Kategorie: English

Alstair Parvin on the democratization of production using the example of architecture and Wikihouse.

[Repost with permission (ask here) from a series of articles on P2P & Marxism: part 1, read part 2 here]

By Jonathan Clyne

In order to change society it is necessary to understand it. Especially new phenomena that can give a hint as to what is in the making. One important new trend has been peer-to peer production, a new voluntary form of cooperation whose products are shared freely. Based on the previous discussion on this website, here is another contribution to the discussion.

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Two and a half years ago, during the (first) International Commons Conference in Berlin, I collected some quotes that I considered insightful or funny. This time, at the Economics and the Commons Conference, I did it again.

Silke Helfrich [DE]:

• The commons as institutions are older than any state in the world.
• Every commons has a material basis. Every commons needs energy, and every commoner needs food. And all the natural commons require knowledge. We have to know how to cultivate a commons. So every commons is a physical commons and a knowledge commons.
• We should wonder whether the commons should really be open to everyone, including the enclosers.
• The commons does not scale up but rather crystallizes, like a crystal of atoms, into a connected pattern. The commons, like crystals, grow into all directions.
• (mehr …)

Kester Brewin: »We need a new community of pirates, men and women committed to defending the commons and standing up to the excesses of enclosed wealth. So, put down your iPads and put on your eye patches!«

[On the Economics and the Commons Conference I gave a short input on the topic of demonetization. The following text was written afterwards and generously edited by David Bollier.]

The question of how we deal with and act within the given monetary environment is crucial for the commons movement, since the monetary logic and the commons logic are opposites. Contrary to the claims of mainstream economics, money is not neutral or simply an informational means for mediating transactions. Thus, replacing currencies with alternative currencies of different designs basically does not change the underlying monetary logic. It amounts to changing the tools while keeping the workshop.

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[This is my final reply in the debate regarding parecon and peercommony between Michael Albert and me. I wrote it in response to Michael Albert’s Replying to Siefkes Reconsideration. All articles, including Michael’s concluding statement, Lost Opportunity, can be found on the debate overview page.]

Balance and Influence

Michael, you argue that “job complexes” must be carefully “balanced” per exact rules, since otherwise people will have different degrees of influence over the decisions made at their workplace:

But suppose the workplace has a corporate division of labor. I claim that in this case too, we who work there will not all have a fair share of influence.

That may or may not be true, but so what? (mehr …)

Reblogged: To my friends who live outside of Turkey:

I am writing to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because most of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth and the internet are the only ways left for us to explain ourselves and call for help and support.

Four days ago a group of people most of whom did not belong to any specific organization or ideology got together in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. Among them there were many of my friends and students.  Their reason was simple: To prevent and protest the upcoming demolishing of the park for the sake of building yet another shopping mall at very center of the city. There are numerous shopping malls in Istanbul, at least one in every neighborhood! The tearing down of the trees was supposed to begin early Thursday morning. People went to the park with their blankets, books and children. They put their tents down and spent the night under the trees.  Early in the morning when the bulldozers started to pull the hundred-year-old trees out of the ground, they stood up against them to stop the operation.

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During the Economics and the Commons Conference I gave a seven minute talk in the labor stream with title »Direct reciprocity versus indirect reciprocity and stigmergic polycentrism as new phenomena of socialized, needs oriented production processes«. Wow. Since this title was given to me and seems to be quite complex, I approached the topic by clarifying the notions within that title. Here is my notepad, the talk was given freely, and below you’ll find some additional remarks.

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Silke Helfrich gave an important introductory talk on the Economics and the Commons Conference (May 22 – 24, 2013, Berlin). The presentation reflects the progress of self-understanding of the commons movement. After some remarks by the moderator Armin Medosch the talk starts around 5:00 showing some commons projects illustrating the variety of the commons. At 21:30 Silke enters the more conceptual part discussing what all the different approaches have in common. The presentation ends at 54:00 and is followed by a discussion. Below, I summarize some of the conceptual statements.

These are some theses Silke developed in her talk (without discussing them here): (mehr …)