Occupy Our Commons – an invitation for dialogue

[Michel Bauwens]

Occupy Our Commons – an invitation

4 November 2011

“In considering the essential problem of how to produce and distribute material wealth, virtually all of the great economists in Western history have ignored the significance of the commons — the shared resources of nature and society that people inherit, create and utilize.”

James Quilligan, commons thinker and activist, in:

a href="http://www.schoolofcommoning.com/content/beyond-state-capitalism-commons-economy-our-lifetimes/%3E">http://www.schoolofcommoning.com/content/beyond-state-capitalism-co...;

Visiting with my family in the USA last month, I went to an Occupy Santa Rosa march, where I had a chance to march with my 3.5-yr grand daughter (in her stroller). That moment meant and means a lot to me. It became a strong driver of my energy to co-create a word with all of us, in which Stella
and ALL children can grow to their highest potential, not constrained by the interest of Private Property and its twin brother, Unchecked Greed.

 

“The cause of all wars, riots and injustices is the existence of property.” (St. Augustine)

 

The Occupy movement is the first worldwide anti-capitalist movement since the failure of Communism, which has a potential to lead to more joy and dignity in the life of more people than any other social movement before. Whether it will realize that potential is another question.

It’s a question of, as pointed to by Michel Bauwens in a teach-in at OWS, Liberty Plaza, on 2nd November 2011:

 

Can the movements develop “alternatives that can change our lives and allow us to live our values right now. This is what commons-based peer production provides – a new way of producing value… A ‘commons’ rather than ‘market state’ orientation is a fruitful way to thinkabout solving humanity’s problems in a new way.”

a href="http://www.nycga.net/events/event/michael-bauwens-on-peer-to-peer/%3E">http://www.nycga.net/events/event/michael-bauwens-on-peer-to-peer/>;

(Michel Bauwens is founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives, a global collaborative researching peer production that maps the thousands of p2p projects being created to achieve mutual alignment and a growing counter economy that can co-exist and perhaps even supersede the today’s dysfunctional one.)

The future depends on us and our capacity to discover the answers to this world-changing question:

What will it take to “create a framework in which the incentives behind production and governance
are not private capital and debt-based growth, but human solidarity, quality of life and ecological sustainability?

Organize effectively as a third power to develop checks and balances on the private and public sectors and establish the resource sovereignty and preservation value needed for a
commons economy?” (James Quilligan)

a href="http://www.schoolofcommoning.com/content/beyond-state-capitalism-commons-economy-our-lifetimes/%3E">http://www.schoolofcommoning.com/content/beyond-state-capitalism-co...;

Do those questions matter to you? If yes and you want to explore them further let’s talk.

School of Commoning: http://www.schoolofcommoning.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SchoolOfCommoning/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/CommoningSchool

Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/School-of-Commoning-Events/

Indiegogo: http://www.indiegogo.com/CommonsCampaign/

 

For a clickable electronic copy of this flyer, go to:
http://www.schoolofcommoning.com/content/occupy-our-commons-%E2%80%...