(Deutsch) Occupy geht weiter
Henrik Lebuhn | 25. April 2012 | Filed under: Finances • Struggles • Krise • General • Upcoming Events • Labour/Precarity • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Finances • Public Space • Practical Struggles | Leave a comment
Privatizing Greece
Markus Euskirchen | 9. June 2011 | Filed under: Griechenland • Krise • Privatization • Labour/Precarity • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Distribution of Wealth | Leave a comment
The Question: Is the sale of the Greek family silver a long-term solution? is to be answered: No! But what else to do? The answer is found around the corner: A wage raise in Germany.
Community Gardening and Grassroots Politics in the Neoliberal City
Henrik Lebuhn | 11. April 2011 | Filed under: Commons • Ernährung • Municipalities • Agriculture • Cooperative Economy • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Public Goods • Practical Struggles • Privatization | Leave a comment
When community garden activists of the 1970s and early 1980s clandestinely planted tomatoes, cucumber and sunflowers in abandoned backyards and on run-down lots, they probably never imagined that a time would come when city administrations would embrace urban gardening as an important “cultural, ecological and social resource”.1 Many of today’s community gardens in North America Continue reading →
Property, Commoning and the Politics of Free Software
Markus Euskirchen | 8. February 2011 | Filed under: Commons • Property • Intellectual Property • Internet • Open Source • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Public Goods | Leave a comment
The Commoner, “web journal for other values”, presents the first of a two volume Special Issue. Both volumes will have a focus on commoning and property. The essay in this first volume – divided in chapters, which can be read separately – is based on an inter-disciplinary PhD thesis titled “Property, Commoning and the Politics Continue reading →
The Future of ‘The Commons’: Neoliberalism’s ‘Plan B’ or the Original Disaccumulation of Capital?
Markus Euskirchen | 24. December 2010 | Filed under: Commons • Privatization's Crisis • Theorie • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Public Goods | Leave a comment
The current issue of new formations contains an interesting article on “the future of the commons”: The ‘commons’ has undergone a remarkable transformation in the last fifteen years, from a word referring rather archaically to a grassy square in the centre of New England towns to one variously used by real estate developers, ‘free software’ Continue reading →
Facebook alternative Diaspora now online alpha-testing
Markus Euskirchen | 2. December 2010 | Filed under: Internet • Media • Open Source • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Communication | Leave a comment
Diaspora is an open-source Facebook alternative. The idea got so much buzz on the crowdsourced micro-funding site Kickstarter, that they were able to turn a goal of raising $10,000 in 39 days into $200,000 from 6,500 backers in the same timeframe. But with such high expectations, you have to deliver. And many expressed doubts that Continue reading →
Youtube: The Commons
Markus Euskirchen | 29. November 2010 | Filed under: Commons • Property • Cooperative Economy • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Public Goods | Leave a comment
The animated video clip titled “The Commons” provides a short introduction into the idea of the commons, as well as a critical review of the so called “tragedy of the commons”.
Berlin Commons Conference
Markus Euskirchen | 26. November 2010 | Filed under: Commons • Network • Cooperative Economy • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Public Goods | Leave a comment
The International Commons Conference connected about 150 leading figures in commons-based studies and activism for a multidisciplinary, international conference in Berlin, Heinrich Böll Foundation. The general objective was to emerge with a set of principles and long-term goals that can foster the planning and development of commons based organisations and policy as well as their Continue reading →
All power to the communes!
Markus Euskirchen | 6. October 2010 | Filed under: Commons • Deprivatization • Struggles • Municipalities • Krise • Privatization's Consequences • Re-Municipalization • Cooperative Economy • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Practical Struggles | Leave a comment
In the subway, there’s no longer any trace of the screen of embarrassment that normally impedes the gestures of the passengers. Strangers make conversation without making passes. A band of comrades conferring on a street corner. Much larger assemblies on the boulevards, absorbed in discussions. Surprise attacks mounted in city after city, day after day. Continue reading →
Crises of Capitalism
Ann St | 5. July 2010 | Filed under: Struggles • Krise • General • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Distribution of Wealth | Leave a comment
In a short animation video, radical sociologist David Harvey asks if it is time to look beyond capitalism, towards a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that could be responsible, just and humane. View his full lecture at the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Continue reading →
Female care work seen as a “Common”
Markus Euskirchen | 28. June 2010 | Filed under: Commons • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Health/Social Issues • Public Goods | Leave a comment
Provoking: Female care work seen as a “Common”: “The roots of sexism and racism are the same: a situation where you need workers without rights. Enslavement is essential to this process of accumulation and these have not been one time events; these developments became structural to capitalist society. In the last twenty years you can Continue reading →
New Book: Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons
Markus Euskirchen | 28. May 2010 | Filed under: Commons • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Literature/Books • Public Goods | Leave a comment
After a decade of digital fetishism, the spectres of the financial and energy crisis have also affected new media culture and brought into question the autonomy of networks. Yet activism and the art world still celebrate Creative Commons and the ‘creative cities’ as the new ideals for the Internet generation. Unmasking the animal spirits of Continue reading →
NYC: Conference “The Privatization of Public Space? Resisting Enclosure”
Markus Euskirchen | 19. April 2010 | Filed under: Allmende • Commons • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Public Goods • Public Space • Practical Struggles • Dates/Events | Leave a comment
Neoliberalism continues to transform public space in geographically uneven and variegated ways, with far reaching and profound consequences. On the first day, the conference will provide context for various means of privatization and elaborate on language and visions for discussing this issue. On the second day, workshops will bring together students, activists, artists, and organizations Continue reading →
Commons in turbulent times
Markus Euskirchen | 9. March 2010 | Filed under: Commons • Revolution • Transformation • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Public Goods | Leave a comment
After several decades of relentless neoliberal enclosures, the idea of ‘commons’ is enjoying a renaissance amongst some neo-Keynesian economists and commentators, while political scientist Elinor Ostrom has just been award the Nobel prize ‘for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons’. Massimo De Angelis explains why capital’s commons will always be distorted – because Continue reading →
Gift Economy: The Really Really Free Market
Markus Euskirchen | 5. March 2010 | Filed under: Commons • Municipalities • Cooperative Economy • Debates: Theories/Alternatives • Practical Struggles | Leave a comment
According to the capitalist lexicon, the “Free Market” is the economic system in which prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses. Any sensible person can recognize immediately that neither human beings nor resources are free in such a system; hence, a “Really Really Free Market” is a market that operates according to Continue reading →
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