable Live-For-Free Communities in Australia appeared first on P2P Foundation.

When 3D printing technology is combined with the power of 3D modeling software and laser scanners, designers are empowered to speed up the product development process making totally unique and innovative forms possible. 3D printing technology can be used as a manufacturing method with an unlimited capacity for customization. 3D Printers print in a wide variety of materials from titanium to human tissue. This technology in all its forms will revolutionize the way we manufacture in the years to come.

The purpose of the film is to introduce 3D printing technology to the public and to communicate the enormous impact it will have on our lives. There are many who have never even heard of this amazing technology. I believe the unfolding of this story illustrates one of the most important technological advancements of our time.”

More information about this documentary, including the release date, can be found here.

Photo by Medialab Prado

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“Sarantaporo area, situated at the North of Greece, is an agricultural and husbandry region, also hit by the crisis. But even prior to the crisis, state’s attention to the area was poor. Youths were migrating to big cities or abroad. There was no Internet connection, and locals were isolated and deprived of basic services, e.g. medical aid.

At 2010 a group of people forms a community wireless network aiming to connect the villages among them and with the rest of the world. In time, and as the project matures, Sarantaporo.gr community aims even further. They want to be the catalyst so that the locals (re)organize cooperatives based on the wireless network, (re)enliven their economy, make it sustainable, more extrovert and independent of state and corporative control.

In doing so, they produce knowledge and build bridges between the hi-tech of a wireless network community and the real-life challenges of a rural community.

What are these challenges? How can a community be born and how are the existing ones transformed or affected during this course? What are the real-life stories of the people involved, one way or another, into this process? How can an effort in a small rural population in a remote part of crisis-ridden Greece relate to an ICT project in Catalonia University and -in a broader context- to the efforts to construct a new common ground for peoples in Europe?These are some of the inquiries we explore in the documentary.

In October 2015, the media arts collective Personal Cinema which produced the documentary, in collaboration with the Sarantaporo.gr team, launched a crowdfunding campaign at the Spanish crowdfunding platform goteo.org and succeeded to collect an amount of money that facilitated the realization of the documentary.

The documentary music score can be downloaded free or with a contribution to the artist here.

Credit list of the documentary and crowdfunding campaign contributors here.

Related texts to the documentary, the campaign and the Sarantaporo.gr Community, here.”

Greek and English subtitles are available (use the CC button at the Youtube player).
Optionally, choose: Settings/options/background opacity/25%.

This documentary was originally published here.

Photo by INCITE

Photo by INCITE

The post Documentary: Building Communities of Commons in Greece appeared first on P2P Foundation.

Watch the film and hear from a panel of speakers – including filmmaker Chris Malloy and Birgit Cameron, Director of Patagonia Provisions- and taste Patagonia Provisions’ organic food sourced from our partners featured in the film.

Visit Patagonia Provisions to learn more about the food we offer and what makes us different.”

You may find the Film Tour Dates here.

Photo by StateofIsrael

The post Towards Regenerative Agriculture: The Unbroken Ground documentary appeared first on P2P Foundation.

By Julian Moll-Rocek.

48 Cantones: The Mayan Forest ??? jmollrocekPhoto by archer10 (Dennis) (76M Views)

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