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Fwd: Crushing the States, Saving the Banks: The Fed’s Generous New Rules
by Michel Bauwens 04 May '20

04 May '20

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Fwd: Bot Populi's Special May Day Series
by Michel Bauwens 01 May '20

01 May '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: IT for Change <itfc(a)itforchange.net> Date: Fri, May 1, 2020 at 2:20 PM Subject: Bot Populi's Special May Day Series To: <michel(a)p2pfoundation.net> A deep dive into the intersections of labor, the digital economy, and the Covid pandemic. *Mayday!* We might only be at the cusp of the economic crisis that has been brewing within the belly of the Covid pandemic, but it is already starting to blow up around the world. In this special series on Bot Populi, we bring you a range of incisive analyses that combine critique, prognosis, hope, and even anger. Check them out here <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> . Our effort has been to take a deep dive into the intersections of labor, the digital economy, and the Covid pandemic through engaging and critical long and short reads and interviews that delve into various facets of worker rights in the global economic context. This crisis has seen millions across nations, rich and poor, sliding into unemployment over the past six weeks. Livelihoods that are not essential in a time of global lockdown are no longer viable. Informal workers at the very edges – farm and wage workers, and micro entrepreneurs – are struggling with lack of access to work. Even as precarity looms large over their future, gig workers are battling it out on the frontlines as the world orders in everything. Never has there been a more important or urgent time to talk about labor. Scroll down for highlights from our series. Also check out more articles over at Bot Populi’s New Precariat track <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> . *Feature articles* ‘Crowds as Code’ in the Global Data Value Chain <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> Kai-Hsin Hung, a PhD Scholar at HEC Montreal, takes us behind the scenes into the hidden world of data-based microworkers whose labor fuels some of the world’s most complex and elegant AI solutions. A 3-Point Agenda for Platform Workers; as if the South Matters <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> Anita Gurumurthy and Nandini Chami of IT for Change outline a new labor rights agenda for platform workers—an alternative to the mainstream model, defined and led by the Global South. Networked Desolation in Indonesia’s Platform Tourism Industry <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> Caitlin Bentley, Research Fellow at Australian National University walks us through the cracks in Indonesia’s travel industry in the aftermath of tourism platforms and now, the Covid crisis. A Catch-22 for On-Demand Cleaners in the Philippines <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> Jessamine Pacis of the Foundation for Media Alternatives identifies a paradox of sorts of on-demand domestic work amid this crisis - greater emphasis on cleanliness and greater precarity for workers. How Public Sector Workers and Unions can Shape the Digital Economy <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> Parminder Jeet Singh of IT for Change argues for collective ownership rights over data by communities and workers as a vital means through which to shape a greater role for the public sector in a digital society. Precarity in Times of Pandemic: Covid-19 and the Crisis in India’s Informal Labor Markets <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> What happens when the world’s second most populous country goes on lock down. Sohel Sarkar and Deepti Bharthur examine the ways in which the pandemic has disrupted the livelihood’s of India’s vast informal labor force. *In conversation with...* Securing Data and Labor Rights in the Post-Covid Digital Era <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> Daniel Bertossa of Public Services International speaks to us about how the Covid-19 crisis is precipitating an organic build-up of solidarity among various worker movements and PSI's strategies to meet the challenges of the post-Covid digital era. Uncertainties Galore in the Post-Pandemic Labor Market <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> Sabina Dewan of the Justjobs Network analyses the mid to long-term impact of the pandemic on global labor markets, and the possible outcomes for a post-Covid future of work. It's a No-Win Situation for Gig Workers in the Covid-19 Moment <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> Srujana Katta of the Fairwork Foundation takes us through the organization’s latest report on platform responses to Covid, and the gap between rhetoric and reality. *An independent digital media space, Bot Populi examines the digital from a social justice and global south perspective.* Find Out More <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> [image: Twitter] <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> [image: Website] <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> *Copyright © *|2019|* *|LIST:Bot Populi|*, All rights reserved.* *Our mailing address is:* botpopuli(a)itforchange.net Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/profile?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92b5cb…> or unsubscribe from this list <https://itforchange.us11.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=6fd97454ef6c0671ea92…> . -- 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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Everyday Life and Everyday Communication in Coronavirus Capitalism
by Christian Fuchs 01 Apr '20

01 Apr '20

Christian Fuchs: Everyday Life and Everyday Communication in Coronavirus Capitalism. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique 18 (1): 375-399 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v18i1.1167 German version: https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v18i1.1168 In 2020, the coronavirus crisis ruptured societies and their everyday life around the globe. This article is a contribution to critically theorising the changes societies have undergone in the light of the coronavirus crisis. It asks: How have everyday life and everyday communication changed in the coronavirus crisis? How does capitalism shape everyday life and everyday communication during this crisis? Section 2 focuses on how social space, everyday life, and everyday communication have changed in the coronavirus crisis. Section 3 focuses on the communication of ideology in the context of coronavirus by analysing the communication of coronavirus conspiracy stories and false coronavirus news. The coronavirus crisis is an existential crisis of humanity and society. It radically confronts humans with death and the fear of death. This collective experience can on the one hand result in new forms of solidarity and socialism or can on the other hand, if ideology and the far-right prevails, advance war and fascism. Political action and political economy are decisive factors in such a profound crisis that shatters society and everyday life. Keywords: coronavirus, COVID-19, everyday life, everyday communication, critical theory, critical theory of communication, means of communication, communication technology, capitalism, ideology, fake news, false news, crisis, public health, Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey

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Fwd: Planetize the Movement! (GTN Discussions)
by Michel Bauwens 28 Mar '20

28 Mar '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Great Transition Network <gtnetwork(a)greattransition.org> Date: Fri, Mar 27, 2020 at 11:23 PM Subject: Planetize the Movement! (GTN Discussions) To: <michelsub2004(a)gmail.com> >From William Robinson [w.i.robinson1(a)gmail.com] ---------------------------------------------------------- [Moderator's Note: The open discussion period will end NEXT WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1. We look forward to your insightful comments! -- JC] Surely Val Moghadam could not have known as she prepared her timely essay that we were at the doorsteps of the global coronavirus pandemic. Our existence has never appeared so fragile and also so interconnected. The health emergency underscores just how relevant – urgent – is her call to planetize the movement. The emergency brings home to us three paramount matters. First, the pandemic makes clear, for those who may have any lingering doubts, how the fate of any one community on the planet is now bound up inextricably with that of humanity as a whole. What appeared as a localized virus in Wuhan quickly spread to just about every country and community in the world, leading to the lockdown of several billion people and prompting what some have called the greatest crisis since World War II. Moreover, the economic meltdown triggered by the virus underscored how dependent we all are now on the globally integrated production, financial, and service system, controlled as it is by the transnational capitalist class (TCC) and its political agents in capitalist states around the world. Second, the pandemic shows how the global or planetary consciousness that people have been talking about ever since globalization entered our vocabulary in the 1990s is more of a reality than ever. As several billions of us hunkered down – although it must be stressed that billions more did have the luxury of confinement (for them, it was continuing to work or starve) – we stayed glued to television, internet, and social media news about the virus and its impacts around the world. We felt a new sense of connection, of community, and of solidarity with one another. We experienced as never before what Marshall McLuhan, back in 1964, dubbed the *global village*. Third, if we are to have any hope of resolving the dire problems that plague humanity, from ecological collapse, to war, poverty, inequality, and disease, we have to collectively confront across borders the powers that be in the world capitalist system and their control over the means of our existence. From U.S. President Donald Trump’s criminal ineptitude in addressing the pandemic, to the trillion-dollar bailouts for capital, the threat to survival that billions of precarious workers face as the economy plunges, and the overwhelming of woefully underfunded and collapsing public health systems, the pandemic lays bare how it cannot be left to our rulers to resolve the crisis of humanity. This is where Moghadam’s essay comes in. There has been a rapid political polarization in global society since 2008 between an insurgent far-right and an insurgent left. Now, the crisis triggered by the pandemic, a likely prolonged depression, will leave in its wake more inequality, more political tension, more militarism, and more authoritarianism. It will surely animate far-right and neofascist projects that have surged in many countries around the world and will do the same for popular struggles from below. Social upheaval and political conflict will escalate. Crises are times of rapid social change and open up the possibility of pushing society in many different directions, depending on the outcome of battles among contending social and class forces. Any popular outcome to these battles, in turn, will depend on how the oppressed and exploited may come together in united struggle – precisely the topic Moghadam takes up. But how prepared are popular forces from below for these life and death battles to come, for a “global movement against capitalism, militarism, and oligarchic states?” Moghadam affirms that the way forward will have to involve a new international (or whatever we chose to call it) and a shared agenda of struggle. In fact, a number of calls have gone out in recent years for the formation of a new world party or International. Just a month before his untimely death in 2018, the political economist Samir Amin published a call for the establishment of a global Fifth International of Workers and Peoples. Moghadam and I both participated in a 2019 forum to debate such a new international and were broadly in agreement on its urgency. Moghadam goes on to identify stumbling blocks that have impeded the forward motion of popular struggles from below. Even as “the rich array of activist groups and the dynamism and passion they display excite a sense of possibility,” she says, “the very diversity of movements and their weak interconnection could constrain the Global Left’s ability to achieve meaningful change.” Now, having taken the discussion thus far, I am tempted to simply conclude with a “yes, yes, and yes” to the essay, as I find myself in agreement with all of her argument. But this would hardly amount to a contribution to debate. So, let me turn to what I think is absent in her account: a more decisive and forceful critique of the dominant paradigms that have contributed to this situation of “weak interconnections.” We have to analyze *why* there is such a multiplicity of unconnected struggles as we remind ourselves that the battles to come are as much theoretical and ideological as they are political. And why is the language of class is so absent? A key part of the story is the betrayal of the intellectuals, for no struggle of the oppressed can be without its organic intellectuals. The mass struggles of the 1960s and 1970s opened up space for representatives from the oppressed groups and others who had earlier identified with the radical agenda of those mass struggles to join the ranks of the professional strata and of the elite. In academia, it opened up space for a new intellectual petty-bourgeoisie whose class aspirations became expressed in post-modern narratives and identitarian politics. Sidelining class and pushing identitarian politics was a class project of this intellectual petty bourgeoisie yet it came to infest many social movements, especially in the Global North. These narratives shaped the consciousness and understanding of a whole generation of young people, alienating them from embracing a desperately needed Marxist critique of capitalism at the moment of its globalization. The best identitarian politics could aspire to was symbolic vindication, diversity (often meaning diversity in the ruling bloc), non-discrimination in the dominant social institutions, and equitable inclusion and representation *within* global capitalism. It is no wonder that the transnational elite embraced as its own the politics of “diversity” and “multiculturalism” as a strategy to channel the struggle for social justice and anti-capitalist transformation into non-threatening demands for inclusion if not outright cooptation. The strategy served to eclipse the language of the working and popular classes and of anti-capitalism. It helped to derail ongoing revolts from below. Moghadam observes that we cannot divorce class from the multiple sectoral struggles that have raged. The post-modern identitarian paradigm and its cousin, intersectionalism, exert a stifling hegemony in the academy. Notwithstanding their often-radical sounding language, they eschew class and the critique of capitalism at the level of theory and analysis as they advance the class politics of the petty bourgeoisie. Such identitarian politics should* not be confused* with struggles against particular forms of exploitation and oppression that different groups face. Ethnic, racial, gender and sexual oppression are not tangential but constitutive of capitalism. There can be no general emancipation without liberation from these forms of oppression. Yet the embrace by significant portions of the Left of the limitations set by this identitiarian class ideology and politics is an obstacle to planetizing the movement. William I. Robinson *************************************************** March 2, 2020 Dear GTN, Our March discussion bookends a long GTN series on movement streams that kicked off in November 2017 with a framing discussion on “the problem of action.” That initial discussion was introduced by my How Do We Get There? The Problem of Action <https://www.greattransition.org/publication/how-do-we-get-there> , which I encourage you to review along with the rich GTN commentary <https://greattransition.org/gtn-discussions/how-do-we-get-there-the-problem…> it generated. Now, we return to the overarching question of how to envision and catalyze a coherent global movement matched to the task of Great Transition. The title for the March discussion—*PLANETIZE THE MOVEMENT!*—is from Martin Luther King, who understood the need for systemic solidarity for systemic change. Val Moghadam, a global movement scholar, starts us off with an opening essay <https://greattransition.org/gti-forum/planetize-movement-moghadam> (soon to arrive by email as well). Val counsels us to draw lessons and inspiration from left history as we fashion a uniquely twenty-first century strategy, intriguingly calling for “two Internationals.” Her essay sets the structure for our discussion: *The Historical Conjuncture* The character of our fraught globalized moment and the systemic change agents it spawns *A Missing Global Actor* Movement fragmentation, the basis for common cause, and the contours of a unified movement *Catalytic Action Now* Strategies for building a global movement and specific initiatives for getting the show on the road I look forward to your comments, brief or extended (but less than 1,200 words), through *April 1*. Then Val will respond, and, as usual, we will assemble a public GTI Forum sampling the internal GTN discussion. Over to you, Paul ---------------------------------------------------------- Hit reply to post a comment on the GT Network Read all comments (or reply) here <https://greattransition.org/gtn-discussions/planetize-the-movement#3172> Note: Expect a delay between posting and receiving your comment Need help? Email jcohn(a)tellus.org -- P2P Foundation: http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net <http://p2pfoundation.net> - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: ; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens Curation of news on p2p/commons developments: https://www.facebook.com/groups/p2p.open/

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Fwd: Rebuild the economy with a green stimulus
by Michel Bauwens 26 Mar '20

26 Mar '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: The Next System Project <nextsystem(a)democracycollaborative.org> Date: Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 11:00 PM Subject: Rebuild the economy with a green stimulus To: <michel(a)p2pfoundation.net> An open letter to Congress, plus special webinar on nationalization Thursday The latest from The Next System Project *Now is the time for a green stimulus * <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> The historic emergency economic package that Congress and the White House has put together this week will help address urgent crises created by the COVID-19 epidemic, but it is only a first step. Healing the economy long term means not restoring the structural conditions that caused the economy to fall ill long before the novel coronavirus swept the globe. This week The Next System Project's climate and energy program co-director Johanna Bozuwa joined a group of experts and activists in authoring an open letter to Congress calling for "a green stimulus to rebuild the economy." It calls on the Congress to enact a long-term plan that does not "restore—or even deepen—our reliance on fossil fuels" but instead "protects us from the impact of climate change and lifts up workers and frontline communities." Learn more... <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> SPECIAL ONLINE EVENT THURSDAY *Seizing the moment for nationalization* When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo—hardly a champion of the radical left—this week demanded that the Trump administration nationalize the supply chains for essential medical supplies in order to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic, he showed how far the topic of nationalization has moved from the fringes of political debate to the mainstream. This Thursday, join us for a one-hour webinar roundtable featuring journalists Kate Aronoff and Alexander Sammon, professor and author Robert Hockett, and Next System Project research director Thomas Hanna. Together we will explore the surprising history of nationalization in the US, the demands currently on the table, and what we need to know in order to make sure nationalization is used to make a more democratic economy. Register for the webinar... <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> *News media for people and planet* <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> The Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere (MAHB) at Stanford University invited Next System Project fellow Laura Flanders, the host of "The Laura Flanders Show," and editorial manager Isaiah J. Poole to participate in a written MAHB Dialogue <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> on the state of the news media and the need for system change to produce journalism that advances global understanding of our shared economic and social challenges. As they write, "In recent times, our media have spectacularly failed as our early warning system; failing to warn us of financial collapse, the rise of white militants, misogynist predators, ecological disaster, and the likely blowback effects of our wars abroad. ... If ever there was a time to build broad support for redefining journalism as a public good, this is that moment." Read the dialogue... <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> Learn more about the basics of system change and catch up with past episodes of The Next System Podcast <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> on our website, thenextsystem.org <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…>. DONATE <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> [image: Share] <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> Share <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> [image: Tweet] <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> Tweet <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> [image: Forward] <http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992285e71110&id=cbf…> Forward <http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992285e71110&id=cbf…> [image: Follow us on Twitter] <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> Follow us on Twitter <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> [image: Like us on Facebook] <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> Like us on Facebook <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> [image: Visit our website] <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> Visit our website <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> *Copyright © 2020 Democracy Collaborative, All rights reserved.* You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from Community-Wealth.org and the Democracy Collaborative. *Our mailing address is:* Democracy Collaborative 1200 18th Street NW Suite 1225 Washington, DC 20036 Add us to your address book <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/vcard?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992285e71…> Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992285e…> or unsubscribe from this list <https://community-wealth.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=e51d2c7d40bc9992…> -- 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: Back to work: A few deaths is just the cost of doing business
by Michel Bauwens 26 Mar '20

26 Mar '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: <douglas(a)rushkoff.com> Date: Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 7:23 AM Subject: Back to work: A few deaths is just the cost of doing business To: <rushkoff(a)simplelists.com> I published a piece on Medium <https://gen.medium.com/we-wish-to-inform-you-that-your-death-is-highly-prof…> this morning, and I feel like it's the best one I've written in a while, so I thought I'd share it. Let them Eat Corona Why the Economy will Always Trump Human Wellbeing Have you heard the good news? Donald Trump is suggesting our freeze on businesses as a measure to curb coronavirus may end as soon as Monday. Yes, allowing people to go back to work could lead to more widespread infection, but the deaths of a few hundred thousand — if not a few million — more of us is a small price to pay for rescuing the American economy from collapse. In the president’s words, “we can’t have the cure be worse than the problem itself.” Trump’s message is clear: The economy is not here to serve human beings; human beings are here to serve the economy. Those of us who die in service to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are mere externalities to the higher priority of capital growth. Like the destruction of the environment, our illnesses and deaths are a necessary cost of doing business. We cannot surrender to the depressing verdicts of doctors and scientists, lest we deflate the hope and optimism that make America great. Those who will benefit most from our sacrifice — the billionaires whose fortunes are based almost solely on the economy’s continuing ability to grow — are already preparing for their escape. They’re booking private jets, ready to depart for their isolated doomsday compounds once they feel they themselves are at genuine risk. It’s a variation on the “insulation equation” I wrote about a couple of years ago after meeting a group of billionaires who wanted advice on how to maintain security for their doomsday bunkers in the event of societal collapse. The object of the game, as they see it, is to earn enough money to insulate themselves from the very damage their ventures have both directly and indirectly created in the first place. It’s a self-perpetuating nightmare: The more environmental and social damage they do, the more money they must earn to protect themselves from the devastation they leave in their wake. And the more committed they become to saving their asses and leaving the rest of behind when a real crisis emerges. To be fair, this worldview is a natural extension of a market ideology that already accepted human casualties as a metric on the balance sheet. As Trump fairly argued, “you look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers we’re talking about. That doesn’t mean we’re going to tell everybody, ‘No more driving of cars.’” We calculate the relative cost of human lives every day as we go about our business, and we accept the trade-off between, say, the cost of making an automobile safe and the need to make it profitable. This is, in certain respects, the American way. As Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told Tucker Carlson on Monday, “No one reached out to me and said, ‘as a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’… If that’s the exchange, I’m all in.” The underlying premise is simple: Our coronavirus shutdown stalls the God-ordained expansion of the U.S. economy. It is a misguided preservation of the weak and elderly. Are we really going to let our great market go belly up? This is a quasi-fascist worldview, where we stop forcing ourselves to make decisions on behalf of the losers, and start making them on behalf of the winners. Besides, as Ayn Rand taught us, the more we cater to the weak, the more we weaken ourselves as a society and gene pool. This is natural selection. Of course, most of the people arguing we take these public health risks are themselves in little or no danger at all. They’ve got private concierge doctors working around the clock to obtain the necessary tests and ventilators should they not make it to their hideaways in time. No, the risks are entirely borne by those of us who can’t afford such measures. It’s a lot easier for the wealthy to hang on to their positivity. To be fair, though, there’s an internal logic to this approach — one as old as the American spirit of optimism. When Trump tore into a TV reporter who asked that he respond to Americans who fear for their lives, he wasn’t simply obfuscating. He was chastising the press for undermining America’s ability to apply positive thinking to the crisis. “You ought to get back to reporting instead of sensationalism,” Trump replied crossly. Remember, Donald Trump was raised in the church of Norman Vincent Peale, author of the massively influential The Power of Positive Thinking — source material for every bootstrapping spiritual movement from the “prosperity gospel” to The Secret. From the age of six, Trump sat in the pews with his family at Peale’s Marble Collegiate Church listening to his sermons about how we can create the success we want through visualizing it — as Peale tells it, “formulate and staple indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding” — and never giving in to “fear thoughts.” At least for Trump and his ilk, the choice to talk and act positively in the face of all evidence to the contrary is not a cynical one. As late as 2009, when he was more than a billion dollars in debt and facing foreclosure, he depended on “the power of being positive.” He told Psychology Today that year, “What helped is I refused to give in to the negative circumstances and never lost faith in myself. I didn’t believe I was finished even when the newspapers were saying so.” Seen in the very best light, Trump is attempting to apply the power of positive thinking to both the economy and the virus. As far as the stock market is concerned, there’s some sense to this. Markets are emotional. There’s nothing like hope for the future to justify high price/earnings ratios, stoke consumer spending, and spur investment. But can hope kill the virus? We know the placebo effect is real. Can we think and grow healthy the way Napoleon Hill told us to Think and Grow Rich? That would be reason enough to keep a doom and gloom scientist like Dr. Anthony Fauci off the stage at the press conferences. But not even Trump is enough of a true believer to believe positive thinking can wipe out the virus single-handedly. It can, however, galvanize our resolve — however foolishly. That’s why he is calling on us to make sacrifices, and to essentially wish the virus away. For those titans of industry depending on perpetual economic growth, an extended shutdown actually poses a greater risk than meets the eye. The longer we pause from business as usual, the more time we all have to reevaluate the economy we’ve been born into. Yes, we need food, water, shelter, and maybe a communications infrastructure. But not a heck of a lot else. At times like this, we can see the value in farmers, teachers, and doctors… but all those guys in suits going to the city to trade derivatives, make marketing plans, and coordinate global supply chains? Not so much. The real danger here — what the billionaire preppers understand — is that any one of these “black swan” phenomena could be “the event” that destroys our willingness to keep running on the hamster wheel. They want us to go back to work, but for what? They say it’s to save the economy, but they’re not talking about the real economy of goods and services. The American economy they’re concerned about is based primarily on debt. Banks lend money to businesses who then pay it back, with interest. Where does the interest come from? Growth. Without growth, the whole house of cards comes down, along with the wealthiest among us. We all have to believe in order to keep the hope alive and billionaires in their bunkers. As far as the ultra-wealthy are concerned, the virus to be afraid of is less a medical challenge than a memetic one. We are waking up to the fact that we’ve been slaves to an exponential growth curve for the past 40 years, at least, and really much much longer. And we’re witnessing how the same exponential growth that gave the billionaires their fortunes is responsible for the fact that 40% of Americans have less than $400 in the bank for an emergency. The need for exponential growth also explains how we surrendered basic manufacturing and food resiliency to tenuous global supply chains. Sure, we can go back to work, but we can’t even make our own respirators. Imagine if our main reason for returning to work was to make and do the things people actually needed to live good lives, instead of simply doing our part to keep the wealthy safely protected from the rest of us. Now that’s some positive thinking. - Here is a link: https://gen.medium.com/we-wish-to-inform-you-that-your-death-is-highly-prof… ---- This is RushkoffList, a monthlyish update and advance look at work in progress. Feel free to forward to your friends as long as you include this footer. To subscribe, use this link: http://www.simplelists.com/subscribe/rushkoff To unsubscribe: http://www.simplelists.com/confirm.php?u=grdK4Lvi7veNxafT2DxZrw1oAyoTFsEc -- 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: [witfor] Why is COVID19 so deadly? From Johns Hopkins Epidemiology
by Michel Bauwens 20 Mar '20

20 Mar '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Satish Jha satish.jha(a)gmail.com [witfor] <witfor(a)yahoogroups.com> Date: Fri, Mar 20, 2020 at 11:50 PM Subject: [witfor] Why is COVID19 so deadly? From Johns Hopkins Epidemiology To: Feeling confused as to why Coronavirus is a bigger deal than Seasonal flu? Here it is in a nutshell. I hope this helps. Feel free to share this to others who don’t understand... It has to do with RNA sequencing.... I.e. genetics. Seasonal flu is an “all human virus”. The DNA/RNA chains that make up the virus are recognized by the human immune system. This means that your body has some immunity to it before it comes around each year.... you get immunity two ways...through exposure to a virus, or by getting a flu shot. Novel viruses, come from animals.... the WHO tracks novel viruses in animals, (sometimes for years watching for mutations). Usually these viruses only transfer from animal to animal (pigs in the case of H1N1) (birds in the case of the Spanish flu). But once, one of these animal viruses mutates, and starts to transfer from animals to humans... then it’s a problem, Why? Because we have no natural or acquired immunity.. the RNA sequencing of the genes inside the virus isn’t human, and the human immune system doesn’t recognize it so, we can’t fight it off. Now.... sometimes, the mutation only allows transfer from animal to human, for years it’s only transmission is from an infected animal to a human before it finally mutates so that it can now transfer human to human.... once that happens..we have a new contagion phase. And depending on the fashion of this new mutation, thats what decides how contagious, or how deadly it’s gonna be.. H1N1 was deadly....but it did not mutate in a way that was as deadly as the Spanish flu. It’s RNA was slower to mutate and it attacked its host differently, too. Fast forward. Now, here comes this Coronavirus... it existed in animals only, for nobody knows how long...but one day, at an animal market, in Wuhan China, in December 2019, it mutated and made the jump from animal to people. At first, only animals could give it to a person... But here is the scary part.... in just TWO WEEKS it mutated again and gained the ability to jump from human to human. Scientists call this quick ability, “slippery” This Coronavirus, not being in any form a “human” virus (whereas we would all have some natural or acquired immunity). Took off like a rocket. And this was because, Humans have no known immunity...doctors have no known medicines for it. And it just so happens that this particular mutated animal virus, changed itself in such a way the way that it causes great damage to human lungs.. That’s why Coronavirus is different from seasonal flu, or H1N1 or any other type of influenza.... this one is slippery AF. And it’s a lung eater...And, it’s already mutated AGAIN, so that we now have two strains to deal with, strain s, and strain L....which makes it twice as hard to develop a vaccine. We really have no tools in our shed, with this. History has shown that fast and immediate closings of public places has helped in the past pandemics. Philadelphia and Baltimore were reluctant to close events in 1918 and they were the hardest hit in the US during the Spanish Flu. Factoid: Henry VIII stayed in his room and allowed no one near him, till the Black Plague passed...(honestly...I understand him so much better now). Just like us, he had no tools in his shed, except social isolation... And let me end by saying....right now it’s hitting older folks harder... but this genome is so slippery...if it mutates again (and it will). Who is to say, what it will do next. Be smart folks... acting like you’re unafraid is so not sexy right now. #flattenthecurve. Stay home folks... and share this to those that just are not catching on. 🤓 #reposted _________________ Satish Jha Principal, Ashcroft Sullivan Jha T:+1 202-286-2006 IN:+91 99100 22922 __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: Satish Jha <satish.jha(a)gmail.com> ------------------------------ Reply via web post <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/witfor/conversations/messages/336;_ylc=…> • Reply to sender <[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Why%20is%20COVID19%20so%20deadly%3F%20From%20Johns%20Hopkins%20Epidemiology> • Reply to group <[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Why%20is%20COVID19%20so%20deadly%3F%20From%20Johns%20Hopkins%20Epidemiology> • Start a New Topic <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/witfor/conversations/newtopic;_ylc=X3oD…> • Messages in this topic <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/witfor/conversations/topics/336;_ylc=X3…> (1) Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/witfor/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmNmJ0dmlnBF9TAz…> [image: Yahoo! Groups] <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlNWdibXJ0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkA…> • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • Unsubscribe <witfor-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe> • Terms of Use <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> . __,_._,___ -- P2P Foundation: http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net <http://p2pfoundation.net> - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: ; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens Curation of news on p2p/commons developments: https://www.facebook.com/groups/p2p.open/

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Fwd: “PANDEMICS: LESSONS LOOKING BACK FROM 2050” BY FRITJOF CAPRA AND HAZEL HENDERSON
by Michel Bauwens 19 Mar '20

19 Mar '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Hazel Henderson <hazel.henderson(a)ethicalmarkets.com> Date: Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 10:24 PM Subject: “PANDEMICS: LESSONS LOOKING BACK FROM 2050” BY FRITJOF CAPRA AND HAZEL HENDERSON To: Larae Long <larae.long(a)ethicalmarkets.com> Dear Esteemed global Advisory Board and Judges Panel, This article below now live, I just wrote with my longtime friend and co-author Fritjof Capra is one we hope you’ll find encouraging! Please feel free to circulate and we welcome you comments. Love to All, Hazel *“PANDEMICS: LESSONS LOOKING BACK FROM 2050” BY FRITJOF CAPRA AND HAZEL HENDERSON* “Ethical Markets is happy to bring you this latest co-authored article “Pandemics: Lessons Looking Back From 2050″ by Hazel Henderson and our esteemed Advisory Board member Fritjof Capra. We hope for your feedback and feel free to circulate this to your networks. ~Hazel Henderson, Editor” *PANDEMICS — LESSONS LOOKING BACK FROM 2050* Fritjof Capra and Hazel Henderson © 2020 *Imagine, it is the year 2050 and we are looking back to the origin and evolution of the coronavirus pandemic over the last three decades. Extrapolating from recent events, we offer the following scenario for such a view from the future.* As we move into the second half of our twenty-first century, we can finally make sense of the origin and impact of the coronavirus that struck the world in 2020 from an evolutionary systemic perspective. Today, in 2050, looking back on the past 40 turbulent years on our home planet, it seems obvious that the Earth had taken charge of teaching our human family. Our planet taught us the primacy of understanding of our situation in terms of whole systems, identified by some far-sighted thinkers as far back as the mid-nineteenth century. This widening human awareness revealed how the planet actually functions, its living biosphere systemically powered by the daily flow of photons from our mother star, the Sun. Eventually, this expanded awareness overcame the cognitive limitations and incorrect assumptions and ideologies that had created the crises of the twentieth century. False theories of human development and progress , measured myopically by prices and money-based metrics, such as GDP, culminated in rising social and environmental losses: pollution of air, water and land; destruction of biological diversity; loss of ecosystem services, all exacerbated by global heating, rising sea levels, and massive climate disruptions. These myopic policies had also driven social breakdowns, inequality, poverty, mental and physical illness, addiction, loss of trust in institutions — including media, academia, and science itself — as well as loss of community solidarity. They had also led to the pandemics of the 21 st century, SARS, MERS, AIDS, influenza, and the various coronaviruses that emerged back in 2020. [READ MORE] <https://www.ethicalmarkets.com/pandemics-lessons-looking-back-from-2050/?ut…> * “PANDEMICS — LESSONS LOOKING BACK FROM 2050” <https://www.ethicalmarkets.com/pandemics-lessons-looking-back-from-2050/?ut…>* -- P2P Foundation: http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net <http://p2pfoundation.net> - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: ; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens Curation of news on p2p/commons developments: https://www.facebook.com/groups/p2p.open/

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Fwd: Clarity at this crucial moment: Q&A webinar with the Post Growth Institute 🌏
by Michel Bauwens 19 Mar '20

19 Mar '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Post Growth Institute <info(a)postgrowth.org> Date: Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 7:40 AM Subject: Clarity at this crucial moment: Q&A webinar with the Post Growth Institute 🌏 To: Michel <michelsub2004(a)gmail.com> Explore how the coronavirus is affecting both global and local economies, and what you can do to help to ensure we manage this moment wisely. Dear Michel, We recently published an article outlining *10 steps for rebalancing our world in times of crisis* <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…>. Following overwhelming interest in the topic, we’re hosting a free, 90-minute webinar to provide clarity at this crucial moment. Join us at 3pm PDT, Thursday, March 19 (convert to your local time here <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> ). Register here for our Free Zoom Webinar <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> Together we’ll explore how the coronavirus is affecting both global and local economies, and what you can do to help to ensure we manage this moment wisely. Short presentations by PGI Executive Director Donnie Maclurcan Ph.D. and our Director of Education Crystal Arnold will be followed by plenty of time for questions and answers. Whether your interest lies more with the big picture or specific challenges, this webinar will offer greater clarity. Yours in this together, <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> P.S. We hope you can join us! Click here to sign up for the webinar. <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> [image: Facebook] <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> [image: Twitter] <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> [image: Website] <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af62ec&…> or unsubscribe from this list <https://postgrowth.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=dcc08996cc57fb1c3f5af6…> . -- P2P Foundation: http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net <http://p2pfoundation.net> - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: ; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens Curation of news on p2p/commons developments: https://www.facebook.com/groups/p2p.open/

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Fwd: the ad for the Attraction Magnetizer role (URGENT REQUEST FOR STACCO/AM)
by Michel Bauwens 13 Mar '20

13 Mar '20

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 9:51 AM Subject: Fwd: the ad for the Attraction Magnetizer role Dear all Would you be interested in this ? It's a rather urgent request, thanks for checking it out and connecting with George and Gina, more info via George Pór at george(a)campus-coevolve.org Michel ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: George Pór <george.por(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Mar 11, 2020 at 11:25 PM Subject: the ad for the Attraction Magnetizer role To: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004(a)gmail.com> Cc: Gina Bonmariage <gina(a)campus-coevolve.org>, Anna Betz < anna(a)campus-coevolve.org>, Jess Allen <jess(a)evolutesix.com> BECOME a (PAID) ATTRACTION MAGNETIZER for the COMMONS! Campus Co-Evolve is a virtual university of transformative education, where Michel Bauwens will teach a course on the Commons and Its Role in the Coming Transition https://campus-coevolve.org/commons-transition/ . To "get" the Attraction Magnetizer role, you need to understand that the Campus doesn't do marketing; we don't try to "sell" this or any of our other courses. We are in the business of helping commoners, organizational and community change facilitators to increase their positive impact with orders of magnitude. That's why want to make our educational offers to visible to all we aspire to further develop their capabilities. The role of the attraction magnetizer starts with getting the picture below, and one of the snippets from our video interview with Michel, out to the social media groups where those people hang out, who are likely to be interested in "commons economics" education from one the world's foremost thought leaders about the subject. [image: Screenshot 2020-03-11 at 21.48.45.png] The role also includes engaging in enlivening, generative conversations with those who like or comment on our posts. If you're interested to energize the Attraction Magnetizer role send a message with info about your social media and commons experience to George Pór at george(a)campus-coevolve.org. The person, who is the most qualified for this role will receive an invitation to discuss with him details, including compensation. -- P2P Foundation: http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net <http://p2pfoundation.net> - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: ; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens Curation of news on p2p/commons developments: https://www.facebook.com/groups/p2p.open/ -- P2P Foundation: http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net <http://p2pfoundation.net> - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: ; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens Curation of news on p2p/commons developments: https://www.facebook.com/groups/p2p.open/

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