<nettime> Open Letter to Commoners from the FLOK Society, Ecuador

[Felix Stalder <felix@openflows.com>]

by way of David Bollier <david@bollier.org>

An Open Letter to the Commoners and Co-operators of the World to
participate in the Ecuadorian transition towards an Open Commons-based
Knowledge Society.

Dear Global Co-operators and Commoners,

In a speech on Sept. 19, 2012 [1], President Correa of Ecuador appealed
to the young people of his country to fight for and realize a vision of
“good living” based on a commons-based and open knowledge society. The
FLOK Society project (Free/Libre Open Knowledge) has been created to
propose a transition plan and a policy framework to achieve this unique
vision. In accordance with Ecuador’s National Plan [2], there can be no
'good living' policy that is not inspired by, and rooted in, free and
open knowledge and a thriving commons. The FLOK Society project is a
joint research effort sponsored by the Co-ordinating Ministry of
Knowledge and Human Talent, the Senescyt, (Secretaria National de
Educacion Superior, Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion) and the IAEN
(Instituto de Altos Estudios del Estado).

Our aim is to finalize proposals to be presented at a conference in
April 2014, which will bring together the President, government
officials, civil society participants, and global experts on the
commons. The project received its impulse from IAEN Rector Carlos
Prieto, Project Leaders Xabier E. Barandiaran & Daniel Vázquez, and
Research Director Michel Bauwens.

Here is the link to the FLOK Society project: http://www.floksociety.org

The project seeks the involvement and input of local civil society, but
also includes an explicit appeal to the global co-operative and commons
movements to assist us with advice and policy proposals. It is our
belief that the Ecuadorian people will be inspired by the best of what
is happening abroad, in all countries of the world. Hence our appeal to
you, global co-operators and commoners. If you are engaged in
transformative social change that is inspired by open knowledge,
co-operation, and the building of commons for the well being of all, we
ask you to send us information and benchmark proposals on leading local
or global initiatives in your area of expertise.

Imagine a society that is connected to open knowledge commons in every
domain of human activity, based on free and open knowledge, code, and
design that can be used by all citizens along with government and market
players without the discrimination and disempowerment that follows from
privatized knowledge. Imagine an ethical and sustainable economy that is
based on the creation of a cooperative commonwealth rooted in
reciprocity, mutuality, peer-to-peer production, and the mobilization of
an informed and engaged civil society. Imagine the speeding up of social
innovation and knowledge-sharing enabled by open knowledge commons in
the fields of culture, technology, science, and every other field where
local and global solutions can be shared and built upon. Imagine that
such open commons are linked to an ethical market and economy whereby
individuals, community organisations, co-operatives, and commercial and
social enterprises can freely co-produce such knowledge using enabling
governance and property models that do not enclose the commons, but
facilitate their growth.

Imagine an enabling and facilitating Partner State which encourages
economic and social co-operation built on public/civil partnerships.
What would it take to achieve this? Neither the Ecuadorian people alone,
nor of course the FLOK Society research team, can offer full solutions.
But together, in co-operation, we can envision and build proposals for a
sustainable, open, and ethical society and economy which the Ecuadorian
government could assist in coming into being, with concrete policies and
support. This is the first time that a nation-state and the President of
a country has legitimized the desire of commoners and co-operators all
over the world to create a more just and sustainable civilization, using
commons-inspired principles.

In the spirit of sharing and co-operation, we ask for your solidarity
and support!

Our research streams focus on the following key areas:

1. Human Capabilities and Open Learning, Paul Bouchard

2. Changing the Productive Matrix, George Dafermos

3. Social Infrastructure & Institutional Innovation, John Restakis

4. Open Technical Infrastructures, Jenny Torres

5. Physical Commons, Janice Figueiredo

Help us turn vision into reality.

In Solidarity and Co-operation, John Restakis, Research Associate,

Co-operatives UK;
Research Investigator, Legal and Institutional Frameworks,
restakis@gmail.com
Michel Bauwens, Research Director; founder of the P2P Foundation and
partner of the Commons Strategies group, p2pfoundation1@gmail.com

FLOK Research Team:
Daniel Araya, daniel.araya@singularityu.org
Paul Bouchard, paulbou32@gmail.com
George Dafermos, georgedafermos@gmail.com
Janice Figueiredo, janicefigueiredo2@yahoo.com
Jenny Torres, jennytorres163@gmail.com

Other names:
Co-signed by David Bollier and Silke Helfrich, Commons Strategies Group
For General Input, please send to Michel Bauwens
(p2pfoundation1@gmail.com); and
Daniel Araya (daniel.araya@singularityu.org)

If you want to help us more concretely, see also:
http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/How_Can_You_Help_Us

For subject-specific input, please send your comments directly to the Stream
Researchers above.

References:
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjajy-ia-SE
[2] http://buenvivir.gob.ec/versiones-plan-nacional


-- 

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| http://felix.openflows.com
|OPEN PGP: 056C E7D3 9B25 CAE1 336D 6D2F 0BBB 5B95 0C9F F2AC


#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime>  is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org