Commons

‘Defending Future Commons: The Gezi Experience’

October 21, 2013 Ozan Karaman, www.antipodefoundation.org Educate! Commons, Police abuse, Türkiye

The 2013 uprising in Turkey commenced with a call by a handful of activists to guard a park located adjacent to Taksim Square – the most centrally-located public square in Istanbul – from the Istanbul Municipality’s bulldozers. As a part of the redevelopment plan for the whole square, the PM Erdoğan and the Istanbul mayor had repeatedly informed the public of their decision to redevelop Gezi Park into a building complex, to contain a parking garage, museum, shopping mall, and high-end housing. The demolition team arrived on the night of May 27, but was not able to proceed thanks to the resistance of the activists on guard, some of whom lay in front of the bulldozers. The following day the bulldozers were accompanied by a substantial police force, which brutally quashed the protestors through extensive use of tear gas and brute force. A small portion of the Gezi Park was demolished that day.

Building The Commons As Antidote To Predatory Market Economy

September 6, 2013 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.truthout.org Create! Commons, Democracy, Finance and the Economy

These are times of radical change. We are in the midst of an evolution. As David Bollier writes, "We are poised between an old world that no longer works and a new one struggling to be born. Surrounded by centralized hierarchies on the one hand and predatory markets on the other, people around the world are searching for alternatives." The old world is one of concentrated economic power that hoards wealth; that creates corrupted and hierarchical governance to serve and further concentrate wealth through exploitation of people and the planet. People are experiencing the ravages of this global neoliberal economy in which the market reigns supreme and everything is a profit center, no matter the human and environmental costs. We are at a crossroads in the global economic order.

VIDEO: Friendship Neighborhood Fair To End Gang Violence

August 26, 2013 Marlene Alvarado, www.vimeo.com Create! Commons, Community, Food and Agriculture, Video

The Friendship Neighborhood Fair held at Drake Park in Long Beach, CA. It is organized by a group of activist neighbors who want to help end gang violence. They also have created an urban farm. They cook the produce they grow and hand it out for free. They also clean the streets.

All In To Save The Post Office

August 14, 2013 Staff, www.deliveringforamerica.com Organize! Commons, Post Office

The Postal Service can thrive in a digital age by innovating and adapting to provide new services, as it has done repeatedly over its 230-plus year history. The Postal Service’s universal reach — its mandate to cover even the very last mile to touch every American, six days a week — is part of what makes it more than just a business and so vital to American life. For all its current problems, the Postal Service remains an important national asset that is just as vital to the nation’s infrastructure as the Interstate highway system. Congress should not settle for slashing costs and battling over which services to cut. Instead, it should start working a plan to revitalize the Postal Service in a manner that makes sense for our way of life in the 21st century.

How To Design Our World for Happiness

July 21, 2013 Jay Walljasper, www.onthecommons.org Create! Commons

Over the past decade the terms placemaking and the commons have become increasingly popular, a sign of the rising recognition about what makes our communities strong and alive The book in your hands (or on your screen) chronicles many dimensions of this growing movement, whose impact can be measured in the numerous friendships, romances, business ventures, community initiatives, and other human connections that arise each day in public places around the globe. Yet the ultimate goal of placemaking and the commons is even more elemental: to expand the possibilities for happiness in everyone’s world.

New Documentary on Challenges of Occupying: “Grasp the Nettle”

June 22, 2013 Nafeez Ahmed, www.guardian.co.uk Organize! Commons, Environment, Food and Agriculture

Two years before the Occupy movement sprang forth in New York and London, a motley group of land rights activists occupied a piece of disused land in west London to create an alternative model of moneyless, sustainable living. Little did they know they were about to embark on an extraordinary journey, at once harrowing and inspiring, that would take them into the heart of Westminster. Dean Puckett's new documentary, Grasp the Nettle, follows the bewildering and even amusing exploits of this group over a one year and three month period. The result is a powerful film which raises often unsettling questions - not just about the draconian trajectory of state policy, but about the potential pitfalls of activism.

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