[P2P-F] [Commoning] new capitalism and commoning

Thu Feb 10 11:20:01 CET 2011

I don't know what to say to this Neal,

direct ad hominem attacks are easy to spot and can be moderated away,

the use of irony and hostile interpretations are a more subtle form of
intellectual intimidation

I can only say, being on the receiving end more than others, that I'm not
the only one, and have received email letters from others complaining about
this, people who feel explicitely intimated to contribute out of fear of
similar treatment, and having it experienced themselves already

I don't know the rules of the  commoning  list, where I'm a guest like
others, but the unwritten rules of the p2p foundation list are broad enough
to allow it, even though it makes me uncomfortable and keeps other people
away from participating, who unlike me, are wiser to stay outside the firing
line,

personally, it makes me sick in the stomach, and I will probably never get
used to it, but since I'm one of the parties to this exchange, I'll abstain
from any proposals

my earlier proposal to Martin is to consider that my attempts at creating a
dialogue are not directed to him, since they only provoke his hostility; I
can also try to abstain from responding to Martin, though of course, in case
of multiple dialogue between different persons, that may be difficult

of course, that does not help others who may have the same experiences and
feelings

sometimes, you learn from your critics, and that is really good,

but here, I have learned a lot from Martin and a good friend of his, that
I'm intend on imposing internet infrastructures on local communities ????,
that I oppose or deny the political views of indigenous communities ???,
that I have a blind faith in IBM ???, and that I am totally gullible as far
as the ideas of free software hackers ???. These are four lies, and just the
recent ones I remember, and the truth being the opposite, I have not learned
anything useful from such attacks, but find it profoundly disturbing to have
to deal with such distortions so frequently. I would wish it to stop and
have respectful correspondents, but as to how to achieve this, I don't know.

As far as my own behaviour is concerned, yes I have been overly reactive to
it, and would wish that I could just let it wash away, and not respond
reactively, which continues the cycle, but I'm pretty sure I have never
initiated any similar personal attacks

Michel

On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 2:37 PM, Neal Gorenflo <neal at shareable.net> wrote:

> Dear kind folk, the health of this intellectual commons depends on
> civility. My question is what mutual agreements do we need to keep this
> commons healthy? -Neal
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 9:09 PM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Dear Martin,
>>
>> I 'get' your irony and  implied condescension for the hacker and free
>> software community, those poor unconscious folks who lack the true
>> awareness,
>>
>> have a look at Hacking Capitalism from Johan Soderbergh if you have not
>> read it yet, perhaps you'd see that there are a bit of thoughtful hackers
>> out there
>>
>> Please be assured, I"m going to abstain to disturb you in your commanding
>> intellectual heights in the future, this has been my last attempt to try to
>> have a civil discussion about perspectives that differ from your absolute
>> certainties,
>>
>> In the future, please consider that my messages are in no way directed to
>> you, I acknowledge from now on your immense superiority and apologize for
>> the unthoughtful intrusion that have drawn your ire and irony and disturbed
>> your peace of mind
>>
>> my sincere hope is that you would publish your Collected Writings as a
>> lasting gift for humanity, in these dark times,  your Enlightenment is
>> sorely needed,
>>
>> from the department of Pedersenian irony, which has one an extra convert
>>
>> Michel
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 6:24 AM, j.martin.pedersen <
>> m.pedersen at lancaster.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Yes, I agree. I was being simplistic. Let us go with what hackers want -
>>> their political analysis seems sound.
>>>
>>> My apologies to the list for suggesting otherwise.
>>>
>>> On 08/02/11 21:10, Michel Bauwens wrote:
>>> > the situation is a lot  more complex than that
>>> >
>>> > many different corporate players contribute to Linux, and the Linux
>>> > Foundation consists for example of different players
>>> >
>>> > though 75% of Linux contributors are paid, 25 % are still volunteers
>>> >
>>> > I've heard from free software developers that a substantial number of
>>> IBM
>>> > Linux workers can self-determine the areas they contribute to,
>>> depending not
>>> > just on the corporate needs of IBM
>>> >
>>> > I have yet to hear strong, or even weak, critiques of free software
>>> > developers towards the general attitude of IBM in this matter, though
>>> they
>>> > have 'specific' critiques about specific actions; in general, I think
>>> the
>>> > opinions of those knowledge workers directly involved in such projects,
>>> > should be taken into account
>>> >
>>> > of course, the corporatisation of a commons is a matter of concern, and
>>> > changes the rules of the game, but it remains a matter of community vs.
>>> > corporate dynamics, not at all a simple and straight enclosure and
>>> > programmed defeat, but a dynamic co-adaptation and struggle;
>>> nevertheless,
>>> > it is a commons that continues to grow and create value for society;
>>> that
>>> > creates sustainability and social reproduction for a very large
>>> fraction of
>>> > contributors; the overwhelming majority of free software workers
>>> considers
>>> > this important progress, not an enclosure in which they lost
>>> >
>>> > nevertheless, this is why open source communities should ideally strive
>>> > towards the creation of independent entities, use a logic of
>>> preferential
>>> > attachment towards corporate entities that maximally share commons
>>> values,
>>> > and fight for community autonomy in the governance of such commons;
>>> it's a
>>> > construction and a struggle, not a fixed and idealized situation of
>>> total
>>> > defeat
>>> >
>>> > your analysis would suggest that voluntary contributors that can't make
>>> a
>>> > living, is a superior situation where 75% percent of workers can make a
>>> > living, an analysis and appreciation not shared by said commoners
>>> >
>>> > free software workers do not share your ironic idealization of IBM, but
>>> they
>>> > appreciate a social compact that reflects a current balance of power
>>> that is
>>> > not experienced as something wholly negative, but as a realistic
>>> advance in
>>> > the view of current circumstances; wnen this compact is broken, they
>>> > frequently react, and frequently win these conflicts (see
>>> > http://delicious.com/mbauwens/P2P-Conflicts); commoners aware of
>>> > contradictions within the present political economy also create their
>>> own
>>> > autonomous cooperatives (
>>> http://p2pfoundation.net/Free_Software_Cooperatives)
>>> > and actively propose alternatives (such as the Venture Communism of
>>> > Telekommunisten)
>>> >
>>> > Our own p2p.coop is in process of adopting the latter's peer
>>> production
>>> > license, which creates a commoners-only commons, i.e. an active and
>>> mutually
>>> > supportive counter-economy; however, it comes at the price of a much
>>> slower
>>> > growth of said commons, and actually 'closes' the commons to a
>>> significant
>>> > degree; there is a real irony in that a real commons operating purely
>>> on
>>> > commonist principles, is open to appropriation by capital, while a
>>> closed
>>> > commons has a non-commercial clause which prohibits such appropriation
>>> >
>>> > in such a context, a conclusion like, No commons without commoning, no
>>> IBM
>>> > involvement without enclosure, would appear to deny such complexities;
>>> in
>>> > fact, commoning and enclosure can co-exist in complex and paradoxical
>>> ways,
>>> > in which the advantage of the one is not always a zero-sum game leading
>>> to
>>> > the loss of another
>>> >
>>> > which why I prefer the paradoxical conclusion: no real enclosure
>>> without
>>> > real enclosure, and no enclosure without the majority of commoners
>>> > experience such enclosure; of course such a conclusion would warrant
>>> that we
>>> > take the experience and points of view of such workers seriously
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 11:51 PM, j.martin.pedersen <
>>> > m.pedersen at lancaster.ac.uk> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >> On 08/02/11 12:14, Michel Bauwens wrote:
>>> >>> so does IBM and at the same time, it is also strengthening
>>> >>> the free software commons.
>>> >>
>>> >> On the premise that there are no commons without commoning, IBM does
>>> not
>>> >> strengthen the software commons.
>>> >>
>>> >> Rather, IBM converts the (re)production of the *resource* that
>>> software
>>> >> commoners have created/established into a matter of wage labour.
>>> >>
>>> >> Command over wage labour - and the means of production required to
>>> >> capitalise on it - are thus used to subsume control of what was
>>> >> previously a commons, - a process also known as enclosure. This is the
>>> >> first step. They claim ownership, by acquiring decision-making powers,
>>> >> by claiming de facto leadership of the organisation (and future
>>> >> direction) of the resource. Software - like most things - is movement,
>>> >> and IBM moves it in a direction away from common ground.
>>> >>
>>> >> Due to way in which the GPL sits on the fence, this is possible
>>> without
>>> >> the immediately apparent destruction of the commons. Hence, for the
>>> >> uncritical observer it might appear as if IBM are adding to the
>>> commons,
>>> >> but their interaction with the commons actually results in the
>>> >> minimisation/marginalisation of commoners in the development of the
>>> >> commons: they are rendered marginal: they may still play with the
>>> code,
>>> >> i.e. the resource, but their commoning is ever less significant in the
>>> >> development of the resource, while waged labour and corporate planning
>>> >> increasingly determines the trajectory of the resource.
>>> >>
>>> >> No commons without commoning, no IBM involvement without enclosure.
>>> >>
>>> >> Unless, of course, we say that IBM is such a nice trustworthy outfit
>>> >> that like our Open Source friends at Google "do no evil"(TM) and who
>>> >> would never help computing another holocaust.
>>> >>
>>> >> m
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>> --
>>> http://commoning.wordpress.com
>>>
>>> "...I thought we were an autonomous collective..."
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>   --
>> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>>
>> Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
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>>
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>>
>> Commons Strategies Group, http://www.commonsstrategies.org/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>> http://lists.wissensallmende.de/mailman/listinfo/commoning
>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> --
>
> Neal Gorenflo | Publisher, http://Shareable.net <http://shareable.net/> |
> 415.867.0429
>

-- 
P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
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