November 2015 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: Precarious Work: Domination and Resistance in the US, China, and the World
by Michel Bauwens 21 Nov '15

21 Nov '15

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Örsan Şenalp <orsan1234(a)gmail.com> Date: Sat, Nov 21, 2015 at 5:39 PM Subject: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: Precarious Work: Domination and Resistance in the US, China, and the World To: "networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org" <networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Phoebe Moore <pvm.doc(a)gmail.com> Date: 16 November 2015 at 12:28 Subject: Precarious Work: Domination and Resistance in the US, China, and the World To: CRITICAL-LABOUR-STUDIES(a)jiscmail.ac.uk CALL FOR PAPERS Precarious Work: Domination and Resistance in the US, China, and the World Friday 19 August 2016, Seattle, USA Today precarious work presents perhaps the greatest global challenge to worker well-being, and has become a major rallying point for worker mobilization around the world. This conference focuses on analyzing the growth of precarious employment and informal labor, its consequences for workers and their families, the challenges it poses to worker organizing and collective mobilization, and how workers and other social actors are responding to precariousness. We seek to understand the patterns of social and economic domination of labor shaped by the state, capital, gender, class, age, ethnicity, skills, and citizenship, and examine the manifestations of labor resistance and acquiescence in their specific contexts. The conference is initiated by the American Sociological Association (ASA)’s Labor and Labor Movements Section, the International Sociological Association (ISA)’s Research Committee on Labor Movements (RC44), and the Chinese Sociological Association’s China Association of Work and Labor (CAWL). It builds in part on an ongoing scholarly exchange between the ASA Labor Section and the CAWL. The conference program will focus on the United States and China, but will include a range of global cases and perspectives. Interdisciplinary approaches and innovative research methods are welcomed. We invite original contributions from academics (including young scholars, graduate students, post-docs, and early career researchers), labor organizers, and other practitioners. Completed papers are expected for the conference, and the selected papers will be peer-reviewed for academic publications. Special issues may appear in: Critical Sociology Global Labour Journal International Journal of Comparative Sociology and an edited book series of Brill Publications The conference will take place on Friday 19 August 2016 (the day before the ASA Annual Meeting), in a downtown Seattle location close to the ASA site. It will run all day from 8:30am to 6:00pm. It is a valuable opportunity for participants to present new research projects, to find out about cutting edge scholarly work, and to network with researchers at home and abroad. We encourage people to submit abstracts aimed at a number of provisionally planned sessions: Planned panel session topics Precarious labor in the United States and Canada The organization of precarious work Resistance and mobilization in non-traditional workplaces and the “gig economy” Informal worker organizing around the world State policy: Regulating or facilitating precarious work? Labor and broader sociopolitical mobilizations in a world of precarious work Apart from the proposed session topics, we also encourage participants to submit work that examines how precarious work is supported, challenged, and complicated by other social categories, processes, and lenses, such as: Cross-cutting themes Migration Gender, work, and social reproduction Identity in worker action New and old organizational forms Public policies to address precarious employment Race and ethnicity Y oung workers Global comparisons and contrasts Migrant labor, precarious work, and development in comparative perspective: Lessons from China Countering precarious work: Labor activism, state policy, and trade union reform in China Gender and sexuality in precarious work in China Global production networks and workers’ solidarity networks The highlighted themes are in line with emergent and consequential developments related to the organization and proliferation of precarious work in the United States, China, and the world. Your specific topics that fit the conference aims are also welcome. Submission deadline The deadline for abstract submission is 23:59 on 31 January 2016 (UTC or Coordinated Universal Time, which is US Eastern Time + 5 or Beijing Time - 8). Please write in English. Send your maximum 250-word abstract (including title of session to which you would like to submit it), full name, institution, and email contact to Brittney Lee at blee(a)irle.ucla.edu Results will be notified by email on 1 March 2016. Paper submission Each presenter should submit a maximum 9,000-word full paper, including notes and references, by 15 July 2016. Conference registration fee No charge for conference registration. Cosponsors Initiators: ASA Labor and Labor Movements Section China Association of Work and Labor International Sociological Association Research Committee on Labor Movements (RC44) Other sponsors ASA Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section ASA Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section ASA Political Economy of the World System Section ASA Section on Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility Critical Sociology Journal Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington Puffin Foundation Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Planning Committee Members Jon Agnone, University of Washington Jenny Chan, University of Oxford Wilma Dunaway, Virginia Tech David Fasenfest, Wayne State University Elizabeth Ford, Seattle University Andrew Hedden, Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies Jasmine Kerrissey, UMass Amherst Chun-Yi Lee, University of Nottingham Manjusha Nair, National University of Singapore Amanda Pullum, Duke University Chris Rhomberg, Fordham University Jennie Romich, University of Washington Jeffrey Rothstein, Grand Valley State University Brian Serafini, University of Washington David A. Smith, University of California, Irvine Chris Tilly, UCLA Carolyn Pinedo Turnovsky, University of Washington Lu Zhang, Temple University For further information: http://irle.ucla.edu/events/PrecariousWork.php or contact Chris Tilly, tilly(a)ucla.edu 2 _______________________________________________ NetworkedLabour mailing list NetworkedLabour(a)lists.contrast.org http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: Christo
by Michel Bauwens 21 Nov '15

21 Nov '15

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do We Really Want a New World War With Russia? Column: Society <http://journal-neo.org/category/columns/society/> Region: Russia in the World <http://journal-neo.org/category/locations/russia-in-the-world/> *[image: 453453444] <http://journal-neo.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ee1a3dc9a196329037c336b4b…>Washington continues making an international fool of herself by her inability to effectively counter the impression around the world that Russia, spending less than 10% of the Pentagon annually on defense, has managed to do more against ISIS in Syria in six weeks than the mighty US Air Force bombing campaign has done in almost a year and half. One aspect that bears attention is the demonstration by the Russian military of new technologies that belie the widely-held Western notion that Russia is little more than a backward oil and raw material commodity exporter.* Recent reorganization of the Russian state military industrial complex as well as reorganization of the Soviet-era armed forces under Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s term are visible in the success so far of Russia’s ISIS and other terror strikes across Syria. Clearly Russian military capabilities have undergone a sea-change since the Soviet Cold War era. In war there are never winners. Yet Russia has been in an unwanted war with Washington de facto since the George W. Bush Administration announced its lunatic plan to place what they euphemistically term “Ballistic Missile Defense” missiles and advanced radar in Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and Turkey after 2007. Without going into detail, BMD technologies are the opposite of defensive. They instead make a pre-emptive war highly likely. Of course the radioactive ash heap in such an exchange would be first and foremost the EU countries foolish enough to invite US BMD to their soil. Then came the highly provocative US-instigated coup d’etat in Ukraine in February 2014, installing a cabal of gangsters, neo-nazis and criminals who launched a civil war against its own citizens in east Ukraine, an ill-conceived attempt to bring Russia into a ground war across her border. It followed two UN Security Council vetoes by Russia and China of US proposals for No Fly zones over Syria as was done to destroy Qaddafi’s Libya. Now Russia has surprised the West by accepting the request of Syrian President Bashar al Assad to help eliminate the terrorism that has ravaged the once-peaceful country for over four years. What the Russian General Staff has managed, since the precision air campaign began September 30, has stunned western defense planners with Russian technological feats not expected. Two specific technologies are worth looking at more closely: The Russian Sukoi SU-34 fighter-bomber and what is called the Bumblebee hyperbaric mortar weapon. *Sukhoi SU-34 ‘Fullback’ fighter-bomber* The plane responsible for some of the most damaging strikes on ISIS and other terror enclaves in Syria is manufactured by the Russian state aircraft industry under the name Sukhoi SU-34. As the Russian news agency RIA Novosti described the aircraft, “The Su-34 is meant to deliver a sufficiently large ordnance load to a predetermined area, hit the target accurately and take evasive action against pursuing enemy planes.” The plane is also designed to deal with enemy fighters in aerial combat such as the US F-16. The SU-34 made a first test flight in 1990 as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the chaos of the Yeltsin years caused many delays. Finally in 2010 the plane was in full production <http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/russia-to-begin-receiving-su34-longrang…> . According to a report in US Defense Industry Daily, among the SU-34 features are: • 8 ton ordnance load which can accommodate precision-guided weapons, as well as R-73/AA-11 Archer and R-77/AA-12 ‘AMRAAMSKI’ missiles and an internal 30mm GSh-301 gun. • Maximum speed of Mach 1.8 at altitude. • 3,000 km range, extensible to “over 4,000 km” with the help of additional drop tanks. The SU-34 can also refuel in mid-air. • It can fly in TERCOM (Terrain Contour Matching) mode for low-level flight, and has software to execute a number of difficult maneuvers. • Leninets B004 phased array multimode X-band radar, which interleaves terrain-following radar and other modes. *Now new EW technologies* Clearly the aircraft is impressive as it has demonstrated against terrorist centers in Syria. Now, however, beginning this month it will add a “game-changer” in the form of a new component. Speaking at the Dubai Air Show on November 12, Igor Nasenkov, the First Deputy General Director of the Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern (KRET) announced that this month, that is in the next few days, SUKHOI SU-34 fighter-bombers will become electronic warfare aircraft as well. Nasenkov explained that the new Khibiny aircraft electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems, installed on the wingtips, will give the SU-34 jets electronic warfare capabilities to launch effective electronic countermeasures against radar systems, anti-aircraft missile systems and airborne early warning and control aircraft <http://journal-neo.org/2015/11/16/do-we-really-want-a-new-world-war-with-ru…> . KRET is a holding or group of some 95 Russian state electronic companies formed in 2009 under the giant Russian state military industry holding, Rostec. Russia’s advances in what is euphemistically termed in military jargon, Electronic Counter Measures or ECM, is causing some sleepless nights for the US Pentagon top brass to be sure. In the battles in eastern pro-Russian Ukraine earlier this year, as well as in the Black Sea, and now in Syria, according to ranking US military sources, Russia deployed highly-effective ECM technologies like the Krasukha-4, to successfully jam hostile radar and aircraft. Lt. General Ben Hodges, Commander of US Army Europe (USAREUR) describes Russian ECM capabilities used in Ukraine as “eye-watering,” suggesting some US and NATO officers are more than slightly disturbed by what they see. Ronald Pontius, deputy to Army Cyber Command’s chief, Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, told a conference in October that, “You can’t but come to the conclusion that we’re not making progress at the pace the threat demands <http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/21/russia-winning-the-electronic-war/>.” In short, Pentagon planners have been caught flat-footed for all the trillions of wasted US taxpayer dollars in recent years thrown at the military industry. During the critical days of the March 2014 Crimean citizens’ referendum vote to appeal for status within Russia, New York Times reporters then in Crimea reported the presence of Russian electronic jamming systems, known as R-330Zh Zhitel, manufactured by Protek in Voronezh, Russia. That state-of-the-art technology was believed to have been used to prevent the Ukrainian Army from invading Crimea before the referendum. Russian forces in Crimea, where Russia had a legal basing agreement with Kiev, reportedly were able to block all communication of Kiev military forces, preventing a Crimean bloodbath. Washington was stunned. *USS Donald Cook…* Thereafter, in April, 2014, one month after the accession of Crimea into the Russian Federation, President Obama ordered the USS Donald Cook into the Black Sea waters just off Crimea, the home port of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, to “reassure” EU states of US resolve. Donald Cook was no ordinary guided missile destroyer. It had been refitted to be one of four ships as part of Washington’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System aimed at Russia’s nuclear arsenal. USS Donald Cook boldly entered the Black Sea on April 8 heading to Russian territorial waters. On April 12, just four days later, the US ship inexplicably left the area of the Crimean waters of the Black Sea for a port in NATO-member Romania. >From there it left the Black Sea entirely. A report on April 30, 2014 in Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta Online titled, “What Frightened the American Destroyer,” stated that while the USS Donald Cook was near Crimean (Russian by that time) waters, a Russian Su-24 Frontal Aviation bomber conducted a flyby of the destroyer <http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/OEWatch/201412/Russia_08.html>. The Rossiyskaya Gazeta went on to write that the Russian SU-24 “did not have bombs or missiles onboard. One canister with the Khibin electronic warfare complex was suspended under the fuselage.” As it got close to the US destroyer, the Khibins turned off the USS Donald Cook’s “radar, combat control circuits, and data transmission system – in short, they turned off the entire Aegis just like we turn off a television by pressing the button on the control panel. After this, the Su-24 simulated a missile launch at the blind and deaf ship. Later, it happened once again, and again – a total of 12 times <http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/OEWatch/201412/Russia_08.html> .” While the US Army denied the incident as Russian propaganda, the fact is that USS Donald Cook never approached Russian Black Sea waters again. Nor did NATO ships that replaced it in the Black Sea. A report in 2015 by the US Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office assessed that Russia, “does indeed possess a growing EW capability, and the political and military leadership understand the importance…Their growing ability to blind or disrupt digital communications might help level the playing field when fighting against a superior conventional foe.” Now new Russian Khibini Electronic Counter Measure systems are being installed on the wingtips of Russia’s SUKHOI SU-34 fighter-bombers going after ISIS in Syria. *Killer Bumblebees* A second highly-advanced new Russian military technology that’s raising more than eyebrows in US Defense Secretary ‘Ash’ Carter’s Pentagon is Russia’s new Bumblebee which Russia’s military classifies as a flamethrower. In reality it is a highly advanced thermobaric weapon which launches a warhead that uses a combination of an explosive charge and highly combustible fuel. When the rocket reaches the target, the fuel is dispersed in a cloud that is then detonated by the explosive charge. US Military experts recently asked by the US scientific and engineering magazine Popular Mechanics to evaluate the Bumblebee stated that, “the resulting explosion is devastating, radiating a shockwave and fireball up to six or seven meters in diameter.” The US experts noted that the Bumblebee is “especially useful against troops in bunkers, trenches, and even armored vehicles, as the dispersing gas can enter small spaces and allow the fireball to expand inside. Thermobarics are particularly devastating to buildings — a thermobaric round entering a structure can literally blow up the building from within withoverpressure <http://sputniknews.com/military/20151108/1029765936/russia-bumblebee-flamet…> .” *‘Status-6′* We don’t go into yet another new highly secret Russian military technology recently subject of a Russian TV report beyond a brief mention, as little is known. It is indicative of what is being developed as Russia prepares for the unthinkable from Washington. The “Ocean Multipurpose System: Status-6” is a new Russian nuclear submarine weapons system designed to bypass NATO radars and any existing missile defense systems, while causing heavy damage to “important economic facilities” along the enemy’s coastal regions. Reportedly the Status-6 will cause what the Russian military terms, “assured unacceptable damage” to an adversary force. They state that its detonation “in the area of the enemy coast” (say, New York or Boston or Washington?) would result in “extensive zones of radioactive contamination” that would ensure that the region would not be used for “military, economic, business or other activity for a long time.” Status-6 reportedly is a massive torpedo, designated as a “self-propelled underwater vehicle.” It has a range of up to 10 thousand kilometers and can operate at a depth of up to 1,000 meters. At a November 10 meeting with the Russian military chiefs, Vladimir Putin stated that Russia would counter NATO’s US-led missile shield program through “new strike systems capable of penetrating any missile defenses <https://www.rt.com/news/321640-leaked-russian-nuclear-torpedo/>.” Presumably he was referring to Status-6. US Defense Secretary Carter declared on November 8 in a speech that Russia and China are challenging “American pre-eminence” and Washington’s so-called “stewardship of the world order.” Carter added that, “Most disturbing is Moscow’s nuclear saber-rattling,” which in his view, “raises questions about Russian leaders’ commitment to strategic stability, their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons <https://www.rt.com/usa/321194-carter-russia-threat-world-order/>…” Not surprisingly, Carter did not mention Washington’s own very loud nuclear saber-rattling. In addition to advancing the US Ballistic Missile Defense array targeting Russia, Carter recently announced highly-advanced US nuclear weapons would be stationed at the Büchel Air Base in Germany as part of a joint NATO nuclear program, which involves non-nuclear NATO states in Europe hosting more than 200 US nuclear warheads. Those NATO states across Europe, including Germany, have just become a potential Ground Zero in any possible nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Perhaps it’s time for some more sober minds to take responsibility in Washington for restoring a world at peace, minds not obsessed with such ridiculous ideas of “pre-eminence.” *F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook” <http://journal-neo.org/>.First appeared:http://journal-neo.org/2015/11/16/do-we-really-want-a-new-world-wa… <http://journal-neo.org/2015/11/16/do-we-really-want-a-new-world-war-with-ru…>* -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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the end of europe
by Michel Bauwens 21 Nov '15

21 Nov '15

from chris quigley's newsletter: EU Seeking End to Passport-Free Travel. In an unprecedented move following the horrific attacks in Paris last Friday the 13th the European commission is reviewing its founding treaty with a view to strengthening border controls. This development goes to show the change in European conscious brought about by the sheer scale of the Parisian death and injury. The vision of the founding fathers of the EU saw the end-game being a Federal “one nation” Europe and progressive treaties over the last 70 years or so sought to bring this “binding” about. I believe that recent events have put a stop to this goal once and for all. If the European Union cannot protect its citizens (and it is obvious it cannot) then the only fallback is the individual state, ergo this state cannot be abolished in this new world of hyper-terror. It would thus now appear that David Cameron’s desire to see the EU revert back to being a common market of independent Nation States is going to come about after all. What negotiation was not achieving it would appear radical terrorism has. Who would have thought? Here is how the Associated Press reported this story: AP. 20th. November 2015: Between the French Interior Minister Cazeneuve: "we're face with a new kind of terrorism", and Hungary’s PM Orban: "allowing people into our own back yard who may then commit acts of terrorism was irresponsible”, AP reports that the EU's founding treaty with regard to passport-free travel - the so-called Schengen Agreement - is to be reformed. "We want Europe, which has lost too much time on a certain number of questions, to note the urgency and take decisions today," exclaimed Cazeneuve, with Orban adding "the founding treaty is currently an obstacle to this and I believe it needs to be reconsidered." According to Cazeneuve, the reforms will happen by year-end. -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: The Church of Economism and Its Discontents (GTN Discussion)
by Michel Bauwens 21 Nov '15

21 Nov '15

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Great Transition Network <gtnetwork(a)greattransition.org> Date: Sat, Nov 21, 2015 at 1:52 AM Subject: The Church of Economism and Its Discontents (GTN Discussion) To: michelsub2004(a)gmail.com >From John Stutz <jstutz(a)tellus.org> ------------------------------------------------------- In his insightful and provocative essay, Richard Norgaard invites us to consider today's uncritical economic thinking as a modern secular religion, the Church of Economism. He draws our attention to the problematic mindset and views of the church's believers and its “priests,” that is, the professional economists, particularly their insularity and unwarranted self-assurance. An article entitled “The Superiority of Economists,” which appeared in Winter 2015 issue of the open access Journal of Economic Perspectives provides substantial support for this portion of Norgaard's argument ( www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.29.1.89) It provides an extended discussion of insularity in economics, showing that it is far greater than in the other social sciences. For example, it presents the results of a survey which asked respondents drawn from a range of social sciences whether they agreed or disagreed that "In general, interdisciplinary knowledge is better than knowledge obtained by a single discipline." The majority of those in every discipline except economics agreed. In economics, the majority disagreed. Commenting on this stark divergence, the article observed that, compared to other social scientists, economists have a distinctive confidence in the superiority of their discipline, and so are unlikely to feel the need to rely on other disciplines or even to acknowledge their existence. A variety of evidence presented or cited in the article supports this observation. Why does a sense of superiority arise among economists? It is due in large part to their view that they alone have a well-established knowledge base similar to that possessed by physical scientists or engineers and so are better positioned than the others to find the right answers to a wide range of society's problems. As Norgaard notes, this "physical science delusion" is observed by students when they are taught economics, and they are discomforted by it. This delusion is fully accepted and provides the basis for discussion within economics. This is made quite clear in a 2006 NBER working paper – “The Macroeconomist as Scientist and Engineer” ( www.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/Macroeconomist_as_Scientist.Mankiw.pdf) -- by N. Gregory Mankiw, a well-known Harvard economist, advisor to President Bush, and author of best-selling introductory textbook. Mankiw starts his discussion by arguing that developing theories with mathematical precision and testing them using sophisticated statistical techniques applied to huge data sets makes economists substantially similar to physicists. The fact that one group studies inanimate objects and the laws that govern their behavior while the other deals with conscious human beings and the social relationships among them is apparently of no importance to the professor. It does not receive a mention, let alone a serious discussion, in his paper. The sense of superiority based in large part on the physical science delusion and the insularity to which it leads are two of the pillars upon which the Church of Economism rests. They shape the type of church it is. Rather than being ecumenical and respectful of others, it is closed and disdainful. In short, it is a church of just the type one hopes not to see. John Stutz ----- Original Message ----- Transition Network [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, October 30, 2015 2:50 PM Stutz Church of Economism and Its Discontents (GTN Discussion) >From Paul Raskin ----- GTN Friends: I write to launch our NOVEMBER DISCUSSION, which will consider Richard Norgaard’s new GTI essay, “The Church of Economism and Its Discontents.” Please read it at www.greattransition.org/publication/the-church-of-economism-and-its-discont…, and consider commenting. Is orthodox economics akin to a secular religion? Are we living in the “Econocene”? Is there a way out? Norgaard, a founder of ecological economics, argues yes, yes, and maybe. In so doing, he guides us further into the terrain of alternative economics we’ve explored recently in our discussions of GTI pieces by Herman Daly, Giorgos Kallis, Peter Barnes, and John Bellamy Foster. I wonder, though: * Is economism still a monolithic ideology? Or are critical currents within the economics mainstream increasingly questioning its reductionist framework and false predictions? * As a framing for our contemporary condition, is “the Econocene” a useful corrective to the geologic emphasis of “the Anthropocene”? How do these compare to GTI’s term, “The Planetary Phase of Civilization,” which aims to convey the multi-dimensionality of the globalizing social-ecological system? I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts on these and other issues raised by Norgaard’s stimulating essay. Comments are welcome through NOVEMBER 30. Looking forward, Paul Raskin GTI Director NOTE ON GTI’S PUBLICATION CYCLE: GTN discussions occur in ODD-NUMBERED months, and GTI publishes in EVEN-NUMBERED months. Each discussion takes up a new essay or viewpoint prior to its publication. After the discussion closes, GTI publishes the piece, edited comments from the discussion, and a response from the author (along with other new articles). You can review all GTN discussions at www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-forum. ----- Hit reply to post a message Or see thread and reply online at www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/171-the-church-of-economism-a… Need help? Email jcohn(a)tellus.org ------------------------------------------------------- Hit reply to post a message Or see thread and reply online at http://www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/171-the-church-of-econ… Need help? Email jcohn(a)tellus.org -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [opennetcoalition] A Police State to Avoid Any Critical Evaluation?
by Michel Bauwens 19 Nov '15

19 Nov '15

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: La Quadrature du Net <contact(a)laquadrature.net> Date: Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 12:58 AM Subject: [opennetcoalition] A Police State to Avoid Any Critical Evaluation? To: opennetcoalition(a)laquadrature.net Themes: SURVEILLANCE, CENSORSHIP, TERRORISM, PARIS ATTACKS, MANUEL VALLS, BERNARD CAZENEUVE La Quadrature du Net – For immediate release Permanent link: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/police-state-in-france A Police State to Avoid Any Critical Evaluation? *** Paris, 19 November 2015 — Today the French National Assembly[1] adopted the bill on the state of emergency[2]. This text was adopted in great urgency in an unprecedented one-upmanship autoritarian atmosphere. La Quadrature du Net expresses its concerns about several measures found in the bill, especially regarding police searches of electronic devices, Internet censorship and freedom of association. Rather than enganging in any thorough consideration of the causes that led to the killings and of the way to solve this complex situation, the entire French political class betrays itself by responding to this unprecedented attack on our liberties with a broad restriction of our civil liberties. *** If the bill specifies and updates a number of items, especially by reintroducing the possibility of administrative recourse, La Quadrature du Net is alarmed by the rushed legislative process, making impossible a calm inspection and debate, removed from current emotions. Changes brought to the text are not trivial, and deeply affect fundamental liberties. La Quadrature du Net calls on senators who will vote on the bill tomorrow to pass amendments which restrict the duration of the state of emergency, strengthen judicial oversight and strictly limit emergency measures, so that the state of emergency cannot be used for other purposes than those for which said state of emergency was initially declared. Indeed, all the provisions adopted by MPs under pressure from the government are seriously infringing the foundations of public and individual liberties: First of all, the state of emergency is extended for three months, which is not justified by any other reason than to be exempt of the separation of powers principle. Since the beginning of the state of emergency last Saturday, numerous police searches that have been conducted concerned common law offences, without any relation to the fight against terrorism and prefigure a police state that the extension over three months will trivialise. * Regarding administrative police searches, their extension to electronic and data processing devices is not limited to the copying of the data found on the devices but also allows the seizure of all data, documents, etc. "accessible from the initial system or available for the initial system". Outside any significant legal oversight, it is thus "open bar" to look for, on a broad scope, any type of information on any type of electronic device of any French resident and especially any information available via usernames, passwords collected during a police search, any content stored online, etc. * French MPs also voted in favour of an amendment allowing the Minister of the Interior to block any website "the promoting terrorism or inciting terrorist acts", hence extending the measures included in the 2014 antiterrorist law which already gave that power to the police. * Regarding house arrest, it is important to highlight that the new wording significantly lightens the necessary conditions under which this measure, highly infringing individual liberties, can be used. In its 1955 version, the text required that "the activity turns out to endanger security and public order". The new version is intended to apply to individuals that present "serious reasons to think that their behaviour represents a threat for security and public order", thus adopting a broader and more imprecise scope. No definition of "serious reasons" is provided. The impact study explains that the individuals targeted are those who have "drawn the attention of the police and the intelligence services by their behaviour or company they keep, statements or projects". This measure leaves wide open the possibility of very broad interpretations, made worse by the fact that measures taken during the state of emergency are not overseen by a judicial judge. * Likewise, the text specifies that house arrests shall be conducted in locations chosen by the Minister of the Interior, which paves the way for the worse house arrest requests made by politicians (some have mentioned "internment camps"), with the possibility of resorting to electronic bracelets. * Regarding the dissolution of formal groups and associations, the procedure allows for very broad interpretation and as such for serious violation of the freedom of association. It describes associations which "take part in committing acts that seriously endanger the public order or whose activities facilitate or encourage committing such acts": this could include, for instance, many associations promoting the use of encryption technologies, which are indeed used by criminals but also mainly by many innocent citizens as well. This fear is reinforced by the fact that extraordinary powers given to the administrative power by the state of emergency are already used in cases unrelated to terrorism. "The debate and the vote on the state of emergency in the French lower house shows how MPs and the governement are in total denial of the current situation. The vote was marked by a relentlessness to undermine the rule of law and the balance of powers and demonstrates how far France is far from really engaging in the work necessary to solve the terrorist risk, in all its complexity. We call on citizens to explicitely mark their disaproval to their representatives, as it is in the name of their fears that the panicking MPs are sacrifying today our liberties. They believe in creating a police state - for several months - will create an illusion of security by putting in place, for several months, a police state[3]. In the face of this super fast-tracked adoption[4],we are left with little more to do than document the disaster, hoping for an awakening." declared Adrienne Charmet, campaign coordinator for La Quadrature du Net. * References * 1. French lower legislative chamber. 2. The text was adopted with 551 votes in favour and 6 votes against. 3. The principal characteristic of the state of emergency is to put in the hands of the police the prerogatives usually in the hands of the judiciary power. 4. The text was presented in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday morning and in the Law Committee of the lower chamber the same day. It was adopted in the lower chamber on Thursday morning. It will be presented in the Law Committee of the upper chamber Thursday afternoon and in the upper chamber on Friday morning. ** About La Quadrature du Net ** La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that defends the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge. In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the digital age. La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and Privacy International. List of supporting organisations: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net ** Press contact and press room ** contact(a)laquadrature.net, +33 (0)972 294 426 https://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room _______________________________________________ Opennetcoalition mailing list Opennetcoalition(a)laquadrature.net https://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opennetcoalition -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Call for Papers on Resistance
by Michel Bauwens 19 Nov '15

19 Nov '15

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Megan Archer <M.Archer(a)brighton.ac.uk> Date: Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 6:49 PM Subject: [NetworkedLabour] Call for Papers on Resistance To: "networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org" <networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org > Hi everyone, I'm not sure if this is of interest to the list or the kind of thing that gets posted here (not seen any call for papers thus far) but, it may be of interest for some of you: http://www.criticalstudies.org.uk/conference.html The postgraduate community at the University of Brighton, UK are holding a conference on the theme of resistance, I'm hoping to organize some panels/workshops on digital resistance and networks, etc etc. Thought I'd share here in case any of you were interested. Thanks, M ___________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by MessageLabs' Email Security System on behalf of the University of Brighton. For more information see http://www.brighton.ac.uk/is/spam/ ___________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ NetworkedLabour mailing list NetworkedLabour(a)lists.contrast.org http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: Debt or Democracy Newbook
by Michel Bauwens 19 Nov '15

19 Nov '15

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: M Mellor <m.mellor(a)northumbria.ac.uk> Date: Thu, Nov 19, 2015 at 9:04 PM Subject: Debt or Democracy Newbook Hello Everyone Just to let you know my book is out. Flyer attached. Details below also link to a couple of interviews All the best Mary Debt or Democracy: Public Money for Sustainability and Social Justice. By Mary Mellor 2015: Pluto Books *Debt or Democracy *explodes the myths behind modern money. It challenges the neoliberal obsession with public debt and deficit, arguing that a much more serious problem is the privatised creation of money through bank debt that leads to boom and bust. Far from being a burden on the taxpayer, Mary Mellor argues that public money and public expenditure is necessary for economic well-being. Arguing that money is a public resource that should be under democratic control, *Debt or Democracy *directly challenges conventional economic thinking and presents a radical alternative for socially just and ecologically sustainable provisioning. Link to the book: http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745335544& Broadcast Bradford City radio here <http://podcasts.canstream.co.uk/bcb/index.php?id=25287> Interview with Ellen here http://ellenbrown.com/2015/10/05/mary-mellor-on-its-our-money/ Original here -- http://prn.fm/its-our-money-with-ellen-brown-end-of-the-line-09-30-15/ This message is intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. Any use, disclosure or reproduction without the sender’s explicit consent is unauthorised and may be unlawful. If you have received this message in error, please notify Northumbria University immediately and permanently delete it. Any views or opinions expressed in this message are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the University. The University cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has not been intercepted and/or amended. -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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Fwd: The Church of Economism and Its Discontents (GTN Discussion)
by Michel Bauwens 19 Nov '15

19 Nov '15

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Great Transition Network <gtnetwork(a)greattransition.org> Date: Wed, Nov 18, 2015 at 11:46 PM Subject: The Church of Economism and Its Discontents (GTN Discussion) To: michelsub2004(a)gmail.com >From Gar Alperovitz <garalper(a)gmail.com> ------------------------------------------------------- We may agree or disagree with use of the term “economism,” but Richard Norgaard is certainly right to underscore the essentially religious nature of traditional economic thinking—and the need to transcend it. Also that transcending will require the introduction and affirmation of a contending formulation of equal, indeed, greater power. This, of course, is what Pope Francis emphasized (to a degree) in his recent Encyclical, starting from the framework of Roman Catholic Christianity. The great Jewish theologian, Martin Buber, opened similar and in some areas even more powerful themes in his less commonly cited works. The judgment is also at the heart of growing modern interest in “commons” philosophical formulations. And certainly other formulations that attempt to reach to broader philosophical or even religious understandings are likely to emerge as the pain of market based capitalism deepens. One part of this work is necessarily at the level of ideas, theory, and grand conceptions: I agree. Another critical part, however, forces much more careful attention to the nature of economic institutions that challenge existing ‘religious’ economic paradigms and also begin to develop institutionally supported practices in support of a new direction. Importantly, these also require moving beyond current formulations in many areas. At the local level, for instance, worker-cooperatives are now much in vogue—efforts I certainly support and, indeed, have been involved with and helped develop for many decades. However, many such institutions working in competitive market conditions can easily be forced to externalize costs in ways destructive of the environment. If there are economies of scale available, despite the best of intentions, they will often be forced to expand, and to undercut competitors, even though their internal ‘commons’ principles might suggest other hopes. Nor do such efforts necessarily produce general equality. (Worker co-ops in the oil industry are likely to have interests and incomes different from those working in co-ops in the garbage collection industry.) Again, I am a strong proponent of cooperatives; and commitment to larger cooperative principles and culture can go a long way to mitigate such problems—but, unfortunately, not all the way if market conditions put the institution under economic attack, or if conditions generate different competing institutional interests. To fully come to terms with the larger framing that Norgaard opens up, at some point we are clearly going to have to undertake institutional explorations involving a larger and more encompassing “community” approach, one that inherently includes all of the community (not just the workers in one firm, cooperative or other)—i.e. non-workers, the elderly, the young, stay at home care givers, and many others. The principle is that of inclusion. It is also one in which “externalities” of any enterprise are “internalized” by structures representing the entire community. Among many other issues, how diverse interests can be brought together institutionally without stifling creativity then becomes itself a critical issue. The challenge facing cooperatives suggests only some of the questions large scale economic institutions will have to deal with if we are to move beyond “economism”—and if what replaces it is to be sustained by institutional and community practice. Put another way, the development of new forms of community-inclusive efforts at all levels—neighborhood, municipality, state, region, and nation—are likely to be necessary complements to the development of a new “religion”—or in Karl Mannheim’s famous formulation—a meaningful “utopia” that can challenge the reigning “ideology.” Fortunately, practical experimentation in diverse areas is underway in different parts of the nation and the world, experimentation which can only benefit from the larger philosophical (religious) direction Norgaard urges. Gar Alperovitz *************************************************************** Friday, October 30, 2015 >From Paul Raskin <praskin(a)tellus.org> ----- GTN Friends: I write to launch our NOVEMBER DISCUSSION, which will consider Richard Norgaard’s new GTI essay, “The Church of Economism and Its Discontents.” Please read it at www.greattransition.org/publication/the-church-of-economism-and-its-discont…, and consider commenting. Is orthodox economics akin to a secular religion? Are we living in the “Econocene”? Is there a way out? Norgaard, a founder of ecological economics, argues yes, yes, and maybe. In so doing, he guides us further into the terrain of alternative economics we’ve explored recently in our discussions of GTI pieces by Herman Daly, Giorgos Kallis, Peter Barnes, and John Bellamy Foster. I wonder, though: * Is economism still a monolithic ideology? Or are critical currents within the economics mainstream increasingly questioning its reductionist framework and false predictions? * As a framing for our contemporary condition, is “the Econocene” a useful corrective to the geologic emphasis of “the Anthropocene”? How do these compare to GTI’s term, “The Planetary Phase of Civilization,” which aims to convey the multi-dimensionality of the globalizing social-ecological system? I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts on these and other issues raised by Norgaard’s stimulating essay. Comments are welcome through NOVEMBER 30. Looking forward, Paul Raskin GTI Director NOTE ON GTI’S PUBLICATION CYCLE: GTN discussions occur in ODD-NUMBERED months, and GTI publishes in EVEN-NUMBERED months. Each discussion takes up a new essay or viewpoint prior to its publication. After the discussion closes, GTI publishes the piece, edited comments from the discussion, and a response from the author (along with other new articles). You can review all GTN discussions at www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-forum. ------------------------------------------------------- Hit reply to post a message Or see thread and reply online at http://www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/171-the-church-of-econ… Need help? Email jcohn(a)tellus.org -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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C. Fuchs: Reading Marx in the Information Age: A Media and Communication Studies Perspective on Capital Volume 1.
by Christian Fuchs 18 Nov '15

18 Nov '15

Fuchs, Christian. 2016. Reading Marx in the Information Age: A Media and Communication Studies Perspective on Capital Volume 1. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781138948563 (paperback), ISBN 9781138948556 (hardback). 416 pages. Book page: http://fuchs.uti.at/books/reading-marx-in-the-information-age-a-media-and-c… Critical media theorist Christian Fuchs provides a thorough, chapter-by-chapter introduction to Capital Volume 1 that assists readers in making sense of Karl Marx’s most important and groundbreaking work in the information age, exploring Marx’s key concepts through the lens of media and communication studies via contemporary phenomena like the Internet, digital labour, social media, the media industries, and digital class struggles. Through a range of international, current-day examples, Fuchs emphasises the continued importance of Marx and his work in a time when transnational media companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook play an increasingly important role in global capitalism. Discussion questions and exercises at the end of each chapter help readers to further apply Marx’s work to a modern-day context. The book is especially suited as accompanying literature for existing reading groups, new reading groups and individual readers of Marx’s “Capital”. It provides a general introduction for each chapter as well as connections to media and communications topics. The chapters can be read all together in combination with Marx’s book, but are also written in a way that they can be used in modules and reading groups as companions to single chapters in Marx’s “Capital”. At the end of each chapter, there are multiple exercises that allow readers a practical understanding of Marx. Sample chapters: Introduction: http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/introduction.pdf Appendix 2: Knowledge, Technology, and the General Intellect in the Grundrisse and its Fragment on Machines: http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/Grundrisse.pdf Review copies: Email review.copy(a)taylorandfrancis.com with: The title of the book you’d like to review. Information on the publication in which the review will appear. Your contact information. Call for contributions to two panels about media and communications at the conference “Marx 2016”: http://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/announcement/view/26

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Fwd: The Church of Economism and Its Discontents (GTN Discussion)
by Michel Bauwens 18 Nov '15

18 Nov '15

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Great Transition Network <gtnetwork(a)greattransition.org> Date: Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 9:37 PM Subject: The Church of Economism and Its Discontents (GTN Discussion) To: michelsub2004(a)gmail.com >From Michael Pirson <pirson(a)fordham.edu> ------------------------------------------------------- Dear All, Dear Paul, Thank you for starting this conversation. As I am new to the list and duly impressed with the quality of posts and intellectual rigor presented therein, I simply wanted to share some basic thoughts and information. I do agree with most that has been said regarding economics and economism. As Economics is assumption-based it resembles faith. In many ways, other sciences operate on certain assumptions as well, consciously or not (sociology, psychology and physics). While we sometimes call those assumptions laws, they are more malleable than we are made to believe. The reason why economic assumptions are so powerful, I believe, is their simplicity and partial truth. The ontology of the self/human as psychopathic individual accurately describes 1-4% of the people and maybe more so those in positions of power (those positions that social scientists tend to study). There is a self-fulfilling prophecy at work when buying into the narrative (which I agree most institutions largely have, including political and media institutions). While Richard Noorgard argues (if I understand correctly) for a new "ism" to emerge to counter the religious power of economism, I would submit that we may be able to build on an old "ism", namely humanism. A renewed form of humanism which bridges the wisdom of the ancestors (say philosophy/theology) with the insights created by science (say evolutionary biology/neuroscience) will not be able to avoid "ontological assumptions" about who we are as people/humans, but may be able to help transition into a form of organizing society, economy and beyond that is more life-conducive.. The Humanist Management Network, of which I’m a founding partner, has been working on reconnecting the old humanistic traditions with the insights of the sciences to provide an alternative narrative for human organizing ( www.humanetwork.org) The baseline of this group is that to counter the power of economism, you need to have a parsimonious (simple) assumption set of who we are as people and what we wish to organize for. We call it “protecting human dignity and promoting well-being.” This is not new at all, yet possibly quite relevant when examining alternative ways of organizing (which I would submit is the crux of many problems we are facing: poor organization). Here is a link to a video (3 minutes) that may describe the above a bit better: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRcBveTN1Y8 We therefore do not get rid of assumptions, but think we can better defend those (see below) 1) we are endowed with dignity, intrinsic value 2) we do care about us and each other (otherwise we would not have survived) 3) we ultimately wish to flourish/be happy 4) we therefore intuitively understand that treating others with dignity serves us all best (we still need to learn how: education is the humanist theory of change) 5) and we are in pain when we destroy our life-systems. I would argue that the notion of dignity as that which is intrinsically valuable can be helpful. Dignity escapes the exchange and market logics and therefore could be critical in the quest for organizing formats that complement/supersede the market. Just a couple of ideas. Thanks for this rich conversation and all the best, Michael Pirson Director for Social Innovation Director, Center for Humanistic Management Associate Professor, Fordham University ******************************************************************** Friday, October 30, 2015 >From Paul Raskin ----- GTN Friends: I write to launch our NOVEMBER DISCUSSION, which will consider Richard Norgaard’s new GTI essay, “The Church of Economism and Its Discontents.” Please read it at www.greattransition.org/publication/the-church-of-economism-and-its-discont…, and consider commenting. Is orthodox economics akin to a secular religion? Are we living in the “Econocene”? Is there a way out? Norgaard, a founder of ecological economics, argues yes, yes, and maybe. In so doing, he guides us further into the terrain of alternative economics we’ve explored recently in our discussions of GTI pieces by Herman Daly, Giorgos Kallis, Peter Barnes, and John Bellamy Foster. I wonder, though: * Is economism still a monolithic ideology? Or are critical currents within the economics mainstream increasingly questioning its reductionist framework and false predictions? * As a framing for our contemporary condition, is “the Econocene” a useful corrective to the geologic emphasis of “the Anthropocene”? How do these compare to GTI’s term, “The Planetary Phase of Civilization,” which aims to convey the multi-dimensionality of the globalizing social-ecological system? I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts on these and other issues raised by Norgaard’s stimulating essay. Comments are welcome through NOVEMBER 30. Looking forward, Paul Raskin GTI Director NOTE ON GTI’S PUBLICATION CYCLE: GTN discussions occur in ODD-NUMBERED months, and GTI publishes in EVEN-NUMBERED months. Each discussion takes up a new essay or viewpoint prior to its publication. After the discussion closes, GTI publishes the piece, edited comments from the discussion, and a response from the author (along with other new articles). You can review all GTN discussions at www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-forum. ----- Hit reply to post a message Or see thread and reply online at www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/171-the-church-of-economism-a… Need help? Email jcohn(a)tellus.org ------------------------------------------------------- Hit reply to post a message Or see thread and reply online at http://www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/171-the-church-of-econ… Need help? Email jcohn(a)tellus.org -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/

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