This is a recording of the presentation 'Commoning our Democracy' by Michel Bauwens of the http://p2pfoundation.net/ at the Imagine Festival in Belfast 1/03/208.

https://imaginebelfast.com/events/commoning-our-democracy/

Slides below description.

"Democratic nation-states are in crisis and hardly able to contain the forces of disruption that are trans-national in scale. We are living in an era of crises when the consequences of the currently dominant economic, social and political paradigms are pressing upon people, fomenting feelings of frustration, helplessness and despair and damaging democracy. Such feelings are all too familiar for those of us living in Northern Ireland.

In recent years, we have seen a re-emergence and fast growth of ‘the commons’ and ‘commoning’, with ‘citizen commoners’ cooperating in the interests of an ecologically sustainable, kinder society. This has been particularly evident in the fields of the field of shared knowledge, and in the mutualisation of provisioning systems through urban commons. There are many who believe that the innovative ways of thinking and doing associated with commoning are vital strands of the ecological and societal transformations that are needed for humanity to survive and thrive in the challenging times ahead.

Can the forms of co-governance and mutualised property that are characteristic of commoning help with renewal of our democratic institutions? Drawing from his experience of working in various parts of the world, Michel Bauwens, co-founder of the trans-national P2P Foundation, will offer answers to this question. It is envisaged that Michel’s presentation will inform and inspire some co-creative, civic conversation among participants about the prospects for ‘commoning our democracy’."

Presentation Slides -

PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lrwpGsti-J01Kluxy-0SNoK2bbaz2Fx2/view?usp=sharing

ODP - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1z0jAwouASITcOUVXvnGEuGXrxFk8BitK

PPTX - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iKa_DmTIYsosOkb1osRENCp1RvhaJqed

Michel Bauwens - P2PFoundation.net - Imagine Festival, Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, NI. 14/03/18

This is a recording of the seminar 'Humanizing the Economy' with John Restakis at the National University of Ireland Galway, March 15th 2018.

John discusses the role of cooperatives and movements for economic democracy in responding to the multiple social, economic and ecological crises people are experiencing around the world today. He presents two key examples of successful cooperative economies, the Emilia Romagna in Italy and the role of cooperatives in the democratic revolution in Rojava in Northern Syria.

Special Thanks to Pat Collins in the Geography Department in NUIG for making this seminar possible.

Biography -

Active in the co-operative movement for over twenty years, John Restakis is former Executive Director of the BC Co-operative Association in Vancouver, a position he held since 1998. His professional background includes community organizing, adult and popular education, and co-op development.

Restakis was Research Co-ordinator on Social Infrastructure and Institutional Innovation for the FLOK Project in Ecuador. He has done consulting work on international co-op development projects, researches and teaches on co-operative economies and the social economy, and lectures widely on the subject of globalization, regional development, and alternative economics.

Restakis earned his BA at the University of Toronto with a Major degree in East Asian Studies and specialist studies in Sanskrit and Classical Greek. He holds a Masters Degree in Philosophy of Religion. He is the author of Humanizing the Economy – Co-operatives in the Age of Capital (2010).

SLIDES - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G5jnUpKbaoKPGZzRgTdgu0QLp4G8fhIY/view?usp=sharing

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