[P2P-F] Reflections on Trump, and the role of the commons as an alternative

Wed Feb 8 14:30:22 CET 2017

hi Michel,

Huge thank you for the clear and a concise articulation of what I've been
thinking in the last few weeks!

> The p2p/commons approach has a crucial role to play in making the Sanders
coalition more realistic, by offering new strategies for
re-industrialization which are not based on going back to the old models,
but on going forward towards a cosmo-local model of production, which
offers solutions not just for the US workers, but for the populations of
the world, and through its stress on mutualization and the commons, has
solutions for the ecological and climate crisis.

The question I hold is, how can we most effectively play that role?
Isn't it by opening dialogues, both at the thought leadership and the
grassroots levels?

*solidarity!*

george

George Pór
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On Wed, Feb 8, 2017 at 8:16 AM, Michel Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net>
wrote:

> personal reflections on the meaning of Trump, in the form of axioms. Bear
> in mind this is a very quick first write-up which needs to be improved.
>
> Updates eventually via https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Theses_on_Trump
>
>
> Theses[edit
> <https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/index.php?title=Theses_on_Trump&action=edit&section=1>
> ]
>
> 1. The victory and support for Trump reflects the crisis of neoliberal
> globalization and the underlying dynamics of capitalism, i.e. both the
> environmental externalities such as peak resources (not contrary to current
> oil glut, but a paradoxical part of it, see Bio-Physical Triggers of
> Political Violence
> <https://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Bio-Physical_Triggers_of_Political_Violence>),
> and climate change; and the social externalities, essentially the
> impoverishment of the western working and middle classes.
>
> 2. Hence a struggle between the pro-neoliberal forces who want to maintain
> the benefits of Empire at the cost of both the internal population and the
> nationally bound industries, and those of the forces that backed Trump, and
> accept that they can no longer dominate Empire . Hence the support for
> Trump from the more nationally oriented business leaders, the sectors that
> fear climate change costs and regulations (the energy sector). Hence the
> retreat from imperial policing and responsibilities. The idea is to retreat
> back to the nation-state, only accept trade which does not endanger
> national capital, and to repatriate the trillions that are stashed abroad
> through the 'imperial' multinationals. This explains the opposition to
> Trump from the neoliberal elite.
>
> 3. The class compromise of neoliberalism, to accept the cultural aspects
> of the 1968 uprising, and thus the acceptance of cultural and gender rights
> with the postmodern, post-labor left that supported it, is no longer
> workable. Hence the Trump forces promise an alignment with the white
> working class (but also others who share certain laborist or productivist
> values), at the cost of Otherization. It is important to understand that
> just as the labor left institutions got coopted in the New Deal / Welfare
> state model, so did also the pro-rights left represented by identity
> politics, or at least large parts of it (see Boltanski book). Hence the
> alignment between pro-neoliberal politics and the cultural left,
> represented by the Clinton-Obama coalitions.
>
> 4. Since the cultural left is focused on cultural rights, they are
> understandably opposed to the Otherization and overt racism/genderism of
> the Trump coalition, and feel largely obliged to support to some degree the
> neoliberal regime which granted the cultural rights and reforms, but given
> the undermining of the neoliberal compromise, this seems like a mistake.
>
> 5. More realistically, the Sanders forces represent those sectors of the
> left focused on recreating a synergy between progressive labor and the
> cultural left, intent on creating a new coalition. Hence the moderate
> language used by Sanders so as to maintain the links with the parts of
> labor who voted Trump. However, this also means maintaining a broad
> orientation towards restoring the New Deal principles , support for
> Keynesian politics, but also crucially, the same orientation towards
> re-industrialization and the restoration of the nation-state.
>
> 6. Both coalitions therefore have their contradictions. For example, Trump
> needs the support of both labor and their unions, but also of the no-tax
> Republicans, meaning he has to cut the budget at the same time as he needs
> trillions for infrastructural investment. He needs to retreat from Empire,
> but needs to pacify the defense establishment. He needs Big Oil, but at the
> cost of environmental disruption.
>
> 7. The Obama and Sanders coalitions have their own contradictions, being
> wedded to a dismantling globalization and a impossible to really restore
> nation-state reality.
>
>
> 8. The p2p/commons approach has a crucial role to play in rending the
> Sanders coalition more realistic, by offering new strategies for
> re-industrialization which are not based on going back to the old models,
> but on going forward towards a cosmo-local model of production, which
> offers solutions not just for the US workers, but for the populations of
> the world, and through its stress on mutualization and the commons, has
> solutions for the ecological and climate crisis. This requires that
> commoners make their own turn towards focusing not on knowledge workers
> only, but to all workers and the rest of the population, by offering
> perspectives for sustainable livelihoods. While at the same time,
> construction trans-national institutions.
>
> 9. However, the big issue for the commons movenent and emergence is the
> immaturity of a lot of these potential solutions. Thus, the commons needs
> as much to align with the progressive nation-state restorers, as the other
> way around, as such huge transitions are impossible to carry out in good
> conditions without the support of state institutions (what we call the
> Partner State approach). Hence, one of the strategic priorities is a
> dialogue between the labor left (a la Sanders and Corbyn), the cultural
> rights movements, and the emerging commons movement.
>
> --
> 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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