<div dir="ltr">my replies are after the << inline<div><br clear="all"><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Michel, in response to your reply I also like to direct this email to</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">the attention of Silke, David, Pat, James, Chico.. and other</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">self-claimed strategists, organisers, leaders, of global justice and</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">solidarity, and now commons movements..</span></div><div><br></div><div><< you are one of them Orsan, there is no us and them there<br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">First issue, is the one you avoid to respond; lack of prefiguration</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">hence moral - cultural leadership, neede for the hegemony you are</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">willing to build over first other movements, then against the ruling</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">classes. This is a general issue, and is a critique of all NGO sector;</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">'progressive' or 'supportive' NGO cadre, degenerate 'solidairty and</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">justice' culture, by getting stuck and generate 'capitalist'</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">competitive culture. That is why, in a Gramscian sense, it would never</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">be possible to get real moral and intellectual leadership over the</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">progressive movements, like commons movement, that you are trying to</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">'build' or mould out of real people's real struggles.</span></div><div><br></div><div>I absolute do not refuse to respond; I can't talk for the others, but for myself, walking the talk and being prefigurative is essential ; as for strategy, my own strategy is entirely invitational, i.e. I never lobby and never ask for any invitation nor leadership position ; however, I do generally respond positively to any request for assistance ; I do ask for my costs to be re-imbursed, and to be paid for lectures when I have no other income (for example, here in the US, I get paid for a project, so I don't ask for any lecture fees while here); the p2p-f and CSG apply commons and p2p governance principles ; no one in these organizations command others ; that is even normally the case when funding is possible ; for example, Kevin asked for exceptional funding to be able to go to the WSF, and there was zero interference from us in his work there </div><div><br></div><div>you refer to occupy etc .. note that these had strong meritocratic and contributory principles, i.e. you had no voice if you did not participate >></div><div><br></div><div><br><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">In 2013, and 2014, together with others from most recent movements,</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">from Occupy, 15M, Arab spring, and including Carminda McLorin -from</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Occupy Montreal and Classe, an initiative formed and called itself</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">'Global Square'. We have designed and tried to open up an occupied</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Commons Space, within the WSF in Tunis 2013 and 2014:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="http://www.global-square.net/about/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size:12.8px">http://www.global-square.net/about/</a><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Carminda was had participated all calls and meetings of Global Square</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">actively and she become the face of the WSF Montreal local</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">coordination team (with Chico Whiteaker being on her side). Based on</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">unique experience we developed, in a really p2p and commoning way,</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">during 2011-2014 period, at Agora99, Frienze 10+10, WSF Tunis under</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">the Banner of Global Square (with combined methodologies) in 2014 I</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">tried out to scratch the below designs on the way to Montreal. I</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">shared it with you, and it has been picked up by you, and others; then</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">it was modified into un-P2P and un-common ways and translated in to</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">NGO format with carefully controlled access (over the funding</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">opportunities and competitiveness reasons I assume).. and we have a</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">modified Commons Space. Here is the Hackpad where Kevin, of the P2P</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Foundation has been the main organiser from the beginning, with</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Elisabetta of Transform:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="https://commonsspace.hackpad.com/Commons-Space-k6rOCvUgyhC" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size:12.8px">https://commonsspace.hackpad.com/Commons-Space-k6rOCvUgyhC</a></div><div><br></div><div><< so you are accusing Kevin and Elisabetta of creating an uncommons space and derailing your initiative ? Kevin already responded that he is not on the funding roll of any organization ; while I did not participate, I have seen the occasional emails pass by, and my impression is that it was an entirely open, contributory and collegial process, through the email list and the hackpad, seeking consensus ; personally, I think your accusations are unfair and fantastical, but they can speak for themselves >> </div><div><br><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">As response to your question what is the easy way to go to WSF and</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">finding support for that: I think your is a political answer, since it</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">is your choice not to go to WSF personally, you expressed it before;</span></div><div><br></div><div><< no, this is NOT the case, I would love to go the WSF and if dates are compatible, would accept such an invitation ; I have no political objections whatsoever about participating in the WSF, we just don't have the means to do so ; last time's participation by Kevin, funded by us, was very exceptional ; we've never done it before and may never do it after ; my colleagues work in the same spirit as myself I believe ; they go where there are invited and can be useful, and also do not have funds for this : kevin can reply about how he funded his present engagement</div><div><br></div><div><br><span style="font-size:12.8px">so you are sending Kevin to do the ground work for the Foundation to</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">build an event I foresee and suggested to you last year -on the</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Commons. Meanwhile, James of the P2P foundation, is responsible from</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">the Global Commons Conference, in Amsterdam where I live. You say you</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">would recommend me, to people, but about the idea I desingned and</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">shared with you, James, your secretariat is recommended.</span></div><div><br></div><div><< no, we did not send Kevin, he asked for our assistance ; and we thought of course that it was a good think to establish connections that we did not have previously ; but Kevin was not sent there with instructions ; Orsan, I would certainly recommend you for activities around labor, given your experience and interests ; I did not recommend you to James specifically because I'm not aware of your expertise in value practices ; however, had you asked me, even without that expertise, I would certainly have recommended you, but I'm not aware of such a query>></div><div><br></div><div><br><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">You are expected to be invited to WSF and paid for some other</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">organisations, while Kevin's participation and ground work labour is</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">paid by P2P Foundation. You personally are not able to go WSF, but P2P</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Foundation is taking the responsibility to organise a major Commons</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">event at the WSF in August, and James organise another global event in</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Amsterdam for the EU project of which P2P Foundation is a partner.</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Which was originally my suggestion..</span></div><div><br></div><div><< I am not expecting any invitation from the WSF and nothing is due to me Orsan, but I am happy to go whenever people believe I can be useful ; I was just stating a fact there, and confirm, I have never been invited nor funded to attend WSF meetings and since I have prior experience with them, I have no idea how that works either ; but again, we are not an organization trying to push views and lobby for them, we are a pluralistic platform and we go where we are invited, because people themselves have decided that it could be useful for them ; you may want to read up on the concept of servant leadership it is entirely different from the kind of activities and politics you are assuming ; about the role of James ; so, there is a EU-funded research consortium with 8 organizations researching p2p value; the p2p-f was contracted to do communication and conference organizing for this event ; James and others have been funded to do that. along with others in the p2p-f network (for the record, I have received no penny from this project, ; as far as I know, I won't be paid for my participation in Amsterdam either) >><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Here is the genuinely p2p and commons way design for WSF Commons Space</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">event, I designed in 2014:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Peer to Peer Transnational Networking for a Commons Humanity</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vRRHhASr9wfWolPJzq0Ec7gsomug2T-jeTFmqfzrE3U/edit?usp=sharing" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size:12.8px">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vRRHhASr9wfWolPJzq0Ec7gsomug2T-jeTFmqfzrE3U/edit?usp=sharing</a><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">The below design I made it in 2013 to ensure a broader alliance</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">between variety of forces; in an open and peer to peer solider way..</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">based on ideas re the development of open spaces, towards and during</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">the WSF as well as other events. It was taken, modified and adopted to</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">NGO style. Below is how it was translated to NGO language by</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Stacco,who was an occupy activist and ex-worker owned coop</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">practitioner, now professional expert hired by P2P Foundation:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wud-VMjA89aE14GNWDE_YkUMNqIYsK-oLVLo4bVW-6Q/edit?usp=sharing" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size:12.8px">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wud-VMjA89aE14GNWDE_YkUMNqIYsK-oLVLo4bVW-6Q/edit?usp=sharing</a><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">And during 2014, there was an email discussion about avoiding</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">cooptation and developing a pool resource for commoners, using the</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">funding recuperated by commons NGOs type organisations; supposed to be</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">supportive of commons. Discussion taken place mid 2014, before or</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">after Degrowth conference, and then Michel, you suggested the below</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">idea, which has not been implemented, yet. Open Coop development</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">agency idea:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/188Y7COujNwhU60pMiNypXHaRHgLrjKywVlfN6AyOdCY/edit" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size:12.8px">https://docs.google.com/document/d/188Y7COujNwhU60pMiNypXHaRHgLrjKywVlfN6AyOdCY/edit</a><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Although I find EDGE Founders, under the leadership of commons</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">friendly Nicolas Krauzs of P2P Foundations funder FHP (Charles Leopold</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Mayer Foundation), it is clearly an human-washorganisation with Soros'</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">open society and US' large corporate funders behind, they might have</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">been imposing their own agenda over the commons; about which you guys</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">have no idea. </span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><< for the record, we are extremely happy with the support given by FPH , which has been very limited, but tremendously important in finally attenuating the precarity of the core group of contributors ; they're support is unconditional and structural, which is exactly what organizations like ours need, since it fully protects our freedom ; of course, it is entirely possible that they have a secret agenda, though from my end, I have seen no trace of it, they have been genuinely interested in promoting the commons as a new structural alternative, but in any case, since we operate in total freedom, I am not worried about this; we would refuse any conditional funding that would force us to do things that are not in line with our values and strategic priorities)</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">I will provide a deeper analysis of this, with proves.</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">But for the moment I just like to share the nice and sincere-open</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">reports of the events, documented by Pat Conaty and David Boiler, and</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">am guessing are the selective events organised and you have been able</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">to join:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">This is the event on Open Cooperativism:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="http://bollier.org/open-co-operativism-report" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size:12.8px">http://bollier.org/open-co-operativism-report</a><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">And this is the top-down vision of alliance building:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Part I:</span><a href="http://commonstransition.org/a-new-alignment-of-movements-part-i-the-general-challenge/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size:12.8px">http://commonstransition.org/a-new-alignment-of-movements-part-i-the-general-challenge/</a><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Part II:</span><a href="http://commonstransition.org/a-new-alignment-of-movements-part-ii-strategies-for-a-convergence-of-movements/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font-size:12.8px">http://commonstransition.org/a-new-alignment-of-movements-part-ii-strategies-for-a-convergence-of-movements/</a><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">I like to reader to pay attention of funders, participants'</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">composition, and the content. The total picture is clearly top-down</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">movement building, beyond the closed doors. These are not supportive</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">nice, exchange wise productive events.</span></div><div><br></div><div><< I was there Orsan, and I can tell you, there are amongst the nicest, most supportive and productive events that I have been lucky to attend. Let me explain how this works. These events are aiming at creating bridges between movements to attentuate gaps. So for example, our events aimed at: 1) building bridges between physical and digital commons (first big conf in berlin, 2010), 2) to build bridges between the three Polanyian fictitious commodities and see how they would function as commons i.e money , labour and land); 4) to create bridges between peer production communities and ethical finance 5) to create bridges between cooperativists and the solidarity economy, and commons/peer production actors, etc ... So how, does this work? Silke, David and I discuss what we believe are the urgents tasks of the commons movement; we consult with our networks about who the interesting players are in these different submovements ; all this is done with intensive consultation and consensus; we compile lists, discuss how to best create balanced groups, and then look at balances, i.e. age groups, gender, north-south. The meetings themselves are only minimally structured,i.e. very short framings at the beginning of the day ; the dialogue is entirely free flow.</div><div><br></div><div>Of course, there is undoubtedly an elitist aspect to this ... the idea is to bring thoughtful activists together, so that they can learn from each other, and build more connections. Trips and lodging are paid, otherwise no fees are given. In conclusion, these events are a mix of selections and peer to peer dynamics. Attendees generally find them very useful, because there are simply very few occasions in life, including activist lives, in which people can take time to talk, and create bridges with movements they are not normally encountering. What comes out of it is always unexpected, usually rich, and leads to all kinds of new joint initiatives. Silke, David and I are happy to initiative these dialogues, but have otherwise no influence on what happens afterwards between the people who attended.</div><div> </div><div><br></div><div>Now, of course one could prefer other types of meetings, in which the self-selected activists who can afford it, come together, but that would exclude in other ways. I personally feel there should be diversity in forms, not just one. I feel the formula we work with has been very fruitful.>><br><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">To finish, I like to make one constructive suggestion. If you guys,</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">really really sincere, please consider use the some part of the</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">fundings getting collected -i take it recuperated from the public</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">resources stolen by state elite- and give it back to commoners, by for</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">instance creating totally autonomous spaces for them; so by time for</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">them; inviting commoners from the Global South, paying their</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">registration fees, arrange them a permentant space in the Montreal</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">WSF; in where they can have time and energy to exchange and build</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">their own agenda in their own ways and means.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px"><<so far, our support has come from HBF (taxation funds) and FPH (private endowment in Switzerland from many decades ago, dedicated to advancing global governance). The WSF is hugely funded by NGO's and other funders already, and is able to attract tens of thousands of participants. I'm pretty sure HBF and FPH are already doing what your suggest, i.e. supporting various people who can't afford it, to go and participate in the WSF, and specifically the commons activities in Montreal. So your wish has already been granted.>></span></div><div><br></div><div><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">In solidarity,</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Orsan</span><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a href="http://commonstransition.org" target="_blank">http://commonstransition.org</a> </div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div></div></div></div>
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