February 2016 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Fwd: Where to Invade Next movie
by Michel Bauwens 10 Feb '16

10 Feb '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bob Reuschlein <bobreuschlein(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 4:39 AM Subject: Where to Invade Next movie To: From: *Michael Moore* <maillist(a)michaelmoore.com> Date: Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 11:07 PM Subject: Sidelined by a Visit to the ICU, I Could Use Your Help To: LANLAN27(a)gmail.com MY NEW LETTER: "Sidelined by a visit to the ICU, I could use your help" - Please read & Share! http://michaelmoore.com/WhereToInvadeNextArmy/ Friends, Thank you to all who have written to me about my stay this past week in the intensive care unit. Unfortunately, as you may have heard, I came down with pneumonia. Truth be told, it was pretty serious, and other complications arose. But then, five days later, I was still alive — thanks to a combination of Directors Guild insurance, two I-V drips of alleged legal drugs, and a hospital TV that only got FOX News. I was released on my own recognizance, which I tried to explain may not be the best idea. I am now at home resting and binging on the Real Housewives of The Walking Dead. All my appearances this week and last week supporting the release of my brand new movie, “Where To Invade Next” (Conan, Bill Maher, Charlie Rose, NPR, etc.), plus a special primary eve screening tonight in New Hampshire, were and are cancelled. Needless to say, I’m pretty devastated. This film means a lot to me. To be sidelined – I can’t fly, I can’t travel, I can’t leave the house – in this, the most important week before it comes out… well, you can imagine what I’m going through. Trying to get back to just *breathing *is enough of a burden. To think that my film may now not reach the audience I made it for, let’s just say that doesn’t help the healing process. Many of you have asked if there’s anything you can do to help me. I have thought about it – and, yes, actually, there is something you could do to help me. I need you to be part of a quickly cobbled-together “army” of grassroots “ambassadors” who can do the work I was going to do this week to let people know abut the movie and convince as many as possible to go see it. I realize you haven’t seen “Where To Invade Next”, so I’m asking you to do this based upon my past work and your hope that I’ve made a compelling film that might affect change in this country, that will inspire people to think about things in a different way. I believe that’s exactly what I’ve done, and many who’ve seen it agree (LINK <http://www.salon.com/2015/11/04/michael_moores_gutsy_new_film_our_military_…>). I also believe this movie can have a huge impact on the elections this year. It’s won a bunch of film festival prizes, it’s made the Oscars shortlist, and some have called it my best film ever. Possibly, just possibly. But forget all that. Here’s what I will tell you: You are going to be seriously f***ed up by this film. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done. It will truly make your head spin for two hours while you “laugh AND cry —* in the same exact moment,”* as an audience member said to the cameras on the way out of the movie’s premiere. Last week, laying in the hospital, I watched one Presidential candidate attack the candidate from Vermont for his ideas being “unrealistic,” “pie in the sky,” and “ideas that sound good on paper, but aren’t going to happen.” The truth is, all these great “ideas” – free universal health care, free university, free day care, taxing and policing hedge fund millionaires – have *already* happened in nearly every other industrialized country in the world! And I have the evidence – and the film — to prove it! Throughout “Where To Invade Next”, I invade a whole bunch of nefarious countries, from Slovenia to Germany to France to Norway, and pry loose from them the tools they’ve been using to make their countries happy, shiny places. My goal: to show millions of Americans what these countries have been hiding from us so we can catch up *and be #1 again!* Remember “WE’RE #1!!”? Don’t you miss being #1 and waving those big foam #1 fingers at patriotic rallies? In my invasions, I don’t use any weapons, and no one gets droned. I show how to actually make all universities free (and great); how to give all workers five to eight weeks PAID vacation (which increases productivity and betters the economy); how simple and easy it is to give mothers (or fathers) up to *a year* of PAID maternity leave (which in turn benefits the company overall); how in the societies where woman have achieved true equality and power, everything just seems to get better for everyone; how to reduce the crime rate by ending the war on drugs and having a humane prison system (our recidivism rate is as high as 80%; theirs is 20%); how the economy bounces back faster and is safer when bankers are put in prison; how students in countries without standardized tests and needless homework perform better than our students (and that countries which have more arts and music in their schools do *better* in math and science)… and on and on and on. By the end of the movie, you’ll want to go live in one of those countries. But instead, I’ll show you how we can make all of that happen right here in the USA, right now. So, what do you think? Can you be a virtual ambassador for “Where To Invade Next”? I know you can’t go on “Good Morning America” for me, but there are a few easy things you could do right now from your computer or mobile device. Here’s how you can help “Where To Invade Next:” 1. *First, go see it!* Text some friends right now and say, “hey, let’s go see this Friday night!” Commit now to go to a theater that’s playing it this coming weekend. It’s opening in every major and mini-major city in the country. If you live in a place the size of Binghamton, NY, or Grand Rapids, MI, then they’re going to be playing “Where To Invade Next.” The final list of theaters will be out later tomorrow, but here’s a partial one for now (LINK <http://wheretoinvadenext.com/>). 2. Right now, you can* TWEET* the following: “.@MMFlint’s 1st film in 6 years is coming out and he needs our help with #WhereToInvadeNext! Read & RT! http://michaelmoore.com/WhereToInvadeNextArmy/“ 3. Right now, you can *FACEBOOK* the following: “Michael Moore’s 1st film in 6 years is coming out and he needs our help with #WhereToInvadeNext! Read & Share! http://michaelmoore.com/WhereToInvadeNextArmy/“ 4. At the bottom of this letter is the hi-res version of the film’s poster! Feel free to send it around, post it on your social media, download it and print up some flyers, or use it graphically any way that you want. 5. Send the trailer to everyone on your contact list: ( https://youtube.com/watch?v=r4JJvfrkH3M) Over the next few days I’ll send you other things you can do, like organizing screening parties for this weekend, sending me photos from your theater that I can post, and sharing with your friends exclusive clips from the film which I’ll send you. If a few thousand of you suddenly became champions and ambassadors for “Where To Invade Next”, then maybe we can pull this off. I certainly would be forever in your debt. Thanks for being there for me. All my best, Michael P.S. – Please forward this letter to everyone! Or share it on Facebook. Here’s the hi-res poster: -- 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/

1 0

Fwd: Bo-Kaap and Riebeek Square, Cape Town under threat - please help!
by Michel Bauwens 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Anna Cowen <anna(a)meshfield.com> Date: Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 5:55 PM Subject: Bo-Kaap and Riebeek Square, Cape Town under threat - please help! To: Dear friends and lovers of our beautiful city Cape Town Hope you are all well and thriving! I am part of a group of people living in the Bo-Kaap who are organising a resistance against a massive proposed new development on the edges of the Bo-Kaap between Buitengracht and Rose, Shortmarket and Longmarket, on the edge of Riebeeck Square. It is grossly overscaled - 20 stories high, 250 apartments, 5000 m2 of retail and commercial and 3 basements levels of parking. A "supersized" building.... ! It is double the size of anything else in the area. If approved it will irrevocably undermine and erode a very special part of our city. We also view this as part of a wider and worrying city wide trend towards enclosure and erasure of our common wealth - public land, culture, heritage, social networks. We have set up a website - www.bridgesnotbarriers.co.za - . where you can find out more information, and fill in an objection form. Deadlines for objections are Thursday 18 February (that's next Thursday). If these issues move or interest you, please take a quick look and support us and our city through objecting on the website. Please also share the weblink as widely as you can. Warmly, Anna Anna Cowen *M e s h f i e l d* Innovation for Sustainability t: +27 (0)21 422 3385 www.meshfield.com -- 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/

1 0

value in a service economy
by Michel Bauwens 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

- Understanding the Notion of Value in the Service Economy, March 14-15, 2016, Trento, Italy - VMBO 2016, March 10-11, 2016, Trento, Italy Best regards, Pavel ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Dear all, due to several requests, the submission deadline for the VMBO 2016 workshop is extended to January 24th, 2016. Please find the updated CFP below (and help to circulate it). Notice that the acceptance notification date remains February 2nd. The workshop Web site will be updated soon. We would like to take this opportunity to announce another initiative co-located with VMBO 2016, to be held on March 14-15 in Trento, in the same place: "Understanding the notion of value in the service economy". This is an interdisciplinary workshop with no CFP, just invited presentations and open discussions. See the preliminary announcement below. Participation will be free, but the space is limited so early registration will be required. For the time being, please express your intention to attend by sending an email to barbara.livieri(a)unisalento.it. All the best, Nicola Guarino, Paul Johannesson, Hans Weigand, Barbara Livieri *** Preliminary announcement *** Understanding the Notion of Value in the Service Economy March 14-15 2016, Trento, Via S. Croce 77 Workshop description: The service economy is undoubtly posing new challenges to our understanding of the basics of social interaction, including the very notion of economic value. Indeed, despite the notion of value has always raised the interest of economists, and many definitions have been proposed, it has always remained rather elusive and difficult to capture. This picture has been complicated by the rise of service economy, which has shifted the focus from the company's perspective to the customer's perspective, where value is co-created in the interaction between the provider and the customer. Value co-creation is also at the core of the sharing economy, which poses further challenges to the theory of economic exchange. But what does it mean to create – or co-create – value? How, when, where is value created? And what is economic value, after all? What are the mechanisms of value ascription? Are there differences between ascribing value to a good or to a service? What about the value of ownership in the sharing economy? And in general, what does it mean to ascribe value an object, an action, a commitment, a relationship? How does value ascription depend on contextual aspects, such as possession or scarcity of resources? How may multiple value ascriptions related to different contexts interact, originating a notion of cumulative value? These appear to be genuine ontological questions, centered around the nature of economic value. Adressing these questions is important not only from the theoretical point of view, but also to build better computer-based models of complex socio-technical systems, where value modeling plays a crucial role. Only understanding value mechanisms we can aim at integrating in a transparent way the business perspective with the organizational perspective and the process perspective, with the ultimate goal of enabling a better governance of our society. So this workshop is primarily addressed to those who are interested in the ontology of social reality for modeling purposes, but more in general to anybody who is interested in the foundations of economic value. The workshop will consist of invited presentations given by worldwide experts from very different disciplines, including philosophy, economics, accounting, business management, and information systems. Participation is open to anybody, but the space is limited so early registration will be required. For the time being, please express your intention to attend by sending an email to barbara.livieri(a)unisalento.it. Invited speakers confirmed so far: Paul Johannesson, Dept of Computer and System Sciences, Stockholm Paul Maglio, University of California at Merced and IBM Research Center, Almaden William E. McCarthy, Dept. of Accounting and Information Systems, Michigan State University Olivier Massin, Philosophy Dept, University of Geneva Kevin Mulligan, Philosophy Dept, University of Geneva Stephen Pratten, School of Management and Business, King's College, London Hans Weigand, Tilburg School of Economics and Management Gloria Zuñiga y Postigo, Philosophy Dept, Ashford University, USA Organization: ISTC-CNR Laboratory for Applied Ontology and Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento info: nicola.guarino(a)cnr.it *** Updated Call for Papers *** VMBO2016 (10th International Workshop on Value Modeling and Business Ontologies) http://www.loa.istc.cnr.it/vmbo2016/ Call for papers (please, circulate) Note: Dates changed with respect to the preliminary call for papers The importance of modeling the essence of enterprises on a level that abstracts from operational details is increasingly recognized. Two recognized enterprise modeling approaches are value modeling and business ontology. Business ontology provides abstract descriptions of enterprises in their business context, focusing on what is needed to create and transfer value. Value modeling is a business modeling approach that focuses on the value objects exchanged in business networks. Business ontology and value modeling research is conducted using instruments like REA (Resources, Events, Agents), the e3-value tool set, VDML and the Enterprise Engineering framework. The goals of this VMBO workshop are to bring together researchers with an interest in value modeling and business ontology in order to present and discuss the current state of enterprise or business modeling and to identify key areas for further research. The theme of this year’s workshop is the ontological foundations of value and service modeling, but other papers are welcome as well. If you are interested in joining, please submit a paper in the following categories: a) full paper (maximum of eight pages) – describe original research contributions, present problems or challenges encountered in practice or report industrial cases and practices; b) short discussion paper (maximum of four pages) – describe your main ideas. We encourage you to focus on ideas in progress for which you would like to get feedback from other workshop participants. Full papers will be published with CEUR proceedings. We support the submission of VMBO papers (both short and full) afterwards to a special issue of a journal, e.g. Journal of Applied Ontology (JAO) or Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting (JETA), if possible. Note that papers submitted as short papers will be reviewed only marginally. The program committee will use the papers to put together a final program; the aim is to accommodate all relevant papers with sufficient quality. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to Service ontology for business Service-oriented view of business ontology Enterprise Engineering Business modeling of service exchanges Value modeling fundamentals Value modeling applications and experiences Business ontology fundamentals Business ontology applications and experiences Role of value modeling in enterprise architecture Ontology-driven enterprise system development Ontology-aware enterprise systems Pragmatic Web – theory and applications Ontological representations of aggregated data Business ontology / value models for auditing Business ontology / value models for managerial decision making Business ontology / value models for strategy exploration Business ontology / value models for business process management Important dates Jan 24, 2016 Paper submission deadline (EXTENDED) Feb 2, 2016 Notification of acceptance Feb 20, 2016 Camera ready for full papers Feb 20, 2015 Registration deadline March 10-11, 2015 VMBO Workshop, Trento How to submit Submit your short paper preferably in PDF format and following the (Proceedings) style of Springer LNCS on Easychair https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=vmbo2016 -- 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/

1 0

Fwd: IASC Deadline Extension Paper Submissions
by Wouter Tebbens 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

[sorry for x-posting] Papers can be submitted until Feb 12th. We welcome especially papers for digital commons related subjects! see further below. best regards, Wouter -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: IASC Deadline Extension Paper Submissions Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2016 12:39:53 +0000 From: IASC Europe 2016 <iasc-europe-2016(a)cde.unibe.ch> Dear panel convenors, Please note that the deadline for paper submissions has been extended until *February 12th. *Please make sure that you have uploaded all paper abstracts which will be presented (including your own) by *this Friday. * * * Best wishes, IASC European Regional Conference ___________________________________________________________________ Dear commoners, you'll probably know the IASC: International Association for the Study on the Commons, in particular for their global conferences on this topic. Together with the IASC conference organisers we have defined a panel on Digital Commons. We invite you to submit a paper. *Digital commons in a ‚glocal’ world* Panel Convenors: Wouter Tebbens (Free Knowledge Institute) Massimo Canevacci (University of Rome "La Sapienza" University do Sao Paulo (IEA-USP) See in the Call for Papers, http://conferences.iasc-commons.org/index.php/iasc/IASC_Europe_Bern2016/sch… We think the digital commons perspective should not miss from the very interesting conference agenda. Therefore we urge you to submit a paper. Some topics that could relate to the IASC conference in general and to this panel in particular could for example be the following: - the effects of current intellectual property regulations (mostly in the interest of multinational companies and large capitals) on the digital commons - the alternative commons-based approaches for sharing digital forms of knowledge, as pioneeered by the Free Software Movement and nowadays known in a variety of fields, from Open Standards, to Open Educational Resources, from Open Design to Open Source Hardware and Free Culture. - the local resilience based on commons based networks of peers sharing knowledge, building telecom networks, food cooperatives, etc - the return of artesanal practices enriched with digital tools - the combination of global sharing of (industrial) knowledge and designs with a growing local production - sustainability by needing less and producing less: the motivations of peers producing and sharing knowledge as commons generating an abundance economy, much more satisfying than the consumption society; planned obsolescence and mass production in general manufacture more than humans need; bottum up, pull instead of push channeling of human needs with manufacturing of really needed products - sustainability by repairing and extending product's lifetime: what legal challenges do we need to overcome? These and other topcis would be very welcome for this panel. If in doubt don't hesitate to contact us. Below follow further details of the CfP. - All paper proposals (abstract of 500 words and 5 keywords) have to be uploaded with indication of the panel they want to participate in until February 5th via the IASC-conference website http://conferences.iasc-commons.org. - The panel should contain max. 5 paper contributions (All panels will last two hours and will include a maximum of 5 paper contributions. This implies 15 minutes for each paper contribution and 5 minutes discussion at the end of each contribution. This structure allows for a discussion of 20 minutes at the end of each panel). ********* Commons in a “Glocal” World: Global Connections and Local Responses Venue: University of Bern, Main Building Date: 10-13 May 2016 Contact: Tobias Haller Main theme: Global Connections and Local Responses. Research on the commons deals either with the development of institutions for the management of the commons, or with issues related to global change. While the latter mainly focusses on drivers and effects of global expansion of capitalist modes of production, consumption, and societal reproduction, research on institutions for the management of the commons deals with collective action and the effects and reactions within local action arenas. However, the entangled institutional processes through which global and local arenas – referred to as “glocal” – interlock are not yet addressed in a systematic way. Europe has been a major driver of “glocal” processes. Therefore, the 4th Regional European Meeting of the IASC is devoted to global connections and local responses. It provides a space to advance our understanding of ongoing “glocal” processes and to analyse historically how commons in Europe have evolved and adapted to “glocal” changes. By integrating political ecology with approaches of New Institutionalism and Critical Theory in Anthropology, Human Geography, Political Science and History, we propose to investigate the impacts of external changes on the perception and evaluation of resources by actors related to the commons. This raises the question of local bargaining power, ideologies and discourses, and of the selection and crafting of institutional designs, which in turn affect the access to common-pool resources, as well as the distribution of benefits related to the management of these resources. This conference therefore aims to look at the interfaces between local and global processes in order to bring together research arenas that have often been kept quite separate until now. We therefore call for contributions focussing on: how global players such as multinational companies and organizations affect local governance of the commons worldwide the role of international law and global trade in shaping the interface between global actors and institutional processes of local commons governance the impacts of external economic and political changes on the perception and evaluation of resources and areas by actors related to the commons local resistance and the development of political strategies countering the transformation of collective into private or state-based property rights as a consequence of economic and political changes the local crafting of institutional designs in global and local arenas, and how these affect access to and distribution of natural resources and related benefits among local to global actors using the commons how the encounter of global and local processes affect bargaining power, ideologies and discourses of global and local actors in governing sustainability trade-offs. We especially welcome contributions that aim to address the above mentioned themes through novel forms of integrating theoretical approaches. In addition, the focus of the conference will be on a dialogue among representatives of different academic disciplines (e.g. geography, social anthropology, history, development studies, economics, political science, and law) and between academics and non-academic actors (e.g. practitioners, business representatives, policy makers, or NGOs). Accepted panels

1 0

Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Work/Hack/ers' ethic according to Bogdanov
by Michel Bauwens 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Orsan <orsan1234(a)gmail.com> Date: Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 3:26 AM Subject: Re: [NetworkedLabour] Work/Hack/ers' ethic according to Bogdanov To: Anna Harris <anna(a)shsh.co.uk> Cc: networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org As Sochor goes on; "To be sure, Bogdanov's alternative was not without its own problems. He predicated many of his hopes for socialism on technological progress, which would alter both the work process and work relations, thus paving the way for "cultural liberation." This position left Bogdanov open to the criticism of "technological determinism." Something of a crude technological bent was, in fact, apparent in his search for all- encompassing "organizational principles," leading him to declare, for example, that relations between humans and their tools were similar to those between humans.18 In addition, he seemed little aware that a world of engineers, operating in a highly rationalistic style, pro- duce its own sources of alienation. Nevertheless, Bogdanov devoted his practical efforts to culture and aesthetics rather than to technology and the organization of labor. Indeed, he attempted to develop "proletarian culture" in a country that could boast only of minimal technological progress. Even according to his own scheme, he might be labeled utopian. It seems that Bogdanov assumed technological advance was essential to sustaining change in authority relations but not nec- essarily to initiating it. Another problem in Bogdanov's scheme was the underrating of political power. Because he downgraded the significance of the seizure of power as a precondition to the transition to socialism, he exposed himself to charges of reformism. Although he did not deny that revolution was a means of change, it is certainly true that his systems thinking was much more in line with incremental change. He also tended to view political power as a resource, fully in keeping with the systems perspective, rather than as a potential means of domination. He was blind to some of the realities of political life and clearly no match for Lenin in political maneuvering. The merit of Bogdanov's alternative lies not in a successful answer to the question of how to create utopia but in an aler\ness to the ob- stacles to utopia. In particular, Bogdanov attempted to find means to overcome these hurdles rather than denigrate utopia. Perhaps this at- tempt is the most that could be expected, from even the most zealous believer in socialism. In fact, if there is any "social usefulness" to utopian thinking, it may very well be, as Kolakowski argues, to "anticipate things that are impracticable now in order to make them prac- ticable one day in the future."19 Bogdanov's concerns reflected the basic problems in Marxism that continue to plague the socialist world. Despite, or perhaps because of, the existence of several countries that call themselves socialist, there is an ongoing debate on what constitutes the essence of socialism. The two conceptions that seem to predominate among contemporary Marxists split along the same lines as did those of Lenin and Bogdanov, with one emphasizing public ownership and party control, and the other the end of human alienation."

1 0

Fwd: Berlin and other platform coop events in spain
by Michel Bauwens 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Thomas Doennebrink <thomasdoennebrink(a)me.com> Date: Tue, Feb 9, 2016 at 5:23 AM Subject: Re: Berlin To: Trebor Scholz <scholzt(a)newschool.edu> Hi all, here some more upcoming lead ups to the workshop with Michel @ Supermarkt and Trebor's speech and panel @Re:publica. In case you know somebody in Barcelona or Madrid you are welcomed to invited them via the following FB event site. Best. Thomas 2016-02-11 Barcelona https://www.facebook.com/events/1549138392080735/ 2016-02-14 Madrid https://www.facebook.com/events/1214916565193042/ Another one planned in Badajoz second half of Februar that will also deal with the topics. Best Thomas Dönnebrink OuiShare Connector Germany & Berlin Freelancer Collaborative Economy

1 0

Fwd: The Rise and Fall of Wikipedia
by Michel Bauwens 09 Feb '16

09 Feb '16

Begin forwarded message: *From: *"Orthomolecular News" <omns(a)orthomolecular.org> *Subject: **The Rise and Fall of Wikipedia* *Date: *8 February 2016 at 22:18:05 GMT-1 *To: *"Sepp Hasslberger" <sepp(a)lastrega.com> This article may be reprinted free of charge provided 1) that there is clear attribution to the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, and 2) that both the OMNS free subscription link http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> and also the OMNS archive link http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> are included. Click here to see a web copy of this news release <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE* *Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, February 8, 2016* The Rise and Fall of Wikipedia First in Internet Searches; Last in Reliability Commentary by Howard Straus (OMNS, Feb 8, 2016) Anyone who uses the Internet to search for information is very likely to be familiar with the Wikipedia site. Wikipedia is very often among the first results that pop up on queries like, "What is the population of Kazakhstan?" or "How many French speakers are there in the United States?" To questions like this, with little or no commercial impact, and no scientific or political controversy surrounding them, Wikipedia sometimes offers decent answers. But venture into natural healing or alternative medicine and the answers become totally skewed in favor of corporate medicine. Naturally, Big Pharma is one of those entities willing to pay to control the flow of information. Those pages are not identified as being advertising or propaganda. This phenomenon is not limited to health topics. Here is a link to one of the "Pay for Play" controversies: http://www.cnet.com/news/corruption-in-wikiland-paid-pr-scandal-erupts-at-w… <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> And another one: http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2011/12/18/integrity-of-wikipedia-corporate-a… <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Wikipedia's credibility among serious researchers has always been very low. It is hardly surprising that college professors across the board disallow citations from Wikipedia in students' papers. Years ago, the NY Times reported that Middlebury College had banned Wikipedia references: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/education/21wikipedia.html?_r=0 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> A list of links to articles about schools and colleges banning Wikipedia for unreliability: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Schools_and_colleges_banned_WP_in_2… <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Isn't it ironic that this entry is found at Wikipedia . . . and information about orthomolecular physician Robert F. Cathcart, MD, has been deleted? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Robert_Cathca… <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Other nutritional physicians have also gotten the ax at Wikipedia: http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n18.shtml <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> This writer and many others in the field of alternative medicine and natural healing have experienced Wikipedia bias personally when contributing well-documented, carefully researched articles to the site, only to have them be radically altered and deleted, by anonymous "editors," then being banned from further editing or contributions. This is impossible to reconcile with a free flow of information. And it can be verified. At Wikipedia, all past history of page edits are saved. Edits can be viewed by clicking on a tab on the page in question called "View History" right near the top of the page. It also shows the name of the person making the edit, if he was logged in. Each page has its own history attached to it, and that can be viewed. Toeing the line It did not take long for corporate America to wake up to the fact that the Internet was a powerful and democratic source of information, and large numbers of users were using it to research questions that were not addressed by the advertising-funded mainstream media. As people turned more and more to the Internet for this information, Wikipedia grew like wildfire. At first, it was interesting to see uncensored information flow through the site, and even contribute to it. Then corporate America realized that Wikipedia, and similar sites, were distributing information they had carefully and thoroughly suppressed in the media, and set about correcting that omission. Soon, Wikipedia entries about natural healing, holistic medicine, and other subjects began to resemble publicity blurbs from Monsanto, or Merck, or the NIH. Contributors are supposed to be anonymous, "volunteer" editors were supposed to be both anonymous and neutral. But it was clear that for certain sensitive subjects, this was far from the case. Additions to articles at Wikipedia that went against the corporate line were swiftly edited out, and replaced by corporate-friendly advertising blurbs. Writers who posted the offending material have been banned by the ostensibly neutral and unbiased editors, and the information reverted to the bad old days of censorship. Wikipedia's way or the highway Wikipedia's founder ridiculed a petition by 8,000 people to have a more robust discussion of alternative medicine, saying in part: *"No, you have to be kidding me. Every single person who signed this petition needs to go back to check their premises and think harder about what it means to be honest, factual, truthful. What we won't do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of 'true scientific discourse'. It isn't."* http://www.businessinsider.com/jimmy-wales-petition-response-2014-3 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Other comment on unethical use of Wikipedia and suppression of reportage: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/10/13/wikipedias-dark-side/#gref <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Numerous examples of Wikipedia bias and hypocrisy: http://drleonardcoldwell.com/2015/03/24/total-hypocrisy-wikipedia-sues-nsa-… <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Readers used to be permitted to rate a Wikipedia page as to whether it was "trustworthy," "objective," "complete" or "well-written." A "Rate This Page" survey box was to be found at the bottom of each page. This option appears to have been removed. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n06.shtml <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Whitewashing the drugs Here is Wikipedia's page on chemo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemotherapy <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> . Note that it minimizes negative results; never mentions the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's study that finds that chemotherapy makes cancer much worse; doesn't get into negative effects until far down in the article; nowhere in the article does it mention the word "safety"; and "effectiveness" is almost glossed over. It does, however, list the revenues from the top ten chemotherapeutic agents from 2013: they total $37.47 billion dollars. That is just in one year. Here is Wikipedia's page on Lipitor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atorvastatin <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> There is no mention of improved survival (of course, there is *no increase* in survival) in the article; the word "effectiveness" does not appear, and the word "efficacy" refers only to the drug's cholesterol-lowering property. Nothing on increased longevity; liver damage is mentioned lightly; but the economics are noted to be "sales of over $125 billion over 14.5 years." This made it the best-selling drug ever, with no long-term survival improvement shown. Why is this not mentioned? Wikipedia has frequently appealed for funding from its readers. Due to its increasing uselessness as a reliable information source, I believe the major contributors are sure to be the corporations that corrupted the information flow in the first place. After my experiences with the site, and that of other contributors with information about controversial subjects, I would never use it as a resource for any but the most mundane queries. And I'd be suspicious even of those. *(Howard Straus, grandson of Max Gerson, MD, is the doctor's principal biographer and author of* Dr. Max Gerson: Healing the Hopeless. *The book was reviewed in the* Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine *2002, 17:2, p 122-124. http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2002/pdf/2002-v17n02-p120.pdf <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> or http://www.doctoryourself.com/gersonbio.htm <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> )* OMNS readers' comments on Wikipedia bias: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n16.shtml <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Please feel free to submit your own comments to the OMNS Editorial contact email, further below. To learn more: Azer SA, AlSwaidan NM, Alshwairikh LA, AlShammari JM. (2015) Accuracy and readability of cardiovascular entries on Wikipedia: are they reliable learning resources for medical students? BMJ Open. 2015 Oct 6;5(10):e008187. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-008187. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26443650 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> ) *Explains that Wikipedia entries on cardiovascular diseases lacked important detail on pathophysiology, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment, and should not be recommended for use in education. In other articles, the same author states that similar problems exist for Wikipedia entries on gastroenterology, hepatology, and respiratory topics. * Wilson AM,Likens GE. (2015) Content Volatility of Scientific Topics in Wikipedia: A Cautionary Tale. PLoS One.10(8):e0134454. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134454. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26275058 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> ) *Politically controversial topics on Wikipedia change constantly and therefore are unsuitable as an authoritative source of scientific information.* Kräenbring J, Monzon Penza T, Gutmann J, Muehlich S, Zolk O, Wojnowski L, Maas R, Engelhardt S, Sarikas A. (2014) Accuracy and completeness of drug information in Wikipedia: a comparison with standard textbooks of pharmacology. PLoS One. 9(9):e106930. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106930. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25250889 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> ) *Wikipedia entries on drug-related information are accurate and suitable for education.* Hasty RT, Garbalosa RC, Barbato VA, Valdes PJ Jr, Powers DW, Hernandez E, John JS, Suciu G, Qureshi F, Popa-Radu M, San Jose S, Drexler N, Patankar R, Paz JR, King CW, Gerber HN, Valladares MG, Somji AA. (2014) Wikipedia vs peer-reviewed medical literature for information about the 10 most costly medical conditions. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 114(5):368-73. doi: 10.7556/jaoa.2014.035. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24778001 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> ) *Peer-reviewed articles are more accurate than Wikipedia entries on common questions about patient care. However, reader comments on this article point out that medical doctors and researchers (e.g. the authors of this study) are often not sufficiently skeptical of the peer-reviewed medical literature, so the problem is not limited to Wikipedia.* Edwards KL, Salvo MC, Ward KE, Attridge RT, Kiser K, Pinner NA, Gallegos PJ, Kesteloot LL, Hylton A, Bookstaver PB. (2014) Assessment and revision of clinical pharmacy practice internet web sites. Ann Pharmacother. 48(2):258-67. doi: 10.1177/1060028013510899. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24259640 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> ) *Suggests that Wikipedia is the most common website found in searches by medical professionals, students, and patients, but contains inaccurate information that cannot always be easily updated.* Leithner A, Maurer-Ertl W, Glehr M, Friesenbichler J, Leithner K, Windhager R. (2010) Wikipedia and osteosarcoma: a trustworthy patients' information? J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2010 Jul-Aug;17(4):373-4. doi: 10.1136/jamia.2010.004507. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20595302 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> ). *The quality of Wikipedia entries on cancer are inferior to patient information provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Additional external links to definitive sources such as NCI should be added and these should be checked often to confirm quality and accuracy.* Koo M. (2014) Complementary and alternative medicine on wikipedia: opportunities for improvement. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2014:105186. doi: 10.1155/2014/105186. ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24864148 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> ) *Although Wikipedia is a popular source of information, articles on complementary and alternative medicine are shorter with fewer references than conventional medicine, and most are inaccurate.* Volsky PG, Baldassari CM, Mushti S, Derkay CS. (2012) Quality of Internet information in pediatric otolaryngology: a comparison of three most referenced websites. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 76(9):1312-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2012.05.026. *Wikipedia lags behind eMedicine in content accuracy and errors.* ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22770592 <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> ) Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> Find a Doctor To locate an orthomolecular physician near you: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource. Editorial Review Board: Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia) Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA) Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (USA) Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom) Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia) Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA) Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico) William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA) Michael Janson, M.D. (USA) Robert E. Jenkins, D.C. (USA) Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden) Peter H. Lauda, M.D. (Austria) Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA) Stuart Lindsey, Pharm.D. (USA) Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico) Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D. (Finland) Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada) W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA) Jeffrey A. Ruterbusch, D.O. (USA) Gert E. Schuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands) Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India) Ken Walker, M.D. (Canada) Atsuo Yanagisawa, M.D., Ph.D. (Japan) Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA), Assistant Editor Helen Saul Case, M.S. (USA), Assistant Editor Michael S. Stewart, B.Sc.C.S. (USA), Technology Editor *Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email: drsaul(a)doctoryourself.com <drsaul(a)doctoryourself.com>* This is a comments-only address; OMNS is unable to respond to individual reader emails. However, readers are encouraged to write in with their viewpoints. Reader comments become the property of OMNS and may or may not be used for publication. Click here to see a web copy of this news release <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…>: http://orthomolecular.activehosted.com/p_v.php?l=1&c=30&m=34&s=8c109636cfcb… This news release was sent to sepp(a)lastrega.com. If you no longer wish to receive news releases, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: unsubscribe <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/proc.php?nl=1&c=30&m=34&s=8c109636cfcbdee…> . To update your profile settings click here <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> . This article may be reprinted free of charge provided 1) that there is clear attribution to the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, and 2) that both the OMNS free subscription link http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> and also the OMNS archive link http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> are included. Riordan Clinic | Orthomolecular.org <http://orthomolecular.org> 3100 N Hillside Ave Wichita, Kansas 67219 United States Forward to a Friend <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> [image: Facebook] <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> [image: Google+] <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> [image: Twitter] <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> [image: LinkedIn] <http://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=8c109636cfcbdeee1f752165fc853e89…> -- 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/

1 0

Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Lets build networks of refuges for all who need to get away and hide form capitalism, imperialism, fascism, and wars
by Michel Bauwens 04 Feb '16

04 Feb '16

dear Stacco, can you publish this on the p2p blog ? Michel ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Orsan <orsan1234(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 5:41 AM Subject: [NetworkedLabour] Lets build networks of refuges for all who need to get away and hide form capitalism, imperialism, fascism, and wars To: networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org, WorldSocialForum-Discuss(a)openspaceforum.net, nettime-l(a)kein.org REFUGEE FUND CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN. Introduction Global governments, and especially the European Union, have shown their worst side with the events of recent times. Economic Rescue is being exchanged for popular sovereignty. Neoliberal control, wage and pension cuts, tax increases, layoffs and all kinds of privatization. And governments, rather than give in to demands for democracy from citizens, use brutality to end their resistance. These are policies that sacrifice the interests of the majority to benefit the interests of a tiny minority. Together with the sovereign and austerity crisis, we cannot forget the refugee crisis. [image: photo_2016-02-01_16-26-54] <https://coopfunding.net/wp-content/uploads/edd/2016/02/photo_2016-02-01_16-…>Almost 3,000 people have lost their lives so far this year trying to reach safety in Europe. EU leaders cannot ignore this or turn their backs on its tragic consequences. After months of prevarication they still have not established a coordinated emergency response and have failed to fundamentally overhaul the failing asylum system. Now is the time for self-organized civil society to use direct action, and to directly support those in need. There is an urgent need for the provision of adequate and humane conditions for those arriving and to really help them to organize their lives for the long term in the new host countries. A new Faircoin fund for refugees. This fund will focus on helping autonomous and self-managed projects involving refugees and solving their need to retain full control over the decisions made in their lives. For example new settlements, and the creation of productive and holistic initiatives with which they can fulfill their material and immaterial needs on a daily basis, while offering something useful to the society in which they find themselves. [image: photo_2016-02-01_16-26-43] <https://coopfunding.net/wp-content/uploads/edd/2016/02/photo_2016-02-01_16-…>Cooperative working initiatives can also be included, giving the newcomers an opportunity to become self-employed, beyond the control of states over their right to work. And of course grassroots solidarity movements who work on an open and participative basis can apply for their costs to be covered. This proposal is also intended for those who have undergone forced displacement for economic and environmental reasons, and includes stateless people who are in the difficult situation of having no rights because of the behavior of their countries of origin or third countries that don’t recognize them as citizens. The goal of this proposal is to get at least 500,000 Faircoins (the minimum amount to create a fund in FairCoop) towards the needs of refugees today in the world. For this campaign you can pay with any currency, and the money received will be converted to Faircoin in order to be added to the fund. Also you can yourself buy Faircoin (for example FairCoop offers https:// <https://getfaircoin.net%29/>getfaircoin.net) <https://getfaircoin.net%29/>and so make your contribution in Faircoin. The Euros received though this crowdfunding campaign will be held by the local FairCoop nodes to be used as liquidity to allow Faircoins to be changed into Euros by the projects that will use this Faircoin fund. We can also count on the support of the autonomous initiative of the Troika Fiscal Disobedience Consultancy which will support this crowdfunding with its incomes. (http://www.disobedience.eu) If you can use their services, this is another way to contribute! Why Faircoin? The current banking and eurosystem are directly responsible for the refugee crisis. Greece has shown that the European Central Bank is not independent and apolitical; indeed it is at the service of the bankers and their political agents, and is ready to kill democracy at the push of a button. The treaties of the European Union feed the rise of the extreme right and have become a means to override democratic control over the production and distribution of wealth throughout Europe. [image: photo_2016-02-01_16-26-58] <https://coopfunding.net/wp-content/uploads/edd/2016/02/photo_2016-02-01_16-…>Thus, in the situation where their human rights are not being respected, the people who find themselves without full legal status in other countries – according the rules set down by member states – do not have the right to create bank accounts and also do not have the right to work in European countries. We need to build a new social and political framework, which does not obey laws which are really economic warfare in disguise; but rather on a conciousness which sees everyone as equal in the world. That’s why we need to act now and can no longer wait for a top-down solution which is never going to come. We need to build another economy for another world. The global open cooperative, Faircoop, has designed Faircoin as a tool in the hands of social justice movements to allow us to become independent of the old banking system. In making Faircoin a powerful economic tool for funding and exchanging products and services, we are creating this fairer economy right now. And we are doing so with a decentralized economic framework that does not allow the government to freeze the funds of the participants. By suppporting this campaign you are simultaneously supporting actions in solidarity with the refugees, and are endorsing the vision behind Faircoop towards building another economy. To understand how Faircoin works please read this guide: https://fair.coop/the-faircoop-practical-guide-to-what-is-and-how-to-use-fa… How the refugee fund will be managed: [image: FairCoop's Refugee Fund poster] <https://coopfunding.net/wp-content/uploads/edd/2016/02/faircooprefugeefund_…> Design by @tereseta To make it happen a global FairCoop decision-making process will be created . An assembly of global FairCoop activists and local participants will be set up to administer and distribute the funds. Local nodes involved in supporting the regional initiatives will be able to request funds. This means that local self-organized groups are needed, in order to be in contact with the projects presented for funding, and to make sure that the funds go where they are supposed to go. Eligible collectives or organisations will be invited to request funds for their self-managed projects. To join the participative structure that will manage that funds, come to http <https://fair.coop/fairnetwork>s <https://fair.coop/fairnetwork> ://fair.coop/fairnetwork <https://fair.coop/fairnetwork> and see how to contact the local node where you live, how to create a new one if needed, and how to participate in the Refugee Fund global assemblies. [image: LogoFairCoopVectorialOk_pos_eng] <https://coopfunding.net/wp-content/uploads/edd/2016/02/LogoFairCoopVectoria…> _______________________________________________ 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/

1 0

Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: Important press statement from South Africa yesterday
by Michel Bauwens 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: peter waterman <peterwaterman1936(a)gmail.com> Date: Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 8:17 PM Subject: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: Important press statement from South Africa yesterday To: "CRITICAL-LABOUR-STUDIES(a)jiscmail.ac.uk" < CRITICAL-LABOUR-STUDIES(a)jiscmail.ac.uk>, "< networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org>" <networkedlabour(a)lists.contrast.org>, WSFDiscuss List <WorldSocialForum-Discuss(a)openspaceforum.net>, p2p-foundation <p2p-foundation(a)lists.ourproject.org>, Carlos Mejia < carlos.mejia.alvites(a)gmail.com>, WFTU-INTERNATIONAL < international(a)wftucentral.org> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Asbjørn Wahl <asbjorn.wahl(a)velferdsstaten.no> Date: Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 7:04 AM Subject: Important press statement from South Africa yesterday To: Asbjørn Wahl <asbjorn.wahl(a)velferdsstaten.no> Dear friends, Very important and promising developments in the South African trade union movement. You remember that the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) was expelled from COSATU in November 2014. Since then, there has been a lot of discussions. Now, a number of unions (“the Nine Plus Unions”) have taken an important step towards setting up a new independent and militant trade union confederation. Read their press statement below. All the best Asbjørn Wahl Press statement issued yesterday by the growing Nine Plus Unions. Amandla! Breaking the Paralysis, Rebuilding the Trade Union Movement “Alter today to be relevant tomorrow - don’t lock yourselves in perpetual court battles when workers are crying out for leaders to fight against labour brokers, low wages and exploitation of the working class” - Sello Selepe interim President of newly registered DEMAWUSA The National Office Bearers of the Nine Plus unions acting on the historic mandates they have received, to work with other unions, to convene a Workers Summit based on the principles that unions must be independent and militant, met for the first time this year on the 28 January 2016. A. We made an analysis of the ongoing and deepening political, economic and trade union movement crisis in our country and made the following key points: 1. The government is consciously entrenching a neo liberal approach that is strengthening the ruling class, and which is increasing levels of exploitation and poverty. 2. The ruling class nationally and internationally have unlimited access and pressure points to check Government strategy, while the working class has been marginalised, and subject to attack. 3. The economy is being systematically deindustrialised, sold off and opened for unfettered market forces, and more recently to serve as a subservient conduit for the expansionist policies of external world powers who all have their own agenda. 4. The Alliance and the government it supports and protects are faced with an unprecedented credibility crisis and are increasingly dependent on patronage networks and historical loyalties in order to maintain support and control. 5. There is a ‘crisis of representation’ in the country with millions feeling disempowered and marginalised, and the very nature of our system of representative democracy is being questioned. 6. The State has increasing become an instrument of class oppression especially in terms of quelling community protest, surveillance and secrecy, derailing democratic organisations, undermining of existing democratic processes, and serving as a cover for institutionalised corruption. 7. Despite the above, government and the ruling party/alliance are aware of their own fragility, and have been forced to make concessions in the face of popular mass action of students who have political and agitation power but limited economic power. 8. The quadruple crisis of unemployment, poverty, inequalities and corruption continues to deepen whilst at the same time the drive towards a kleptocractic capitalist order wherein predatory elites will not be held accountable continues unabated. B. In our analysis of the state of the trade union movement we have noted the following: 1. The political and organisational paralysis of the main federation, but also the impact of a period of ‘pacification’ on those working to break the paralysis. 2. The fragmentation of the movement generally, the growth of new unions, and the very limited collective activity that has taken place over the last period. 3. The extremely limited amount of grass roots organising and education taking place across the trade union movement, compounded by a worsening resource crisis. 4. An inability to make common cause with those layers (especially within the poor communities of the working class) who are actively struggling but who remain largely uncoordinated and without campaigning resources. 5. The huge numbers of formal (7m) and informal workers (4m if agriculture and domestic workers are included) who remain almost all unorganised. 6. The parlous state of internal democracy/mandating/constitutional observance in many unions and the increasing use of victimisations and the ruthless purging of dissent. The absence of internal democracy has also allowed certain leaders to loot their unions for personal accumulation. C. Workers Summit: Radical Re-Think Required : Our Proposals 1. We will call together all of those we have worked with in the Steering Committee and propose that we discuss and hopefully agree on the need to convert the Workers Summit into the Founding Meeting of a new Federation, based on a Minimum Platform. 2. That at the Founding Meeting or Workers Summit, we propose an Interim Leadership committee will be elected that seeks to be an inclusive and representative body to put in place infrastructure and plan for the first policy and elections Congress that should take place on May Day of 2016. 3. That a series of urgent task teams be formed to focus on matters such as the principles, Constitution/Structure, Finances and Resources, Policy Development, Education and Campaigns, External Relations etc. 4. Work is however required to allow all unions to sufficiently consult members and their structures to endorse the new approach. In this regard it was noted that: • FAWU had thorough going debate on this issue at the NOB level, will convene the NEC and hold a congress in April 2016 • SACCAWU will hold its normal congress in September 2016 • SASAWU is convening a NEC and is working towards a congress in April and or May 2016 • SAFPU will hold its NEC during the month of February • SAPSU will hold its NEC during the month of February 1. The more direct conception of the Workers Summit we have agreed must be politically won with our friends and allies. We want an independent, militant and fighting workers movement capable of working with other civil society formations to drive change. A failure to do this will not only make us lose not only the moment but will be abdication of our revolutionary responsibility to the working people. D. Campaigns to break the paralysis and fight for workers interests – Hands Off Workers Provident Funds! 1. All unions will in writing support the NUMSA Section 77 notice on the changes to Provident Funds/Pensions issue already submitted at Nedlac and will do so by the 01 February so that Nedlac constituencies takes this into account in the Section 77 committee that will consider Section 77 notice on the 02 February 2016. 2. We call on all workers kick start lunch hour mass general meeting and factory demonstrations as from the 02 February. This will ensure that members gives us a mandate on the programme we are announcing and to ensure every worker is mobilised in support of our demands 2. In this regard the first day of national action shall be the 06 February. Gauteng to organise shop stewards and activists to do a human chain surrounding the Union Buildings under a slogan “Hands off our provident funds”. All other provinces should target government institutions. 3. It is important that we recognise that public sector workers will also be affected by the changes in pension/tax law, not immediately but as part of a process of the state abrogating its responsibilities to provide a living pension to all workers. 4. The President of the country has been caught out lying! He claimed that there was sufficient with the unions even putting a number of meetings that never happened. We call on the President to withdraw the amendments or face the wrath of the working people! Instead of telling lies, he must put on the table for negotiations a comprehensive social security system and a social wage to deal with the poverty that is ravaging working class communities. E. Resist verkrampte bosses attempt to destroy centralised bargaining structures 1. We note that the Free Market Foundation case in which they seek to liquidate centralised bargaining will be heard in the High Court on the 28 and 29 February 2016. We call on all workers to stage picket demonstrations in the High Court during these hearings. 2. We note with concern that the man who signed the Free Market Foundations affidavits launching this assault on hard won workers gains, Herman Mashaba who is/was the chairperson of the Free Market Foundation is now the DA candidate for the Mayorship of Johannesburg. This underlines the unholy intersection between the DA as the party of workers class enemies and the most back ward and conservative anti union bosses who seeks to reverse every gain workers have made. F. A new recruitment campaign to reach the 71% unorganised workers 1. A meeting of the new/smaller unions to help strength them is going to be an essential activity moving forward, and this will be taking place shortly. 1. A workshop of all organisers to develop a concrete recruitment campaign to reach out to the 71% unorganised workers shall be convened early in February. This strategy will include a plan to organise in rural and small towns. Accordingly we shall announce very soon when we walk into every city street and rural areas to insist that all employers observe the letter and spirit of the law on such as issues as casualisation, equal pay for work of equal value, pay, etc. This will be a high energy campaign. 2. The General Secretaries will convene a meeting of the NOBs in which the current weaknesses of the unions shall be openly confronted. Without addressing the current weaknesses and or inability to recruit new members, service workers and education – weaknesses will be reproduced in the future. This will herald a conscious break of in the cycle of paralysis. G. Fight the Labour Brokering System – And outsourcing 1. The campaign will continue to demand a total ban of the labour brokering system, while at the same time demand that the legal status of all workers employed by labour brokers for longer than three months be changed to direct and permanent employment, in line with the amended legislation. This campaign will be centered on the mass recruitment of workers, in particular vulnerable workers in the retail, hospitality, security, cleaning, taxi drivers, farm, domestic worker sectors, etc. 2. The 9 Plus Unions will in their own right, write to the Minister of Labour demanding a joint monitoring and enforcement process of the amendments and other laws! This will not be done on a sectarian basis and all federations will be encouraged to participate in the campaign. 3. To take up the campaign again the phenomenon of outsourcing in both private and public sector. In this regard we will link up with other gallant struggles being fought by the alliance of students and workers and extend this campaign across the length and breadth of our country. H. Support Community Health Workers – Support the Extended Public Works Workers! 1. We will link up directly with these workers and through other progressive civil society formations working with them. We demand that all of these workers be absorbed into the public sector and their status be changed to permanent workers. K. Organize, Fight with and Support Vulnerable Workers, Communities and Students 1. As part of the 71% unorganized worker recruitment campaign, we will develop an aggressive organizing program and fight with and support the struggles of vulnerable workers in call centers, the agriculture and forestry sectors, restaurants and fast-food outlets, retail and wholesale, and other sectors where precarious work takes place. 2. In this regard, we wish to salute the 3 000+ Umbhaba banana farm workers in Hoedspruit, close to Malelane in Mpumalanga, who are on their 11th week strike action in pursuit of recognition of FAWU as their union of choice. In the same way we salute other farm workers, such as those of Du Toit Farms and Ceres Fruit Growers in the Western and Eastern Cape and countless others pursuing their struggles. That workers have to campaign for recognition in this day and age is indicative of how far we have regressed. 3. We will organize those workers in retail and wholesale chains as well as those in fast food outlets and restaurants, especially those family-owned businesses. We will include those workers in hotels, conference centers and game farms/theme parks and related or similar sectors. It is time these workers were given the protection of the trade union movement. 4. We will continue to show solidarity with all of those communities, that are campaigning for appropriate and adequate service delivery, and the right to be heard! We can no longer allow those thousands of communities to be isolated, ignored, maltreated. We will link arms with all those who are fighting against the divisiveness of xenophobia and other negative sentiments, understanding that division undermines our power. In addition we shall find ways of supporting the student movement who have inspired us all by their determination and innovative forms of struggle. It is time we re-learned from our children that mass democratic campaigning is amongst the most crucial tools in our struggle tool-box. L. Revive the campaign against etolls and for a public transport system 1. We will continue to call for civil disobedience against etolls in Gauteng and join forces against the introduction of the system in Cape Town and Durban as mooted by SANRAL. 2. We shall revive the Gauteng pickets and drive slows. We shall actively link the campaign with our historic demand for a safe, reliable, affordable and accessible public transport system. M. Fight Youth Wage Subsidy and Two-tier Wage System in Favour of National Minimum Wages The Freedom Charter adopted by the Congress of the People committed to a national minimum wage and a forty-hour week. Almost 22 years into our democracy these demands have not been realized. We will continue to pursue the demand for a meaningful national minimum wage not a symbolic gesture that will make no difference to the current levels of poverty and inequalities. N. Fight the scourge of corruption including within our unions We will renew the campaign and call on all shop stewards and members across the trade union movement to expose corruption wherever it rears its ugly head including inside the trade unions. We will continue to support the United Against Corruption Campaign and ensure it has a working class orientation in recognition of the fact that corruption affects workers and the poor more than anyone else, and because workers have the potential power to stop corruption and insist on accountability. The Workers Summit and the processes beyond this to form a new federation must develop more detailed strategies to deal with this phenomenon. We now have accumulated excellent experiences to draw upon to inform this process, and rid the trade union movement of its own self-destructive forms of corruption. The Struggle Continues: A New Chapter Unfolds The activities listed above represent a decisive break with the trade union paralysis that has plagued the workers movement. We are moving out of the boardrooms and into the workplaces, and communities where our people are facing the consequences of a bankrupt economic system, that delivers poverty, inequality and unemployment. A system that allows billionaires to flourish while basic needs, food, water, electricity, decent schools and healthcare are denied to millions of our people. To deny the depth of the crisis we are in is part of the problem, and to simply say we have a ‘good story to tell’ is nothing short of an insult to those who struggle every day to make ends meet, and provide for their beleaguered families. Enough is Enough! We have already started to organize across all provinces, and we are deeply encouraged by the willingness of workers to struggle and campaign if given the opportunity. Our task is to help strengthen organization on the ground, give solidarity and support to all of those workers and communities who are struggling now, and help coordinate and build class consciousness in the process. We remain more convinced than ever that it is only when workers and the oppressed of our country unite together in common cause that real and lasting change can be brought about. Today we make a call to workers and the poor in every corner of our country. The time to organize is upon us. Don’t Moan! Organize! -- Click for recent writings: *https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwAVbfM6AWJpUmloOEhtUlppSnM/view?usp=sharing <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwAVbfM6AWJpUmloOEhtUlppSnM/view?usp=shari…> * _______________________________________________ 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/

1 0

Fwd: EPOG seminars and news
by Michel Bauwens 02 Feb '16

02 Feb '16

fyi EPOG seminar #79 - Michel Bauwens (WEBINAR) *Is Cosmo-localization the new globalizationMichel Bauwens,* Director and founder of the P2P foundation, Peer to peer Foundation (p2pfoundation.net <http://www.cepn-paris13.fr/epog/wp-content/plugins/newsletter/statistics/li…> ). Discussants: Laura Heras Recuero (option B) and Guillaume Royer (option A). On *Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 9:45-12:45* at *Maison des Sciences de l'Homme de Paris Nord (MSH PN)*, New building and address: 20 avenue George Sand - 93210 St-Denis la Plaine - Métro : Front populaire (line 12), room: 414 Sud ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: EPOG seminars <seminars(a)epog.eu> Date: Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 9:22 PM Subject: EPOG seminars and news To: michel(a)p2pfoundation.net EPOG seminars and news <http://www.cepn-paris13.fr/epog/wp-content/plugins/newsletter/statistics/li…> *Joint seminarsTuesday, February 2, 2016Wednesday, February 3, 2016Thursday, Febnruary 4, 201**6* EPOG seminar #76 - Corinne Vercher *Financialization, Globalization and the Management of Skilled Employees : towards a Market-based model of Human Ressource Management in large corporation in France Corinne Vercher*, Professor of Management sciences, Université Paris 13. Discussants: Maria Martha Brito (option C) and Jose Javier Colato Castrillo (option B). *On Tuesday, February 2, 2016, 9:00-11:00 *at *Université Paris 7 - Diderot*, Building "Halles aux farines", 9 esplanade Pierre Vidal-Naquet (or 10 rue Françoise Dolto) - 75013 Paris - Métro 14: Bibliothèque Françoise Mitterrand, room: 264E. ------------------------------ EPOG seminar #77 - Nathalie Blanc *Sustainable cities... Nathalie Blanc*, Senior researcher in Geography at Université Paris 7-Diderot and CNRS, Director of LADYSS (CNRS UMR 7533) <http://www.cepn-paris13.fr/epog/wp-content/plugins/newsletter/statistics/li…> lab. Discussants: Besiana Balla (option A) and Basile Durand (option B). On *Tuesday, February 2, 2016, 11:00-13:00* at *Université Paris 7 - Diderot*, Building "Halles aux farines", 9 esplanade Pierre Vidal-Naquet (or 10 rue Françoise Dolto) - 75013 Paris - Métro 14: Bibliothèque Françoise Mitterrand, room: 264E. ------------------------------ EPOG seminar #78 - Denis Joram *Recent Developments in the European Policy of the postal sector: How La Poste defends its interests? Denis Joram*, Manager of the regulation team, La Poste. Discussants: Inga Baranauskaite (option A) and Chloé Ramet (option B). On *Tuesday, February 2, 14:00-17:00 * at* Université Paris 7 - Diderot*, Building "Sophie Germain", 8 place FM/13 - 75013 Paris at the intersection between "avenue de France" and "rue Alice-Domon et Léonie-Duquet" - Métro 14: Bibliothèque Françoise Mitterrand, room: 0011. ------------------------------ EPOG seminar #79 - Michel Bauwens (WEBINAR) * Is Cosmo-localization the new globalization Michel Bauwens,* Director and founder of the P2P foundation, Peer to peer Foundation (p2pfoundation.net <http://www.cepn-paris13.fr/epog/wp-content/plugins/newsletter/statistics/li…> ). Discussants: Laura Heras Recuero (option B) and Guillaume Royer (option A). On *Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 9:45-12:45* at *Maison des Sciences de l'Homme de Paris Nord (MSH PN)*, New building and address: 20 avenue George Sand - 93210 St-Denis la Plaine - Métro : Front populaire (line 12), room: 414 Sud. ------------------------------ EPOG seminar #80 - Bruno Theret *Monetary experiments of complementary federal policies: Some general principles and the case of Argentina between 1984 and 2003 (with a special attention paid to the Tucaman Bocade) Bruno Théret*, Emeritus Senior Researcher at CNRS and Université Paris 9-Dauphine. Discussants: Chloé Ramet (option B) and Thereza Balliester Reis (option C). On *Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 14:30-17:30* at *Maison des Sciences de l'Homme de Paris Nord (MSH PN)*, New building and address: 20 avenue George Sand - 93210 St-Denis la Plaine - Métro : Front populaire (line 12), room: 414 Sud. ------------------------------ EPOG seminar #81 - Jocelyn Guitton *New patterns in international trade and their impact on trade policies ** Jocelyn Guitton*, First secretary, Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, European Commission. Discussants: Ioana Mura (option A) and Davide Panadori Cino (option B). On *Thursday, February 4, 2016, 9:30-12:30 * *Tuesday, February 2, 14:00-17:00 * at* Université Paris 7 - Diderot*, Building "Sophie Germain", 8 place FM/13 - 75013 Paris at the intersection between "avenue de France" and "rue Alice-Domon et Léonie-Duquet" - Métro 14: Bibliothèque Françoise Mitterrand, room: 0011. ------------------------------ EPOG seminar #82 - Abdelkader Djeflat *Emerging Innovation Systems (EIS) and take off issues: Evidence from the North African Countries Abdelkader Djeflat*, Professor of Economics at Université Lille 1. Discussants: Mahar Albaher Ali (option C) and Hector Labat Moles (option B). On *Thursday, February 4, 2016, 13:30-16:30* at* Université Paris 7 - Diderot*, Building "Sophie Germain", 8 place FM/13 - 75013 Paris at the intersection between "avenue de France" and "rue Alice-Domon et Léonie-Duquet" - Métro 14: Bibliothèque Françoise Mitterrand, room: 0011. Seminars list <http://www.cepn-paris13.fr/epog/wp-content/plugins/newsletter/statistics/li…> - www.epog.eu <http://www.cepn-paris13.fr/epog/wp-content/plugins/newsletter/statistics/li…> - To unsubscribe click here <http://www.cepn-paris13.fr/epog/wp-content/plugins/newsletter/do/unsubscrip…> . [image: newsletter] -- 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/

1 0