Introducing the Commons Transition Web Platform | P2P Foundation

"Commons Transition is a database of practical experiences and policy proposals aimed toward achieving a more humane and environmentally grounded mode of societal organization. Basing a civil society on the Commons (including the collaborative stewardship of our shared resources) would enable a more egalitarian, just, and environmentally stable society. The proposals presented in our web platform go beyond rhetoric and are inspired by successful, self-organized working communities that maintain themselves and their environments through Commons Based Peer Production, Property and Governance. The Commons, together with Peer to Peer dynamics, represent a third mode of societal organization evolving away from the competitive Market State and obsolete, centrally-planned systems. It is a system based on the practices and needs of civil society and the environment it inhabits at the local, regional, national and global levels. The main three policy documents you’ll find in the platform, authored by Michel Bauwens, John Restakis and George Dafermos, were originally created for Ecuador’s groundbreaking FLOK Society Project. Commons Transition, however, features newly revised and updated, non-region specific versions of these documents. We share them in order to provide an overview of the many precedents and possibilities pointing toward a fairer societal order, and to inspire civil society collectives at the local, regional, national and global levels to adapt them to their particular contexts. As a matter of fact, the proposals originally developed for FLOK are currently being discussed and adapted by the Catalan Integral Cooperative. There is a stark difference between these projects, the former being a state-sponsored study and the latter a completely pre-figurative, stateless initiative. The Commons Transition website features material related to both and will reflect the ongoing development of these projects. In parallel with these pilot projects, we also highlight the valuable work of other transnational, commons-oriented collectives, such as Share the World’s Resources, the Post Growth Institute, and the Sustainable Economies Law Center. These, among others, are presented in the Related Projects section of the website. Other highlights include an FAQ on Commons Transition, a News and Articles section with exclusive interviews (in which we will feature regular updates on Commons Transition activities) and a Wiki entirely dedicated to Commons-oriented policy proposals and transition-oriented projects. To give you a taste of the material contained in this web platform, here is Michel Bauwens’ and John Restakis’ overview of the Commons Transition project. This text has been adapted from their introduction to our Commons Transition Book, which features the newly updated policy in an easy to read, downloadable format ..."