January 2018 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Networked Cities as Resilient Platforms for Post-Capitalist Transition
by Michel Bauwens 26 Jan '18

26 Jan '18

This is a really brilliant overview of commons urbanism , with real production, trends by Kevin Carson, you in cc are all liberally cited, as is my own work and I very much like the way Kevin Carson uses the partner state to bridge it with the more libertarian vision of associationism or federative governance, really a must read Networked Cities as Resilient Platforms for Post-Capitalist Transition <https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Networked_Cities_as_Resilient_Platforms_for_…> <https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Networked_Cities_as_Resilient_Platforms_for_…> ** Report: Libertarian Municipalism: Networked Cities as Resilient Platforms for Post-Capitalist Transition. By Kevin Carson, C4SS (Center for a Stateless Society), 2017* URL = https://c4ss.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/community-platforms.pdf Description[edit <https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/index.php?title=Networked_Cities_as_Resilien…> ] "Peak Oil (and other fossil fuels) is creating pressure to shorten global supply and distribution chains. At the same time, the shift in advantage from military technologies for power projection to technologies for area denial means that the imperial costs of enforcing a globalized economic system of outsourced production under the legal control of Western capital are becoming prohibitive. The same technological trends that are reducing the total need for labor also, in many cases, make direct production for use in the informal, social and household economies much more economically feasible. Cheap open-source CNC machine tools, networked information and digital platforms, Permaculture and community gardens, alternative currencies and mutual credit systems, all reduce the scale of feasible production for many goods to the household, multiple household and neighborhood levels, and similarly reduce the capital outlays required for directly producing consumption needs to a scale within the means of such groupings. Put all these trends together, and we see the old model of secure livelihood through wages collapsing at the same time new technology is destroying the material basis for dependence on corporations and the state. But like all transitions, this is a transition not only from something, but to something. That something bears a more than passing resemblance to the libertarian communist future Pyotr Kropotkin described in The Conquest of Bread and Fields, Factories and Workshops: the relocalization of most economic functions into mixed agricultural/industrial villages, the control of production by those directly engaged in it, and a fading of the differences between town and country, work and leisure, and brain-work and muscle-work. *In this paper, we will examine the emerging distributed and commons-based economy, as a base for* post-capitalist transition, at three levels: the micro-village and other forms of cohousing/co-production, the city or town as a unit, and regional and global federations of cities*."* Excerpt[edit <https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/index.php?title=Networked_Cities_as_Resilien…> ] Kevin Carson: "In particular, it is to a large extent a transition to a post-capitalist society centered on the commons. As Michel Bauwens puts it, the commons paradigm replaces the traditional Social Democratic paradigm in which value is created in the “private” (i.e. corporate) sector through commodity labor, and a portion of this value is redistributed by the state and by labor unions, to one in which value is cocreated within the social commons outside the framework of wage labor and the cash nexus, and the process of value creation is governed by the co-creators themselves. Because of the technological changes entailed in what Bauwens calls “cosmo-local” production (physical production that's primarily local, using relatively small-scale facilities, for local consumption, but using a global information commons freely available to all localities), the primary level of organization of this commons-based society will be local. Cosmo-local (DGML = Design Local, Manufacture Local) production is governed by the following principles: • Protocol cooperativism: the underlying immaterial and algorithmic protocols are shared and open source, using copyfair principles (free sharing of knowledge, but commercialization conditioned by reciprocity) • Open cooperativism: the commons-based coops are distinguished from ‘collective capitalism’ by their commitment to creating and expanding common goods for the whole of society; in Platform coops it is the platforms themselves that are the commons, needed to enable and manage the exchanges that may be needed, while protecting it from capture by extractive netarchical platforms • Open and contributive accounting: fair distribution mechanisms that recognize all contributions • Open and shared supply chains for mutual coordination • Non-dominium forms of ownership (the means of production are held in common for the benefit of all participants in the eco-system." -- 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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Re: [P2P-F] My review (bauwens) of Alex Foti's General Theory of the Precariat
by Michel Bauwens 26 Jan '18

26 Jan '18

hi alex, very happy to engage, and I fully understand the legitimacy of your strategic choices, though your vision of a successful new new deal is also a sign of optimism in itself .... I agree we have to fight for it this is a very good overiview of the other polarity, I think at the p2p foundation, we are somewhere in between, even as we are very liberally cited in this overview of commons-based relocalization: https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Networked_Cities_as_Resilient_Platforms_for_… On Fri, Jan 26, 2018 at 10:34 AM, Alex Foti <alex.foti(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Dear Michel, Dear Friends, > > a trillion thanks for this thoughtful and appreciative review. i look > forward to co-developing a veritable post-capitalist strategy by embodying > the commons-based approach and i find your criticism of an excessive > capitalist realism justified (lost a few nights' sleep about it, but i am > very fearful of cryptofascist reaction, and think we can force liberal > capitalism into a social compromise - which you're right would make funding > and reclaiming the commons a central feature of society - and also i guess > i wanted to avoid excessive utopianism given that current historical > reality is so dystopian). again thanks for taking the time to read and > engage with the book's arguments. > > best milanese ciaos, > > lx > > On Fri, Jan 26, 2018 at 9:25 AM, Michel Bauwens <michel(a)p2pfoundation.net> > wrote: > >> see also link here at https://wiki.p2pfoundation. >> net/General_Theory_of_the_Precariat#Evaluation >> >> "This book is essential reading for all commoners that want to think >> through the right strategy for social change. It squarely places itself >> from the point of few of the new social groups (or class in formation, as >> Foti would have it) that have grown under the conditions of neoliberalism >> and its decline, or in other words under the emergence of cognitive >> capitalism or 'informationalism'. This key group are the various >> constituent parts of the precariat, all the people who can no longer work >> with dependable classic labor contracts and the steady income and >> protection deriving from it. >> >> This book should be read through its end, i.e. chapter five, because its >> first four chapters on the precariat are only set in a more complex >> geopolitical context in that last chapter. To be honest, I was quite >> reactive at times during the reading of the first four chapters, because >> two very important structural elements were missing in his analysis. First >> is the commons itself, the other side of the antagonistic struggles of the >> precariat; and second is the ecological crisis, the very material >> conditions under which this struggle must occur today. Foti indeed calls >> for economic and monetary growth, and sounds like an unabashed >> neo-Keynesian but only in the last chapter stresses that this growth should >> be thermodynamically sound (i.e. he calls for monetary growth, but not >> growth in material services). Foti also almost completely ignores the role >> of the commons and 'commonalism' in the first four chapters, only >> acknowledging in a few parts of chapter 5, that it is a vital constituent >> part of the precarious condition. If you don't read chapter 5, you could be >> mistaken for seeing Foti's analysis as an exercise in re-imagining the >> class dynamics and compromises of the New Deal and post-WWII european >> welfare states, and has simply replaced working class with precariat, >> working class parties with social populism, and the New Deal with a social >> compact for green capitalism. >> >> So, the fact that this is a remarkably thought out book about >> contemporary strategy for social change, should be tempered by a few >> paradoxes that the author has not completely resolved. >> >> Indeed at the heart of the book lies also an enduring paradox: Foti calls >> for the most radical forms of conflict, and identifies with the more >> radical cultural minorities, acknowledging their anticapitalist and >> anarchist ethos, yet calls for mere reformism as a focus and outcome. This >> is therefore not a book about transforming our societies to post-capitalist >> logics, this is a book about a new reformism. This is a book against >> neoliberalism, not against capitalism. At times, it is plain 'capitalist >> realism', as Foti explicitly acknowledges he sees no dynamic value creation >> outside of capitalism. For Foti, it is clear, if sufficient conflict and >> precariat self-organisation can occur, then a new regulation of capitalism >> can occur. He justifies this by a detailed analysis of the different >> regulatory modes of capitalism (smith-ism, fordism, jobs-ism) and how they >> relate to the kondratieff economic cycles, drawing on the insights of >> Carlota Perez and others. Foti distinguishes crises of demand, where there >> is too much accumulation of capital, and not enough distribution. These >> crises he says, are essentially reformist crises, as people mobilize to >> restore balance in the redistribution, but not against the system per se. >> The crisis of the 30's and the crisis after 2008, are such crises, he in my >> view convincingly shows. Other crises are caused by a failing supply, due >> to over-regulation of capital and falling profit rates, such as the crisis >> of the 70s, and these crises, which are inflationary, are revolutionary. >> This distinction between crises of accumulation and crises of regulation, >> is in my opinion very insightful, and true. This recognition may of course >> be troubling, but if true, we have to take serious stock of it. We are >> simply not in revolutionary times, right now, but rather in a struggle >> between national populism and social populism. From this analysis, Foti >> then argues that the first priority is for the precariat to re-regulate for >> a distribution of wealth, much like the old working class achieved after >> WWII. >> >> But even if we acknowledge this conjuncture, I would argue that Foti >> insufficiently balances his outlook between reforming capitalism and >> constructing post-capitalism, beween antagonistic conflict and positive >> construction of the new. He argues that without income, there can be no >> such construction. This is very likely true, so we need to rebalance >> redistribution, in a way that income growth can lead to immaterial growth >> that is compatible with the ecological limits of our planet, and use these >> surpluses to transform societal structures. Foti calls for social (or 'eco' >> populist movements and coalitions as the political means to that end, >> pointing to Podemos and En Comu, and perhaps Sanders and Corbyn, as such >> forces, supported by to be created Precariat Syndicates. He also puts >> forward the thesis that the enemy is national populism, an alliance between >> retrograde fossil fuel capitalism and the salariat, with on the other side >> a possible alliance of green capitalism (a real effort not a marketing >> ploy) with the precariat, with the former fighting for top-down coalition >> and the second for bottom-up regulation. This division of the working class >> is in my view way too stark, and perhaps even defeatist. I would very >> strongly argue to seek alliances and develop policies that can give hope to >> the salariat. The thrust of our work for the Commons Transition aims at >> precisely that. (elsewhere in the book, Foti does call for an alliance with >> progressive middle classes, but if these are not the workers with jobs, >> where are these then ?) >> >> Now Foti correctly critiques in my view, people like Mason and Rifkin for >> failing to problematize the post-capitalist transition, they make it seem >> like an inexorable process if not affirming that we are already >> post-capitalist, as some others do, but in my view then in his turn he >> fails to pay proper attention to it. What if the re-regulation of >> capitalism doesn't work for example ? Then at some point, say in about 30 >> years, as Kondratieff cycles would indicate, we would still face a crisis >> of over-regulation, and a more revolutionary moment. For Foti, we have to >> take it on faith that green capitalism will be a successful new regulatory >> mode of capitalism. What if it turns out to be a unworkable compromise and >> that more drastic action is needed. But Foti has no faith in alternatives >> to capitalism, which means that the only alternatives would then be >> eco-fascism as a new feudalism with only consumption for the rich, lifeboat >> eco-hacking, a situation akin to that of medieval communes, or dictatorial >> eco-maoism, say Cuba on a global scale. >> >> Contra this 'capitalist realism', our contention at the P2P Foundation is >> that post-capitalism is both necessary and possible, even if we recognize >> that today is a possible reformist moment in that evolution/transformation. >> In that context, the construction of seed forms, the recognition of other >> forms of value creation (which can be monetized!), of other forms of >> self-organization is absolutely a vital side of the coin in the dialectic >> of construction and conflict. Foti seems to forget that the traditional >> working class did not simply 'fight', but constructed cooperatives (both >> consumer coosp and producer coops), unions, parties, mutualities and many >> fraternal/sororal organizations. The very generalization of the welfare >> system was an extension by means of the state, of the solidarity mechanism >> of the working class, which had taken decades to develop. Also vitally, the >> identity itself of the working class was not just as a part of capitalism, >> but as a movement for another type of society, whether that was expressed >> through socialism, social-democracy, anarchism, and other variants. When >> that hope was lost terminally, that was also the end of the strength and >> identify of working class movements. There can be no offensive social >> strategy without a strong social imaginary, and mere reformist designs >> won’t do. So commonalism is not just something that we do when we come home >> from work, or tired from our conflictual organizing against an enemy from >> whom we want mere redistribution. On the contrary, it is vital part of the >> class formation and identity, this is why we stress our identity not just >> as precariat, which is a negative formulation that characterizes us as the >> weaker victims of the capitalist class, but as commoners, the multitude of >> co-constructors of viable futures that correspond to contemporary >> emancipatory desires. We cannot just trust green capitalism, we vitally >> need to build thermodynamically sound and mutualized provisioning systems >> as commons even if we have to compromise with capitalism. Post-capitalism >> should not be essentialized as something occuring 'after the revolution', >> but as an ongoing process, dynamically inter-linked with political >> self-organizing and conflict. Foti in this book, is only really good at >> conflict. Even if we look at conflict, I would argue that the strength of >> the reformist compromise after WWII was very much linked to the fear of the >> however flawed alternative that existed, and that the forms of compromise >> were the result of decades of invention of new forms. >> >> If we take that view, then I believe the contradiction in Foti's book can >> be resolved. Indeed in that case we do not have to ask the radical >> precariat to give up it's values for a reformist compromise, but to >> productively combine radically transformative post-capitalist practice. >> >> There is another issue with Foti's book. He very much stresses the >> superdiversity of the precariat, and the key role of gender and >> race/migration unity in their struggles. He also mentions en passant the >> need for a potential eurasian alignment between Europe and China , now that >> the Atlantic unity has been broken by Trump. But , at the same time, this >> is really a very eurocentric book, calling for a new compromise in Europe >> and 'advanced western states'. Obviously, since in the Global South it is >> the salariat and proletariat which is growing, there is a theoretical >> difficulty here. But what if a thermo-dynamically sound economy would >> require a cosmo-localization of our global economy, as we contend at the >> P2P Foundation, combining global sharing of knowledge with substantial >> relocalization of physical production (as even big bank reports now >> recognize) ? Only if we recognize this, can we actually have a new global >> view of solidarity, as both elements benefit workers, salaried and >> precarious, in the whole world. >> >> So, in conclusion, I find Foti's book to be an excellent first half of a >> book, which would have been much better and sound, if it had more >> extensively struggled with the commons equation of the precariat. The >> commons is not something we do 'afterwards' , after a successful New Green >> Deal, it is is something that is as ongoing and vital. Theoretically, in a >> few paragraphs at the end of the book, Foti seems to recognize it, but it >> is not integrated in his strategic vision, or only marginally. >> >> Readers who miss this aspect, could look at the ten years of research and >> analysis we have conducted on that other half of the equation, at the P2P >> Foundation. We may have the other weakness though, and in fact we purposely >> have focused not on the conflict part, which is the natural inclination of >> the left and needs no help, but in pointing out how any self-organization, >> and construction of the commons, which inevitable comes with conflict, is >> just an essential part of the programmatic alternatives of the precariat. >> Not just as proposals of electoral parties and syndicates, but as >> expressions of actual practice. Our orientation is to try to achieve a >> greater understanding by emancipatory forces, of both the salariat, the >> precariat, and progressive entrepreneurial groups, of the importance of >> integrating the commons as a programmatic element in their struggles, and >> their proposals. We will probably stick to this bias towards the >> constructive side of the equation, tempered by a full awareness that this >> is by itself insuffient, and requires the kind of understanding of >> struggle, and its attendant strategies, as provided by Foti. >> >> In conclusion, Foti's enduring quality is to have worked out >> systematically, what the conflict part of the equation entails, and that is >> a very important achievement. Bearing in mind what we think is missing in >> this book, there is much to be learned, and I believe the different >> perspectives and different weaknesses in the approaches of people like Foti >> and the P2P Foundation (and other) commons-centric approaches, there is >> room for a lot of convergence and mutual enrichment." >> >> -- >> 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/ >> > > -- 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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My review (bauwens) of Alex Foti's General Theory of the Precariat
by Michel Bauwens 26 Jan '18

26 Jan '18

see also link here at https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/General_Theory_of_the_Precariat#Evaluation "This book is essential reading for all commoners that want to think through the right strategy for social change. It squarely places itself from the point of few of the new social groups (or class in formation, as Foti would have it) that have grown under the conditions of neoliberalism and its decline, or in other words under the emergence of cognitive capitalism or 'informationalism'. This key group are the various constituent parts of the precariat, all the people who can no longer work with dependable classic labor contracts and the steady income and protection deriving from it. This book should be read through its end, i.e. chapter five, because its first four chapters on the precariat are only set in a more complex geopolitical context in that last chapter. To be honest, I was quite reactive at times during the reading of the first four chapters, because two very important structural elements were missing in his analysis. First is the commons itself, the other side of the antagonistic struggles of the precariat; and second is the ecological crisis, the very material conditions under which this struggle must occur today. Foti indeed calls for economic and monetary growth, and sounds like an unabashed neo-Keynesian but only in the last chapter stresses that this growth should be thermodynamically sound (i.e. he calls for monetary growth, but not growth in material services). Foti also almost completely ignores the role of the commons and 'commonalism' in the first four chapters, only acknowledging in a few parts of chapter 5, that it is a vital constituent part of the precarious condition. If you don't read chapter 5, you could be mistaken for seeing Foti's analysis as an exercise in re-imagining the class dynamics and compromises of the New Deal and post-WWII european welfare states, and has simply replaced working class with precariat, working class parties with social populism, and the New Deal with a social compact for green capitalism. So, the fact that this is a remarkably thought out book about contemporary strategy for social change, should be tempered by a few paradoxes that the author has not completely resolved. Indeed at the heart of the book lies also an enduring paradox: Foti calls for the most radical forms of conflict, and identifies with the more radical cultural minorities, acknowledging their anticapitalist and anarchist ethos, yet calls for mere reformism as a focus and outcome. This is therefore not a book about transforming our societies to post-capitalist logics, this is a book about a new reformism. This is a book against neoliberalism, not against capitalism. At times, it is plain 'capitalist realism', as Foti explicitly acknowledges he sees no dynamic value creation outside of capitalism. For Foti, it is clear, if sufficient conflict and precariat self-organisation can occur, then a new regulation of capitalism can occur. He justifies this by a detailed analysis of the different regulatory modes of capitalism (smith-ism, fordism, jobs-ism) and how they relate to the kondratieff economic cycles, drawing on the insights of Carlota Perez and others. Foti distinguishes crises of demand, where there is too much accumulation of capital, and not enough distribution. These crises he says, are essentially reformist crises, as people mobilize to restore balance in the redistribution, but not against the system per se. The crisis of the 30's and the crisis after 2008, are such crises, he in my view convincingly shows. Other crises are caused by a failing supply, due to over-regulation of capital and falling profit rates, such as the crisis of the 70s, and these crises, which are inflationary, are revolutionary. This distinction between crises of accumulation and crises of regulation, is in my opinion very insightful, and true. This recognition may of course be troubling, but if true, we have to take serious stock of it. We are simply not in revolutionary times, right now, but rather in a struggle between national populism and social populism. From this analysis, Foti then argues that the first priority is for the precariat to re-regulate for a distribution of wealth, much like the old working class achieved after WWII. But even if we acknowledge this conjuncture, I would argue that Foti insufficiently balances his outlook between reforming capitalism and constructing post-capitalism, beween antagonistic conflict and positive construction of the new. He argues that without income, there can be no such construction. This is very likely true, so we need to rebalance redistribution, in a way that income growth can lead to immaterial growth that is compatible with the ecological limits of our planet, and use these surpluses to transform societal structures. Foti calls for social (or 'eco' populist movements and coalitions as the political means to that end, pointing to Podemos and En Comu, and perhaps Sanders and Corbyn, as such forces, supported by to be created Precariat Syndicates. He also puts forward the thesis that the enemy is national populism, an alliance between retrograde fossil fuel capitalism and the salariat, with on the other side a possible alliance of green capitalism (a real effort not a marketing ploy) with the precariat, with the former fighting for top-down coalition and the second for bottom-up regulation. This division of the working class is in my view way too stark, and perhaps even defeatist. I would very strongly argue to seek alliances and develop policies that can give hope to the salariat. The thrust of our work for the Commons Transition aims at precisely that. (elsewhere in the book, Foti does call for an alliance with progressive middle classes, but if these are not the workers with jobs, where are these then ?) Now Foti correctly critiques in my view, people like Mason and Rifkin for failing to problematize the post-capitalist transition, they make it seem like an inexorable process if not affirming that we are already post-capitalist, as some others do, but in my view then in his turn he fails to pay proper attention to it. What if the re-regulation of capitalism doesn't work for example ? Then at some point, say in about 30 years, as Kondratieff cycles would indicate, we would still face a crisis of over-regulation, and a more revolutionary moment. For Foti, we have to take it on faith that green capitalism will be a successful new regulatory mode of capitalism. What if it turns out to be a unworkable compromise and that more drastic action is needed. But Foti has no faith in alternatives to capitalism, which means that the only alternatives would then be eco-fascism as a new feudalism with only consumption for the rich, lifeboat eco-hacking, a situation akin to that of medieval communes, or dictatorial eco-maoism, say Cuba on a global scale. Contra this 'capitalist realism', our contention at the P2P Foundation is that post-capitalism is both necessary and possible, even if we recognize that today is a possible reformist moment in that evolution/transformation. In that context, the construction of seed forms, the recognition of other forms of value creation (which can be monetized!), of other forms of self-organization is absolutely a vital side of the coin in the dialectic of construction and conflict. Foti seems to forget that the traditional working class did not simply 'fight', but constructed cooperatives (both consumer coosp and producer coops), unions, parties, mutualities and many fraternal/sororal organizations. The very generalization of the welfare system was an extension by means of the state, of the solidarity mechanism of the working class, which had taken decades to develop. Also vitally, the identity itself of the working class was not just as a part of capitalism, but as a movement for another type of society, whether that was expressed through socialism, social-democracy, anarchism, and other variants. When that hope was lost terminally, that was also the end of the strength and identify of working class movements. There can be no offensive social strategy without a strong social imaginary, and mere reformist designs won’t do. So commonalism is not just something that we do when we come home from work, or tired from our conflictual organizing against an enemy from whom we want mere redistribution. On the contrary, it is vital part of the class formation and identity, this is why we stress our identity not just as precariat, which is a negative formulation that characterizes us as the weaker victims of the capitalist class, but as commoners, the multitude of co-constructors of viable futures that correspond to contemporary emancipatory desires. We cannot just trust green capitalism, we vitally need to build thermodynamically sound and mutualized provisioning systems as commons even if we have to compromise with capitalism. Post-capitalism should not be essentialized as something occuring 'after the revolution', but as an ongoing process, dynamically inter-linked with political self-organizing and conflict. Foti in this book, is only really good at conflict. Even if we look at conflict, I would argue that the strength of the reformist compromise after WWII was very much linked to the fear of the however flawed alternative that existed, and that the forms of compromise were the result of decades of invention of new forms. If we take that view, then I believe the contradiction in Foti's book can be resolved. Indeed in that case we do not have to ask the radical precariat to give up it's values for a reformist compromise, but to productively combine radically transformative post-capitalist practice. There is another issue with Foti's book. He very much stresses the superdiversity of the precariat, and the key role of gender and race/migration unity in their struggles. He also mentions en passant the need for a potential eurasian alignment between Europe and China , now that the Atlantic unity has been broken by Trump. But , at the same time, this is really a very eurocentric book, calling for a new compromise in Europe and 'advanced western states'. Obviously, since in the Global South it is the salariat and proletariat which is growing, there is a theoretical difficulty here. But what if a thermo-dynamically sound economy would require a cosmo-localization of our global economy, as we contend at the P2P Foundation, combining global sharing of knowledge with substantial relocalization of physical production (as even big bank reports now recognize) ? Only if we recognize this, can we actually have a new global view of solidarity, as both elements benefit workers, salaried and precarious, in the whole world. So, in conclusion, I find Foti's book to be an excellent first half of a book, which would have been much better and sound, if it had more extensively struggled with the commons equation of the precariat. The commons is not something we do 'afterwards' , after a successful New Green Deal, it is is something that is as ongoing and vital. Theoretically, in a few paragraphs at the end of the book, Foti seems to recognize it, but it is not integrated in his strategic vision, or only marginally. Readers who miss this aspect, could look at the ten years of research and analysis we have conducted on that other half of the equation, at the P2P Foundation. We may have the other weakness though, and in fact we purposely have focused not on the conflict part, which is the natural inclination of the left and needs no help, but in pointing out how any self-organization, and construction of the commons, which inevitable comes with conflict, is just an essential part of the programmatic alternatives of the precariat. Not just as proposals of electoral parties and syndicates, but as expressions of actual practice. Our orientation is to try to achieve a greater understanding by emancipatory forces, of both the salariat, the precariat, and progressive entrepreneurial groups, of the importance of integrating the commons as a programmatic element in their struggles, and their proposals. We will probably stick to this bias towards the constructive side of the equation, tempered by a full awareness that this is by itself insuffient, and requires the kind of understanding of struggle, and its attendant strategies, as provided by Foti. In conclusion, Foti's enduring quality is to have worked out systematically, what the conflict part of the equation entails, and that is a very important achievement. Bearing in mind what we think is missing in this book, there is much to be learned, and I believe the different perspectives and different weaknesses in the approaches of people like Foti and the P2P Foundation (and other) commons-centric approaches, there is room for a lot of convergence and mutual enrichment." -- 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: [Perma-circular horizons] New blog post/ Nouvelle entrée du blog
by Michel Bauwens 23 Jan '18

23 Jan '18

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Christian Arnsperger <christian.arnsperger(a)unil.ch> Date: Mon, Jan 22, 2018 at 5:38 PM Subject: [Perma-circular horizons] New blog post/ Nouvelle entrée du blog To: Christian Arnsperger <christian.arnsperger(a)unil.ch> Hello, You will find the latest post on my blog, entitled “A talk on Los Angeles and the Swiss ‘Horizontal Metropolis'", by clicking on the following link: https://arnsperger-perma-circular.com/2018/01/22/a- talk-on-los-angeles-and-the-swiss-horizontal-metropolis/ Feel free to share it with anyone you think might be interested! Best regards, Christian Arnsperger ******************************************* Bonjour, Vous trouverez la dernière entrée en date de mon blog sous le titre “A talk on Los Angeles and the Swiss ‘Horizontal Metropolis'" en cliquant sur le lien suivant: https://arnsperger-perma-circular.com/2018/01/22/a- talk-on-los-angeles-and-the-swiss-horizontal-metropolis/ Semtez-vous libres de partager ce lien avec toute personne dont vous pensez qu’elle pourrait être intéressée! Bien cordialement, Christian Arnsperger ******************************************* Prof. Christian Arnsperger Director Institute of Geography and Sustainability Faculty of Geoscience and Environmental Studies University of Lausanne Geopolis building - office 3622 Mouline campus CH - 1015 Lausanne Switzerland E-mail: christian.arnsperger(a)unil.ch Phone: (+ 41) 21 692 43 31 Webpage: http://mesoscaphe.unil.ch/ChArnsperger/en/presentation/ “Perma-Circular Horizons” Blog: arnsperger-perma-circular.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/

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Fwd: Vivr Bien: Old Cosmologies and New Paradigms (GTN Discussion)
by Michel Bauwens 23 Jan '18

23 Jan '18

good overview of the evolution of the buen vivir debates ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Great Transition Network <gtnetwork(a)greattransition.org> Date: Mon, Jan 22, 2018 at 8:01 PM Subject: Vivr Bien: Old Cosmologies and New Paradigms (GTN Discussion) To: michelsub2004(a)gmail.com >From Eduardo Gudynas <egudynas(a)gmail.com> ------------------------------------------------------- This is a brief commentary regarding Pablo Solon’s paper on Buen Vivir. First, I would like to start by acknowledging that as this is an idea in the making, a collective endeavor, different political actors present their own views on Buen Vivir. Solon’s paper could be considered as part of those efforts, particularly in the context of some present-day debates in Bolivia. Second, on the other hand, it could be useful to depict something like a landscape of different approaches to Buen Vivir and examples of key ideas under consideration. The original or early understandings of Buen Vivir were a product of what one could call a mixing or plural exercise. The core components of the idea started in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador in the late 1990s; due to political conditions, that path was blocked in Peru, but continued in Ecuador and Bolivia at the time of the arrival of the new left governments. In the case of Bolivia, it is quite clear that few individuals promote the idea, while in Ecuador, it was more a collective effort. In all these cases, Buen Vivir endorses a rejection of Western ideas of development or progress, and explores alternatives to development in any of its varieties. In short, Buen Vivir was / is an effort to decouple from development and other core concepts of Modernity. It is true that Buen Vivir could be described as a harmonious relationship between “society” and “nature,” but each of these categories are understood in different ways than their traditional definitions. It is also true that Buen Vivir recovers some traditional or old components of some indigenous peoples—but not all of them. In that original effort, Buen Vivir was not presented as an attempt to return to an old past, to return to the Inca state or any idea of that sort. Buen Vivir, rather, is an exploration on alternative futures. While some indigenous components are part of Buen Vivir, others are not. Non-indigenous actors / ideas were also very important in the Buen Vivir ideas (a clear example is former president of the Ecuadorian Constitutional Assembly, Alberto Acosta, who is not indigenous, and in fact is an economist trained in Germany). This explains the relevance of “mixing” in the original Buen Vivir. Some Western ideas, particularly those related to critical stands against Modernity, were included in the Buen Vivir. The concept of Nature’s rights, in the sense of a recognition of intrinsic values in non-human beings, stemmed from Western environmental discourses, which were then “mixed” (articulated, fussed, etc.) with the idea of Pachamama, an Andean indigenous traditional concept of human-nature assemblages. This resulted in the recognition of Nature’s rights in the new Ecuadorian Constitution (but not in the Bolivian one). Furthermore, the resulting legal framework was different in each country. In the new Constitution of Ecuador, Buen Vivir is complex: it gets a complete section with several articles, and is presented like a counterweight for development policies. In Bolivia, it is only an ethical guidance principle. A similar situation faced feminist / gender approaches, as they are part of the critique within Modernity or at its borders, which was a recent input into the core concepts of Buen Vivir. This means that many different indigenous groups must also change / revise their gender standings. Buen Vivir in its original understanding thus requires changes both in indigenous and non-indigenous groups. There are not strict or direct links between Buen Vivir and indigenous individuals, groups, organizations, etc. Some of them endorse the idea; others reject it, considering it alien to their traditional thinking; still others endorse development itself. Buen Vivir is also plural. That means that Buen Vivir is more like an umbrella concept, and within it there are more specific categories, as mentioned by Solon. But my point is the following: Bolivian Aymaras’ suma qamaña is different from Ecuadorian Kichwas’ sumaq kawsay, and these are, in turn, different from the deep ecology of some non-indigenous environmentalists. These three, plus some others in that region, all fall under the Buen Vivir umbrella. Differences and similarities require some further explanation and references to anthropological and ethnographic studies, which is not possible here. Such differences make sense because each position is always rooted in its own specific ecological landscapes, with their histories, and rejects essentialisms. The Aymara version is adapted to its specific setting, and has, for example, a different understanding of community than the Amazonian version in Ecuador. A clear problem arises: if Buen Vivir is plural, many different ideas and practices could use that label, and the concept became so vague that it ended up encompassing any version of welfare or a happy life in the outdoors. Nevertheless, there are clear boundaries between the Buen Vivir set in its original perspective, and the non-Buen Vivir ideas. I will only mention a couple as examples (as I will return to them below). (1) Buen Vivir does not endorse the modern idea of progress and of an universal history; a result of this is that it rejects Western development. (2) Buen Vivir expresses an ethical shift, as it recognize in different ways intrinsic values in the non-human; humans are no longer the only subjects that can produce value. These and other stances resulted in heated debates over development, especially with regard to the role of natural resource exports, and extractivisms in the Andean countries. These debates were and are intensive, with strong effects in public opinion, involving the participation of presidents, vice-presidents and ministers. I would like to highlight this feature: Buen Vivir debates are not an academic exercise or an indigenous ritual, but are in the 8 o’clock TV news. This resulted in governments, many academic institutions, and even indigenous groups rejecting Buen Vivir in that original versions and producing new ones that could be placed once again inside development and modernity (Solon addresses some of these problems). If those governments were to follow Buen Vivir, it would be impossible to continue with oil drilling in the Amazonia in Ecuador or the intensive mining in Bolivia. So, as they continue with those development strategies, they introduce new definitions Buen Vivir to make it compatible with or conducive to development. A first wave of these battles was around the idea of Pachamama / Mother Earth rights, and explains the relevance of the ethical shift. The Evo Morales government around 2010 introduced the idea of the rights of Mother Earth / Pachamama for the whole planet in the debates on climate change. This was done with a number of references to Buen Vivir, and along a radical discourse against capitalism. But according to the original Buen Vivir perspective, that idea of planetary environmental rights makes no sense, because Pachamama is always local, and not planetary. Pachamama is rooted in communities / natures in specific locations. While the Bolivian government claimed for Pachamama global rights, it continues its intensive natural resource exploitation with a number of social and environmental impacts. On one side a strong anti-capitalist discourse, and on the other side, extractivism deeply connected to economic and financial globalization. All this is linked with the debates of possible revolution or ruptures with capitalism at the local / national level, or by means of a planetary revolution or change—an issue that communists have been discussing for about a century, and which penetrates the development debates in the Andean countries. After the original Buen Vivir perspective, those changes are always local / regional, because the perspective is always rooted in specific landscapes / histories. And because it is non-essentialist, so you cannot produce a Buen Vivir blueprint to be used, let say, in Asia. Furthermore, instead of one great transition, there will be a large number of regional / local ones. So, I presume for the Great Transition Initiative, this issue of “scale” is quite relevant, and Buen Vivir offers quite an experience. A second wave to redefine Buen Vivir sought to place that idea again “inside” development (as progress, as economic growth). But the governments, scholars, social activists, etc., recognized that traditional ideas of development were not suitable, so they produced new varieties, such as a “socialist” Buen Vivir in Ecuador, or “integral development” in Bolivia. So, these new Buen Vivir reformulations are fitted inside progress or development, and defend consumption and welfare as indicators of the good life. I would like to stress that a number of non-South American scholars in countries in Ecuador and Bolivia, with key backing of these governments, played a major role in this second wave. Stating that the original Buen Vivir was coopted by governments is not good enough; it is not that simple. It involves deep cultural beliefs and pre-political attachments to progress in a variety of actors. These debates include specific disputes with different theoretical settings. Perhaps one of the most visible is with Marxists, as Buen Vivir-original version shares their critique of capitalism. But, that original Buen Vivir is also an alternative to socialisms. Again: Buen Vivir in the original sense expresses alternatives that are at the same time post-capitalist and post-socialist. This is also relevant for GTI debates: is it possible a transition without an ethical shift? And the meaning of ethics here refers to which / what have value, who / what recognize those values, etc. (and should not be confused with moral standings on right / wrong as example). The socialist approach, even traditional eco-socialist, is restricted to the realm of human-subjects, and does not endorse the idea of non-human intrinsic values or subjects. A heated debate is underway on these issues in South America. Within GTI, this opens the question of whether a transition is only to move from capitalism to some sort of non-capitalist and good socialist option, or whether the alternative must operate on a deeper level to move beyond Modernity itself. The multiple transformations, transitions, or revolutions promoted by Buen Vivir-original version, included other subjects that are non-human, reclaiming new definitions of modern core concepts such as justice or citizenship. A number of analyses of these issues are underway in South America, with intensity and passion. Eduardo Gudynas *********************************************************************** ********************** Tuesday, January 2, 2018 >From Paul Raskin <praskin(a)tellus.org> ----- Dear GTN, Our November exchange on “the problem of action” considered the overarching challenge of animating a systemic movement capable of propelling a Great Transition.* Although the ultimate shape of such a “global citizens movement” (GCM) cannot be predetermined, we can broadly envision it as a multifaceted upsurge aligned by core values, principles, and visions. That discussion sets the backdrop for forthcoming forums on major oppositional streams. The January discussion will spotlight one such stream: movements rooted in traditional and indigenous cultures. Our point of departure is an incisive and eloquent essay prepared by Pablo Solón, “Vivir Bien: Old Cosmovisions and New Paradigms.” Pablo introduces Vivir Bien (also known as Buen Vivir), critiques governments that act in its name, and explains why the fruition of Vivir Bien needs – and can contribute to – an intertwined global movement. Please read the essay at www.greattransition.org/ publication/vivir-bien. I look forward to your comments. Does Pablo get it right? What would you add or challenge? What other peoples movements around the world might play a consequential role in a GT? What needs to be done to foster linkages among them, and with other anti-systemic forces challenging conventional development? The discussion will go through Friday, February 2nd. Over to you with warm wishes for 2018, Paul * See my framing note at www.greattransition.org/publication/How-do-we-get- there and a Roundtable that samples the GTN discussion (with my response) at www.greattransition.org/publication/roundtable-problem-action. ------------------------------------------------------- Hit reply to post a comment on the GT Network Read all comments (or reply) at http://www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/202- vivr-bien-old-cosmologies-and-new-paradigms/2613 Note: Expect a delay between posting and receiving your comment Need help? Email jcohn(a)tellus.org -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: Weekend Roundup: The eruption of tribalism in the digital age
by Michel Bauwens 21 Jan '18

21 Jan '18

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: The WorldPost <news(a)theworldpost.com> Date: Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 1:01 PM Subject: Weekend Roundup: The eruption of tribalism in the digital age To: michel(a)p2pfoundation.net The Internet is now the battleground of tribal warfare, where a cacophony of voices fight to establish consensual truths. Weekend Roundup: The eruption of tribalism in the digital age The Internet is now the battleground of tribal warfare, where a cacophony of voices fight to establish consensual truths. Nathan Gardels, Editor in Chief Visit the WorldPost at http://www.theworldpost.com <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> Every year, The WorldPost joins with the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) in Zurich to map the most influential voices across the predominantly English-language Web. In this year’s list <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Pope Francis comes in at number one, Indian author Arundhati Roy at 21, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei at 66 and Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal at 100. We take another measure of influence this year by mapping the number of links between people on Wikipedia <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>. The more links there are to others in a person’s page profile, and the more others link to that page, determines how central and influential a person is in that network. We further employ an analytics tool called Tribe Finder <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, which categorizes the “tribes” people identify with — “Spiritualism,” “Nerd,” “Treehugger,” “Fatherlander,” for example — through the words people use in their Web interactions. One key finding is that, despite the anti-elite populist disruptions of recent times, a global “anti-tribe tribe <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>” persists as a cogent presence in its rejection of a nativist and nationalistic mindset. As it develops further, this data-based approach to tribal affiliations will make more visible and transparent who influences whom, and thereby enable the capacity to judge the credibility of sources. An analysis by GDI associate and MIT collective intelligence analyst Peter Gloor <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> catalogues “the illusory influence of tweets,” noting that, with the exception of Barack Obama and Donald Trump, most of the largest Twitter followings are essentially fan clubs of Hollywood or music celebrities with little to no substantive content to their communications. The GDI project for 2017 coincides with the award of the Berggruen Prize to British philosopher Onora O’Neill, who has focused on the trustworthiness of information. In a commentary for The WorldPost <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, she wrote: “Cyber romantics still suggest that any restriction of online communication would be wrong; they forget that free speech is only one of the many standards that matter for the ethics of communication.” For O’Neill, the key ethical standard is whether claims and their sources are verifiably “honest, competent and reliable.” A flight to quality media In fact, we are already seeing evidence of a “flight to quality” in the wake of the dominance of peer-driven social media that is populated with hate speech, fake news and alternative facts. Online subscriptions to The Washington Post — The WorldPost’s publishing partner and a celebrated bastion of the traditional mainstream media — have tripled <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> during the first year of the Trump presidency as concerned citizens turn to it as a trusted source. Even so, the Internet remains the battleground of tribal warfare, where a cacophony of voices contends to establish the consensual truths that are the essential foundation of democratic discourse. The global “anti-tribe tribe” claims authority through the impartial methods and universal standards of reason it employs in the pursuit of an objective social consensus. Ideological, religious or nativist adherents embrace allegiance to the solidity of belonging against what they regard as the rootlessness of a cosmopolitan caste. For identities rooted in ideal pasts, utopian futures or the purist aspirations of exclusivist religions and ethnicities, the truth of any matter that does not fit within the boundaries of tribal belief is considered a betrayal. As the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> has noted, the eruption of tribalism in our global age is a response to the “liquidized” identities that have supplanted the territorial patriotism that was culturally ingrained during the long history of agricultural societies. New assertions of identity, he argues in an interview, also mark a “return of plurality” in the face of “helpless universalism.” In the stead of yesterday’s earthy virtues of place, today’s tribes, he argues, arise from the “connected isolation” of individuals seeking the cocoon of belonging in a dispersed, hypermobile world. The challenge of late modernity, as Sloterdijk puts it, is how to balance isolation — “literally ‘island building’” — and “connectivity.” Similarly, David Goodhardt <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> writes that reconciling tribal attachment and the notion of a “common good” is the great challenge. “Moderate nationalism,” Goodhardt notes paradoxically, is “an important glue for liberal societies” — in short, a home between the globalist “anywhere” and the local “somewhere.” A tragic return to El Salvador Writing from Mexico City, Josefina Salomón <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> chronicles the tragic tale of a transgender woman, called Cristel, who fled north to escape gang violence and persecution, only to be refused asylum in the United States and returned home where she fears for her life at every turn. <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> Nathan Gardels <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Editor in Chief Kathleen Miles <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Executive Editor Dawn Nakagawa <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Vice President of Operations Farah Mohamed <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Managing Editor Peter Mellgard <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Features Editor Alex Gardels <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Video Editor Clarissa Pharr <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Associate Editor Rosa O’Hara <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Social Editor Suzanne Gaber <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, Editorial Assistant The WorldPost <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…>, a partnership of the Berggruen Institute <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ZGW6FG3gfD7lc9pjadRV9Ay2mpOGGkLPTrdQdV04vJfC…> and The Washington Post, is an award-winning global media platform that aims to be a place where the world meets. We seek to make sense of an interdependent yet fragmenting world by commissioning voices that cross cultural and political boundaries. Publishing op-eds and features from around the globe, we work from a worldwide perspective looking around rather than a national perspective looking out. 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Fwd: [Global U] WSF 2018 participation
by Michel Bauwens 21 Jan '18

21 Jan '18

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: LAU Kin Chi <laukc(a)ln.edu.hk> Date: Sun, Jan 21, 2018 at 6:15 AM Subject: [Global U] WSF 2018 participation To: GlobalUFoundingMembers <GlobalUFoundingMembers(a)googlegroups.com> Cc: "our.global.u(a)gmail.com" <our.global.u(a)gmail.com>, LAU Kin Chi < laukc(a)ln.edu.hk>, Tsui <sittsui(a)gmail.com> Dear Friends, The Global U Executive Team has registered three activities at the World Social Forum in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil (13-17 March 2018). The English edition of Memoirs of Francois Houtart, authored by Carlos Tablada, will be completed in mid February, and will be uploaded to the Global U website for free downloads. 1. We would like to organize a session to commemorate Francois Houtart at the WSF, and to launch his Memoirs. The forum is entitled "Commemorating Francois Houtart: for the Common Good of Humanity" (tentative date: pm, March 14). We hope those of you attending the WSF can be speakers in this forum, elaborating your conceptions for the Common Good of humanity, for an alternative world of justice and liberation. We will bring printed copies of Francois' Memoirs to the WSF. After this session, we hope Global U Founding Members can stay on for some time for sharing and discussion of projects and ideas for Global U. 2. A forum on "Community Experiences for Socio-economic and Ecological Justice", where we will theorize community experiences that we are involved in or that we know of. (tentative date: pm, March 15) 3. A forum on "China’s Experiences: Perspectives from the Grassroots". This seminar will examine China's experiences, both macro and micro. (tentative date: am, March 15) We have requested interpreters in English, Spanish and Portuguese for all the three activities. Please let us know if you would like to speak in any, or all, of the three activities. We will keep you informed of the confirmation from the WSF organizers. Please also inform this community of any other activities you are organizing or participating in, so that we can try to attend each other's activities and have meaningful interactions. Please find the WSF website at https://wsf2018.org/en/ Thank you very much, With best wishes. Kin Chi [image: Lingnan University Hong Kong] <http://www.ln.edu.hk> [image: Transformation For Life] <http://www.ln.edu.hk/transformation-for-life> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GlobalUFoundingMembers" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to GlobalUFoundingMembers+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/GlobalUFoundingMembers. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/ msgid/GlobalUFoundingMembers/SG2PR02MB1344B74F46DEB7D312B89 487FFED0%40SG2PR02MB1344.apcprd02.prod.outlook.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/GlobalUFoundingMembers/SG2PR02MB1344B74F4…> . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- 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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ART FARM in hvar, croatia and its residenties
by Michel Bauwens 20 Jan '18

20 Jan '18

NEWSLETTER/CALL FOR DONATIONS Hvar Island, Croatia January, 2018. “ARTFARM MOLA BLACA” Since 2013, when we bought 1300 m2 of land and small stone house, Artfarm has been our international project combining art and organic agriculture on the Croatian island of Hvar. It is situated in the Starigrad Plain (in Greek: “Hora”, in Roman: “Ager”), a UNESCO protected agricultural area, close (2km) to the fisherman village and the beaches of Vrboska. SEE THE MAP. Our main art activity is the “artist in residence” program, where invited artist come to Artfarm, stay there a minimum of 10 days and interact with the physical and social environment. Our organic garden and orchard produces vegetables and fruit during the whole season from May till October. We enjoy a special position of importance on the island, as we are the place promoting the alternative culture and at the same time staying out of the tourist industry. In 2017 we established the “1010 Festival”. “1010” is for 10 artists (or academics) who stay on Artfarm for 10 days. We had 2 monthly events from the 1st of May through the 6th of October: acoustic concerts, “megaphone” lectures, performances and debates, with an audience combining local and foreign visitors. stone festival poster “1010 FESTIVAL” 2017 LINE-UP ARCHIVE OMFO (German Popov)- musician, Ukraine 2 weeks residence, 4 concerts Takako Hamano- visual artist, Japan 2 weeks residence, paintings Nina Targan-Mouravi- visual artist, Georgia 10 days residence, performance, painting Nova Yorke- performer, Netherlands 1 week residence, performance Maja Vodopivec, academic, University of Leiden, Netherlands 3 weeks residence, lecture Duro Toomato, artist, Netherlands 5 months residence, signs and installations Marta Petrinjak, painter, musician, Croatia 3 months residence, exposition “Hora” and 1 concert Kingalita, singer/dancer, Hungary 5 months residence, singing lessons, 8 concerts, Hvar and Vis Islands Otoji & Rai, music duo, violin, double bass, Japan, 3 weeks residence, 8 concerts, Hvar and Vis Islands Martina Matkovic, percussionist, Croatia 2 weeks residence, 7 concerts “Goulash Disko”, we were part of the music festival, 5 concerts in Komiza, Vis Island “Dancing Street”, 3 concerts in Stari Grad (co-produced with “Gallery Fantazam” and “Music Room Paiz”). WHAT ARE OUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE? street view To improve facilities on Artfarm: – make a more powerful solar energy system to be able to project art movies and documentaries – improve the walls/fence around our land to get better garden protection from wild pigs, rabbits and pheasants. – improve sleeping facilities for the visiting artists - build a dance floor/stage and cinema screen – increase our budget for hosting “artists in residence” and produce “1010 Festival”. “Mr.Fixer” services: - develop further information/advice services to help our visitors to stay out of tourist industry and experience the island from the inside. Start initiative to end the use of (Monsanto!) pesticides & herbicides in the Starigrad Plain: -“Cidokor” (glyphosate, Round-up) is still used by many local people to kill grass and weeds. We plan to end its use as much as possible. One way is to offer to locals (mostly winemakers) to manually (4- 6 times per year) cut the grass in their fields as substitute for using herbicides. Produce “1010 Festival” 2018 – here new ideas for residenties (to be confirmed) Visual art, performance, lectures: Gerindo Kamid Kartadinata, performer and environmental activist, Netherlands Elica Grdinic, lawyer, European Court of Human Rights, France Stefan Halikowsky, historian, University of Swansea, UK Judith Witteman, visual artist, Netherlands 3D street graffiti artists (in contact) Music: Baba Zula, music group, Turkey Levent Guzel, percussionist, Turkey Evgeny Suvorkin, accordionist, Russia/Belgium Stefanos Sekeroglou, violinist, Greece Tlazolteoti Orkestra, music group, Mexico Gypsy band from Hungary (in contact) Small music sub-festival, (3 days in September). Dance workshops (tango, belly dancing). Singing lessons (Gypsy style, Turkish traditional) And more. As a non-profit foundation (NGO, charity), for presenting our programs we depend on the donations of our supporters, members and sponsors. WHAT ARE YOUR BENEFITS AS OUR DONOR? 10 Euro or more - you can visit Artfarm, meet the artists, have a free pancake lunch (with goat cheese and/or vegetables),free drink and get informed about public events. 100 Euro or more – You can visit Artfarm, feel at home, meet the artists, and have free drink and lunch. – You are invited to attend all the events on Artfarm and get free drinks (audience number is limited to maximum 50 invited visitors). OMFO concert – You get the music of the musicians we host. – You receive Mr. Fixer advice to be able to stay on Hvar Island outside of the tourist industry. – You get all the local tips and translations: from booking accommodation to hand made maps of best private beaches & biking and hiking secrets. - You get secret tips for local pesticide-free (organic/bio) wine and food. - You get all of our knowledge and contacts for travel around Croatia and the Balkans. For donating via PayPal, credit card or IBAN (specify “donation for project Artfarm Mola Blaca”) visit our website: starwingartists.com Questions before and/or after donating? Staying informed? To receive our program updates and reserve lunches and events? Contact us via email: q(a)starwingartists.com Our NGO foundation details: László Kinga, Djuro Grdinic (board members/art farmers) Stichting Starwing Artists Overtoom 301 1054 HW Amsterdam, NL Chamber of -- 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: Trillion-dollar startups, unsexy industries 🚢
by Michel Bauwens 20 Jan '18

20 Jan '18

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: AngelList Weekly <newsletters(a)angel.co> Date: Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 7:59 PM Subject: Trillion-dollar startups, unsexy industries 🚢 To: michel(a)p2pfoundation.net Legal marijuana sales totaled $6.7B in 2016, and grew to $10B a year later. There are nearly 1,000 marijuana startups on AngelList, with an average valuation of $4.1M (if you take out high flying Eaze and Baker) but only 100 job opportunities open today. 🍁 Meanwhile, Flexport's long list of open p <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=3kzGpVmGm4nm8lYj7KCMoCvJwHQ0tlXWTslmvXPEt…> AngelList <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=3kzGpVmGm4nm8lYj7KCMoCvJwHQ0tlXWTslmvXPEt…> View Online <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=3kzGpVmGm4nm8lYj7KCMoK9Dthtad9NSD76nA0uIF…> [image: shipments.gif] <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1p9bVcaULdgAfzAQiz-2B…> Legal marijuana sales totaled $6.7B in 2016, and grew to $10B a year later. There are nearly 1,000 marijuana startups <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1lMmyYqCjlcU1tvZJZsvR…> on AngelList, with an average valuation of $4.1M (if you take out high flying Eaze <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1jRShwtyfy9YcrMl0W3ul…> and Baker <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1p8NePGbK2gOiyAqnrHpn…>) but only 100 job opportunities <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1lMmyYqCjlcU1tvZJZsvR…> open today. 🍁 Meanwhile, Flexport's long list of open positions <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1vfgV-2B2Xy73ZnrefTE3…> is comparable to the entire cannabis industry on AngelList put together. 📈 The five year-old startup is innovating in the trillion-dollar freight forwarding industry, facilitating a complex logistical networks of trucks, trains, ships, and airplanes all over the world on land, sea, and in the air. Until recently, this was being done through a series of faxes, emails, and Excel spreadsheets before Flexport came along and indexed all the available carriers into a searchable database, offering free easy to use software that handles everything at scale. In 2016, TechCrunch's Josh Constine called Flexport “The unsexiest trillion-dollar startup” – referring to the vastness of the opportunity that's ahead. For context: the global logistics industry is $8 trillion and expanding, and the opportunity to innovate has never been greater. Below are some of the "unsexy" startups that are building software for trillion dollar industries that are ripe for innovation. Check out the full-list on AngelList <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1p9bVcaULdgAfzAQiz-2B…>, and remember to keep your Talent profile updated in case the right opportunity comes knocking your way. 👉 Activate Talent Profile <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1kvle2votJqXwAAC7yOIo…> *"Unsexy" Startups Disrupting Trillion Dollar Industries:* Fieldwire <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1l4aoZM9sH3ADEdh1Ylge…> is bringing software to the construction industry 🚧 Checkr <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1imp9TbRQEB35rqotZuJN…> is automating background checks for on-demand 🚙 Sighten <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1qH-2F7PDjM7yRlsheZBr…> is the energy operating system for the solar industry ☀️ Shippo <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1rbnlXBFmxHkdl9tjmSLM…> is the API layer for the shipping industry 📦 Human Dx <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1l4N2jsfFijNVQXHey5c4…> is a worldwide effort to improve patient care 🙏 True Accord <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1o8SIOz62ZPVRxjn7xE5D…> is using machine learning to reimagine debt collection 💲 Affirm <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1jxJdbjBZTvaBlu-2FstA…> is a credit company that doesn't try to put you into debt 💳 Qumulo <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1iJYG7d87RnaTZJwh38-2…> lets enterprises store massive data sets at scale 🗄 HomeLight <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1mFBwhlWG5PwnBL2RJEId…> is brining a money-ball approach to real estate 🏠 Transfix <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1v87U7DsyC22xnxDPr79V…> is disrupting trucking logistics with lean automation 🚛 Haven <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1pat0cZv9pxNOEfhWqneb…> is automating logistics (Flexport's closest startup competitor) 🚢 More "Unsexy" Startups <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1vwsNaRqyxRmPJSip6p33…> *Introducing Syndicates for India 🇮🇳* This week we announced Syndicates for India <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1rsQ9zbKgcTWB-2BMXS8M…>, a new way for investors in India to invest alongside experienced angels and VC funds that invest in India’s vibrant tech ecosystem. This could rapidly expand the number of Indian startups able to raise venture capital funding. Read more about the launch in Axios <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1rkb988va2V-2FL3hahZb…> . *Let's meetup!* 🎉 To date, the Product Hunt community has self-organized over 500 meetups across the world. In celebration, we're hosting our annual community meetup on January 25th in San Francisco. It's a great place to meet some of your internet friends IRL and make some new connections in tech. RSVP to get on the guest list <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1hdMDzdJO2lxLUWjXNHus…> . The event is free, thanks to our friends at Google Play <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1mhRNqJx16YNWA-2Fg1ep…>, Zendesk <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1lKROu7feDj-2FUxhAsXc…>, Grammarly <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1o-2Fy7SunBMqWrq0gJ72…> , Algolia <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1smnqoqkKpfx-2B4Sqp77…>, Intercom <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1uK6jhPYoAj-2BCee2AW-…>, Omni <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1kxy9K7e7kI83eRcId6-2…>, and Spoke <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=eiey7jbzBes7SQrlu70j1rlqy1JdtYfmC7M8fPjF6…>. You're receiving this email because you signed up for AngelList <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=3kzGpVmGm4nm8lYj7KCMoHUuq0cId2kSB0Cc2Dkht…> 814 Montgomery Street · San Francisco, CA 94133 Unsubscribe <http://send.angel.co/wf/click?upn=3kzGpVmGm4nm8lYj7KCMoBlUFzU0VW7N1J-2FMWX3…> from these notifications -- 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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March 1: Launch of the book "Digital Demagogue: Authoritarian Capitalism in the Age of Trump and Twitter"
by Christian Fuchs 17 Jan '18

17 Jan '18

Book Launch: Digital Demagogue: Authoritarian Capitalism in the Age of Trump and Twitter, by Christian Fuchs Thursday, March 1, 2018, 19:00 University of Westminster 309 Regent Street London W1B 2HW 117 Boardroom Organised by Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies, Communication and Media Research Institute and Pluto Press https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/digital-demagogue-authoritarian-capitalism-i… Christian Fuchs will be giving an introductory talk to “Digital Demagogue”, a timely and topical study of the expressions of ideology, nationalism and authoritarianism in the age of big data, social media and Donald Trump. We’re all familiar with the ways that Donald Trump uses digital media to communicate, from the ridiculous to the terrifying. This book digs deeper into the use of those tools in politics to show how they have facilitated the rise of authoritarianism, nationalism, and right-wing ideologies around the world. Christian Fuchs applies an updated theoretical framework that draws on thinkers such as Franz L. Neumann, Rosa Luxemburg, Theodor W. Adorno, Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer, Wilhelm Reich, Leo Löwenthal and Klaus Theweleit, to show the pernicious role of social media in the hands of nationalist politicians. The book is available for pre-order (English: Pluto Press, German: VSA Verlag) https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337968/digital-demagogue/ http://www.vsa-verlag.de/nc/buecher/detail/artikel/digitale-demagogie/

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