It is time to bring on some good. Some common good. Welcome to the Embassy of the Commons

EarthOS Autarky Lab
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The Commons is the methodology in which people organise around resources, to fulfill human needs in the sustainable, participatory and non-market way.

The commons movement is now thriving around the world. And FreeLab wants to bring this springtime also to Poland. Thus, in cooperation with P2P Foundation and the Commons Strategies Group we decided to open The Embassy of the Commons in Poland.

  1. We have established a website, based on the open software, being an information hub for everyone interested in spreading the Commons and P2P paradigms in Poland. The mission is “To facilitate introduction of the Commons and P2P socio-economical paradigms in Polish society.”
  2. We shall provide global context, through translations and critical presentation of traditional and current theory and practice, in cooperation with P2P Foundation and the Commons Strategic Group.
  3. We shall provide historical context, by following paths into Polish history, where the Commons and P2P threads were long-time present, also within cooperatist movement.
  4. We shall provide local context, spotting and describing current initiatives, intellectual currents and media publications promoting new paradigms in Polish society.
  5. At the same time, in cooperation with Polish FLOSS movement, we shall refine the website (software and hardware) configuration to make it a scalable and replicable solution for commons/p2p activists throughout the world, to provide friendly, usable and robust tool to build the Commons P2P network.

Polish tradition of the commons has been almost eradicated in the realsoc era. Thankfully it was preserved in the cooperatives’ domain. Edward Abramowski, an anarcho-cooperativist, who layed foundation for Polish cooperatives of XX & XXI century.

So we shall also try to promote it as Polish contribution.

We can easily imagine a P2P-modelled entity, fully based on the private property concept. We can also imagine a highly hierarchical community, taking stewardship role in the Commons “package”. However, if we try to imagine a world, where such entities would thrive, we shall see that the governance of such a world MUST must blend P2P and Commons paradigms. A meta-environment, where all phyles interact, has to keep them in P2P relationship and also has to be their Commons. Otherwise, the whole model is doomed from the very beginning (which doesn’t mean it isn’t doomed anyway). Such a deep interdependency make us thinking, that both paradigms deserve to be presented and promoted together. Thus, The Embassy of The Commons will surely keep P2P consular and interim interest section.

The Embassy is multilingual, implemented in Friendica (federated social network) and accessible through Friendica, Diaspora, StatusNet, RSS (https://freelab.org.pl/dfrn_poll/commons), Twitter (@CommonsEmb) or via email (commons@freelab.org.pl)

Come and share!

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Managed to miss this. So I see you will be joining the Warsaw event on Commons in Central and Eastern Europe? http://www.facebook.com/events/157101287782710/?ref=25

From what I followed on the event page, it seems to me one of the problem we have in this part of the world is with naming the commons related activities as belonging to the paradigm…  With a history like ours, thinking also of cooperatives, these are mined fields that take us back to property issues. Plus, reclaiming the commons sounds western, we might as well say: build the commons, from scratch. I’d be curious what interesting initiatives are working towards that, building on Alek’s post and the library example, rather than the theoretical framework which might just as well stay theoretical, or the pan Eastern European framework I’ve been hearing about… Hopefully you’ll meet interesting people and why not, future Edgeryders?

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Practice beats theory.

I decided not to go, as there is little chance for something constructive there. Springtime - apart from gardening - brought a lot of advances in our four major projects: Expedition, FreeMobile (electro-pedelec cargo trike for eco-people), Hemp association and local village fablab organisation. :slight_smile:

So, may dead bury their dead, I am into the real life (and growing new Edgeryders, too).

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Check out the embassy of kopimi :slight_smile:

@Monki can tell you more about it. Very funny and effective way to make the point :slight_smile:

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You mean the Kiosk?

It’s ingenious! I will add the feature to FreeMobli!