One perspective is that the more energy and trust we direct at a system that doesn't deserve our energy and trust, the more lost opportunities accumulate (what could have been). People will counter this broken system, but I don't think it's going to be led by those within the political structure/re-structuring, or even be overtly deliberate.
Imagine going to a shop, borrowing anything you like, and returning it when you're finished. This is the idea behind SHARE: a Library of Things. Opened in late-April in Frome, a town in southeast England, the aim of SHARE is to enable people to spend less, waste less, and connect more. The first of its kind in the U.K., SHARE has already sparked interest from other communities.
This is an English translation of Arthur De Grave's interview in French. Cross-posted from OuiShare.
Michel Bauwens is one of the pioneers of the peer-to-peer movement. Theoretician, activist, and public speaker, he founded the P2P Foundation in 2005. His work, both rich and complex, is built around the concepts of networks and commons, and lays the conceptual foundations of a production system that would serve as an alternative to industrial capitalism. I had the opportunity to meet him at the French release of his latest book, Saving the World: Towards a Post-Capitalist Society with Peer-to-Peer (published by “Les Liens qui Libèrent”).
Citing a series of geopolitical, economic and social setbacks faced by the United States since the turn of the century, geopolitical analyst and Sao Paulo Business School Professor Antonio Gelis-Filho argues that global policy planners must prepare to deal with the “improbable, but by all means possible, Soviet-style collapse of the United States.”
“One voice made up of three hundred million people containing billions of brain cells all working together to solve the problems of today, making the world a better place for the children of tomorrow.” ~ David Frank ~
A “LOCAL ISSUES TELEVISION AND RADIO STATION” (Your Local Public Broadcasting Station) to send the information out to the community.
A “COMMUNITY COMPUTER” (Community Voter Database) to receive the calls (votes) from any touch-tone phone. The computer will verify the voter, ask what issue number they want to vote on, count the vote and prevent multiple voting. Issues of, by and for the people…