[p2p-research] The grand alliance for the commons

[Ryan Lanham]

Hi Michel,

I have been reading these entries calling for alliances, etc. and it has
caused me to reflect a bit on what I believe myself.

I suppose, overall, I am suspicious of alliances because it generally forces
me to align with ideas I don't hold.  I don't see much organizational need
for that, myself.

But if I were to summarize my own views of P2P advocacy (as opposed to
interest), I would say I am interested in expanded access to ideas and
technologies that enhance productivity.  For me, the social means of
achieving this are very secondary.  I am quite happy if capitalist markets
do it, and just as happy if socialist-like experiments do it.  I have grave
doubts about the latter, but that's neither here nor there.  Whatever
works.  Truly, I don't care.

Enhanced productivity needs to enable broader access to the means of
enhanced productivity whether it be elite educational and training resources
or technical tools such as software.  As such, I see the mission of P2P as
surrounding access and productivity.  Productivity is always contrasted with
standards of externalities and similar trade-offs (e.g. pollution).  People
care a lot about those sorts of costs and justifiably so.

So boiled down, I think there is one issue: Greater access to means of being
productive with productivity defined in terms of minimal negative
externalities.

Anyone who signs on to that, I guess is an ally.


Ryan



On Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 2:56 PM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:

> slated for publication on april 2 in the blog:
>
> The grand alliance for the commons
>
>
>
> In my writings on P2P Theory, I have a rather simple, but I believe true,
> formula to describe the crisis of the global system of neoliberal
> capitalism.
>
> Namely,
>
> -          i.e. based on a false belief that nature is infinitely abundant
> as a resource to be used by humanity, without regard for the finitude of our
> planet, the necessary cycles of renewal in nature, etc… Nature is an object
> to be depleted, and for waste to be dumped in. This is what I call
> ‘pseudo-abundance’
>
> -          i.e. based on the false belief, disproved again and again by
> studies, that the exchange of knowledge regarding  innovation, culture and
> science have to be restricted artificially, in an exaggerated manner that
> protects monopolies and their rent-based income. This is what I call
> artificial scarcity.
>
> Hence a sustainable civilization or political economy needs to reverse both
> polarities. It needs to recognize the limits of the natural world and
> respect its cycles of regeneration, and it needs to relax its artificial
> scarcities to that knowledge and innovation can flow more freely to the
> whole of humanity. In fact, we cannot really solve the first problem,
> without tackling the second.
>
> However, we could imagine solutions to the above, that would take place
> without regard for the welfare of humanity itself, i.e. that would not
> include the equally important requirement for social justice. Hence the need
> for a third leg for our stool.
>
> We can translate these three tasks, reversing pseudo-abundance and
> artificial scarcity in the context of social justice, by looking at existing
> and emerging social movements.
>
> The environmental movement, and all those other forces which are starting
> the integrate the demands for sustainability of our physical production, are
> the necessary allies for the protection of our biosphere.
>
> The social justice movement is represented by the many social forces
> defending the interests of workers and farmers and for socially just
> structures, on the local, national, and global levels.
>
> The peer to peer moment in history brings one more emerging social movement
> in this potential grand alliance: the movement for the free flow of
> knowledge, culture and innovation. This is the contribution of the free
> culture movement, of the open access movement,  of computer hackers, and
> many other actors tackling artificial scarcity.
>
> Each of these moments has its own related but complementary vision of a
> world centered around the commons and civil society. For the environmental
> movement, the earth and its resources are a commons whose sustainability has
> to be protected; the social justice movements wants to make sure that the
> fruits of the physical commons are distributed in a fair manner so that no
> part of humanity is excluded from the basic demands of well-being; and the
> free culture movements protects the digital commons of education, knowledge,
> science and innovation.
>
> This is what the grand alliance of the commons is about: recognizing the
> joint interest of these grand social movements in the resilience,
> sustainability and thrivability of natural and human commons.
>
> The creation of this grand alliance is the task of 21st century politics.
>
>
> --
> Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Think
> thank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>
> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>
> Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org
>
> Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
> http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
>
>
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Ryan Lanham
rlanham1963 at gmail.com
Facebook: Ryan_Lanham
P.O. Box 633
Grand Cayman, KY1-1303
Cayman Islands
(345) 916-1712
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