[P2P-F] a short response to queries about the p2p'f workings in WSF

[Michel Bauwens]

Kevin may yet respond to Orsan queries and the suspicions that the p2p-f is
setting the agenda in the WSF and elswhere.

My understanding of the events at the WSF is that they were organized by a
large team of commoners from different countries but under the impulse
originally of Kevin and Elizabetta, who took a personal initiative on this.

The process was done entirely openly on hackpads and mailings lists with
everyone welcome to contribute which was in the end several dozen people
who did a really great job. My understanding is that Orsan did not wish to
contribute to these efforts, which was entirely his decision. Kevin asked
us to use our server to open a mailing list to help this project. This does
not mean that these events were orchestrated in any particular way by the
P2P Foundation, though various sympathizers of our work, such as Kevin,
will have contributed a lot of time and effort to make it happen, along
with many others from other organizations as well as non-affiliated.




But here is my take, so that people may understand better how we function
in that regard. The questions from Orsan seem to be predicated on a in my
view old-fashioned view of conspirational hierarchical organizations that
does not reflect our practice.

I very emphatically want to declare that there was not a single meeting as
p2p-f in which any decisions were made outside of that process on the
hackpad and mailing list, and outside of the free dialogue of all the
contributors. I was personally not involved at all except for a requested
intervention on coops which I did not fullfil for health reasons.


so here is a one paragraph summary explanation:

"It is important to realize that the p2p-f is an organized network and not
a NGO (the 'stichting' is just a legal structure to be able to accept
research grants etc ..). As a network , there is no membership but people
can self-declare themselves symphatizers and as long as they stay in the
broad framework of pluralistic support for p2p and the commons, there will
be no objection to it (just as they did with occupy for example). So
individuals in our network are free to declare their affiliation to the
p2p-f in personal capacity. They may call themselves members or
contributors, but there is no formal membership. This does not mean they
represent the whole of the network. It also means they are not 'dispatched'
by the P2P-F with a specific agenda. In addition, because of the accrued
prestige of our work for a decade, we are often asked to add our name to
the organizational rosters and sponsors of an event. This is often of
mutual benefit and so readily accepted. Here also, it does not mean that
the P2P Foundation is necessarily a co-organizer on the ground, though
symphatizes may have contributed and collaborated to the event in different
fashions. Today, the core group of the p2p-f consists of 6 individuals
operating on a shoestring budget, and mostly they are responsible for their
own income. We intend at some point to function in a more organizational
way but this is still a very emergent practice so far. Most of the time, we
operate as a service organization and act upon invitation and requests,
this means we are sure that what we are doing is useful for the social
movement we support, since they directly reflect their expressed needs."

I hope this makes sense,

Michel

-- 
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