March 2017 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

The End of Progressive Neoliberalism
by Kevin Flanagan 07 Mar '17

07 Mar '17

The End of Progressive Neoliberalism Nancy Fraser, January 2, 2017 The election of Donald Trump represents one of a series of dramatic political uprisings that together signal a collapse of neoliberal hegemony. These uprisings include the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, the rejection of the Renzi reforms in Italy, the Bernie Sanders campaign for the Democratic Party nomination in the United States, and rising support for the National Front in France, among others. Although they differ in ideology and goals, these electoral mutinies share a common target: all are rejections of corporate globalization, neoliberalism, and the political establishments that have promoted them. In every case, voters are saying "No!" to the lethal combination of austerity, free trade, predatory debt, and precarious, ill-paid work that characterize financialized capitalism today. Their votes are a response to the structural crisis of this form of capitalism, which first came into full view with the near meltdown of the global financial order in 2008. Until recently, however, the chief response to the crisis was social protest -- dramatic and lively, to be sure, but largely ephemeral. Political systems, by contrast, seemed relatively immune, still controlled by party functionaries and establishment elites, at least in powerful capitalist states like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Now, however, electoral shockwaves reverberate throughout the world, including in the citadels of global finance. Those who voted for Trump, like those who voted for Brexit and against the Italian reforms, have risen up against their political masters. Thumbing their noses at party establishments, they have repudiated the system that has eroded their living conditions for the last thirty years. The surprise is not that they have done so, but that it took them so long. Nevertheless, Trump's victory is not solely a revolt against global finance. What his voters rejected was not neoliberalism tout court, but progressive neoliberalism. This may sound to some like an oxymoron, but it is a real, if perverse, political alignment that holds the key to understanding the U.S. election results and perhaps some developments elsewhere too. In its U.S. form, progressive neoliberalism is an alliance of mainstream currents of new social movements (feminism, anti-racism, multiculturalism, and LGBTQ rights), on the one side, and high-end "symbolic" and service-based business sectors (Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood), on the other. In this alliance, progressive forces are effectively joined with the forces of cognitive capitalism, especially financialization. However unwittingly, the former lend their charisma to the latter. Ideals like diversity and empowerment, which could in principle serve different ends, now gloss policies that have devastated manufacturing and what were once middle-class lives. Progressive neoliberalism developed in the United States over the last three decades and was ratified with Bill Clinton's election in 1992. Clinton was the principal engineer and standard-bearer of the "New Democrats," the U.S. equivalent of Tony Blair's "New Labor." In place of the New Deal coalition of unionized manufacturing workers, African Americans, and the urban middle classes, he forged a new alliance of entrepreneurs, suburbanites, new social movements, and youth, all proclaiming their modern, progressive bona fides by embracing diversity, multiculturalism, and women's rights. Even as it endorsed such progressive notions, the Clinton administration courted Wall Street. Turning the economy over to Goldman Sachs, it deregulated the banking system and negotiated the free-trade agreements that accelerated deindustrialization. What fell by the wayside was the Rust Belt -- once the stronghold of New Deal social democracy, and now the region that delivered the electoral college to Donald Trump. That region, along with newer industrial centers in the South, took a major hit as runaway financialization unfolded over the course of the last two decades. Continued by his successors, including Barack Obama, Clinton's policies degraded the living conditions of all working people, but especially those employed in industrial production. In short, Clintonism bears a heavy share of responsibility for the weakening of unions, the decline of real wages, the increasing precarity of work, and the rise of the two-earner family in place of the defunct family wage. As that last point suggests, the assault on social security was glossed by a veneer of emancipatory charisma, borrowed from the new social movements. Throughout the years when manufacturing cratered, the country buzzed with talk of "diversity," "empowerment," and "non-discrimination." Identifying "progress" with meritocracy instead of equality, these terms equated "emancipation" with the rise of a small elite of "talented" women, minorities, and gays in the winner-takes-all corporate hierarchy instead of with the latter's abolition. These liberal-individualist understandings of "progress" gradually replaced the more expansive, anti-hierarchical, egalitarian, class-sensitive, anti-capitalist understandings of emancipation that had flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. As the New Left waned, its structural critique of capitalist society faded, and the country's characteristic liberal-individualist mindset reasserted itself, imperceptibly shrinking the aspirations of "progressives" and self-proclaimed leftists. What sealed the deal, however, was the coincidence of this evolution with the rise of neoliberalism. A party bent on liberalizing the capitalist economy found its perfect mate in a meritocratic corporate feminism focused on "leaning in" and "cracking the glass ceiling." The result was a "progressive neoliberalism" that mixed together truncated ideals of emancipation and lethal forms of financialization. It was that mix that was rejected in toto by Trump's voters. Prominent among those left behind in this brave new cosmopolitan world were industrial workers, to be sure, but also managers, small businessmen, and all who relied on industry in the Rust Belt and the South, as well as rural populations devastated by unemployment and drugs. For these populations, the injury of deindustrialization was compounded by the insult of progressive moralism, which routinely cast them as culturally backward. Rejecting globalization, Trump voters also repudiated the liberal cosmopolitanism identified with it. For some (though by no means all), it was a short step to blaming their worsening conditions on political correctness, people of color, immigrants, and Muslims. In their eyes, feminists and Wall Street were birds of a feather, perfectly united in the person of Hillary Clinton. What made possible that conflation was the absence of any genuine left. Despite periodic outbursts such as Occupy Wall Street, which proved short-lived, there had been no sustained left presence in the United States for several decades. Nor was there in place any comprehensive left narrative that could link the legitimate grievances of Trump supporters with a fulsome critique of financialization, on the one hand, and with an anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-hierarchical vision of emancipation, on the other. Equally devastating, potential links between labor and new social movements were left to languish. Split off from one another, those indispensable poles of a viable left were miles apart, waiting to be counterposed as antithetical. At least until the remarkable primary campaign of Bernie Sanders, who struggled to unite them after some prodding from Black Lives Matter. Exploding the reigning neoliberal commonsense, Sanders's revolt was the parallel on the Democratic side to that of Trump. Even as Trump was upending the Republican establishment, Bernie came within a hair's breadth of defeating Obama's anointed successor, whose apparatchiks controlled every lever of power in the Democratic Party. Between them, Sanders and Trump galvanized a huge majority of American voters. But only Trump's reactionary populism survived. While he easily routed his Republican rivals, including those favored by the big donors and party bosses, the Sanders insurrection was effectively checked by a far less democratic Democratic Party. By the time of the general election, the left alternative had been suppressed. What remained was the Hobson's choice between reactionary populism and progressive neoliberalism. When the so-called left closed ranks with Hillary Clinton, the die was cast. Nevertheless, and from this point on, this is a choice the left should refuse. Rather than accepting the terms presented to us by the political classes, which oppose emancipation to social protection, we should be working to redefine them by drawing on the vast and growing fund of social revulsion against the present order. Rather than siding with financialization-cum-emancipation against social protection, we should be building a new alliance of emancipation and social protection against financialization. In this project, which builds on that of Sanders, emancipation does not mean diversifying corporate hierarchy, but rather abolishing it. And prosperity does not mean rising share value or corporate profit, but the material prerequisites of a good life for all. This combination remains the only principled and winning response in the current conjuncture. I, for one, shed no tears for the defeat of progressive neoliberalism. Certainly, there is much to fear from a racist, anti-immigrant, anti-ecological Trump administration. But we should mourn neither the implosion of neoliberal hegemony nor the shattering of Clintonism's iron grip on the Democratic Party. Trump's victory marked a defeat for the alliance of emancipation and financialization. But his presidency offers no resolution of the present crisis, no promise of a new regime, no secure hegemony. What we face, rather, is an interregnum, an open and unstable situation in which hearts and minds are up for grabs. In this situation, there is not only danger but also opportunity: the chance to build a new new left. Whether that happens will depend in part on some serious soul-searching among the progressives who rallied to the Clinton campaign. They will need to drop the comforting but false myth that they lost to a "basket of deplorables" (racists, misogynists, Islamophobes, and homophobes) aided by Vladimir Putin and the FBI. They will need to acknowledge their own share of blame for sacrificing the cause of social protection, material well-being, and working-class dignity to faux understandings of emancipation in terms of meritocracy, diversity, and empowerment. They will need to think deeply about how we might transform the political economy of financialized capitalism, reviving Sanders's catchphrase "democratic socialism" and figuring out what it might mean in the twenty-first century. They will need, above all, to reach out to the mass of Trump voters who are neither racists nor committed right-wingers, but themselves casualties of a "rigged system" who can and must be recruited to the anti-neoliberal project of a rejuvenated left. This does not mean muting pressing concerns about racism or sexism. But it does mean showing how those longstanding historical oppressions find new expressions and grounds today, in financialized capitalism. Rebutting the false, zero-sum thinking that dominated the election campaign, we should link the harms suffered by women and people of color to those experienced by the many who voted for Trump. In that way, a revitalized left could lay the foundation for a powerful new coalition committed to fighting for all. from https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/progressive- neoliberalism-reactionary-populism-nancy-fraser # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime(a)kein.org # @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: --

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Fwd: [ess-communs] Follow-up of our cooperative platforms conference, developing a co-op commons alliance
by Michel Bauwens 07 Mar '17

07 Mar '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alix nicole <nicole.alix(a)credit-cooperatif.coop> Date: 2017-03-07 5:11 GMT+07:00 Subject: [ess-communs] Follow-up of our cooperative platforms conference, developing a co-op commons alliance To: "ess-communs(a)bienscommuns.org" <ess-communs(a)bienscommuns.org> De la part de Guido Smorto, professeur de droit comparé à Palerme, actuellement dans l’équipe de recherche Dimmons à Barcelone, son papier de recherche critique sur l’économie collaborative qui vient d’être publié par le Parlement européen. Il nous demande si on veut bien le diffuser. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/ 595361/IPOL_IDA(2016)595361_EN.pdf Bien à vous. Nicole ALIX -- P Avant d'imprimer cet e-mail, réfléchissons à l'impact sur l'environnement. *L'intégrité de ce message n'étant pas assurée sur Internet, le Crédit Coopératif ne peut être tenu responsable de son contenu. Toute utilisation ou diffusion non autorisée est interdite. Si vous n'êtes pas destinataire de ce message, merci de le détruire et d'avertir l'expéditeur. The integrity of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet. Crédit Coopératif can not therefore be considered responsible for the contents. Any unauthorized use or dissemination is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, then please delete it and notify the sender. - Crédit Coopératif, société coopérative anonyme de Banque Populaire à capital variable - 12 boulevard Pesaro - CS 10002 - 92024 Nanterre cedex - RCS Nanterre 349 974 931 -* Pour plus d'information ou gérer son abonnement à cette liste de discussion, suivre le lien suivvant : https://mail.cfcloud.fr/ bienscommuns.org/info/ess-communs -- 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: Game C@rds in Common - Place your Order !
by Michel Bauwens 07 Mar '17

07 Mar '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Frédéric Sultan <fredericsultan(a)gmail.com> Date: Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:15 PM Subject: Game C@rds in Common - Place your Order ! To: wsf2016(a)lists.p2pfoundation.net, commonswatch(a)lists.p2pfoundation.net, Commoning List <commoning(a)lists.wissensallmende.de>, Commoning < commoning(a)lists.commons-institut.org> (Sorry for multi-posting) Dear friends, 6 months after the World Social Forum, our documentation process and card game on the commons is ready to circulate, facilitate the conversations and help you bring the commons closer to you! To learn more about the game: http://cartesencommun.cc/ Thank you for sharing this information in your networks. The game can be ordered at The Game Crafter (US) for $ 22.99 each plus shipping and customs via: https://www.thegamecrafter.com /games/c-rds-in-common But to reduce the cost of transport and customs for Europeans, we offer a bulk order and hopefully this will bring the cost of each game delivered to Europe at around US $ 30 / $ 35. If you would like to participate in this first collective order, please fill out the form before March 18th at 20:00 GMT: Https://goo.gl/forms/UdXsgNWxqklo4bJq2 And follow the command on: Http://www.remixthecommons.org/2017/03/crtes-en-commun-passe z-votre-commande/?lang=en Best Frédéric Sultan and Matthieu Rhéaume -- 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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Cooperativism in the digital era, or how to form a global counter-economy Open Democracy
by Michel Bauwens 07 Mar '17

07 Mar '17

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commoning in ecuador and beyond
by Michel Bauwens 06 Mar '17

06 Mar '17

"In his talk Bauwens discussed his work in Ecuador as an experiment that ultimately failed due to hesitations on behalf of the Ecuadorian government, but that had some interesting outcomes nonetheless. Taking cues from the lessons learned from FLOK, he evaluated the practical possibilities that exist in moving to a post-capitalist form of cooperative peer-to-peer production, noting that a special point to attend to was the role that existing political structures, such as cities and states, can play in this process. First, however, Bauwens addressed how the seeds for this transition are already planted, as evidenced in the shift in the value regime that is becoming more and more evident everywhere." http://www.onlineopen.org/commoning-governance-talk -- 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: [CommonGood] Foy: urgent action for water as commons in LagosFw: [aepf] Fwd: [waterjustice] Imminent threat in Lagos, Please show your support!
by Michel Bauwens 03 Mar '17

03 Mar '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Birgit Daiber <bir.dai(a)hotmail.com> Date: Fri, Mar 3, 2017 at 3:35 PM Subject: [CommonGood] Foy: urgent action for water as commons in LagosFw: [aepf] Fwd: [waterjustice] Imminent threat in Lagos, Please show your support! To: "commongood(a)listi.jpberlin.de" <commongood(a)listi.jpberlin.de> *From:* aepf-request(a)lists.riseup.net <aepf-request(a)lists.riseup.net> on behalf of willy <willyindia(a)gmail.com> *Sent:* Friday, March 3, 2017 9:24 AM *To:* AEPF e-group; APMDDMembers2010(a)googlegroups.com *Subject:* [aepf] Fwd: [waterjustice] Imminent threat in Lagos, Please show your support! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Shayda Naficy <snaficy(a)stopcorporateabuse.org> Date: 3 March 2017 at 00:46 Subject: [waterjustice] Imminent threat in Lagos, Please show your support! To: waterwarriors(a)fwwatch.org, Water Justice <waterjustice(a)tni.org>, laredvida <laredvida(a)laredvida.org> Dear friends and allies: I am writing today to ask you to urgently add your organization's name to a sign-on letter we are circulating in support of the Our Water Our Right coalition in Lagos. As you may know, the Our Water Our Right coalition in Lagos, Nigeria is standing against government plans for water privatization and calling for adequate public investment to ensure the realization of the human right to water in the city of 21 million. We are asking you to stand with us today to oppose a bill that endangers the human right to water and sanitation in Lagos by criminalizing informal water access and promoting privatization. Below is more information on the threat, and the sign-on letter to the Governor of Lagos. *Please add your organization name to the sign-on letter by emailing ourwaterourright(a)stopcorporateabuse.org <ourwaterourright(a)stopcorporateabuse.org> with your organization name and country (if country specific). * Also, as an individual, please sign this petition <http://act.stopcorporateabuse.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=2…> ! *New bill threatens human right to water in Lagos* On February 20, the Lagos House of Assembly pushed through a bill that, if signed into law by Governor Ambode, would dramatically limit Lagosians’ access to water and further facilitate privatization. The Assembly has not released a final version of the legislation, called, “A Bill for a Law to Consolidate all Laws relating to the Environment for the Management, Protection and Sustainable Development of the Environment in Lagos State and for Connected Purposes.’” A draft version of the bill included provisions that would threaten people’s access to water by: ● Criminalizing unauthorized distribution of water or taking water from natural sources, by imposing 6 weeks’ imprisonment and/or a fine of over five times the monthly minimum wage in Lagos. ● Require licensing of boreholes, which about 58 percent of Lagosians depend on for water. Further, the bill would promote privatization by: ● Requiring the state to prioritize payment for “contracted services and concessions for long term infrastructure investments” above all other budget items. This bill was passed by the Lagos House of Assembly with minimal public consultation and over public protest. At the single public hearing on February 9, civil society representatives spoke against and protested the bill. Most Lagosians did not even have time to consider this bill before it was passed in this hurried manner -- consideration and passage of the bill took place over a period of only two weeks, during a time at which the Assembly would have normally been in recess. *Threat of privatization* At the same time, the Lagos State Water Corporation is trying to push through a number of privatization contracts and other measures that threaten the human right to water in Lagos. These include: ● A 25-year Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer concession for the Adiyan II water treatment plant and distribution network. ● A public-private partnership (PPP) related to a 100 mgd water treatment plant, Odomola, for which no details have been released. ● Two consulting contracts that would facilitate future privatization by mapping assets and enumerating customers to increase revenues. ● The planned installation of up to 16 thousand pre-paid water meters, which threaten the human right to water of people unable to afford it. These measures, if carried out, could place over half of Lagos’ water production under private control, and would threaten low income peoples’ access to water. Experience around the world has shown that water privatization leads to increased costs, infrastructure neglect, labor abuses, and erosion of democratic control. In Lagos as elsewhere, privatization is not the answer. *Global concern * On February 27, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Léo Heller, raised serious concern about the recent environment bill, saying, “When the State fails to provide adequate access to drinking water, no one should be criminalized or fined for fetching water from lakes, rivers, or any other natural sources.” According to his statement, “Mr. Heller is urging the Government to reconsider the Bill and to conduct a proper and meaningful public consultation with all relevant stakeholders providing an adequate time for comments and opinions.” Just as Mr. Heller is speaking up for the right to water in Lagos, We ask you to stand with the Our Water, Our Right coalition by asking Lagos Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to: ● Do everything in his power to halt the implementation of the damaging environment bill recently passed by the Assembly. ● Withdraw current efforts to secure corporate concessions and contracts in the water sector. ● Commit to public funding of water and ensure a robust and accountable democratic process for implementing any legislation relating to water and sanitation. Thank you for standing in solidarity with Lagos. Together we can ensure a future where all people can access the water they need to live healthy, dignified lives. Onward, Akinbode Oluwafemi Deputy Executive Director Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria Shayda Edwards Naficy Senior Program Director Corporate Accountability International *Sign-On Letter Text* Dear Governor Akinwunmi Ambode: We are organizations around the world committed to ensuring the human right to water is upheld and protected. We recently read with concern a statement from the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Léo Heller, regarding an environmental bill recently passed in Lagos. We were alarmed to discover this bill criminalizes unauthorized water abstraction and distribution, which a majority of Lagosians depend on to meet their daily drinking, bathing and cooking needs. We were equally alarmed to see that the bill prioritizes the payment of private contract and concession expenses before any other government expense, no matter how urgent. Having seen the unintended costs and harmful consequences of private water contracts and concessions elsewhere in the world, we are deeply concerned about the implications of this provision on the human rights and well-being of the people of Lagos. As such, we echo UN Special Rapporteur Heller’s plea to Lagos lawmakers to “reconsider the Bill and to conduct a proper and meaningful public consultation with all relevant stakeholders providing an adequate time for comments and opinions.” In addition, we are deeply concerned to see the Lagos State Water Corporation pursuing multiple concessions and other corporate contracts, including a 25-year concession for the Adiyan II project and a public private partnership (PPP) for the Odomola project. Based on many of our experiences in cities around the world, we know that PPPs and other privatization contracts often bring unexpected costs for cities, raise rates for consumers, and produce labor violations and infrastructure neglect. Given these concerns, we wish to express our profound hope that you will: ● Do everything in your power to halt the implementation of the damaging environment bill recently passed by the Assembly. ● Withdraw current efforts to secure corporate concessions and contracts in the water sector. ● Commit to public funding of water and ensure robust and accountable democratic process for implementing any legislation relating to water and sanitation. In conclusion, we are eager to see your administration commit to ensuring the human right to water through a democratic, public system. Your leadership on water will not only ensure all Lagosians can access clean, safe water -- it will also set an example for all of us around the world. Sincerely, cc: Dr. Samuel Babatunde Adejare, Honourable Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of the Environment Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly Hon. Dayo Saka Fafunmi, Chairman , House Committee on Environment, Lagos State House of Assembly -- -------- Shayda Edwards Naficy Director International Water Campaign Corporate Accountability International 10 Milk Street, Suite 610, Boston, MA 02108 Work Cell: 857-413-6258 <085741%2036258> Main: 617-695-2525; Fax: 617-695-2626 snaficy(a)StopCorporateAbuse.org www.StopCorporateAbuse.org <http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/> *Donate today to challenge corporate abuse! <https://org.salsalabs.com/o/2215/p/salsa/donation/common/public/?donate_pag…>* 4-star Charity Navigator Rating <http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=6179#.U0…> _______________________________________________ waterjustice mailing list waterjustice(a)lists.tni.org https://lists.tni.org/mailman/listinfo/waterjustice -- join me on twitter @willyindia Resist Globalisation Combat Communalism Defend Democracy <http://www.insafindia.com> _______________________________________________ CommonGood Mailingliste JPBerlin - Politischer Provider CommonGood(a)listi.jpberlin.de https://listi.jpberlin.de/mailman/listinfo/commongood -- 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: Invitation: Spring 2017 Lecture Series Global Commons
by Michel Bauwens 03 Mar '17

03 Mar '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kathleen Mouling <kathleen.mouling(a)kuleuven.be> Date: Fri, Mar 3, 2017 at 4:54 PM Subject: Invitation: Spring 2017 Lecture Series Global Commons To: *pologies for cross-posting* The Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies (GGS) Kindly Invites You to the Spring 2017 Lecture Series Global Commons *Interdisciplinary Approaches to Global Commons and Global Public Goods* The Spring 2017 high-level lecture series is organised by GGS’ Centre of Excellence Research Programme ‘Global Governance and Democratic Government’. It draws together leading academic voices from the fields of history, political theory, international law and political science under the same thematic focus on (global) commons and (global) public goods: What difference does it make to express and frame policy challenges in the light of one concept or the other? What kind of cooperation and governance schemes do these concepts imply? Is it possible to extrapolate such schemes to the global level? At play in these discussions is the role of both (global) commons and (global) public goods as new models of governance. *Tine De Moor (University of Utrecht), From Local to Global: A History of the Commons* Monday 13 March 2017, 18:00-20:00, Faculty of Law, Auditory DV1 91.56 *Pierre Sauvêtre (Sophiapol, Paris X), Commons and the State: Je t’aime… Moi non plus?* Wednesday 29 March 2017, 16:00-18:00, Higher Institute for Philosophy, HIW 0020 – Aula A *Neil Walker (University of Edinburgh), Francqui Lecture, The Rudiments of Political Community: European Public Goods and the European Public Good* Tuesday 18 April 2017, 13:00-14:30, Faculty of Law, DV1 91.56 *Jutta Brunnée (University of Toronto), Global Commons and International Law: Common Areas, Common Heritage, Common Concern or Something More?* Tuesday 2 May 2017, 18:00-20:00, Faculty of Law, Auditory DV1 91.54 *Ugo Mattei (Hastings College of Law, University of California), The Ecology of International Law: Towards an International Legal System in Tune with Nature and Community?* Thursday 4 May 2017, 18:00-20:00, Faculty of Law, Auditory DV1 01.56 *Julian Culp (Goethe University, Frankfurt), Education as a Global Public Good: What Difference Does It Make?* Monday 8 May 2017, 14:00-16:00, Higher Institute for Philosophy, Raadzaal, Leuven *Thomas Bernauer (ETH Zurich), Climate Policies and Regulation as Global Public Goods: Does Effectiveness Trump Legitimacy? * Monday 15 May 2017, 11:00-13:00, Faculty of Law, Auditory DV3 01.19 *Jan Aart Scholte (University of Gothenburg), Global Commons and Global Public Goods: Two Models for Global Democracy* Wednesday 24 May 2017, 18:00-20:00, Faculty of Law, Auditory DV1 91.54 *We kindly request you to register here <http://globalgovernancestudies.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=740d45e15…>* *For more information on the lecture series, please click **here <http://globalgovernancestudies.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=740d45e15…>** or email nils.vanstappen(a)kuleuven.be <nils.vanstappen(a)kuleuven.be>. * -- 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: [members] Open letter to EU policy-makers on sustaining Community Networks
by Michel Bauwens 03 Mar '17

03 Mar '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Melanie Dulong de Rosnay <melanie.ddr(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Mar 3, 2017 at 7:39 PM Subject: [members] Open letter to EU policy-makers on sustaining Community Networks To: P2PValue Project Members List <members(a)lists.p2pvalue.eu>, commonswatch(a)lists.p2pfoundation.net, p2p-foundation(a)lists.ourproject.org, nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it // Apologies for cross-posting - Read online: http://netcommons.eu/?q=content/letter-eu-policy-makers- making-regulation-work-community-networks // Dear all, After many discussions with many European Community Networks (CNs), researchers from the netCommons <http://netcommons.eu/> project on network infrastucture as a commons are happy to present a draft open letter on "policy recommendations for sustaining Community Networks". The letter is targeted at European policy-makers, who recently started working on an overhaul of the telecom regulatory framework. https://lqdn.co-ment.com/text/Rl42W44XAc6/view/ This letter, drafted in collaboration with several European CNs and advocacy groups, is meant to offer a collective voice to this growing movement. *Until March 8th*, we would like to collect signatures from as many European CNs as possible, as well as other supporting organizations (from Europe and beyond, be they advocacy groups, research projects, non-profits, SMEs, local authorities, etc.). After this consultation period and the collection of signatures, we would like to send the letter to members of EU Parliament, national delegations at the Council of the EU, as well as to key officials from the EU Commission. Several outcomes can be expected, including: - The publication of a joint press release by all signatories to disseminate the open letter as widely as possible (by the end of March). - Proposals for amendments reflecting the recommendations of this open letter, to be sent to key members of the EU Parliament before the first crucial vote on the Telecoms Package in late April. - A policy workshop to be organized later this year in Brussels. Of course, all of these potential outcomes will depend upon the involvement of signatory organizations, and in particular of the willingness of CNs to work together. But first, we are sharing the draft to a wider circle of CNs and other people interested in their activities for consultation and potential amendments to the text. Until March 8th, you can read and comment on the draft letter, offer corrections and suggest changes or additions by using co-ment, an online tool for collaborative writing: Please read and comment on the open letter. If and when you agree to sign the letter, *please send the name of your organization, the country where it is based and its high-resolution logo at: advocacy(a)netcommons.eu* (note that if your signature is dependent on the response brought to a specific comment you have made, please be sure to tag comment as "blocking"). Thanks, Melanie Dulong de Rosnay Institute of Communication Sciences (CNRS - Paris Sorbonne University) http://www.iscc.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article1558 Partner of netCommons project on network infrastructure as a commons http://netcommons.eu/ ========Text of the open letter========== OPEN LETTER TO EU POLICY-MAKERS: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SUSTAINING COMMUNITY NETWORKS PREAMBLE We represent European Community Networks, a growing movement of organizations that operate local communication infrastructures, sometimes federated at the regional or national levels. These networks, most of which also provide access to the global Internet, are operated as a commons. That is, rather than being driven by for-profit motives, our key focus is on providing connectivity while striving for democratic governance, social inclusion, education, and human rights with respect to communication technologies. Our organizations vary considerably in terms of sizes, types of network infrastructures and political cultures. Yet, despite this diversity, we are united by the common objective to build networks that meet the communication needs of humans (rather than those of objects and machines), through networks that are built and run by our communities, for our communities, focused on local empowerment, affordability and resiliency. Today, we collectively provide broadband connectivity not only to tens of thousands of individual European citizens and residents, but also to organizations including small and medium sized companies, schools, healthcare centers, social projects and many more. In many cases, we have out-competed mainstream operators, by providing cheaper and faster Internet connectivity than incumbent players. Thanks to our infrastructure and through our various activities, we foster scientific and engineering experiments, we help local hosting and service providers come together to mutualise investments and share costs, we support digital literacy and data sovereignty through workshops and other educational activities. Yet, despite our achievements, policy-makers at the national and European levels have so far mostly neglected our existence and specific regulatory needs. Worse, regulation is often hampering our initiatives, making the work of our participants and volunteers harder than it should be. This is why, as you start working on a European code of electronic communications, we decided to contact you and voice our ideas and recommendations regarding the future of the legal and policy framework regulating our activities. 1. Lifting unnecessary regulatory and financial burdens We first ask you to review the regulatory framework and get rid of unnecessary regulatory burdens, such as fees or red-tape that are unnecessary or illegitimate when imposed on small non-profit entities. In Belgium for instance, the registration fee that telecom operators must pay to the NRA is at 676€ for the first registration, plus 557€ every following year (for those whose revenues are below 1M€, which is the case for many community networks). Even such small fees can hinder the growth of small networks that efficiently serve tens of households. In France, Spain and Germany, it is free, which might explain why the community network movement is much more dynamic in these countries. The proposed code for electronic communications aims to harmonize procedures for declaration fees (first registration) as well as administrative charges (annual fees). EU lawmakers must ensure that the fees and charges imposed by national NRAs are null or negligible for non-profit ISPs and micro and small businesses. Likewise, taxes designed for large corporate firms in the telecom sectors should not apply to smaller, non-profit operators. 2. Getting rid of third-party liability when sharing Internet access Several laws seek to prevent the sharing of Internet connections amongst several users by making people responsible (and potentially liable) for all communication made through their Wi-Fi connection, and create legal risks for people sharing their connection. In Germany, rights-holders have used a "secondary liability" doctrine to chill the growth of the community networks movement. In France too, copyright law imposes a secondary liability regime that creates significant legal uncertainty for people sharing their network connections with other users. The so-called "mere conduit", inscribed in EU law since 2000 in the directive on the information society, needs to be guaranteed and expanded to small-area wireless access points. In the same spirit, contract clauses that forbid subscribers to share their connections with others should be prohibited. Promoting a right to share Internet connections is all the more vital considering the economic and ecological crises, as well as the rapid increase of populations that cannot afford access to the Internet. In this context, connection sharing can play a critical role in fostering a more equitable and sustainable use of telecommunications infrastructure. 3. Expanding the spectrum commons It is not just Internet wireless access points that can be shared, but also the intangible infrastructure on which radio signals travel. Wi-Fi, as an unlicensed portion of the spectrum and therefore a commons, is a key asset for community networks willing to set up affordable and flexible last-mile infrastructure. However, these Wi-Fi frequency bands are currently very limited. Not only are they getting increasingly subject to congestion in densely populated areas, they are also exposed to new technical standards that use the so-called ISM frequency band (like LTE-U) that hamper the reliability of Wi-Fi communications. Last but not least, existing frequency bands for Wi-Fi (5,6 Ghz and 2,4 Ghz) have physical constraints that prevent them for being used for longer radio links. In the face of such challenges, a new approach to spectrum policy is needed. Policy-makers should expand unlicensed Wi-Fi bands. Two other types of frequencies should also be made available either on an unlicensed (preferred scenario) or, if not possible, based on affordable and flexible authorization schemes: so-called white spaces in lower frequencies (which allow for cheap and resilient long-distance links) and the 12Ghz and the 60Ghz bands (for which radio equipment is affordable and which can help us build high-bandwidth point-to-point radio links). Once made accessible to community networks, these frequency bands will help these networks roll-out and expand cheap and resilient wireless infrastructures. 4. Updating open-access rules in telecom infrastructures Networks built with taxpayers money should also be treated as a commons and, as such, remain free from corporate capture. Today, their management and exploitation is often delegated by public authorities to corporate network operators. These entities usually adopt aggressive pricing schemes designed for incumbent players that make it extremely costly for small access providers to interconnect with these networks. Access to these publicly-funded networks for non-profit entities like community networks as well as small businesses should be guaranteed, at a reasonable and proportionate cost. Similarly, community networks often cannot have access to the private local infrastructures of incumbent players, despite the fact that these are the only way to connect willing subscribers. Indeed, in many European markets, the deployment of optical fiber networks is (re)creating monopolistic conditions on local loops through pricing schemes which preclude small actors from accessing these private networks. Policy-makers and regulators should ensure that every area is covered by at least one telecom operator with a so-called "bitstream" offer affordable for smaller players. 5. Protecting free software and user freedom in radio equipment In 2014, the European Union adopted Directive 2014/53 on radio equipment. Although the Directive pursues sound policy goals, it might actually impair the development of community networks. Indeed, community networks usually need to replace the software included by the manufacturer in radio hardware with free and open source software especially designed to suit their needs, a collective process that improves security and encourages the recycling of hardware, among other benefits. Article 3.3 of the said Directive creates legal pressure for manufacturers of radio devices to ensure the compliance of the software loaded on these devices with the European regulatory framework. As a result, there is a strong incentive for manufacturers to lock down their devices and prevent third-party modifications of the hardware. We therefore ask policy-makers to provide a general exception for all free software installed on radio devices by third-parties (the latter being liable if their software lead to violations of the regulatory framework), so that users' rights are safeguarded. 6. Abrogating blanket data retention obligations Community networks strive to safeguard human rights in communication networks, and in particular the right to privacy and the confidentiality of communication. While we welcome recent rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union holding that indiscriminate retention of metadata violates the Charter of Fundamental Rights, we are concerned about several member states' willingness to circumvent these rulings to protect capabilities for indiscriminate surveillance. As EU lawmakers start discussing the overhaul of the ePrivacy Directive, we call on them to oppose any blanket data retention obligations and close existing loopholes in EU law to ensure that only targeted and limited retention obligations can be imposed on hosting and access providers. 7. Bringing direct and targeted public support Countless other policy initiatives can help support community networks and the associated significant benefits they bring, such as small grants, crowd-funding and subsidies to help our groups buy servers and radio equipment, communicate around their initiative, giving them access to public infrastructures (for instance, the roof of a public building to install an antenna), but also to support their research on radio transmission, routing methods, software or encryption. As many local authorities have found, supporting community networks is a sound policy option. As EU lawmakers move forward on the WiFi4EU initiative, we would like to remind you that we have pioneered various models for the provision of free public access points. We believe that public money invested in this initiative should primarily go to groups pursuing a bottom-up logic, seeding local groups that can foster the empowerment and cohesion of local communities, nurture competition, and meet the same policy-objectives at a fraction of the cost that would be charged by mainstream telecom operators. 8. Opening the policy-making process to Community Networks Although we have often partnered with municipalities and local public authorities, we ask that national and European regulators pay more attention to our activities when drafting regulation. Community networks have both the expertise and legitimacy to take an integral part in technical and legal debates over broadband policy in which traditional, commercial ISPs are over-represented. Community networks can bring an informed view to these debates, allowing for a policy-making process more attuned to the public interest. We thank you for your attention and very much look forward to engaging with you on these important issues, First signatories (EU-based community networks) Aquilenet (France) Franciliens.net (France) Freifunk Hamburg (Germany) (Incoming) Supporting organizations (advocacy groups, research projects, public authorities, SMEs, etc.) La Quadrature du Net (Incoming) For any inquiry regarding this open letter, write to: advocacy(a)netcommons.eu http://netcommons.eu/?q=content/letter-eu-policy- makers-making-regulation-work-community-networks -- 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: Commonsday: Commons and DiEM 25 – please share!
by Michel Bauwens 01 Mar '17

01 Mar '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nicole LEONARD <nicole.leonard(a)sciencespo.fr> Date: Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 3:03 PM Subject: Commonsday: Commons and DiEM 25 – please share! To: commonswatch(a)lists.p2pfoundation.net Hi all, Today Wednesday March 1 is the last Wednesday Commonsday. The video of our conversation on DiEM25 is featured on our website: http://europeancommonsassembly.eu. It would be great if you could also please share it on your blogs and networks to create a buzz. YouTube link: https://youtu.be/EJZvz09LVa4 Here is the main pad with links to material that you can share and repost: a summary text, additional links, and quotes. https://europeancommonsassembl y.hackpad.com/Material-for-DIEM-25-March-1-TLfAVo6x6uZ We need your help with ideas for relevant organizations and individuals to tweet at – you can add them to the bottom of this pad, under DiEm 25: https://europeancommonsassembly.hackpad.com/Twitter-lists-pw0ocNe3szY Our European Commons Assembly Twitter handle is @CommonsAssembly. Thanks to you all, let's make the last Commonsday great and promote the commons! Nicole and Cecile -- 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: 3 post-doc positions for research on the commons
by Michel Bauwens 01 Mar '17

01 Mar '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Priscilla Claeys <prisclaeys(a)yahoo.fr> Date: Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 5:27 PM Subject: 3 post-doc positions for research on the commons To: commonswatch(a)lists.p2pfoundation.net Dear academic friends, The following openings might be of interest to some of you. Best, Priscilla Subject*:* post-doc positions for research on the commons Job postings (3 post-doc positions in 3 different countries) for a research project led by University of Thessalonike. https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/184282 <https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/184282> <https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/184282> <https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/184282>Priscilla Claeys Senior Research Fellow in Food Sovereignty, Human Rights and Resilience Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) Coventry University Phone: +32470368209 <+32%20470%2036%2082%2009> (Belgium) and +447557 425259 <+44%207557%20425259> (UK) Skype: sophiepascale https://uclouvain.academia.edu/priscillaclaeys My latest book: Human Rights and the Food Sovereignty Movement. Reclaiming Control (Routledge, 2015). <https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/184282> <http://www.facebook.com/CovUnity2017/> <https://twitter.com/CovUnity2017> -- 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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