( minding your head )

oregon's citizens' initiative review...

2011-02-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

participatory budgeting in canada...

2011-02-09T21:41:00.000-08:00

struggles for democratic participation and citizenship sometimes emerge in unexpected places. in the small canadian city of guelph, for example, a grassroots neighbourhood coalition has enabled ordinary people to collectively decide what community services their city government provides. although still evolving, guelph’s coalition has helped diverse city residents and staff learn about and build democracy, equity, and community. in the words of one participant: "each group is individual but yet when we come to this table, we need to advocate and make decisions based on the good of the whole. i now understand the statement, what is good for you is also good for me." the experience in guelph is only one example of how participatory budgeting is being adapted to canada. in the face of increasing inequality and neoliberalism, participatory budgeting has made public participation more powerful, government decision-making more democratic, and public spending more equitable // josh lerner & estair van wagner, 02.01.06, transnational institute

the age of unequals...

2011-01-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

co-ownership advice, support, funding and development...

2011-01-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

are employee-owned businesses a better fit for fostering competiveness in a high-skilled, knowledge-intensive economy? a growing body of research supports the thesis — as do westjet, vancity, PLC construction, many of canada’s law firms and management consultancies, and sure, also the karma co-op. but if employee-owned businesses are better for the economy and more resilient when times get tight, how do we create more of them?

the UK’s baxi partnership has a no-nonsense solution. give employees direct access to management and governance skills, and back them up with access to a dedicated revolving fund to provide the capital for the buyout. good business, but also an idea fit for the times. with aging, enterprising baby-boomers increasingly keen to offload their firms, today's employees with the right support could be tomorrow's ready buyers.

viktor frankl: why to believe in others...

2010-05-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

if we take man as he is, we make him worse but if we take man for what he should be, we make him capable of becoming what he can be // goethe

2010-05-16T08:31:00.001-07:00

traci fenton on organizational democracy...

2010-05-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

( worldblu )

the five advantages of a democratic workplace...

2010-05-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

in my last article i talked about the 7 trends making businesses more democratic including the internet, expectations of generations X and Y, new business standards in a post-enron age, political transitions, humanity’s search for meaning, corporate social responsibility, and the birth of what i call “lifestyle democracy.” these trends are making democracy in the workplace inevitable, but what about the benefits? can democracy – rather than a traditional top-down model of business – really be more advantageous? here are five reasons why i believe it can:

democratic companies are a talent magnet...
where would you rather work – a stifling, fear-driven workplace that may look great on a resume but makes your life miserable or one where you’re valued and your voice is heard? when given a choice, smart, creative, self-motivated people – the ideal employee – will choose the latter. regardless of pay or prestige, people want to work where they feel appreciated and heard. business owners and executives should look beyond motivational gimmicks and instead use democracy to attract the people needed to propel their businesses forward – and win the talent war in the process.

democratic companies come up with smarter ideas...
every business owner knows the maxim, “innovate or die.” but coming up with ideas and acting on them isn’t enough. you need smart ideas. how to get them? as james surowiecki writes, tap the wisdom of your crowd. chances are the employees developing your products or services, fielding customer service calls or selling to clients have some great insights for your next big idea – if only someone would listen.

democratic companies work fast...
it may seem paradoxical to say that democratic companies know how to work fast but it’s true. sure, the decision-making process, if it involves reaching a consensus, can take time. but the time and attention paid to everyone’s point of view only makes the execution phase faster once the decision is made. typically, top-down decisions leave employees thinking, “why are they doing that? why didn’t they consult me? this will never work.” most company’s best-laid plans fall apart in the execution phase because they didn’t have the democratic buy-in of the employees who would be executing on the decision. when employees have a say and understand the “why” behind a decision the execution is faster, more efficient and devoid of resistance.

democratic companies have happier employees...
the gallup organization recently reported that approximately three-fourths of the US workforce is disengaged at work, costing $300 billion annually. employees report that not being engaged also impacts their emotional and physical health. conversely employees who do feel engaged feel the opposite. a democratic system by definition is an engaging one, contributing to the physical and mental health of employees each day. being engaged, having a say, and being treated as an intelligent human being makes people happy – and creates a happier place to work as well.

democratic companies use democracy to boost the bottom line...
democracy impacts the bottom line because it attracts great talent, keeps turnover and absenteeism low and produces a more innovative workforce that executes on ideas quickly. a workplace with fewer layers of management due to a flatter, more decentralized system means that money can be used to hire great people – rather than manage underperformers. democracy means a leaner, faster, happier and more innovative company – factors which give the bottom line a boost // traci fenton, startupnation.com

ricardo semler on the modern corporation...

2010-04-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

almost all businessmen think their employees are involved in the firm and are its greatest asset. almost all employees think they are given too little attention and respect, and cannot say what they really think. how is it possible to reconcile these two positions? the sad truth is employees of modern corporations have little reason to feel satisfied, much less fulfilled. companies do not have the time or the interest to listen to them, and lack the resources or the inclination to train them for advancement. these companies make a series of demands, for which they compensate employees with salaries that are often considered inadequate. moreover, companies tend to be implacable in dismissing workers when they start to age or go through a temporary drop in performance, and send people into retirement earlier than they want, leaving them with the feeling they could have contributed much more had someone just asked. the era of using people as production tools is coming to an end. participation is infinitely more complex to practice than conventional corporate unilateralism, just as democracy is much more cumbersome than dictatorship. but there will be few companies that can afford to ignore either of them// ricardo semler, maverick, p.107

charlie breaks his silence...

2010-04-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

the return of history...

2010-04-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

in a column called “a crisis of understanding,” robert j. shiller of yale pointed out that the best explanation of the crisis isn’t even a work of economic analysis. it’s a history book — “this time is different” by carmen m. reinhart and kenneth s. rogoff — that is almost entirely devoid of theory. one gets the sense, at least from the outside, that the intellectual energy is no longer with the economists who construct abstract and elaborate models. instead, the field seems to be moving in a humanist direction. many economists are now trying to absorb lessons learned by psychologists, neuroscientists and sociologists. they’re producing books with titles like “animal spirits,” “the irrational economist,” and “identity economics,” about subjects such as how social identities shape economic choices. this amounts to rediscovering the humility of an earlier time. after all, adam smith was a moral philosopher, friedrich von hayek built his philosophy on an awareness of our own ignorance, and john maynard keynes “was not prepared to sacrifice realism to mathematics,” as the biographer robert skidelsky put it. economics is a “moral science,” keynes wrote. it deals with “motives, expectations, psychological uncertainties. one has to be constantly on guard against treating the material as constant and homogenous..." economics achieved coherence as a science by amputating most of human nature. now economists are starting with those parts of emotional life that they can count and model (the activities that make them economists). but once they’re in this terrain, they’ll surely find that the processes that make up the inner life are not amenable to the methodologies of social science. the moral and social yearnings of fully realized human beings are not reducible to universal laws and cannot be studied like physics// david brooks, 03.25.10, new york times

vital ingredient in wall street reform goes missing...

2010-03-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

last fall, it was all about the wall: financial bigwigs like former federal reserve chair paul volcker, former citigroup co-CEO john reed, governor of the bank of england, mervyn king, all espoused reestablishing the legal barrier between the derivatives casino that masquerades today as wall street and commercial banks holding insured deposits. it made good sense: the wall goes up in 1933, america becomes the premier financial center for 66 years. the wall comes down in 1999, the financial system collapses exactly 9 years later with the precise characteristics of the massive wall street swindles that occurred in the late 1920s when there was also no wall. but the wall has now gone missing in the current financial reform bill advanced out of the senate banking committee by its chairman, senator christopher dodd. equally noteworthy, the historic 1933 legislation that built the essential wall between flim-flam securities salesmen and aunt tilly’s insured bank account, commonly known as the glass-steagall act, has gone missing itself from the internet. to underscore how extraordinary this is, if you put “glass-steagall act” in the google search box, it brings up 220,000 hits. and, yet, it is next to impossible to find the actual text of the legislation on the internet// pam martens, 03.26.10, counterpunch

giving clubs back to fans...

2010-03-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

the labour government is to unveil radical proposals that would give football fans first option to buy their clubs when they were put up for sale and require clubs to hand over a stake of up to 25% to supporters' groups. under the scheme to give fans a stake, supporters' trusts with elected representatives, audited accounts and financial services authority recognition would be responsible for maintaining the link between clubs and their community and ensuring fans are not priced out of the game. the government could, however, face legal challenges from existing owners over the dilution of their shares. it has echoes of the model proposed by the so-called red knights attempting to buy manchester united. wealthy fans will contribute 74.9% of the overall purchase price, but supporters will hold a "golden share" of just over 25%, giving them a blocking stake on any change of ownership and an influential boardroom voice. legal advice is being sought on the idea of a change of ownership at a club triggering a mandatory window for fans to take the opportunity to shape the ownership structure and buy the club at a price set by an external, independent auditor. under the proposals, fans would be free to set up their co-operative style model, shareholding trust or other structure that enabled them to have a say in the club. while the government will reiterate that it has no desire to regulate football directly, the prime minister believes the democratisation of football club ownership taps into wider themes about the "mutualisation" of public services and the need for regulatory reform// owen gibson, 03.28.10, guardian

the spanish anarchists...

2010-03-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

chomsky on anarchism and strategy...

2010-03-24T16:23:00.001-07:00

very substantial social changes (are) in order, and anarchists ought to be thinking about it. thinking about it doesn't just mean i'd like to have a free and just society; that's not thinking about it. we have to make a distinction if we want to be effective. that's the question: if we want to be effective, we have to make a distinction between what you might call proposals and advocacy. i mean, you can propose that everybody ought to live in peace, love each other, we shouldn't have any hierarchy, everyone should cooperate, and so on. okay? it's a nice proposal, okay for an academic seminar somewhere. advocacy requires more than just proposal. it means setting up your goals (proposal), but also sketching out a path from here to there -- that's advocacy. and the path from here to there almost invariably requires small steps. it requires recognition of social and economic reality as it exists, and ideas about how to build the institutions of the future within the existing society, to quote bakunin, but also to modify the existing society. that means steps have to be taken that accommodate reality, that don't deny it's existence ("since i don't like it, i'm not going to accommodate it"). these are the only ways to be effective// noam chomsky, 03.12.10, reddit blog

why greater equality makes societies stronger...

2010-03-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

it is well established that in rich societies the poor have shorter lives and suffer more from almost every social problem. now a groundbreaking book, based on thirty years’ research, takes an important step past this idea. the spirit level shows that there is one common factor that links the healthiest and happiest societies: the degree of equality among their members. not wealth; not resources; not culture, climate, diet, or system of government. furthermore, more-unequal societies are bad for almost everyone within them—the well-off as well as the poor. the remarkable data assembled in the spirit level reveals striking differences, not only among the nations of the first world but even within america’s fifty states. almost every modern social problem—ill-health, violence, lack of community life, teen pregnancy, mental illness—is more likely to occur in a less-equal society. this is why america, by most measures the richest country on earth, has per capita shorter average lifespan, more cases of mental illness, more obesity, and more of its citizens in prison than any other developed nation. wilkinson and pickett lay bare the contradiction between material success and social failure in today’s world, but they do not simply provide a diagnosis of our woes. they offer readers a way toward a new political outlook, shifting from self-interested consumerism to a friendlier, more sustainable society. the spirit level is pioneering in its research, powerful in its revelations, and inspiring in its conclusion: armed with this new understanding of why communities prosper, we have the tools to revitalize our politics and help all our fellow citizens, from the bottom of the ladder to the top//

i will fight for what i believe in until i drop dead... and that's what keeps you alive // barbara castle

2010-03-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

...does activism make you happy?

2010-03-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

marching in the drizzle against wars in far-off countries, writing letters protesting the government's latest reactionary policy, sitting through interminable meetings that keep sprouting any other business. it may be noble, but political activism is hardly a barrel of laughs. and yet it makes you happier. so find two university psychologists in new research that looks for the first time at the link between political activity and wellbeing. malte klar and tim kasser started by interviewing two sets of around 350 college students, both about their degree of political engagement and their levels of happiness and optimism. both times, they found that those most inclined to go on a demo were also the cheeriest. so there's a link – but can politics actually make a person happier? in the third study, the academics took a bunch of students and divided them up into groups. the first were encouraged to write to the management of the college cafeteria asking for tastier food. the next lot wrote asking the cafe to source local or fairtrade products. they were then tested on their wellbeing, and the group who had involved themselves in the political debate were far and away the strongest on the "vitality" scale: they felt more alive and enriched than those who merely complained about the menu. there are many fascinating aspects to this . first, the activist-students didn't necessarily care about food ethics, but just taking action made them feel better. second, sending a memo is hardly the most engaging political action – and yet it had a big impact on those taking it. third, the study flies in the face of the popular wisdom that happiness resides in creature comforts and relative affluence. perhaps activism gives people a sense of purpose, or of agency or just a chance to hang out with other people. most likely it does all of the above// aditya chakrabortty, 03.02.10, guardian

the robin hood tax...

2010-03-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

zero point of systemic collapse...

2010-03-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

we will not, especially in the united states, avoid our götterdämmerung. obama, like canada’s prime minister stephen harper and the other heads of the industrialized nations, has proven as craven a tool of the corporate state as george w. bush. our democratic system has been transformed into what the political philosopher sheldon wolin labels inverted totalitarianism. inverted totalitarianism, unlike classical totalitarianism, does not revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. it finds expression in the anonymity of the corporate state. it purports to cherish democracy, patriotism, a free press, parliamentary systems and constitutions while manipulating and corrupting internal levers to subvert and thwart democratic institutions. political candidates are elected in popular votes by citizens but are ruled by armies of corporate lobbyists in washington, ottawa or other state capitals who author the legislation and get the legislators to pass it. a corporate media controls nearly everything we read, watch or hear and imposes a bland uniformity of opinion. mass culture, owned and disseminated by corporations, diverts us with trivia, spectacles and celebrity gossip. in classical totalitarian regimes, such as nazi fascism or soviet communism, economics was subordinate to politics. “under inverted totalitarianism the reverse is true,” wolin writes. “economics dominates politics – and with that domination comes different forms of ruthlessness”// chris hedges, 02.08.10, adbusters

americaspeaks...

2010-03-19T09:53:00.001-07:00

...the best company in britain to work for?

2010-03-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

in the depths of what everyone keeps telling us is the deepest financial and economic crisis since the second world war, john lewis plainly has not done badly (operating profit up 20%, if you didn't read the business pages last week). that's partly because it stacks its shelves with goods of a certain quality, and sells them to a certain kind of customer with a certain standard of service... it also has something to do with the reason everyone was cheering so loudly last thursday: unlike other high-street names (unlike most companies, in fact), john lewis is owned by a trust on behalf of its employees, each of whom has a say in its running and a share in its profits. this is britain's largest and most venerable example of worker co-ownership. its avowed purpose is not the making of shedloads of short-term profit to placate a bunch of remote and greedy shareholders, but "the happiness of all its members, through their worthwhile and satisfying employment in a successful business" (that's from the partnership's constitution. it bears re-reading). and at a time when the limits of the more traditional capitalist model of shareholder ownership stand cruelly exposed, john lewis' ongoing success is increasingly prompting all three main political parties to point to it as a possible template – for other companies, for schools, hospitals, even local councils// jon henley, 03.16.10, guardian

innovations in public participation...

2010-02-22T19:56:00.000-08:00

participedia...

2010-02-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

participedia is a tool for democrats. it aims to create and gather public knowledge to deepen democracy. based on a wiki platform, its main content consists of user-generated articles which describe and assess participatory governance throughout the world. for instance, there will be articles on the british columbia citizens’ assembly of 2004, consensus conferences in denmark, participatory budgeting in porto alegre and other cities, local school council governance in chicago, municipal evaluation meetings in china, the panchayati raj reforms in india, and the people’s campaign for democratic decentralization (under the panchayati raj reforms) in kerala, india. in addition, there will be articles on participatory methods, such as deliberative polling, citizens' assemblies, and participatory budgeting, as well as articles about the organizations that sponsor, implement, and study participatory governance. over time, we hope participedia will garner hundreds and perhaps thousands of such articles//

cameron on the next age of gov...

2010-02-21T16:08:00.000-08:00

when the people speak...

2010-02-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

all over the world, democratic reforms have brought power to the people, but under conditions where the people have little opportunity to think about the power that they exercise. in this book, james fishkin combines a new theory of democracy with actual practice and shows how an idea that harks back to ancient athens can be used to revive our modern democracies. the book outlines deliberative democracy projects conducted by the author with various collaborators in the united states, china, britain, denmark, australia, italy, bulgaria, northern ireland, and in the entire european union. these projects have resulted in the massive expansion of wind power in texas, the building of sewage treatment plants in china, and greater mutual understanding between catholics and protestants in northern ireland. the book is accompanied by a DVD of "europe in one room" by emmy award-winning documentary makers paladin invision. the film recounts one of the most challenging deliberative democracy efforts with a scientific sample from 27 countries speaking 21 languages//

europe in one room...

2010-02-10T18:14:00.000-08:00

top economist predicts end of global economy...

2010-02-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

jeff rubin is not an oil alarmist—he doesn’t think that the world’s supply of crude will run out and cause resource wars and food shortages of apocalyptic proportions. in fact, he doesn’t even think the world’s supply of crude is running out at all. rubin made this clear as he addressed the business of climate change conference in toronto last september, opening his keynote address with the statement, “the world’s not running out of oil.” however, after milking the pause for a second or two, rubin went on: “but it has already run out of oil it can afford to burn.” in short, rubin emphatically believes that two intensifying and antagonistic trends will cause a blast-off of crude oil prices in the next 15 months: exponentially-increasing demand for oil tied to the global economy and the ever-accelerating depletion of conventional (cheap) oil reserves. instead of calling for government action to avert the crisis-causing apex of these two trends, rubin thinks the crisis will be addressed by local and individual action driven by market forces. “the prices needed to get unconventional oil out of the ground are the same prices that will get you off the road,” he explained. he elaborated by predicting that stratospheric oil prices would force consumers and producers alike to change behaviours that would eventually lead to a breakdown of the global economy and a return to local economies// josh garrett, 02.01.10, heatingoil.com

policy interventions needed "from cradle to grave" to counter entrenched inequalities...

2010-02-02T23:18:00.000-08:00

the independent national equality panel, chaired by LSE's professor john hills, argues that policy interventions are needed at each life cycle stage to counter the way economic inequalities are reinforced over people's lives and often on to the next generation. the panel found that deep-seated and systematic differences remain between social groups across all of the dimensions the panel examines, although some of the widest gaps have narrowed in the last decade. professor hills said: "most people and nearly all political parties subscribe to the ideal of 'equality of opportunity'. but advantage and disadvantage reinforce themselves over the life cycle. it is hard to argue that the large and systematic differences in outcomes which we document result from personal choices made against a background of equality of opportunity, however that is defined." the report and a summary are available here//

howard zinn...

2010-01-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

( 1922 - 2010 )

dissent is the highest form of patriotism// howard zinn

2010-01-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

move your money...

2010-01-26T18:28:00.001-08:00

...gated communities = safer communities?

2010-01-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

you know those "gated communities?" the usually upmarket, walled-off residential developments that offer their own amenities and, sometimes, security staff? well, one assumed advantage of these places is that they're safer than the outside world. but according to an interesting post over at the NRDC, that might not be the case. subdivisions secured by gates intended to exclude outsiders may not be safer than those that are fully public. this is because they can lack the social cohesion and interaction with the larger community that for millennia have served as deterrents to crime and other antisocial behavior. according to the post, the police chief in charlotte, north carolina compared crime in gated communities to crime in similar ungated neighborhoods and found no appreciable difference. and to the extent that gated communities are artificial collections of people without real, longstanding relationships between neighbors, they may be more vulnerable to crime because people aren't looking out for each other. to make things worse, being fenced in also increases one's subjective feeling of vulnerability. it doesn't look like there's a proper study behind this. gated communities probably aren't much less safe than other communities, just less safe than the residents of gated communities think they are. and clearly some of the priciest gated communities are so fortress-like that are very secure. but what's most interesting here is that they tend to be sort of anti-social places and that has real effects on social capital// andrew price, 01.14.10, good

the hidden cost of war...

2010-01-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

fighting corporate money in politics...

2010-01-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

anticipating a supreme court decision that could free corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns, rep. alan grayson (d-fla.) introduced five bills on wednesday to choke off the expected flood of corporate cash. "we are facing a potential threat to our democracy," grayson said in an interview with the huffington post. "unlimited corporate spending on campaigns means the government is up for sale and that the law itself will be bought and sold. it would be political bribery on the largest scale imaginable." at issue in the supreme court case is whether the government can limit corporate spending during presidential and congressional campaigns// arthur delaney, 01.14.10, huffington post

on behalf of haiti, i say thank-you, america...

2010-01-14T12:37:00.000-08:00

ever since the US invaded and occupied the country in 1915, every serious political attempt to allow haiti's people to move "from absolute misery to a dignified poverty" (to borrow former president jean-bertrand aristide's phrase) has been violently and deliberately blocked by the US government and some of its allies. today, however, things are different. “i want to speak directly to the people of haiti,” president obama said. he paused for a moment. “you will not be forsaken, you will not be forgotten,” he said. “in this, your hour of greatest need, america stands with you.” to this i say, thanks america, for picking up haiti after so swiftly and repeatedly kicking it down. and might i add, when's your next kick?

as peter hallward has pointed out: along with sending emergency relief, we should ask what we can do to facilitate the self-empowerment of haiti's people and public institutions. if we are serious about helping we need to stop trying to control haiti's government, to pacify its citizens, and to exploit its economy. and then we need to start paying for at least some of the damage we've already done//

to progress in any department of practical life we must innovate and we must cooperate// roberto unger

2010-01-12T20:10:00.001-08:00

democracy unbound...

2010-01-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

how should modern democracies be governed? should the public’s business be conducted largely by elected representatives and professional administrators? or, should citizens participate much more in making laws and policies and implementing them? should the machinery of democracy simply tally the preferences and interests of citizens, or should it facilitate deliberations that inform and enlarge their views? dogmatic answers—for example that representative government is the only realistic form of modern government or that the only real democracy is a participatory one—now common in professional democratic theory and public discourse thwart the quest for practices that would better vindicate our fundamental democratic values. these dogmas, furthermore, prevent us from solving—sometimes even from recognizing—major political dilemmas of our time. maintaining an open disposition toward a wide range of political practices can help citizens and leaders address those problems and deepen our democracy at the same time. citizens’ welfare and the health of their democracies would be better served by a pragmatic public philosophy in which a wide range of political institutions are justified by their capacity to solve social problems in ways that secure individuals’ welfare and autonomy. my current book project, democracy unbound develops that pragmatic conception of democracy. pragmatic democracy begins with the basic presumption that governments are democratic insofar as they protect citizens’ interests effectively, treat them as equals, and provide opportunities for them to participate in public decision-making and action. unlike most theories of democracy, however, pragmatic democracy does not prescribe a specific political institutions such as representation or deliberation to achieve these goals. instead, it recognizes that no single set of institutions and political practices best advances these ends for all issues and circumstances. some issues are appropriately addressed by experts, while others call for broad and direct citizen engagement. rather than offering a single blueprint, democracy unbound provides conceptual and practical tools of democratic theory and institutional design to help political scientists, policy makers, and citizen activists understand the feasible and desirable range of decision-making processes// archon fung

changecamp...

2010-01-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

a changecamp event is a creative face-to-face gathering that is citizen-led, non-partisan and social web enabled. changecamps bring together citizen change agents to answer questions like, "how can we work together to create our desired future?" changecamp addresses the demand for a renewed relationship among citizens and between citizens and our civic institutions. it seeks to create connections between people and their civic passions by using new tools of communication. the changecamp community is open to all. it hopes to ignite a self-organizing movement for positive change in cities, towns and neighbourhoods across canada//

a new vision for community media...

2010-01-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

community television is a throwback to a time when cable technology was new and the web was not yet born. it allowed anyone to create a program that could be seen on cable. community television was the youtube of its day; but things have changed. downloading and streaming have precipitated a complicated restructuring of the television industry, brought on in part by new viewing habits. traditional TV now seems to be on the wane. but there are some things that are harder for the internet to replace. most television takes more than one person to make. the internet cannot replace the studio space, hands-on training and possibilities for in-person collaboration and mentorship that community television allowed for. and it won't replace the sense of place provided by a community production studio; a space where people can gather, work, learn and create together. we are at a critical moment when traditional media ownership is more concentrated than ever, and yet we have perhaps the most participatory medium in history at our fingertips. as such, citizens need access to media literacy, knowledge and media production skills more than ever before. and community media centres--modeled on the idea of recreation centres and local libraries--may be a crucial piece of the digital divide puzzle// steve anderson & michael lithgow, 10.05.09, rabble

the work around...

2010-01-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

supervisors around the country are lying, cheating, and stealing from their employers to give workers a fair shake. one supervisor at an east coast restaurant chain, profiled by the american prospect, has created two time sheet systems: one real, and one fake that she reports to her employer. this allows workers to take time off and tend to their families, breaking company rules, and not get fired. “i couldn’t go along with their rules,” the supervisor told the american prospect. “it was ridiculous, like i’m going to tell this mother with a 4-year-old, ‘no, you can’t leave to pick him up.’” the idea harkens back to a quote by paul newman in the film cool hand luke: “calling it your job don’t make it right”// bennett gordon, 01.06.10, utne reader

another world is possible...

2010-01-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

it is a commonplace of serious historical research worldwide that the unsung actions of people where they live and work are central to large-order change. regulatory commissions for railroads and other industries, minimum-wage laws, food- and drug-safety laws, the estate tax, the eight-hour workday, social security and related forms of public insurance, child labor laws, laws to increase factory safety, workers' compensation, the preservation of national parks and other conservation measures, and many, many other national policies at the heart of modern american reality built upon precedents first developed and refined by local citizen effort. is there anything important and potentially system-changing going on at the grassroots today? yes–but you have to look beyond conventional media reporting, and even beyond the traditional new deal and progressive policy paradigms. one of the most important trends involves an array of new economic institutions that transform the ownership of wealth in ways that benefit "small publics," groups of citizens whose efforts feed into the well-being of the community as a whole. here are a few little-known facts: more people are now involved in some 11,500 companies wholly or substantially owned by employees than are members of unions in the private sector. there are more than 4,000 nonprofit community development corporations that build housing and create jobs in cities across the nation. both democratic and republican city officials have begun to establish municipally owned public companies to make money for their communities (and often to solve environmental problems). numerous quasi-public land trusts that stabilize housing prices now exist. cities and states regularly invest in job-creating efforts, often using large-scale public pension assets. in alaska, the state's permanent fund invests oil revenues and provides each citizen with dividends. in alabama, the public employee retirement system finances a broad range of job-stabilizing and moneymaking industries, including many employee-owned businesses. numerous other local and state activist efforts to shift the way wealth accumulates and moves around are under way, from "living wage" campaigns to wal-mart challenges and beyond. not surprisingly, in case after case, ordinary citizens have taken the lead in developing these new strategies// gar alperovitz, mother jones

love in a cemetery...

2010-01-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

traditionally cultural institutions have often excluded ongoing dialogue about social issues outside of the art world. artist, allan kaprow wrote, “life in a museum is like making love in a cemetery,” metaphorically equating a museum with a cemetery— a dead and sterile space. kaprow’s quote motivated multiple collaborative community based projects currently being executed by the first year public practice MFA graduate students at OTIS college of art and design. in 2010 the graduate students in collaboration with LACMA lab’s founding director, bob sain; artist, andrea bowers; art administrator, pauline kamiyama and the 18th street art center will develop an exhibition as a laboratory. the social/political obligations of cultural organizations to their respective communities will be investigated through partnerships with several community based organizations. the project’s ethic of action and engagement will lead to an artistic manifestation, and the participating public practice artists hope the communities involved will realize positive outcomes that will outlast the exhibition. this exhibition will be presented at the 18th street art center gallery from january 23rd to march 26th 2010//

there is a mass of sense lying in a dormant state which good government should quietly harness// thomas paine

2010-01-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

...new economic thinking?

2009-12-30T14:17:00.000-08:00

( institute for new economic thinking )

...washington for sale?

2009-12-30T14:10:00.000-08:00

democracy v. capitalism...

2009-12-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

personally, i'm in favor of democracy, which means that the central institutions of society have to be under popular control. now, under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle under autocratic control. thus, a corporation or an industry is, if we were to think of it in political terms, fascist; that is, it has tight control at the top and strict obedience has to be established at every level--there's little bargaining, a little give and take, but the line of authority is perfectly straightforward. just as i'm opposed to political fascism, i'm opposed to economic fascism. i think that until the major institutions of society are under the popular control of participants and communities, it's pointless to talk about democracy// noam chomsky

with most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another// georg christoph lichtenberg

2009-12-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

putting the science of happiness into practice...

2009-12-22T12:44:00.000-08:00

the study of happiness is experiencing a boom. its practitioners include economists who believe that gross domestic product (GDP) is too limited a tool to measure the success of societies, psychologists and sociologists who feel that their disciplines have focused too much on neuroses and social problems and not enough on determining what kind of activities and policies actually contribute to happier societies, and political leaders who want to know how to make use of their findings. during the 5th international gross national happiness conference, held last week in brazil, happiness proponents from around the world were able to come together and compare notes about the practical application of happiness science// john de graaf, 12.06.09, yes!

...why do so many students hate school?

2009-12-15T11:20:00.000-08:00

...it seems an obvious, but ignored question. john dewey said that an educator must take into account the unique differences between each student. each person is different genetically and in terms of past experiences. even when a standard curricula is presented using established pedagogical methods, each students will have a different quality of experience. thus, teaching and curriculum must be designed in ways that allow for such individual differences. for dewey, education also served a broader social purpose, which was to help people become more effective members of democratic society. dewey argued that the one-way delivery style of authoritarian schooling does not provide a good model for life in democratic society. instead, students need educational experiences which enable them to become valued, equal, and responsible members of society. the most common misunderstanding about dewey is that he was simply supporting progressive education. progressive education, according to dewey, was a wild swing in the philosophical pendulum, against traditional education methods. in progressive education, freedom was the rule, with students being relatively unconstrained by the educator. the problem with progressive education, said dewey, is that freedom alone is no solution. learning needs a structure and order, and must be based on a clear theory of experience, not simply the whim of teachers or students//

the big lunch...

2009-12-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

the idea was a simple one. what would happen if everyone in the country stopped what they were doing for one moment and sat down and had lunch with their neighbours? the likelihood is that it would at the very least put a smile back on britain’s face – and that importantly, in time, a whole host of good things would flow from the strengthening of communities. sunday 19th july 2009 was the first big lunch and now the seed has been sown we look forward to the event growing year after year. the day saw up to a million people around the UK stop traffic for a few happy hours as neighbours sat down to share a big lunch. thousands of neighbourhoods broke out the bunting for this glorious celebration of community spirit in the biggest collection of open-air parties since the golden jubilee. and they loved it//

information is beautiful...

2009-12-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

david mccandless, a london-based designer, has been thinking in technicolor. the billion dollar gram helps you to quickly make sense of the big numbers behind government budgets.

if you’re blown away by these visualization tools, then take a look at this online art exhibition of works created using a programming code called processing—which provides an amazing platform for artists to explore public issues//

2009-12-08T21:56:00.000-08:00

demos: everyday democracy...

2009-12-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

democracy is facing a crisis, but simply reforming the structures of governance will not lead to democratic renewal. the public needs to take an active part in the renewal process.

everyday democracy means increasing public participation in the formal and informal institutions that shape our daily lives. people should be able to make individual choices in ways that contribute to the common good.

renewing democracy through public participation increases our collective capacity to tackle major problems facing society, such as the pensions shortfall and climate change. many of these problems can be addressed only by changing the way we live our daily lives.

demos is committed to building everyday democracy.

...how do we make the institutions of day-to-day life more democratic?

2009-12-07T01:38:00.000-08:00

democratising engagement...

2009-12-07T01:21:00.000-08:00

governments around the world are starting to realise that engaging their citizens more in shaping the decisions that affect their everyday lives improves both legitimacy and the quality of public services. in the UK, addressing the democratic deficit is high on the political agenda. but the current model of consultation does not bring in the diversity of voices and perspectives that would make citizen engagement genuinely democratic. this pamphlet draws on the institute for development studies research project spaces for change, examining international attempts to democratise citizen engagement. the case studies show that genuine, inclusive engagement requires investment to create an enabling environment and to support society’s least vocal and least powerful people to find and use their voices. as other countries lead the effort to involve the public in meaningful conversations about policy, the pamphlet argues that the UK has much to learn from their experience// democratising engagement, 04.29.08, demos

the large private corporation fits oddly into democratic theory and vision. indeed, it does not fit// charles lindblom

2009-12-07T00:33:00.000-08:00

from participation to power...

2009-12-06T01:15:00.000-08:00

participation is the essence of web 2.0, but it is not true power. however, it can lead to power if we understand its role in the ecosystem of social change and it's used accordingly... connecting and conversing is necessary, but the danger is that we get stuck in conversation. there is such a thing as being too connected. we have cognitive and time limits. web 2.0 can overload us with messages, shrink attention spans, absorb our time, erode focus, and thus disrupt our ability as citizens to find common ground and take action together. it's possible that through web 2.0 we may be, as in the title of cultural critic neil postman’s influential book, amusing ourselves to death. after all, web 2.0 goes by another name - social media. how can this pitfall be avoided? quantitative sociologist harald katzmair believes we must structure our conversations so that they lead to shared perspectives, agendas, and actions. conversations must be transformed into ideas, ideas into prototype solutions, and successful solutions scaled. harald is helping his clients transform conversations in exactly this way. he has designed a stakeholder engagement process in jordan to help farmers share water... one key element is the impact analysis. in one day, an impact analysis workshop transforms the distributed knowledge of diverse stakeholders into a common understanding of the system on which they depend through a structured conversation. importantly, this conversation separates causes from symptoms so that stakeholders have a shared view of where to focus resources to have maximum impact. this becomes the basis for a shared action plan// neal gorenflo, 11.20.09, shareable

...how do you get better citizens?

2009-11-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

probably the most common answer is somehow to send people better messages: broadcast shows, ads, news articles, or speeches that are more accurate, complete, informative, and motivating. since most actual messages are delivered by the mass media (and most serious observers from across the spectrum hold the mass media in contempt), another prevalent answer is to criticize or--ideally--to reform the media. i am basically skeptical of this diagnosis and strategy. a large and diverse population can choose among a vast array of media sources, most of which survive by selling advertising. this audience varies a great deal in ideology, and also in knowledge and interest; but the average level of interest in serious public affairs is not high. inevitably, the media fragment, pursue niche audiences, and provide a great deal more entertainment than news. even the most ambitious reform proposal--a kind of BBC for the united states, with a nonpartisan board and lots of public money--would have a limited impact on the whole landscape. (the BBC's flagship "news at ten" draws about 10 percent of the british population.) i know many people who hold fox news responsible for bad aspects of our politics. but i see that channel less as a cause than an outcome of public tastes and values, plus media fragmentation. conservatives who are frustrated by the "liberal media" should feel the same way about their least favorite channels. to put the problem more concretely: i don't think you can send a sufficiently powerful "message" to promote good citizenship (even if your name happens to be barack obama), because you'll be competing with far too many other messages in an astoundingly crowded market driven by pre-existing motivations and tastes. i therefore work on two alternatives: 1) get them while they're young, receptive, and a captive audience. build really engaging, unbiased, motivating, and informative civic education into the school curriculum. my blog posts categorized as advocating civic education and a high school civic curriculum are about that. 2) reform institutions so that hands-on participation by ordinary adults is welcomed and rewarding. the theory is that people who see tangible impact from their own civic engagement (mainly at the local level) will want to be informed and to exchange ideas and perspectives with people different from themselves. my blog posts about deliberation and civic reform are about that// peter levine, 11.23.09, a blog for civic renewal

lobbyists pushed off advisory panels...

2009-11-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

hundreds, if not thousands, of lobbyists are likely to be ejected from federal advisory panels as part of a little-noticed initiative by the obama administration to curb k street's influence in washington, according to white house officials and lobbying experts. the new policy--issued with little fanfare this fall by the white house ethics counsel--may turn out to be the most far-reaching lobbying rule change so far from president obama, who also has sought to restrict the ability of lobbyists to get jobs in his administration and to negotiate over stimulus contracts. the initiative is aimed at a system of advisory committees so vast that federal officials don't have exact numbers for its size; the most recent estimates tally nearly 1,000 panels with total membership exceeding 60,000 people. under the policy, which is being phased in over the coming months, none of the more than 13,000 lobbyists in washington would be able to hold seats on the committees, which advise agencies on trade rules, troop levels, environmental regulations, consumer protections and thousands of other government policies// dan eggen, 11.27.09, the washington post

living with less: picturing the recession...

2009-11-25T21:12:00.000-08:00

participatory theory: an overview...

2009-11-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

the theory of participatory democracy is built round the central assertion that individuals and their institutions cannot be considered in isolation from one another. the existence of representative institutions at national level is not sufficient for democracy; for maximum participation by all the people at that level socialisation, or 'social training,' for democracy must take place in other spheres in order that the necessary individual attitudes and psychological qualities can be developed. this development takes place through the process of participation itself. the major function of participation in the theory of participatory democracy is therefore an educative one, educative in the very widest sense, including both the psychological aspect and the gaining of practice in democratic skills and procedures. thus there is no special problem about the stability of a participatory system; it is self-sustaining through the educative impact of the participatory process. participation develops and fosters the very qualities necessary for it; the more individuals participate the better able they become to do so. subsidiary hypotheses about participation are that it has an integrative effect and that it aids the acceptance of collective decisions.

therefore, for a democratic polity to exist it is necessary for a participatory society to exist, i.e. a society where all political systems have been democratised and socialisation through participation can take place in all areas. the most important area is industry; most individuals spend a great deal of their lifetime at work and the business of the workplace provides an education in the management of collective affairs that it is difficult to parallel elsewhere. the second aspect of the theory of participatory democracy is that spheres such as industry should be seen as political systems in their own right, offering areas of participation additional to the national level. if individuals are to exercise the maximum amount of control over their own lives and environment then authority structures in these areas must be so organised that they can participate in decision making. a further reason for the central place of industry in the theory relates to the substantive measure of economic equality required to give the individual the independence and security necessary for (equal) participation; the democratising of industrial authority structures, abolishing the permanent distinction between 'managers' and 'men' would mean a large step toward meeting this condition// carole pateman, participation and democratic theory

the public mind...

2009-11-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

( illusions of news )

mondragón...

2009-11-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

what has 120 different companies, 42,000 worker-owners, 43 schools, one college, does more than 4.8 billion dollars of business annually in manufacturing, services, retail and wholesale distribution, administers more than $5 billion in financial assets, and has a business model that is based on workers' self-management and the principles of the catholic social doctrine? answer: the mondragón cooperatives. in 1941, a bishop sent a young priest to teach in a vocational school in spain's basque country. in addition to the technical curriculum, young father jose maria arizmediarrieta taught the social doctrine of the catholic church to his students. some of the students began a small cooperative that built kerosene stoves. in 1959, they started what we would today call a credit union. today, the associated mondragón cooperatives manufacture automobile parts, electronic components, valves, taps, appliances. they have a full line of retail outlets offering consumer products, food, appliances, and a wholesale food business catering to restaurants. their bank has more than 100 branches, they offer a full range of insurance, and take care of their own social security and health insurance programs. they are not only holding their own within the "globalizing" economy, they are expanding. this is one of the success stories of people who take the church's social doctrine seriously, in particular, the teachings regarding (1) the dignity of the human person and his or her labour, (2) social solidarity and (3) the primacy of labour over capital. in most for profit businesses, labour is hired at the service of capital. for mondragón, capital is something they rent to benefit the worker-owners// okc catholic worker

easy and effective group action...

2009-11-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

whether you're raising money, organizing people, or trying to influence change: if you can't do it alone, you can do it on the point. watch more examples//

chomsky on hardtalk, 11.03.09...

2009-11-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

the economic revolution is already happening...

2009-11-06T21:32:00.000-08:00

america is in the midst of a new revolution. but this revolution is quiet, incremental, nonviolent, and traveling beneath the mainstream media's radar. the new american revolution challenges the current notions of dog-eat-dog capitalism—through the building of a parallel economic system that shares, cooperates, empowers, and benefits fellow workers and community members. over the past few decades, thousands of alternatives to the standard, top-down corporate model have sprouted up—worker-owned companies and cooperatives, neighborhood corporations and trusts, community-owned technology centers and municipally owned enterprises. in fact, today, involvement in these alternative models of business outnumber union membership as the means by which private-sector workers and community members are taking economics into their own hands. author and political scientist gar alperovitz talks about it with maria armoudian// 10.07.09, alternet

a healthy outlook on life...

2009-11-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

i don’t think of meaning and happiness. life has no meaning and searching for it is silly. we should spend our time reducing suffering of others we share this planet with, both people and animals. if we can, we should make the world less harsh, and encourage exploration and science because we are a curious people. happiness comes and goes and we know what makes us happy and if we can, we should do those things. there is no value in misery. death does not give me meaning. that makes no sense to me. this frantic search for meaning leaves me cold. the reframing of religion as spiritual, does likewise. there is no god, there is no meaning. and yet, i reach out to people all the time to try and help reduce their pain. i am compelled to do so. people tell me my life is meaningful. no, my acts have meaning for those i help, and while that is good, it does not mean i have a meaningful life. i am alive and that is what is important. and then i will be dead. and that will be that. nothing is “alloted” to us. that assumes an “allotor” which isn’t the case. it’s hard to accept at first that this is all there is, and the only meaning is what you make, but once you do, it’s liberating. i’ve really enjoyed this journey. it’s been great to be here and i hope the end is peaceful and wanted when it comes, but don’t we all// a.r., 11.03.09, new york times

elinor ostrom: the latest nobel winner in econ...

2009-11-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

ostrom’s scholarship over the past three decades has demonstrated that self-organized communities of “commoners” are quite capable of managing finite natural resources without destroying them. the problem with the “tragedy” narrative, ostrom realized, is that it does not describe the actualities of real commons. functioning commons have boundaries that limit access, social rules, and punishment for “free riders.” against the growing tide of pro-market fervor in the 1980s, ostrom realized that all institutions did not need to emulate the market and its imperatives for growth, centralization and efficiency. communities can self-organize themselves to develop their own rules and social norms to allocate resources. they can devise their own oversight methods and sanctions to protect the commons. there can be multiple centers of stewardship, an idea that she and her husband, political scientist vincent ostrom, dubbed “polycentricity”// david bollier, 10.13.09, on the commons

the commons...

2009-11-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

( on the commons )

the new science of temptation...

2009-11-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

the authors suggest that (their) findings demonstrate the human capacity to, at least temporarily, achieve a state of “moral grace” – a state devoid of selfish temptation. but what good does this state serve? why would we be averse, or even indifferent, to cheating when we could benefit from it? perhaps because our automatic responses have evolved in social environments where self-interested behavior in the short-term has not always lead to personal gains over the long-term. gaining a reputation as a cheat would be a one-way ticket to ostracism. having intuitions sensitive to equity and the needs of others would promote the formation and maintenance of cooperative relationships that would ultimately be of benefit to the individual. greene and paxton’s findings fit nicely with this idea, as well as past research showing that many of our intuitions regarding equity/fairness actually promote prosocial behavior, and we overcome them at our peril. this is not only because of the positive social consequences they confer, but also because the cognitive processes we use to overcome them can be susceptible to bias, motivated reasoning, justification and rationalization// piercarlo valdesolo, 11.03.09, scientific american

democracy: america's oldest spectator sport...

2009-10-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

the challenge: redesigning our institutions...

2009-10-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

perhaps the erosion of democratic vitality is an inevitable result of complexity and size. perhaps we should expect no more than limited popular constraint on the activities of government through regular, weakly competitive elections. perhaps the era of the “afﬁrmative democratic state” – the state which plays a creative and active role in solving problems in response to popular demands – is over, and a retreat to privatism and political passivity is the unavoidable price of “progress.” but perhaps the problem has more to do with the speciﬁc design of our institutions than with the tasks they face as such. if so, then a fundamental challenge for the left is to develop transformative democratic strategies that can advance our traditional values – egalitarian social justice, individual liberty combined with popular control over collective decisions, community and solidarity, and the ﬂourishing of individuals in ways which enable them to realize their potentials// fung & wright, deepening democracy

the warning...

2009-10-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

( about a woman's failed campaign to regulate the derivatives market, whose crash helped trigger the financial collapse in the fall of 2008 )

report: income inequality and poverty rising in most o.e.c.d. countries...

2009-10-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

the gap between rich and poor has grown in more than three-quarters of OECD countries over the past two decades, according to a new OECD report. OECD’s growing unequal? finds that the economic growth of recent decades has benefitted the rich more than the poor. in some countries, such as canada, finland, germany, italy, norway and the united states, the gap also increased between the rich and the middle-class. countries with a wide distribution of income tend to have more widespread income poverty. also, social mobility is lower in countries with high inequality, such as italy, the uk and the us, and higher in the nordic countries where income is distributed more evenly// 10.21.08, OECD

how a group of b.c. anarchists inspired democracy in russia...

2009-10-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

...only then did i understand why this exiled but proudly russian sect of socialist anarchists had the influence on yakovlev that it did. the doukhobors were a living rebuttal to the theory that russia requires a strongman. yakovlev must have seen them as an example of the way russians might have lived, had they not been stifled by the corruption and inefficiency of the communist party. in a series of mountain valleys in the BC interior, the future architect of perestroika encountered a community of proudly russian people who convinced him that his countrymen could thrive in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy. indeed, in his memoirs, yakovlev had written: they are amazing people — hard-working, open, courteous . . . they believe with complete sincerity that only moral principles will save mankind from moral collapse . . . these stubborn people, though at times naïve in their misconceptions, have sustained through all their ordeals an uncompromising attitude toward deception, hypocrisy, and violence, along with an unbending rejection of militarism// christopher shulgan, june 2008, the walrus

rob on l.a. ink...

2009-10-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

( fighting sickness has never been sicker )

zizek on democracy now...

2009-10-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

chomsky: hopes and prospects...

2009-10-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

the americas, both north and south, have been in motion with elections and political shifts that chomsky explores here with his characteristic independence and insight. "popular activism has repeatedly brought about substantial gains in freedom and justice," he writes. "the authentic hope of the obama campaign is that the 'grass roots army' organized to take instructions from the leader might 'break free' and return to 'old ways of doing politics,' by direct participation in action." in latin america, bolivia and haiti in particular, chomsky shows how direct participation in action has put into practice a different model of democracy. we have much to learn from these struggles, which could portend more far-reaching, badly needed changes//

e.f. schumacher: on the edge of the forest...

2009-10-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

the real utopias project...

2009-10-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

"real utopia" seems like a contradiction in terms. utopias are fantasies, morally inspired designs for social life unconstrained by realistic considerations of human psychology and social feasibility. realists eschew such fantasies. what is needed are hard-nosed proposals for pragmatically improving our institutions. instead of indulging in utopian dreams we must accommodate to practical realities. the real utopias project embraces this tension between dreams and practice. it is founded on the belief that what is pragmatically possible is not fixed independently of our imaginations, but is itself shaped by our visions. we now live in a world in which these radical visions are mocked rather than taken seriously. along with the post-modernist rejection of "grand narratives", there is an ideological rejection of grand designs, even by those still on the left of the political spectrum. this need not mean an abandonment of deeply egalitarian emancipatory values, but it does reflect a cynicism about the human capacity to realize those values on a substantial scale. this cynicism, in turn, weakens progressive political forces in general. the real utopias project is an attempt at countering this cynicism by sustaining and deepening serious discussion of radical alternatives to existing institutions. the objective is to focus on specific proposals for the fundamental redesign of basic social institutions rather than on either general, abstract formulations of grand designs, or on small reforms of existing practices//

charlie rose interviews david graeber...

2009-10-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

( graeber is an anthropologist/anarchist )

the demise of the dollar...

2009-10-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

in the most profound financial change in recent middle east history, gulf arabs are planning–along with china, russia, japan and france–to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the japanese yen and chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the gulf co-operation council, including saudi arabia, abu dhabi, kuwait and qatar. secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in russia, china, japan and brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars... "these plans will change the face of international financial transactions," one chinese banker said. "america and britain must be very worried. you will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate."// robert fisk, 10.06.09, the independent

sincere gentleman's sentiments here...

2009-09-26T10:59:00.000-07:00

( shadrach kabango )

yochai benkler on the new open-source economics...

2009-09-24T01:11:00.000-07:00

hamas accepts palestinian state in '67 borders...

2009-09-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

the head of the hamas government in the gaza strip has told united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon that the group supports any steps leading to the creation of a palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, according to the palestinian news agency ramattan. the letter--written by ismail haniyeh on tuesday to coincide with a UN conference currently underway in new york--stated that, "we would never thwart efforts to create an independent palestinian state with borders [from] june 4, 1967, with jerusalem as its capital." the missive also comes as barack obama prepared to meet with benjamin netanyahu and mahmoud abbas for his first mideast summit as US president// yoav segev, 09.22.09, haaretz

reinventing public consultation...

2009-09-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

( another way from MASS LBP )

sarkozy to press for tobin tax...

2009-09-22T00:31:00.000-07:00

french president nicolas sarkozy will urge fellow G20 leaders to introduce a special tax to reduce risky behaviour by banks, the BBC has learned. mr. sarkozy wants a levy known as a tobin tax to be applied to every financial transaction. the move is aimed at cutting excessively speculative trades and encouraging long-term decision-making. but senior EU officials told the BBC that the chances of getting a global agreement were "less than minimal"// 09.19.09, bbc news

US proposes net neutrality rules...

2009-09-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

the US has proposed new rules that would require internet firms to respect the principle of network neutrality. the head of the federal communications commission (FCC) said that "all web traffic should be treated equally." the new rules are intended to prevent firms throttling bandwidth-sapping web traffic such as streaming video.// 09.21.09, bbc news

rip: a remix manifesto...

2009-09-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

( examining the rules that govern creativity )

hybrid life...

2009-09-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

look at the genome of a sea squirt and you'll get a nasty surprise. half of its genes have a straightforward evolutionary history. in fairness, so does the other half. trouble is, the two histories are completely different. it seems that sea squirts do not, as we had thought, sit among the chordates, on the same evolutionary line as humans and other vertebrates. instead, they are the result of what happens when you fuse an ancient chordate with the ancestor of a sea urchin. the fusion of two distinct evolutionary lines is not supposed to work. according to received biological wisdom, any chimeras that result are meant to be evolutionary dead ends. not for the first time, received wisdom appears to be wrong. "there was a view that hybridisation was bad, and 'pure' species were good," says james mallet of university college london. the truth is, hybridisation is like mutation--mostly it's bad, but occasionally it throws out something that meets a need. "natural selection can use whatever inherited variation comes its way," mallet says. biologists are now coming round to the idea that much of nature is not a product of neat family lines, but a messy mass of cross links. that may be how, for instance, genetic instructions can turn something like a caterpillar into something completely different: a butterfly// michael brooks, 09.02.09, new scientist

a por la décima...

2009-09-15T14:02:00.001-07:00

( real madrid 5 - 2 zurich )

crazy collabo: cudi/ratatat/mgmt...

2009-09-15T00:11:00.000-07:00

( right-click save as )

the golden rule of politics...

2009-09-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

( a sobering look @ western 'democracy' )

until industrial feudalism is replaced by industrial democracy, politics will be the shadow cast on society by big business// john dewey

2009-09-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

...how did economists get it so wrong?

2009-09-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

as i see it, the economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth. until the great depression, most economists clung to a vision of capitalism as a perfect or nearly perfect system. that vision wasn’t sustainable in the face of mass unemployment, but as memories of the depression faded, economists fell back in love with the old, idealized vision of an economy in which rational individuals interact in perfect markets, this time gussied up with fancy equations. the renewed romance with the idealized market was, to be sure, partly a response to shifting political winds, partly a response to financial incentives. but while sabbaticals at the hoover institution and job opportunities on wall street are nothing to sneeze at, the central cause of the profession’s failure was the desire for an all-encompassing, intellectually elegant approach that also gave economists a chance to show off their mathematical prowess.

unfortunately, this romanticized and sanitized vision of the economy led most economists to ignore all the things that can go wrong. they turned a blind eye to the limitations of human rationality that often lead to bubbles and busts; to the problems of institutions that run amok; to the imperfections of market—especially financial markets—that can cause the economy’s operating system to undergo sudden, unpredictable crashes; and to the dangers created when regulators don’t believe in regulation// paul krugman, 09.02.09, new york times

arranca la liga 09/10...

2009-08-29T13:55:00.001-07:00

( real madrid 3 - 2 deportivo )

the expectations raised following madrid's big spending summer should be thoroughly tested in the most highly-anticipated la liga season in recent memory. after the last-minute departure of arjen robben, this is my starting XI:

casillas

ramos, albiol, pepe, marcelo

lass, xabi

ronaldo, kaka, granero

benzema

here's hoping that 'el ingeniero' pellegrini can successfully fit together all the pieces of his expensively assembled squad//

a grand bargain over evolution...

2009-08-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

the “war” between science and religion is notable for the amount of civil disobedience on both sides. most scientists and most religious believers refuse to be drafted into the fight. still, the war continues, and it’s not just a sideshow. i bring good news! these two warring groups have more in common than they realize. and, no, it isn’t just that they’re both wrong. it’s that they’re wrong for the same reason. oddly, an underestimation of natural selection’s creative power clouds the vision not just of the intensely religious but also of the militantly atheistic. if both groups were to truly accept that power, the landscape might look different// robert wright, 08.22.09, new york times

the news is public...

2009-08-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

NowPublic is a participatory news network which mobilizes an army of reporters to cover the events that define our world. in twelve short months, the company has become one of the fastest growing news organizations with thousands of reporters in over 140 countries. during hurricane katrina, NowPublic had more reporters in the affected area than most news organizations have on their entire staff. in 2005, NowPublic became a recognized leader in the emerging field of citizen journalism. by harnessing the wisdom of crowds and tapping into the news creating potential of the hundreds of millions of internet users, bloggers and photography enthusiasts, NowPublic is changing the way news is made and distributed//

radiohead & philosophy...

2009-08-21T22:06:00.000-07:00

ready to take your obsession with the best band in the world to unhealthy new heights of fandom and neurosis? radiohead and philosophy: fitter happier more deductive is a new collection of essays and insight into radiohead's cultural and philosophical relevance to today's world. if you ever wondered what karl marx and albert camus have to do with a boundary-pushing alt rock band, this book might answer your questions//