[P2P-F] Fwd: A strategic framework for demonetization

Mon Mar 14 17:22:26 CET 2011

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 11:08 PM
Subject: Fwd: A strategic framework for demonetization
To: gifteconomy at lists.gifteconomy.org, econowmix at googlegroups.com,
hc_ecology at yahoogroups.com, sustainable_solidarity at yahoogroups.com

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Franz Nahrada <f.nahrada at reflex.at>
Date: Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 9:58 AM
Subject: [globalvillages] A strategic framework for demonetization
To: globalvillages at yahoogroups.com

Because of the actual OSE discussion in GlobalVillages I publish a piece
that I wrote for a new, emerging list on demonetization, which means the
abolition or the diminishing of money in social relations. It has many
points that resonate with globalviillages.

It is very important to react properly to the powerful message and the
strategic shortcomings of the Zeitgeist movie, and this is the context in
which also the following piece emerged.

The important point is that the nonmonetary world has to coexist in a
certain way with the monetary, and its rather a "productive" and "effective"
than a "peaceful" coexistence. The same idea applies to intellectual
property.

Franz

-------

Dear all, familiar or new, in this interesting circle!

We all have been attracted by a mission statement that is claiming that
demonetization is both necessary and feasible. But what does this
"feasibility" mean to each of us? Certainly quite different things.

The idea to call for "demonetization" and the call for this mailing list
brings together a very broad range of perspectives, theoretical traditions
and social activists. - So how can we build on our common understanding of
the problematique of money relations and the logic of exchange of
equivalents and strengthen synergies while respecting a big bag of cultural,
theoretical and strategic differences and making controversies fruitful?

Maybe, at this very opening point where we consider the purpose of this
mailing list and demonetization in general, a little metaphor could help.

What comes to my mind is the image of a "playing field". "Demonetization"
can be conceived or thought of as such a field, where different perspectives
can play together and create patterns of understanding and change, as well
as really practical synergies and a team effort, as long as certain rules
are respected.

Lets put it that way: we share a vague assumption that the money economy,
the capitalist and inherently patriarchal and racist mode of production, can
and should be transformed not only from one point but from a variety of
starting points, on a variety of levels, with a variety of actors and
vectors. We might be focusing on local levels or global collaboration, on
gift-driven or on coordination-driven approaches, we might work with civil
society, political or entrepreneurial paradigms, based on class based
schemes or on practical utopian visions or old traditions, yet we are aware
that there are many people and currents in the field of change, trying out
different concepts, putting different things before each other, yet giving
all of us valuable experience.

To this aim, let me propose some helpful assumptions for a demonetization
discourse that is both "on target", respects diversity in our approaches and
strengthens synergies by asking precise questions and making clear
statements.

1. Demonetization is of utmost importance for the whole world ultimately,
yet I am convinced that it can be done on certain levels / scales of
societal production more easily than on others - with a strong personal
tendency to favor the local scale.

2. Generally spoken, demonetization is only possible if people become
conscious of the process of their (re)production - be it in part or be it in
in totality. This is not an easy thing... she or he who says goodbye to
money also says good bye to a certain kind of convenience and indifference.
Money relations are relations of abstract equality, where individuality
doesn't matter. (The German "gleich-gültig" both expresses the equality of
exchange and the indifference of a human relation). Many people like this
convenience, and I think its necessary to say that we dont like it. It comes
at a high price, money taking over social relations before we know it. So
demonetisation is the process of (re-)transforming social relations into
acts of concsious creations. This is nothing we can expect to come by
itself, its a long process and one assumption that holds our discourse
together it begins at different points, yet identifyable points.

3. A very simple way to frame demonetisation is to suggest that foremost,
"islands of demonetization" have to be defined, islands, where the money
relation is replaced by a cooperative circularity; a circularity that feeds
energy back into every single part of the chain; a kind of "social contract"
between members of a social network, that in most cases will first
circumscribe itself by means of "inside/outside"- relations, and then
gradually build syntheses to other social networks. We have heard
expressions like "tribe" or "phyle" to describe one way this can happen,
other ways are more favorizing temporary zones, that foster individual
freedom and yet allow new social protocols to emerge. In some cases there is
an expected leap in productivity that makes it possible to "give" to the
outside world; definitely in the case of immaterial commons the boundaries
are much less important, but even in material cycles the "exchange" with the
outside world might be a general aspect of benefit to society at large.

4. The word "exchange" has a general and a special meaning, one one side its
the exchange of equivalents, the latin do ut des, and on the other side it
is the general fact that some kind of mutuality is at the bottomline of
every social relation. As soon as we know to differentiate, the word will
not do harm to us.

We know that a cooperative circularity is not to be mixed up with
"equivalent" exchange relations, its scale is determined by the direct focus
on the needs and necessities of members of a given social network, a
conscious division of labour, and a dynamic process of planning by means of
dialogue. One way to resolve this would be to differentiate clearly between
"exchange" - "I give to you because you give to me" - and "metabolism" - "I
give to you so that you can enfold better your productive potentials or
simply because I want to enfold my productive potentials better". Social
metabolism is an eternal condition of society, equivalent exchange is a
specific social form of such metabolism, which necessarily favors those who
are in favor already and leads to catastrophic distortion and disparities.

5. The productive potential of such social networks and cooperatives depends
also on the way they deal with the existing forms of wealth in terms of
products and means of production. We are supposedly targeting "germ forms"
that are embedded in a larger society dominated by the capitalist mode of
production. Even if we start to produce ourselves, we might have need for
goods that are available only for money. In many cases, this simply means
the necessity to accumulate money as "foreign exchange" in order to be able
to acquire means of production and products on the market - whilst
constantly looking for alternatives to expand our cooperative cycles.

6. There is a dramatic new factor that helps us to change the picture
quickly. A growing number of industrial products embody "productive
intelligence" (see Toffler, third wave). The potential of cooperative
self-providing can grow very fast and the acquisition of tools rather than
means of consumtion is a growing option even at the smallest scale.

Of course this is exact the reason why conventional economical practise has
turned into direct sabotage of such qualities. We witness a process of
marketing and product design that imlplies a strategic imperative: that
technologies are deformed increasingly by the economy to prevent
self-employment, self-determined labour proactively. Some authors who
observe technology development cannot help but suppose there is a "general
prevention" against any kind of autonomy built in in modern technology. They
are not only taking our land, they are also eroding our productive
potential. The terminator genes are built in not only in the seeds from
agroindustries, in a metaphorical sense every computer and every car is
built in this way for immediate or imminent obsolesence. This is pure waste
that reaches dimensions of gross national products. And of course the
productive capabilities of modularize, connect, link and swap elements of
interoperable technology are almost zero. The cheaper the stuff is, the less
.

7. Nevertheless and in a sharp contradiction to this, activating and even
subsidising self-employment ("Eigenarbeit") is an increasingly attractive
way of generating revenues, of making money - take examples such as the
self-service petrol station or the self-service furniture shop. These
potentials of self-providing are enhanced by community building between
customers of a firm, which is the reason why even dominant economic actors
time and again foster such community building. Different capitals move with
different velocities in this respect. Some capitals even use the potential
of communities also as a weapon against monopolies.

8. What is new in strategies related to demonetization is to take community
building in our hands, by conscious action, as a strategic tool. To tie into
strategies of capital to build communities and not necessarily subvert them,
but in the contrary bring them far beyond the point that was originally
intended. To increase the leading and designing roles of communities in
regard to capital, with the threat to react with retreat if capital seeks
control of communities. To favor those that explicitely loosen their grip on
"intellectual capital" or other things that are essentially commons, to
reward them, to credit them.

9. To say it clearly, we always have to remind ourselves of the strategic
aspect of any intervention: What is the interest of capital to leave us
alone or to promote a specific kind of social interaction actively? So
processes of demonetization are not simply processes of delinking, but
consist of taking advantage of certain opportunities to construct stable and
permanent cooperative circularities in the context of a mode of production
that is still defined and dominated by the capital relation. Those are
opportunities that must be stabilized practically, as germ forms
("Keimformen") of demonetized social relations - in doing this, we have to
keep in mind those fractions of capital and its political agency, that want
to cooperate synergetically.

10. So it would be absolutely not enough to refrain from talking about
money. We must talk about the innumerable variants of interplay of a
possible nonmonetary world, its solidarity economical procedures, its common
resources and infrastructures, with the currently, aggressively dominating
monetary system, with its economical and political actors, and where their
interests might help us to survive and grow.

11. That said, of course we will also have to look into the nature of
cooperative cycles themselves, revive old knowledge and findings and
contribute new forms.

12. That brings me back to the playing field: some will be in the center
where nonmonetary practises prevail, some will be at the edges where they
colide or coexist with monetary ones, some will be at the front where they
can tackle with innovations whilst others still create the base in the back
and maintain structures. Lets not take that picture too serious, but lets
start the game.

Thanks to Andreas Exner for inputs and encouragement to have this published
early. I hope we can build on it.

Franz Nahrada
Vienna

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