Peer2Politics

It is quite fitting that Sharitaly, an attempt to “translate” the sharing economy into the Italian context, took place in Milan, a city which has played such an enormous role in the development of workers’ rights in Italy, and is the current business capital of the country.

Last week, the White House strengthened its support for Open Educational Resources (OER) and committed to expanding access to them through open licenses and technology.

In this interview, Neal Gorenflo (founder, Shareable), Michel Bauwens (founder, P2P Foundation), and John Restakis (author, Humanizing the Economy) speak with Enric Duran. Duran is a Catalan anti-capitalist activist, best known for his act of “financial civil disobedience” announced on September 17, 2008, in which he took out half a million Euros in bank loans and distributed the funds to anti-capitalist movements. As it was never his intention to pay these debts, but instead to stir debate about the unfair legal advantages afforded to the powerful financial elite, he was soon labeled “Robin Banks,” and faced with a lengthy prison sentence. The resulting legal actions and his subsequent seclusion have left him living virtually underground, although he maintains selective contact and has stated that he may return, contingent on a variety of factors. Despite his precarious legal status, his work continues undiminished in the Catalan Integral Cooperative (CIC), which describes itself as a “transitional initiative for social transformation from below, through self-management, self-organization, and networking.” Here is Enric Duran talking about his work and life.

As we learn more about what went wrong with the design and launch of Healthcare.gov, a few broad principles have emerged about how to fix the procurement system so this kind of debacle -- which isn't the only non-functional Web site the government's bought, just the highest profile -- doesn't happen again.

The RSA’s recent report explores the emergence of a new kind of monopoly power in the sharing economy, and considers how we might challenge increasing economic concentrations of power through rethinking our approach to governance and regulation.