Quatrième de couverture :

Ce livre présente un modèle d'organisation économique conçu comme unetroisième voie entre le système communiste et le système capitaliste. Il propose un mode d'appropriation qui ne soit ni privé nu d'Etat mais réellement collectif. Ce mode d'organisation, qui rend le capital superflu, propose une solution au dilemme classique  planification/marché. Le modèle est original en ce qu'il place le consommateur, c'est-à-dire la demande, en son centre, lui donnant le pouvoir sur l'appareil de

production. De plus, il intègre les règles du libéralisme politique dans la sphère économique en donnant "démocratiquement la parole aux consommateurs et aux producteurs" en les faisant "s'opposer selon les règles de l'équilibre des pouvoirs du libéralisme politique". Ce livre, qui promeut une véritable démocratie économique et la citoyenneté du consommateur, intéressera aussi bien le spécialiste de philosophie ou de sciences politiques, que le citoyen soucieux de trouver une alternative viable au capitalisme. »

Pour de plus amples renseignements :

http://www.eleves.ens.fr/home/pelbois/Pelbois/communismeliberal.html

P2P Political Theory (2): Towards Inclusive Democracy

http://republicart.net/disc/aeas/fotopoulos01_en.htm

The following refers to the Inclusive Democracy project mentioned in last issue's editorial. This attempt to differentiate my own leanings from ID should not discourage readers to investigate this very interesting theoretical attempt and the many interesting articles to be found in its journal. Key insight is that political equality cannot be meaningfully achieved without economic equality as well.

"I'm Takis Fotopoulos, I'm a writer and the editor of the international journal "Democracy & Nature", the international journal for inclusive democracy, and I'd been teaching economics at the University of North London in the past, for over 20 years. I would like to talk about the project of inclusive democracy and I would like to start first with the question: What is inclusive democracy? I think it is important to stress that the inclusive democracy project is not just an economic model, but it is a broader political project, which aims to remake society at all levels, at the political level, the economic level, the social level, and, of course, in the ecological sphere. The overall aim of the inclusive democracy project is to create a society in which people determine themselves, in which, in other words, the "demos", as it was the classical concept for the people, has overall control over the political sphere, the economic sphere and, the social sphere in general. So the inclusive democracy project, in a sense, is a synthesis of the two major historical traditions, the socialist tradition and the democratic tradition, and also of the currents that developed in the last 30 or 40 years, the new social movements, i.e. the feminist movement, the ecological movement, the identity movements of various sorts, and so on. In other words, the inclusive democracy project is a synthesis of all those historical experiences, of the socialist and also the democratic tradition and all those new social movements. In this sense, we can say that the inclusive democracy project is neither a theoretical construct, as it is the product of all those historical experiences, nor is it a utopia - and it is not a utopia because there are already trends all around us leading to a society which in various aspects resembles the inclusive democracy society. Thus, there are all over experiments going on with alternative institutions and whenever there is an insurrection, like for example the recent Argentinean one, we have seen people organizing themselves in general assemblies and trying to organize political and economic life according to principles which, like the principles that I'm going to explain in a moment, are the principles of the inclusive democracy project.

The four components of the inclusive democracy society are: first, political or direct democracy; second, economic democracy; third, democracy at the social level; and fourth, ecological democracy. So let's see briefly what we mean by each of those components. Political or direct democracy means the authority of "demos", of the people, over the political sphere. In other words, political democracy implies that it is the people collectively that take decisions about all political affairs, and directly, without representatives, because what we call representative democracy today is a fake democracy, since there can be no representation of my will, of anybody's will; that is, you can either express your will directly, or you can simply delegate certain kinds of wishes you have, but you cannot have somebody else decide for you. So political or direct democracy is the type of society where people directly and collectively decide for themselves on all important aspects of political life. That means that in a direct democracy every resident in a particular area takes part in the democratic process. We shall assume that usually this will not be a community of more than thirty to fifty thousand people.

In the same way that we define political democracy as the authority of demos over the political sphere, we can define economic democracy as the authority of demos over the economic sphere. This means that it is the citizen body, that is, all people at mature age - which is decided by the assemblies - all people at a certain age who decide, i.e. take decisions on all major economic problems, particularly those affecting the meeting of basic needs. In an inclusive democracy there should be no private ownership of productive resources, of the means of production, but instead the productive resources should be owned by the demos, i.e. there should be demotic ownership of the means of production.

The third component of inclusive democracy is democracy at the social level; that means at the microlevel, at the level of the workplace, the household, the educational place, and so on. In all those places, there should be democracy in the sense that there should be equal distribution of power. There should be no distinction between workers working in a workplace, there should be, in other words, equal distribution of power between men and women, between teachers and students or pupils, and so on. And, finally, we have the fourth component of inclusive democracy, the ecological democracy component, which means that the inclusive democracy aims to create the subjective and objective conditions so that man is reintegrated into nature, society is reintegrated into nature. This is important because what we have today is a situation where society is separate from nature. We see nature as an instrument to achieve certain objectives - the main objective is economic growth, of course - and, as a result, we suffer the crisis that we have at the moment, a serious ecological crisis.

More on Inclusive Democracy here at http://www.inclusivedemocracy.org/fotopoulos/

Encyclopedia entry on ID, http://www.inclusivedemocracy.org/fotopoulos/brincl/inclusive_entry.htm

P2P Political Theory (3):  Discovering Roy Bhaskar's East-West Integration

http://www.raggedclaws.com/criticalrealism/archive/rbhaskar_rbi.html

Readers of my critique of Ken Wilber, are aware that my sympathies for integral and integrative projects remain strong. Though Roy Bhaskar has been writing for over twenty years, I only recently read a first book by him, on the Enlightenment and the continuing importance of human emancipation. It was pretty much `love at first sight'. Here's a theory that takes stock of the emancipatory tradition, is rooted in scientific research, but also recently integrated the findings of the Eastern world.

The book I've been reading is: From Science to Emancipation: Alienation and the Actuality of the Enlightenment. Though somewhat poorly edited, it's a readable collection of introductory essays, interviews, lectures and dialogues, covering both his early (critical realism as a philosophy of science), middle (updated dialectics as the study of process and change) and later (integrating eastern thought) evolution.

More:

Center for Critical Realism, at http://www.criticalrealism.demon.co.uk/

P2P Political Theory (4):  Precarious Labour and the Mobility of Information

http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue5/index.html

Special issue of Fibre Culture Journal dedicated to an analysis of the conditions of knowledge workers. The link did not work at the time of editing the newsletter, but should be available again.

"Multitudes, Creative Organisation and the Precarious Condition of  New
Media Labour" Edited by Brett Neilson and Ned Rossiter

Broadly speaking, this issue of Fibreculture Journal is interested in the problem of political
organisation as it relates to the overlapping spheres of labour and life within post-Fordist, networked settings. It's becoming increasingly clear that multiple forms of exclusion and exploitation within the media and cultural industries run along the lines of gender, ethnicity, age, and geography. New forms of class division are emerging whose locus of tension can be attributed to the ownership and control of information.

The mobile capacity of information corresponds, in many instances, with the flexible nature of work across many sectors of the media and cultural industries. And it is precisely the informatisation of social relations that makes political organisation such a difficult - even
undesireable - undertaking for many. Without recourse to traditional institutions such as the union, new technics of organisation are required if the common conditions of exploitation are to be addressed and transformed."

P2P Political Practice (1):  Towards a Convergence of 'Open Models'

http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_8/willinsky/index.html

A number of open initiatives are actively resisting the extension of intellectual property rights.

"Among these developments, three prominent instances -- open source software, open access to research and scholarship, and open science -- share not only a commitment to the unrestricted exchange of information and ideas, but economic principles based on (1) the efficacy of free software and research; (2) the reputation-building afforded by public access and patronage; and, (3) the emergence of a free-or-subscribe access model. Still, with this much in common, the strong sense of convergence among these open initiatives has yet to be fully realized, to the detriment of the larger, common issue. By drawing on David's (2004; 2003; 2000; 1998) economic work on open science and Weber's (2004) analysis of open source, this paper seeks to make that convergence all the more apparent, as well as worth pursuing, by those interested in furthering this alternative approach, which would treat intellectual properties as public goods."

P2P Political Practice (2): Dorothy Denning on Cyberwar

http://www.iwar.org.uk/cyberterror/resources/denning.htm

"The purpose of this paper is to explore how the Internet is altering the landscape of political discourse and advocacy, with particular emphasis on how it is used by those wishing to influence foreign policy. Emphasis is on actions taken by nonstate actors, including both individuals and organizations, but state actions are discussed where they reflect foreign policy decisions triggered by the Internet."

"The paper is organized around three broad classes of activity: activism, hacktivism, and cyberterrorism. The first category, activism, refers to normal, non-disruptive use of the Internet in support of an agenda or cause. Operations in this area includes browsing the Web for information, constructing Web sites and posting materials on them, transmitting electronic publications and letters through e-mail, and using the Net to discuss issues, form coalitions, and plan and coordinate activities. The second category, hacktivism, refers to the marriage of hacking and activism. It covers operations that use hacking techniques against a target=s Internet site with the intent of disrupting normal operations but not causing serious damage. Examples are Web sit-ins and virtual blockades, automated e-mail bombs, Web hacks, computer break-ins, and computer viruses and worms. The final category, cyberterrorism, refers to the convergence of cyberspace and terrorism. It covers politically motivated hacking operations intended to cause grave harm such as loss of life or severe economic damage. An example would be penetrating an air traffic control system and causing two planes to collide. There is a general progression toward greater damage and disruption from the first to the third category, although that does not imply an increase of political effectiveness. An electronic petition with a million signatures may influence policy more than an attack that disrupts emergency 911 services.

P2P Political Practice (3): Open Source meets politics

http://www.ssrc.org/wiki/POSA/index.php?title=Source_vs._Force:_Open_Source_Meets_Intergovernmental_Politics

Several papers on the political implications of open source projects, especially in the developing world.

1. Kenneth Neil Cukier: OS and IGO's

"As in national and municipal contexts, the role of open source has begun to be debated in and, in some cases, advanced by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). This marks a significant development in the relationship between open source and public policy. In some respects, it creates opportunities for national actors to offer "stealth support" to open source in settings where they face less direct pressure from proprietary software firms, and where the multilateral environment can diffuse accountability for controversial stands. The different missions, operational constraints, degrees of autonomy, and outside scrutiny that characterize the IGOs offer a range of new niches for open source politics.  This contribution analyzes the growth of the open source debate within intergovernmental organizations, focusing on three venues where open source has become an important and divisive topic: United Nations agencies (particularly the United Nations Development Program); the World Intellectual Property Organization; and the World Summit on the Information Society. It examines the politics of national actors operating in this sphere, and describes lines of support and resistance that coalesce around open source proposals. Finally, it examines the benefits and drawbacks of encouraging intergovernmental organizations to address open source software explicitly. Working at this level brings dynamics into play that are different than those of national and municipal policy, or of the marketplace."

2. Rishab Aiyer Ghosh: FLOSS adoption in Europe

http://www.ssrc.org/wiki/POSA/index.php?title=The_European_Politics_of_F/OSS_Adoption

"The success of F/OSS, both in terms of the commercial and technical strengths of the software produced, and as a model of organization and development, has made F/OSS a political issue of considerable importance in Europe. This politicization manifests itself in many areas, but is driven, as one might expect in countries dominated by the public sector, by the debate around government use of software. Free software has captured the collective imagination of European governments for at least two reasons: the software itself may be cheaper to use and support than proprietary software applications; and free software may be a novel, cost effective and highly responsive way to develop applications specific to government needs. This chapter will examine these and other reasons that frame the politics of free software in Europe, in order to build a "motivational map" within which the policies of individual European countries can be situated. The chapter goes on to discuss different policies and actions in more detail, at the EU-wide, national and regional level. This is followed by a closer look at one of the best examples of politically charged implementation of free software as social and economic catalyst, the Spanish region of Extremadura, and concluding remarks on future directions."

3. Eugene Kim: FLOSS adoption in Brazil

http://www.ssrc.org/wiki/POSA/index.php?title=F/OSS_Adoption_in_Brazil:_the_Growth_of_a_National_Strategy

"When Luis Inacio Lula da Silva became president of Brazil in 2003, industrialized nations looked on with some trepidation. The former union organizer was Brazil's first left-wing leader in 40 years, and many in the international business community wondered how his politics would affect the country's large, but precarious economy. Brazil boasted the world's 15th largest economy with a GDP of $493 billion, but its GDP per capita was $7,900, 94th in the world (Cadina, 2004; World Factbook, 2004). Its national debt was $250 billion ("What Will Lula Do?," 2002). Forty percent of all workers were paid less than minimum wage ($223.26 per month), and less than two percent made more than $1,489 per month. Only 10 percent of its 170 million citizens owned computers (Clendenning, 2003). Lula assuaged some of the financial concerns over his leftist leanings by practicing fiscal discipline, cutting federal spending even at the expense of some traditional left-wing programs (Mitchell, 2004). In keeping with this policy, he announced in late 2003 that the federal government would look to migrate to free and open source software (F/OSS) on a broad scale. On the surface, this decision was a simple cost cutting measure. According to Brazil's Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia (INT), Brazilians spent $1.1 billion every year on software licensing fees, and the federal government was the nation's biggest customer ("Open source could," 2004). While the average computer cost R$1,200, the cost of Microsoft Windows and Office was R$2,000 (Haffenreffer, 2003). The government accounted for six percent of Microsoft's 2003 Brazilian revenues of $318 million (Epstein, 2004). Switching to F/OSS would save millions of dollars.  The decision was bold and controversial. Open source software had long fought the stigma of being less polished than its proprietary counterpart. Although open source software had matured considerably and corporate adoption had grown steadily over the previous decade, Brazilian versions of these tools were still in their infancy. Additionally, the model of open source software development was (and is) still not widely understood. Entrusting a country's IT infrastructure to a decentralized process that lacked an obvious sustainability model required tremendous faith in emergence and the grassroots. The decision to migrate to open source software on a national scale was not simply a matter of choosing one product over another. It was a political decision that validated open source software as a movement.

What were the circumstances that led to this decision? The desire to cut costs was the most obvious, but not the sole motivation. In many ways, open source was the technological parallel to the grassroots political movement that had thrust Lula into his country's top office. It was a way to make technology more accessible to the people at large, and as such could help close the digital divide and improve living conditions for Brazil's many poor workers. This report explores these political circumstances in greater detail by examining Brazil's social and technological history."

P2P Political Practice (4): The Power of Blogs and the French "No" Campaign

http://www.ndnpac.org/npi/blogreport.html

One report on the use of blogs by the `progressive community' and a second item outlining the importance of French blogs in the success of the "No" campaign.

1. The Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere

"On August 10th, 2005 the New Politics Institute released "The Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere," a groundbreaking study of this crucial type of Internet activism.  Authored by two prominent bloggers, Chris Bowers of MyDD and Matt Stoller of Blogging of the President, the report traces the rapid rise of progressive online communities over the past two years, and offers strategic insights for those individuals and campaigns interested in working closely with the netroots.  Read the report then share your thoughts on the future of this important medium."

2. Blogs against the Constitutional Treaty

"This FT.com article, Internet study warns politicians on power of the blog, says that "websites played an important role in swinging public opinion against Europe's constitutional treaty,according to an internet study by two researchers at the University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC)".Below is a "visualization demonstrating how two-thirds of the websites & blogs devoted to France's recent referendum about the European Constitution favoured the 'No' campaign.The original dataset contained 12.000 sites,of which only 295 sites commented on the referendum.The graph shows the hierarchy of hyperlinked connections between those blogs, & explores the potential influence of blogs on the referendum & its aftermath".The blue dots are "OUI",the red are "NON".. See blog impact visualization "

P2P Political Practice (5): Social software and politics

http://www.extremedemocracy.com/archives/2005/07/social_software.html#more

Jon Lebowsky, author of Extreme Democracy, on the political role of social software.

"This has been a high-level discussion of the subjects we cover in the book: Social software applications included blogs, content syndication (RSS, Atom), forums, chats, instant messaging, collaborative editing, social network platforms like LinkedIn and Orkut, social bookmarking (del.icio.us), tagging (del.icio.us, flickr), etc. The purpose of my Deanspace piece in the book was to establish that project not just in the context of the Dean campaign, but also in the context of the social software movement, which had become very robust by then, and which influenced Zack Rosen, Neil Drumm et al. to pull that project together. Like many social software instigators, they were influenced by Reed's Law, which is David Reed's insight that the utility or value of large networks, particularly social networks, can scale exponentially with the size of the network. (See Reed's essay "That Sneaky Exponential - Beyond Metcalfe's Law to the Power of Community Building" - http://www.reed.com/Papers/GFN/reedslaw.html).

He talks about the power of group-forming networks, and you kind of have to read and digest the whole essay to get it, but here's a relevant quote:"In 'real' networks, it is important to note that although the total value of optional transactions that involve pairs and groups grows faster than linearly, the total price that can be paid cannot grow that fast. Typically, the consumers of the value have money and attention resources that scale linearly with N. So the law of supply and demand will kick in, lowering prices until the available resources (dollars and attention) are saturated. What's interesting is that this saturation process affects all types of optional transactions-so GFN value, peer transaction value, and broadcast content value all compete for the same resources. Once N grows sufficiently large, GFN transactions create more value per unit of network investment than peer transactions, and peer transactions create more value per unit of network investment than do broadcast transactions. So what tends to happen is that as networks grow, peer transactions out-compete broadcast content in the arena of attention and return on investment. And remarkably, once N gets sufficiently large, GFN transactions will out-compete both of the other categories."

Consider the value for a political campaign that goes post-broadcast, peer-to-peer. That's what Zack et al were seeing, so the idea behind Deanspace was to create, not just a way to build web sites that publish content, but a way to build a network of Dean supporters and establish connections, scale up the network, realize more value as it grows. One aspect of this that intrigues me is that you can build an effective network that leverages connections without enforcing common belief systems or intentions, so rather than having a "political party" that adheres to a specific platform, you could have a looser association of people who are generally in agreement about somethings but may vary in agreement about others... an build ad hoc coalitions within that space. That's what I was thinking about when I wrote "Nodal Politics" in '97. My pal Nathan Wilcox has created a way to do effective work through what he and his colleagues call Civic Action Networks (http://www.civicactionnetwork.com/index.php/Part_1:_Civic_Action_Networks), small, effective teams that form to address specific issues. He focuses on the individual teams and how they work; I think the next step would be networking those teams to scale potential efforts. This isn't what people are thinking about, necessarily, when they talk about the impact of technology on politics. Generally speaking, they're talking about money - how you can raise money more effectively for a campaign using a suite of online tools where the approach is still top-down, still a lot like broadcasting. Moveon's model is a good example. The real value of Moveon is in its growing email list, and its ability to scale that list, but they're not building a network of adherents. They broadcast email alerts, invite people to the site to take action, and solicit donations in the context of those transactions. Moveon tends to do interesting things with the money, and keep people focused on progressive issues that are important, but the core business is growing the list and getting the donations.

Similarly, political campaigns use Internet technology to grow email lists and solicit donations to pay campaign expenses, including broadcast advertising. They also broadcast their message via the web, and they use blogs for that, and for "stickiness." There's nothing wrong with this: Moveone is important and effective, and political campaigns are growing their understanding of the tools so that they might also facilitate better communication with supporters and constituents in the future. But the political potential of social software and group-forming networks hasn't been realized quite yet, and that's what Mitch and I and some of the authors of the book were more interested in. _Extreme Democracy_ is a collection of writings that emerge from a context that is not partisan or campaign-oriented. What if we removed our identification with one party or another, and approached issues of policy without that particular baggage? In fact there are many people in the U.S. who aren't well represented because they don't identify with a political party. Maybe one effect of social technology is to bring them into the conversations about policy and national intent.

More in this extensive interview by the WELL, at https://user.well.com/engaged/engaged.cgi?c=inkwell.vue&f=0&t=248&q=0-

P2P Governance (1): The Adelphi Charter on Intellectual Property

http://www.adelphicharter.org

The Adelphi Charter on Creativity, Innovation and Intellectual Property is an important declaration signed by influential `P2P' scholars-activists'.

1.     Reprint of the Text:

"Humanity's capacity to generate new ideas and knowledge is its greatest asset. It is the source of art, science, innovation and economic development. Without it, individuals and societies stagnate. This creative imagination requires access to the ideas, learning and culture of others, past and present.

Human rights call on us to ensure that everyone can create, access, use  and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and societies to achieve their full potential.

Creativity and investment should be recognised and rewarded.The purpose of intellectual property law (such as copyright and patents) should be, now as it was in the past, to ensure both the sharing of knowledge and the rewarding of innovation.The expansion in the law's breadth, scope and term over the last 30 yearshas resulted in an intellectual property regime which is radically out of line with modern technological, economic and social trends.This threatens the chain of creativity and innovation on which we and future generations depend.

We call upon governments and the international community to adopt these principles.

1.  Laws regulating intellectual property must serve as means of achieving creative, social and economic ends and not as ends in themselves.

2.  These laws and regulations must serve, and never overturn, the basic human rights to health, education, employment and cultural life.

3.  The public interest requires a balance between the public domain and private rights. It also requires a balance between the free competition that is essential for economic vitality and the monopoly rights granted by intellectual property laws.

4.  Intellectual property protection must not be extended to abstract ideas, facts or data.

5.  Patents must not be extended over mathematical models, scientific theories, computer code, methods for teaching, business processes, methods of medical diagnosis, therapy or surgery.

6.  Copyright and patents must be limited in time and their terms must not extend beyond what is proportionate and necessary.

7.  Government must facilitate a wide range of policies to stimulate access and innovation, including non-proprietary models such as open source software licensing and open access to scientific literature.

8. Intellectual property laws must take account of developing countries' social and economic circumstances.

9.  In making decisions about intellectual property law, governments shouldadhere to these rules:

* There must be an automatic presumption against creating new areas of intellectual property protection, extending existing privileges or extending the duration of rights.

* The burden of proof in such cases must lie on the advocates of change.

* Change must be allowed only if a rigorous analysis clearly demonstrates that it will promote people's basic rights and economic well-being.

* Throughout,there should be wide public consultation and a comprehensive, objective and transparent assessment of public benefits and detriments. `

2. Media coverage of the launch:

 - The Financial Times, 'Call to Restrict Stifling Patents', at http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bb476a86-3c53-11da-94fb-00000e2511c8.html

 - The Economist, 'Free Ideas', at http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5032375

 - James Boyle in the Guardian, at

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/comment/story/0,9828,1591467,00.html

P2P Governance (2): Oxford Consensus on Internet Governance

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/collaboration/specialevents/20050505_Internet_Governance_Summary_Report.pdf

Results of a dialogue held at the Oxford Internet Institute. It "explores a number of key questions relating to Internet governance and regulation:

"What does 'Internet governance' mean? How should the Internet be best steered in future? What policy issues are relevant to Internet governance? Which key policy issues, if any, are best addressed through better Internet governance mechanisms? Does the Internet need to be 'governed' by formal national and/or global institutions? Are any new institutions of Internet governance required, such as a new intergovernmental organisation or a global Internet convention -- or would it be preferable to continue generally with the established system of national laws and regulations? As the Internet is a global phenomenon that is shaped according to the local social, cultural and personal contexts in which it is developed and used, how do institutions of Internet governance balance global and local needs? Can there be any agreement on the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, from governments, global enterprises and large NGOs to individuals, families, communities and smaller NGOs and businesses? What are appropriate roles for Internet-related legislation and regulation?"

Miscellaneous

EMPIRE

-         Review of Multitude by Pierre Macherey, at http://www.univ-lille3.fr/set/machereynegricadreprinicpal.html

P2P

-          What happens when an open source software product, is purchased by a private company, the Checkpoint/Sourcefire/Snort case, at http://business.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/10/14/1927228&from=rss

-          Cyber-Catharsis: Bloggers Use Web Sites as Therapy, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101781.html?

"The Internet is now teeming with some 15 million blogs. Although the medium first drew mainstream attention with commentary on high-profile events such as the presidential election, many now use it to chronicle intensely personal experiences, venting confessions in front of millions of strangers who can write back."

-          The Open Source Services and Support Business model, a very good overview, at http://www.openxource.com/crossings/2005/01/12/services_and_support_business_model/brief

-          The potential expansion of open source models is limited by the following 6 characteristics outlined by Felix Stadler of Open Flows, at http://www.openflows.org/article.pl?sid=03/08/14/1612222

-          A column in Le Monde on `electronic militancy' and its pitfalls, at http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0,36-699475,0.html

-          The Network of Spiritual Progressives, inspired by Tikkun magazine, at http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/

New Books

1. Against Eurocentrism : A Transcendent Critique of Modernist Science, Society, and Morals

A Discursus on Human Emancipation. By Rajani  Kannepalli Kanth, contact at rkanth88@yahoo.com

"This work renders an uncompromising verdict on the scourge of our millennium: modernism, itself the artifact of certain Late Eurocentric propensities. It argues that, whilst modernism is possessed of some virtues and benignities, they are purchased at far too high a cost--indeed a cost that neither the species nor the planet can, on any scale, find affordable. More urgently, the author holds that modernism imperils the existence of all species and the mother of all hospitalities, the planet itself. Given the imminence and the gravity of this threat, as portrayed in the work, he further suggests that no other posture is at all, in the highest sense, ecologically responsible. We must, stated simply, he suggests, break with the manifold paradigms of the European Enlightenment or find ourselves, soon enough, as mutant beings occupying an alien habitat. This book goes far beyond the usual genre of critique by actually offering salves and antidotes to the enduring malaise of our times: i.e.,  modernism. It also offers a new paradigm for the human sciences locating it firmly in the species being of our hominid natures thereby annulling the spurious distinctions between `nature-culture', et al. drawn by the votaries of the European enlightenment. In particular, the book points to the `paradigm of femininity' as the potential agent of a very real, and realizable (and realized) emancipation from the delusive `utopias' of European , masculinist, paternity. Finally, the book entreats us to re-evaluate our real placement in an evolving, self-fulfilling universe. 

Professor Rajani Kanth's various published works include Political Economy and Laissez-Faire (1986), Explorations in Political Economy (1991) , Capitalism and Social Theory (1992), Paradigms in Economic Development (1994), Breaking with the Enlightenment (1997), Against Economics (1997)

2. New books by Pluto Press

-          Video for Change: A Guide to Advocacy and Activism- Edited by Sam Gregory, Gillian Caldwell, Ronit Avni and Thomas Harding with WITNESS

The ultimate guide to how to use video to create social and political change. Put together by members of WITNESS, the world's leading video advocacy campaign group, this shows you how to make, edit and distribute your film, with examples of successful campaigns worldwide. Anyone can become a documentary film-maker - the information is here at your fingertips!
 
 - Babylon and Beyond. The Economics of Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Globalist and Radical Green Movements. Derek Wall

The Green guide to anti-capitalism. Derek Wall, a candidate for Principal Speaker for the Green Party, outlines the depth and variety of different theoretical approaches to anti-capitalism. Covering everything from Green localists to eco-socialists, Marxists to anarchists to capitalist reformers (like Stiglitz and Soros), this is a one-stop guide for anyone who wants a concise guide to the contradictions of modern anti-capitalism.

 
 - Gramsci is Dead: Anarchist Currents in the Newest Social Movements- Richard J. F. Day

`Brilliant ... an explosive break-out from the demoralizing horizons of contemporary social democracy. ... Red Emma would be proud.' Nick Dyer-Witheford