Hi Sam,<br><br>thanks for this and for trying out real p2p work in the Midwest ...<br><br>please use our blog and Ning for reporting about progress, and we'll do what we can to refract it abroad,<br><br>Michel<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 8:19 AM, Samuel Rose <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:samuel.rose@gmail.com">samuel.rose@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
"What's happening in Wisconsin is not complicated. At the beginning of<br>
this year, the state was on course to end 2011 with a budget surplus<br>
of $120 million. As Ezra Klein explained, newly elected GOP Governor<br>
Scott Walker then " signed two business tax breaks and a conservative<br>
health-care policy experiment that lowers overall tax revenues (among<br>
other things). The new legislation was not offset, and it turned a<br>
surplus into a deficit."<br>
<br>
Walker then used the deficit he'd created as the justification for<br>
assaulting his state's public employees. He used a law cooked up by a<br>
right-wing advocacy group called the American Legislative Exchange<br>
Council (ALEC). ALEC likes to fly beneath the radar, but I described<br>
the organization in a 2005 article as "the connective tissue that<br>
links state legislators with right-wing think tanks, leading anti-tax<br>
activists and corporate money." Similar laws are on the table in Ohio<br>
and Indiana.<br>
<br>
Walker's bill would strip public employees of the right to bargain<br>
collectively for anything but higher pay (and would cap the amount of<br>
wage hikes they might end up gaining in negotiations). His intentions<br>
are clear -- before assuming office, Walker threatened to decertify<br>
the state's employees' unions (until he discovered that the governor<br>
doesn't have that power)."<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/479560/12_things_you_need_to_know_about_the_uprising_in_wisconsin/" target="_blank">http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/479560/12_things_you_need_to_know_about_the_uprising_in_wisconsin/</a><br>
_______<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Aso worth reading:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://prop-press.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/report-from-day-five-first-chance-to-reflect.html" target="_blank">http://prop-press.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/report-from-day-five-first-chance-to-reflect.html</a><br>
<br>
<br>
________________________________________________________________________<br>
<br>
<br>
I think the time is here to start talking with people about<br>
<a href="http://p2pfoundation.net/The_Political_Principles_of_Peer-to-Peer_Advocacy" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net/The_Political_Principles_of_Peer-to-Peer_Advocacy</a><br>
here, in the Industrial Midwest (which includes WI)<br>
<br>
One simple way to route around party politics is to give people a<br>
direct p2p way to actively reflect existing poltics as we saw in<br>
iceland with <a href="http://skuggathing.is/portal" target="_blank">http://skuggathing.is/portal</a> based on<br>
<a href="https://github.com/rbjarnason/open-active-democracy" target="_blank">https://github.com/rbjarnason/open-active-democracy</a><br>
<br>
Another parallel approach is to start applying collective decision<br>
making and pooling of resources directly to problems people are<br>
addressing. In addition, creating cooperatives, supporting alternative<br>
currencies when appropriate.<br>
<br>
Unions in all of these states have resources, including pension funds,<br>
that they could invest directly in worker-owned cooperative companies,<br>
as has been discussed by Richard Schulte of flywheeltechcollective in<br>
the past. Some of them have expressed interest in doing this. These<br>
kinds of changes for entities like unions are long term changes and<br>
investments, and will take time. However, I think every year that goes<br>
by makes more and more on the left receptive to p2p alternatives.<br>
<br>
If people are interested in working on P2P political advocacy and<br>
approaches in 2011-2012, let's talk here and continue to build towards<br>
thing people can really use in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan,<br>
Eastern Europe, South America, etc<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
--<br>
Sam Rose<br>
Future Forward Institute and Forward Foundation<br>
Tel:+1(517) 639-1552<br>
Cel: +1-(517)-974-6451<br>
skype: samuelrose<br>
email: <a href="mailto:samuel.rose@gmail.com">samuel.rose@gmail.com</a><br>
<a href="http://forwardfound.org" target="_blank">http://forwardfound.org</a><br>
<a href="http://futureforwardinstitute.org" target="_blank">http://futureforwardinstitute.org</a><br>
<a href="http://hollymeadcapital.com" target="_blank">http://hollymeadcapital.com</a><br>
<a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a><br>
<a href="http://socialmediaclassroom.com" target="_blank">http://socialmediaclassroom.com</a><br>
<br>
"The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human<br>
ambition." - Carl Sagan<br>
<br>
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