September 2011 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: is there no p2p spirituality because there is no spirituality (heron discussion)
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

hi richard, I'm cc'ing John, in case he's interested in contributing just one remark, how can you equate rotating positions, with a priestly cast, i.e. <The priestly class is diluted but still essential?> For me this is a denial that any person can offer contributions based on special knowledge or experience, and violates the principle of equipotentiality, michel On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Poor Richard <poor_richard(a)att.net> wrote: > ** > (My comments are interlinear) > > On 9/11/2011 11:13 PM, Michel Bauwens wrote: > <skip> > > *As defined by Jorge Ferrer*: *Spiritual knowing is a participatory > process. What do I mean by "participatory"? First, "participatory" alludes > to the fact that spiritual knowing is not objective, neutral, or merely > cognitive.* On the contrary, spiritual knowing engages us in a connected, > often passionate, activity that can involve not only the opening of the > mind, but also of the body, the heart, and the soul. > > > Evidence favors the position that body, mind, heart, and soul are one > entity. Yes, some parts of the body and brain are relatively specialized, > but mostly below the level of the modalities mentioned. Emotion, for > example, is based in multiple specialized areas of the brain and body. > > > Although particular spiritual events may involve only certain dimensions > of our nature, all of them can potentially come into play in the act of > spiritual knowing, from somatic transfiguration to the awakening of the > heart, from erotic communion to visionary co-creation, and from > contemplative knowing to moral insight, to mention only a few (see also > Ferrer, 2000a, 2002). > > > "somatic transfiguration", "awakening of the heart", "erotic communion" > "visionary co-creation", "contemplative knowing" and "moral insight" all > exist in secular theory and practice free of any "spiritual" trappings. > Granted, the secular, a-spiritual approach is not nearly as well known or > represented as the spiritual and religious counterparts. Even in the > universities, institutes, and labs where these secular equivalents are being > developed, some "homage" to traditional antecedents (if any exist) is often > made in the form of retaining some legacy terminology. In the long run I > think that practice will pass. > > *Second, the participatory nature of spiritual knowing refers to the role > that our individual consciousness plays during most spiritual and > transpersonal events. This relation is not one of appropriation, possession, > or passive representation of knowledge, but of communion and co-creative > participation.* > > > Despite the popular misconceptions of science, the same can be said for the > experience of many professional and amateur scientists who work with living > systems. It is the fact of working and interacting with people and other > living systems in an open and sympathetic way that produces communion and > growth, not the spiritual mumbo-jumbo. > > > *Finally, "participatory" also refers to the fundamental ontological > predicament of human beings in relation to spiritual energies and realities. > Human beings are - whether we know it or not - always participating in the > self-disclosure of Spirit.* This participatory predicament is not only the > ontological foundation of the other forms of participation, but also the > epistemic anchor of spiritual knowledge claims and the moral source of > responsible action. > > > I cannot interpret or parse that stuff at all. > > > Spiritual phenomena involve participatory ways of knowing that are > presential, enactive, and transformative: > > > 1. Spiritual knowing is presential: Spiritual knowing is knowing by > presence or by identity. In other words, in most spiritual events, knowing > occurs by virtue of being. > > > Granted that this is the common belief. In fact, spiritual-seeming > phenomena may simply be presented by the unconscious part of the brain to > the conscious part that way. > > > Spiritual knowing can be lived as the emergence of an embodied presence > > > Typically this is primarily emotion and proprioceptive<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception>sensation mashed up with associative memory samplings. > > pregnant with meaning > > > Alternatively, an appropriate-seeming meaning associated with the internal > experience is supplied by the brain. The actual, objective appropriateness > of the interpretation may vary from 0-100%. > > > that transforms both self and world. Subject and object, knowing and > being, epistemology and ontology are brought together in the very act of > spiritual knowing. > > > This is typical of the nebulous, grandiose claims of some spiritual > apologists. It can mean much or little depending on the detail and the > evidence provided for the particular claims. > > > 2. Spiritual knowing is enactive: Following the groundbreaking work of > Varela, Thompson, and Rosch (1991), my understanding of spiritual knowing > embraces an enactive paradigm of cognition: Spiritual knowing is not a > mental representation of pregiven, independent spiritual objects, but an > enaction, the bringing forth of a world or domain of distinctions co-created > by the different elements involved in the participatory event. Some central > elements of spiritual participatory events include individual intentions and > dispositions; cultural, religious, and historical horizons; archetypal and > subtle energies; and, most importantly, a dynamic and indeterminate > spiritual power of inexhaustible creativity. > > > The same can be said of many psycho-physical practices without spiritual > trappings, such as sports. The counter argument might be that sport which > meets the above criteria is spiritual, but I suggest the spirituality > inference is redundant. To settle the argument once and for all no doubt we > must race a spiritual athlete with a non-spiritual one. > > > 3. Spiritual knowing is transformative: Participatory knowing is > transformative at least in the following two senses. First, the > participation in a spiritual event brings forth the transformation of self > and world. Second, a transformation of self is usually necessary to be able > to participate in spiritual knowing, and this knowing, in turn, draws forth > the self through its transformative process in order to make possible this > participation. ( > http://www.datadiwan.de/SciMedNet/library/articlesN81+/N83Ferrer_part.htm) > > > > I've already noted that both science and sports are transformative. So is > psychosis. The issue is how and why something is transformative. If > spiritual appologists address those questions in detail I can respond in > more detail. > > > Definition by John Heron > > "The parties involved in a co-creative, enactive, transformative relation > reciprocally and dynamically shape and reshape - in and through the process > of meeting – how they understand each other, the regard they have for each > other, and how they act and interact in relation with each other. > > > This definition is framed to apply to the central person-to-person > relations. It can, with appropriate modifications, be applied to relations > between ways of knowing, to relations between persons and their worlds, and, > including and transcending all these, to the relation between persons and > the divine. > > > There is nothing particularly spiritual about any of that until the last > word, which blasts through the flimsy ectoplasm of spirituality right into > the presence of god and and the holy grail. > > > Person-to-person relations are central because they are a precondition > for setting the scene for divine self-disclosure and for persons to > participate in it. In previous epochs this precondition was met by > teacher-disciple hierarchical relations. Today divine self-disclosure can > manifest through person-to-person peer relations, serviced from time to time > by temporary hierarchical initiatives rotating among the peers. > > > The priestly class is diluted but still essential? > > > Person-to-person *peer* relations are central, in my view, because of the > intimate relation between epistemic participation and political > participation. Epistemic participation is about the participative relation > between the knower and the known. Political participation in this context is > to do with participative decision-making among those involved about how we > know and what we know. If participative knowing between persons is > consummated in fully reciprocal encounter, then co-operative > decision-making, both about how to engage in such reciprocal knowing and > about what it reveals, is necessary for authentic interpersonal knowing - > the realm of the *between* where divine self-disclosure can manifest." > > > Again nothing necessarily spiritual about that until the word "devine" in > the last sentence. However, "devine" could possibly be replaced by "group", > "communal", "higher", "further", "greater", etc. > > > *Spiritual practice: A primary ground for the practice of > participatory-relational spirituality can be cultivated by collaborative > peer-to-peer relations between persons engaged in fully embodied, > multidimensional, transformative flourishing in and with their worlds.*See > [1] <http://www.human-inquiry.com/igroup0.htm> > > > Alternate version: Community-building practice: A primary ground for the > practice of participatory-relational community building can be cultivated by > collaborative peer-to-peer relations between persons engaged in fully > embodied, multidimensional, transformative flourishing in and with their > worlds. > > QED > > PR > -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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red pepper on the new hedonism
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/relax-alternative-hedonism/ Dear Franco, it seems red pepper only allows one paragraph copy-pasting, which is too cumbersome for my kind of curating, do you know what can be done? Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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the guru question
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

related to our question/discussion here: http://noetic.org/noetic/issue-fourteen-september/the-guru-question/ with a comment of mine at the bottom -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: Managing the Local and Global Commons
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: School of Commoning <team(a)schoolofcommoning.com> Date: Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 7:48 PM Subject: Managing the Local and Global Commons To: "michelsub2004(a)gmail.com" <michelsub2004(a)gmail.com> Commoning News — #1 Updates of the Campaign for Commons Literacy [image: divider] In this issue - Meet James Quilligan, commons theorist/activist and policy analyst <#1325db7e03234914_toc_item_0> In other news School of Commoning<http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/l/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/u/> The School of Commoning is a commons-based, international social enterprise that delivers educational services to build awareness and competence in forming, protecting and governing commons of all kinds. Campaign for Commons Literacy<http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/l/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/o/> This crowdfunding campaign (for developing a comprehensive commons curriculum) has just launched a new video, Voices from the Commons. In the 6-minute video, James Quilligan, Leo Burke, Michel Bauwens, Silke Herflich, and the founding team of the School of Commoning answer questions. You can watch it here<http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/l/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/b/> . About this newsletter The Commoning News is the bi-monthly, electronic publication of the School of Commoning <http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/l/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/n/>, a commons-based social enterprise. This issue #1 is a preliminary, first-sketch prototype for inspiring the development of a richer, transmedia periodical of the same title. Commoning News will serve commons, commons-friendly organisations, and the broader commons movement, as a collective sensing & meaning making organ. If you're interested to become an editor or contribute othwerwise, please contact George Pór at george@SchoolOfCommoning . [image: Forward to Friend]<http://schoolofcommoning.forwardtomyfriend.com/r/mkjstjyk/3B223A65/tiludyk/…> [image: Unsubscribe] <http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/u/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/y/> September 12, 2011 Meet James Quilligan, commons theorist/activist and policy analyst <http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/l/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/p/> The School of Commoning cordially invites you to an evening with James Quilligan, commons theorist/activist and policy analyst, in London, 27 September, 18:30-20:30. Location: Pimlico Academy, Lupus Street, SW1V 3AT . Map <http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/l/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/m/>. It is the second event of the series 'Meetings with Remarkable Commoners'. (The blog about the first event is here<http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/l/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/c/>.) The theme is “Managing the Local and Global Commons.” Introduction: “Modern economics has turned labour into a utility of the market and government. But the principles of the commons (people’s negotiation of their own norms and rules for the management of social and natural resources) show us how to transcend utilitarian economics by transforming the traditional division of labour. New forms of value are already being created by these commons, whether they are traditional (irrigation ditches, pastures, indigenous cultures) or emerging (intellectual property, social networks, collaborative innovation).” This is a unique opportunity to benefit from meeting with James Quilligan during his UK tour. Go to our Meet-Up site<http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/l/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/q/> for programme description and registration by clicking on the RSVP button. Please forward this message to anybody you think that would benefit from attending. Seating is limited, so early registration for this event is highly recommended. We plan to set up a live webstreaming channel for the sale of us who are not London-based. If yoy're interested to watch the meeting live on your computer screen, click on [image: Facebook Like Button]<http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/fb/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/a/>to receive update about the details. [image: divider] You're receiving this newsletter because your interest in the commons or knowing one of the editors. Having trouble reading this? View it in your browser<http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/e/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/i/>. Not interested anymore? Unsubscribe<http://schoolofcommoning.cmail4.com/t/r/u/tiludyk/mkjstjyk/h/>instantly. -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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video on open money to verify
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

Dear Nicolas, this video wouldn't load, could you have a look, even five minutes, just to tell me if it is worth presenting/embedding in the blog, I can publish it once you say 'yes' see http://p2pfoundation.net/Jaromil_on_the_Future_of_Money -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Substance - decentralized document platform
by Chris Pinchen 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

Hi all, Michael, the guy behind Substance http://substance.io/ contacted ChokePoint Project about his project. Maybe somebody on the list will be interested, so here's the email he sent: > I'm working on Substance since ~ October last year. Until now, I'm working on the core, which is essentially a web-based document editor. However eventually Substance isn't intended to be just an editor (we have those already... Google Docs et al.) but an open publishing platform allowing authors to get read by the right audience, while ensuring readers get what they need and nothing they don't. That's in anticipation of the information overload problem ;) > > Okay and there's another important demand in the long run. Privacy & Anti-censorship. Document's shouldn't be hosted at a single server but in a decentralized environment. Substance uses CouchDB in the backend, which means it's prepared to operate in a decentralized operation mode, where many Substance-nodes can co-exist and replicate with each other. > > So I just wanted to ask you, if you'd see Substance fit in the context of the ChokePoint Project. Substance hasn't received any kind of funding yet, and I'm watching out for any kind of supporters and potential users. And that's not only because I'm going to go bankrupt in... i mean like.. now! ;) > > Cheers > > -- Michael Chris Pinchen http://cataspanglish.com http://twitter.com/cataspanglish

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Fwd: [Commoning] Video Speech: Commons and the Future of Money at CCC
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jaromil <jaromil(a)dyne.org> Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 8:18 PM Subject: [Commoning] Video Speech: Commons and the Future of Money at CCC To: commoning(a)lists.wissensallmende.de re all, last week the Chaos Communication Camp took place in Berlin: the largest hacker camp in the world, taking place every 4 years in Germany, where the Chaos Computer Club was born 30 years ago. Usually the lectures presented at the camp are attended by large numbers of hackers and are usually technically oriented. This year I have presented my ongoing research, mainly focusing on commons, economy and technology, in a lecture that you can watch or download in video format at this address: http://ur1.ca/4xa1a I think this can be of interest to this discussion list, especially since it updates on the current transformations driven by digital immanenc in economy and opens the opportunity for something that Brecht and Benjamin used to call "Umfunktionierung" (functional transformation). I have a good memory of the commoning event last year and of the workshop we've had, now I'd be happy to read here your comments and feedback about the interpretations I'm giving in this speech which was, to my surprise, attended by large numbers of (extremely pragmatic) hackers I'm looking forward, as George Por loves to say, to co-evolve with you in the next commoning event, would you consider my contribution useful: my feeling is that most economical discourses have drifted far away from the kind of rationality found in philosophy and that our reflections about the commons can greatly benefit by placing our discourse in a interdisciplinary space for research. Our attempt keeps flowing through the text found on http://DYNDY.net kind regards -- jaromil, dyne.org developer, http://jaromil.dyne.org GPG: B2D9 9376 BFB2 60B7 601F 5B62 F6D3 FBD9 C2B6 8E39 _______________________________________________ Commoning mailing list Commoning(a)lists.wissensallmende.de http://lists.wissensallmende.de/mailman/listinfo/commoning -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: After Fukushima: Massive global expansion of nuclear industry under way
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 9:15 PM Subject: After Fukushima: Massive global expansion of nuclear industry under way To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jul2011/fuku-j06.shtml http://www.wsws.org/category/japan_quake.shtml translation in french : http://www.mondialisation.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25681 ==================== * After Fukushima: Massive global expansion of nuclear industry under way By William Whitlow 6 July 2011 A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit predicts a massive worldwide growth in nuclear energy production over the next decade. The impact of the Fukushima disaster, now being described as the worst industrial accident in history, is expected to be minimal. Germany's decision to close its nuclear power stations will be more than made up for by an expansion of nuclear production in other countries, according to the report. The Future of Nuclear Energy suggests a 27 percent growth in output by 2020. The reactors that are planned for China, India and Russia will add five times the nuclear capacity that the German decision will remove from world nuclear output. It takes 15 years to build a nuclear power station, so the projected increase reflects the estimated output of facilities that are already under construction. Sixteen new reactors were started in 2010. Ten of them are in China and the others are in Russia, India and Brazil. Even Japan has resumed construction work at a new nuclear plant, after further anti-earthquake measures were put in place. By 2015 one new nuclear reactor is expected to be coming online every month somewhere in the world. This massive expansion in the nuclear industry is taking place despite the fact that none of the safety issues inherent in the production of nuclear energy have been addressed. Only this week there was an explosion at a French nuclear power station. The Tricastin power station was recently criticized by the French national nuclear safety authority, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), which demanded 32 safety measures be put into operation. EDF, which runs the facility, insisted that the explosion had taken place in a non-nuclear part of the plant and posed no danger of a radiation leak. The experience of Fukushima has shown that the failure of non-nuclear functions such as a loss of power supply poses a danger to the nuclear reactor. Nuclear power plants are complex engineering systems and no part of them can be so lightly regarded as non-critical. All France's nuclear power plants are supposed to have undergone an inspection following the Fukushima disaster. For one of them to experience an explosion so soon afterwards, and for EDF to dismiss the incident as "only a fire," suggests that the industry has learned no lessons from Fukushima. The expansion of nuclear power is an international phenomenon, and the impact of any accident would be international. Yet there are still no internationally agreed and enforceable safety standards for the industry. Instead, as the Fukushima disaster has highlighted, national governments and the nuclear industry collaborate in a secretive manner and connive to cover up safety issues. The Guardian recently released emails detailing the collusion between the UK government and the nuclear industry in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. Two days after the earthquake, British government officials emailed EDF, Areva, Westinghouse and the industry body, the Nuclear Industry Association, to warn that Fukushima situation could damage public confidence in nuclear power. It was not as bad as the television pictures suggested, the officials stressed: "Radiation released has been controlled--the reactor has been protected. It is all part of the safety systems to control and manage a situation like this." They invited the industry to send their comments so that they could be included in government statements: "We need to all be working from the same material to get the message through to the media and the public." A concerted propaganda campaign was being planned, with no regard for the truth or public safety. The nuclear industry and the British government were working together to suppress the extent of the disaster that was unfolding in Japan and its potential impact on the rest of the world. "Anti-nuclear people across Europe have wasted no time blurring this all into Chernobyl and the works. We need to quash any stories trying to compare this to Chernobyl," one email said. Within weeks Japanese officials were forced to raise the level of the Fukushima accident from a level 4 to a 7, the same as Chernobyl. British officials clearly saw themselves as fighting a media battle to defend the nuclear industry, as ministers prepared to announce the government's plans for new nuclear reactors in the UK. "This has the potential to set the nuclear industry back globally," one of the 80 emails released says, "We need to ensure the anti-nuclear chaps and chapesses do not gain ground on this. We need to occupy the territory and hold it. We really need to show the safety of nuclear." A former nuclear inspector told the Guardian that the level of collusion revealed by the emails was "truly shocking." This collusion is not confined to Britain. In Japan, the extent of the Fukushima disaster has been consistently downplayed from the beginning. According to former Minister for Internal Affairs Haraguchi Kazuhiro, the figures from radiation monitoring stations in Japan are up to three decimal places higher than those that have been made public. Experts are becoming increasingly concerned about the implications of Fukushima for public health. Nishio Masamichi, a radiation treatment specialist and director of the Hokkaido Cancer Center, expressed his "grave concern" in the business journal Toyo Keizai. In an article entitled, "The Problem of Radiation Exposure Countermeasures for the Fukushima Nuclear Accident: Concerns for the Present Situation," he gave a detailed breakdown of the health risks to workers at the plant and to residents in the surrounding area. The health official had initially joined in calls for "calm," but now he has accused the Tokyo Electrical Company (TEPCO) of hiding the truth of the disaster and putting the survival of the company before public health. He condemned the government for raising the legal radiation exposure limit for nuclear workers from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts per year. The workers at the plant are "not even being treated like human beings," he wrote. Workers are forced to sleep and eat on the wrecked site, increasing their risk of inhaling or ingesting contaminated material, when only half an hour away there are empty hotels where they would face a reduced risk of exposure. The emphasis of the company, he stated, is on preventing the workers from running away, not on protecting their health. The company has given workers broken radiation monitors, he claimed. It is not using whole-body monitoring to assess the level of internal radiation exposure. Nor have different types of radiation, such as alpha rays from plutonium and beta rays from strontium, been measured. No special measures have been taken to protect workers from the MOX (Mixed Oxide fuel) at the number 3 reactor. Iodine is being given to the workers, but they should also be taking Radiogardase (Prussian blue insoluble capsules), according to Nishio. Nishio criticized the measures that the Japanese government has taken to protect the local population. A 30-kilometer radius has been evacuated, but he pointed out that the danger of contamination is not even and depends on topography and weather. Some areas outside this zone have produced high radiation readings. Some contamination readings were suppressed, he wrote: "It is only conceivable that the high rate of radiation released was not reported because of fears of a panic." The legally permitted level of radiation exposure in Japan is 1 millisieverts a year for people who do not work in the nuclear industry. But the Japanese government has raised this to 20 millisieverts following the Fukushima disaster. Nishio stated that this amounts to "taking the lives of the people lightly." He warned that this is too high for children and called for special measures to monitor strontium levels, which can affect children because their bones are still developing. Japanese citizens have no means of measuring their personal level of exposure. Nishio particularly stressed the danger of internal exposure to long term high levels of radiation. Comparisons cannot be made with external exposure in a controlled medical environment, he warned. The health effects of internal and long term exposure are unpredictable and largely unknown. Fukushima city is home to 300,000 people and is outside the evacuation area. Residents are resorting to measures such as digging up their gardens and scrubbing their roofs with soap and water in an effort to remove contamination, after areas of high radiation were detected. "Everything and everyone here is paralyzed, and we feel left on our own, unsure whether it's actually safe for us to stay in the city," one mother told Reuters. The authorities are removing top soil from school grounds, but there is no general plan to remove contaminated material from parks, open land or private gardens. Nor is there anywhere safe to dump it once it is removed. There is no precedent for the scale of the decontamination effort that will have to be made to make the area affected by the Fukushima disaster safe. The global implications of the Fukushima disaster are only just becoming apparent and are still not the subject of official comment. In June TEPCO revised its estimate of the amount of radiation that was emitted in the first week of the disaster. They admitted that it was double their previous estimate for amount emitted in the entire accident. Most of the additional radiation was in the form of "hot particles" --tiny particles of cesium, plutonium, uranium, cobalt60 and other radioactive materials. Individual hot particles are too small to be detected by a Geiger counter. But they pose a serious risk of cancer because they can become lodged in the lungs or gastrointestinal tract, where they bombard a localized area of tissue over a long period of time. Independent scientists who have inspected air filters removed from vehicles in Japan suggest that residents of Tokyo were breathing in approximately 10 hot particles per day during April, immediately after the crisis began. In the area around the plant, the levels would have been 30 to 40 times higher and across the Pacific in Seattle levels equivalent to 5 per day have been detected. * -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: "Architecture of post-World War II economic relations is visibly disintegrating.", post 2
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 12:10 AM Subject: Re: "Architecture of post-World War II economic relations is visibly disintegrating." To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com, sustainable_solidarity(a)yahoogroups.com, hc_ecology(a)yahoogroups.com Washington Post - Geithner, Bernanke have little in arsenal to fight new crisis Published: August 15 http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/geithner-bernanke-have-littl… * * Financial Times - Financial markets at their wits’ endAugust 12, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/13a17336-c4dc-11e0-9c4d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1VJ… Wall Street Journal - Global Crisis of Confidence World Policy Makers' Inability to Agree on Fixes Led Markets on Wild Ride AUGUST 13, 2011 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903918104576504493072650756.h… On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 6:43 PM, Dante-Gabryell Monson < dante.monson(a)gmail.com> wrote: > http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/econ-a17.shtml > > By Barry Grey > 17 August 2011 > > Excerpts : > > The global economy is moving into a new stage of the slump that followed > the Wall Street crash of September 2008, under conditions where* the > dollar-anchored world currency system has been irreparably destabilized*, > the common European currency is being undermined by intra-European > imbalances and national antagonisms, and *the entire architecture of > post-World War II economic relations is visibly disintegrating.* > > It is no longer possible to credibly maintain that the economic crisis that > erupted nearly three years ago was merely a temporary downturn, followed by > a genuine and sustainable recovery.* Policymakers are being forced to > acknowledge that the massive bank bailouts and austerity programs have > resolved none of the underlying problems and that the economic situation is > deteriorating.* > > /// > > “Karl Marx had it right,” Roubini said. *“At some point capitalism can > self-destroy itself. That’s because you cannot keep on shifting income from > labor to capital without having excess capacity and a lack of aggregate > demand.* We thought that markets work. They are not working.” > > > -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: "Architecture of post-World War II economic relations is visibly disintegrating."
by Michel Bauwens 12 Sep '11

12 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 11:43 PM Subject: "Architecture of post-World War II economic relations is visibly disintegrating." To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com, sustainable_solidarity(a)yahoogroups.com, hc_ecology(a)yahoogroups.com http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/econ-a17.shtml By Barry Grey 17 August 2011 Excerpts : The global economy is moving into a new stage of the slump that followed the Wall Street crash of September 2008, under conditions where* the dollar-anchored world currency system has been irreparably destabilized*, the common European currency is being undermined by intra-European imbalances and national antagonisms, and *the entire architecture of post-World War II economic relations is visibly disintegrating.* It is no longer possible to credibly maintain that the economic crisis that erupted nearly three years ago was merely a temporary downturn, followed by a genuine and sustainable recovery.* Policymakers are being forced to acknowledge that the massive bank bailouts and austerity programs have resolved none of the underlying problems and that the economic situation is deteriorating.* /// “Karl Marx had it right,” Roubini said. *“At some point capitalism can self-destroy itself. That’s because you cannot keep on shifting income from labor to capital without having excess capacity and a lack of aggregate demand.* We thought that markets work. They are not working.” -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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