The full documentation of the International Commons Conference in Berlin

[Michel Bauwens]

Via Silke Helfrich:

Dear ICC participants,

(including those who had to decline at the very last moment)

After more than two days of intense work and discussion, the International Commons Conference is over. But perhaps not really:

as some of you already may have noticed in their mailboxes, the conference may, in truth, be just beginning!
Before the next stage of the ICC begins, however, I want to say a few thank-yous:

Thank you so much for taking the trouble to attend the conference!
Thank you for contributing!
Thank you for dealing with the programme's complexity in such a generous and creative way!
Thank you for your inspiration, hard work, personal sacrifice and solidarity!
Thank you for making the International Commons Conference yours and for making it a truly memorable event!

Michel Bauwens, one of the organizers, puts it this way: "The emergence of a global commons movement. Year zero."

http://p2pfoundation.net/Emergence_of_a_Global_Commons_Movement,_Ye...

We are overwhelmed by the feedback we received so far. We ourselves were highly aware of some of the limitations of our facilities,

the overly ambitious agenda and crowded schedule we had laid out on Monday, the imbalances of gender, North/South participants, and activists/academics.

However, despite these issues, we felt an incredible energy and an enriching range of perspectives on the commons.

Some members of the steering committee and the support team are committed to build on the work of the conference by developing a draft commons-based policy plattform from our conference's documents.
When that is completed, we will make the results available to all.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation just started a Web Dossier on the commons, which will feature the most important conference documents here:

http://www.boell.de/economysocial/economy/economy-commons-10451.html

The ICC wiki, which is a true peer-to-peer production, can be found here:

http://p2pfoundation.net/Berlin_Commons_Conference

post-conference assessments can be found (and added!) here:

http://p2pfoundation.net/Berlin_Commons_Conference#Post-Conference

We would also like to draw your attention to the document, "Some Thoughts on the Commons" (see attachment).
The document was prepared by the Steering Committee, it is available online and would be enriched by your
feedback. http://p2pfoundation.net/Some_Thoughts_on_the_Commons

We hope to translate it into other languages and use it as the basis for further discussions.

The short video that was shown near the end of the conference, which provides a quick, popular introduction to the commons, is now available here:

German:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMfVtaIxAjA
Spanish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dg6f1F98LI
Englisch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otmrkhEFSZM
Italian:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT6vbAu_UjI

We did use it already in two public events and it seems to work to
kickoff discussion.

The last session of the conference -- which dealt with conflicts and ideas for going forward -- produced a number of provocative new ideas for further work on the commons.
Those comments can be accessed here:
http://p2pfoundation.net/Berlin_Commons_Conference/Final_Plenary

Finally, please help us to complement the conference documentation by:

- sending your blogposts, interviews, reports, comments on the conference to me and to Michel Bauwens <[e-mail]>;
- adding the missing workshop documentations; see http://p2pfoundation.net/Berlin_Commons_Conference/Workshops
- suggesting important commons based policy proposals.

As we planned the conference over the past year, we did not really know if such a highly diverse group of commoners from dozens of countries
would truly connect with each other and wish to build a commons movement. It has been enormously gratifying to see so much productive
sharing. It gives us much hope and energy for the future.

Warm regards
For the ICC Steering Committee
Heike Löschmann, Beatriz Busaniche, Michel Bauwens, Julio Lambing, David Bollier and for hbf, Barbara Unmüssig