Kategorie: English

Post-Capitalist Strategy of the P2P Foundation

Michel BauwensA lot of people want to „overcome“ capitalism, but what do they mean by it? Michel Bauwens from the P2P Foundation gave a short note on that topic, which could be interesting to discuss here: Is it really post-capitalist (also see the critique on reciprocity licences)? Here’s the text:

A note on the post-capitalist strategy of the P2P Foundation

Following Kojin Karatini, we agree that the present system is based on a trinity of capital-state-nation, which represents an integration of three modes of exchange. (mehr …)

Social Corruption

Recently, a friend pointed me to an animation describing the inherent self-destructive elements of capitalism — while not naming what it is: capitalism. The animation has ten parts and is called »synergy«, and — nomen est omen — tries to describe the interwoven dynamics of a society which is inherently »corrupt« . First, I associated the word »corruption« which a personal defective behavior, but it is meant systemically: social corruption. However, I think, »social disruption« would fit better. And: Don’t expect any solutions, it only describes our society by using absolutely great animations! I wish, I could do animations that way! The creator is Marian Thomas.

On the Political Economy of Copy Protection

UnknownThis article was published in: Tilman Baumgärtel (Ed.), A Reader on International Media Piracy, Amsterdam University Press, pp. 131-144. It is the English translation of Zur politischen Ökonomie von Kopie und Kopierschutz.

Why does copy protection exist? What is been protected against whom? The spontaneous answers to these simple questions refer to the prevailing forms of thinking in commodity society: The “intellectual property” just has to be protected against theft, just like everybody locks their door in order to prevent the television set from be carried away by “TV pirates”.

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Presentation »From Commons to Commonism?«

Before traveling through the Baltics, I gave a presentation in a squatted house in Helsinki, Finland, called »Makamik«, on the question on if and how the Commons can be generalized up to the societal level. The answer in short: Yes. In order to make this thinkable we need some very well developed notions, and the talk is about that. Here are the Slides (PDF, ODP) and the audio files taken by Kalle from Kosmas TV (OGG, MP3) — thanks a lot!