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Freedom and Justice in the Commons
Eve Gray · Cape Town (South Africa) · Jun 22nd, 2007 10:38 am · 53 votes · 2 comments
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| Larrry Lessig, Zochai Benkler and Heather Ford prepare to launch the session |
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Yochai Benkler's book, The Wealth of Networks has made a remarkable impact in the short time since it was published. Larry Lessig hailed it as probably the most important book of the decade. Benkler's keynote at the iCommons Summit in Dubrovnik was therefore awaited with considerable anticipation by many of us who know his work.
In a densely argued paper, he persuaded Commoners that where we are – the Commons movement - is not a passing fashion but a basic reality and part of a transitional trend in social, economic and political affairs. In the traditional media, where massive investment is required to obtain a voice, power is centralised in the hands of the large corporations, making it all to easy for the voices of ordinary citizens to be silenced.
But mass dissemination of information is now possible through decentralised peer-to-peer and collaborative networks, creating space for effective resistance by ordinary citizens against attempts to force silence through censorship or to bury corruption.
The importance of Benkler's argument is that he takes the debate about collaborative modes of knowledge production deeper than the cultural context in which these issues are usually set, arguing that the Commons poses a fundamental challenge to the accepted proprietary theories of how economics and politics work. The growth of non-proprietary, collaborative ways of working offers opportunities for addressing human welfare and development, away from the power dynamics of big business and political hegemonies.
I am conscious, even as I write, that I am simplifying Benkler's case and – given the density of his arguments - would urge anyone who is interested in his ideas and wants to know more to access the podcast of his speech as soon as it is available. it takes time, but is more than worth the effort.
As someone who is familiar with his book, I found two strands of argument in this speech of particular interest. One was something that Benkler said was not yet fully developed – at least to his demanding standards. This is the question of human ethics and the Commons. He tracked the centrality of communication and the decline of egocentric views in this peer-to-peer world; the emphasis on human virtues such as friendship and generosity; the valuing of cooperation, harmony and fairness; the importance of transparency. As someone who comes from the developing world, I must confess to finding this a very attractive alternative to the cynicism that characterises current global power relations. I am therefore inclined to believe Benkler that the Commons route is a more credible and desirable way of conducting global affairs and is therefore something that has a strong chance of prevailing – something that was echoed by speakers in the third plenary session the day after Benkler spoke.
However, is this view too idealistic to really take hold? Or is that just a reflection of the cynicism that we have absorbed from the power politics of the big property owners? Another thread in Benkler's argument suggested that we are in fact experiencing a major global transition and he gave us a complex vision of the sets of economic, social and political systems that are in tension - and in transformation - in the world today.
In a world in which 1 billion people have the physical capacity to produce, store and disseminate information, there is a trend, he argues, for the behaviours of the periphery to move to the core, a world in which the authority to act is decentralised and manifests as a practical capacity fro action when the means are available. Benkler explored this perspective as a series long-term shifts that are becoming evident in the political economy. Through a series of slides, mapping with layered shifts from proprietary to non-proprietary modes of production in a variety of contexts he provided a picture of a world in which the tensions between the proprietary and non-proprietary modes of production could lead to the development of a new version of the political economy.
Only the future can tell if her is right, but it is clear that the iCommons has an important role to play in grappling with the transitions that Benkler maps, to ensure that the networked world of the future is the Commons-based vision that is emerging rather than the reactive attempts of a proprietary world view to drag us backwards.
tags: dubrovnik croatia business commons peerproduction economy politics summit07
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